Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
Essential Question: How do race and ethnicity shape identity?
Does identity shape race and ethnicity?
Course Description
This course will take a close look at those times in U.S. history when immigration patterns
redefined what it means to be American. We’ll base our analyses in the literary and
informational texts of the times supplemented with historical and contemporary art, film, and
music texts and critical perspectives. Students will complete a major writing assignment every
marking period. Regular reflective, analytical, and exploratory assignments will explore the
influences of race and ethnicity upon the social spectrum, ranging from the individual to the
institutional.
Units Outline
(based on timeline available at http://www.unc.edu/~perreira/198timeline.html)
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
Guiding Questions
(Distribute to units.)
Identity
What is identity?
Literature
How do we distinguish between non-fiction
and fiction writing?
How do individuals form identities?
What kind of writing is believable?
How do other individuals shape the identity
of individuals?
How do groups shape the identity of
individuals?
How are identity and culture related?
How does race shape identity?
Ethnicity?
Socio-economic status?
Religion?
Gender?
Family?
Historical context?
How does identity shape perspective?
Race?
Ethnicity?
Socio-economic status?
Religion?
Gender?
Family?
Historical context?
How is our understanding of culture and
society constructed through and by
language?
How do authors use language to impact an
audience?
What is the purpose and function of art in
our culture?
How does literature reveal the values of a
given culture or time period?
How is culture reproduced through history,
literature, art and music?
How does the study of fiction and nonfiction texts help individuals construct their
understanding of reality?
What can be read? What are the qualities of
a readable “text”?
Can we choose identity?
In what ways are all narratives influenced by
bias and perspective?
How do our values and beliefs shape who
we are as individuals and influence our
behavior?
Who decides the criteria for judging whether
or not a book, song, painting, etc. is any
good?
What is the connection between beliefs,
values, and identities?
What is the purpose of different genres
(poetry, novels, stories, art, etc.)?
How do values and beliefs change over
time?
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
Skills, Knowledge, Understanding
*Add Content-based Learning Goals as Well
Reading
Writing
Listening
Speaking
Standard 1:
• Use primary and
secondary sources
• Set purposes for
reading by asking
questions
• Check hypotheses by
comparing assumptions to
information
• Analyze and synthesize
information from different
sources
• Make connections and
show relationships
between texts, ideas,
subjects, and the world at
large
Standard 2:
• Connect literature to
contemporary and/or
personal events and
situations
• Read and discuss
literary criticism
• Engage in collaborative
conversations that apply
and extend ideas from
texts and broaden
perspectives
• Read, view, and
respond independently to
literary works that
represent a range of social,
historical, and cultural
perspectives
• Compare film, video, or
stage versions with written
literary works
• Read texts aloud to
convey interpretations
• Read and interpret a
range of authors, genres,
and subjects, including
literary criticism
• Identify and interpret
multiple levels of meaning
in texts
Standard 3:
• Analyze and evaluate
non-fiction texts to
Standard 1:
• Use and integrate a wide
range of organizational
• strategies to present
information
• Define the meaning of
and understand the
consequences
• of plagiarism;
investigate college and
university policies
• Maintain a portfolio that
includes informational
writing
Standard 2:
• Write interpretive and
responsive essays of
approximately five pages
to express judgments and
support them through
references to the text,
using direct quotations
and paraphrase; explain
how the author’s use of
literary devices, such as
allegory, stream of
consciousness, and irony,
affects meaning;
engage in a variety of
prewriting experiences,
such as using a variety of
visual representations, to
express interpretations,
feelings, and new insights
• Use resources such as
personal experience,
knowledge from other
content areas, and
independent reading to
create literary,
interpretive, and
responsive text
• Maintain a portfolio
that includes literary,
interpretive, and
responsive writing
Standard 3:
• Develop critiques from
more than one
perspective, such
Standard 1:
• Interpret and analyze
information from media
presentations, such as
documentary films, news
broadcasts, taped
interviews, and debates
• Recognize the
speaker’s use of voice,
tone, diction, and syntax
in school and public
forums, debates, and panel
discussions
Standard 2:
• Interpret and respond to
texts from a variety of
genres, authors, and
subjects
• Respond to authors’
reading and discussing
their works
• Identify how format
and language are used in
presentations to
communicate the author’s
message and evoke a
response
• Recognize how
presentation styles affect
the emotional responses of
listeners
Standard 3:
• Determine points of
view to clarify positions,
make judgments, and form
opinions
• Evaluate content and
organization of the
presentations, applying
criteria such as the
validity of the speaker’s
conclusion
• Evaluate the expertise
and possible bias of the
speaker in order to judge
the validity of the content
• Recognize the use of
protocols and traditional
practices in debating,
public speaking,
Standard 1:
• Prepare and give
presentations to a variety
of audiences on a range of
informational topics, using
a variety of techniques,
such as multimedia, group
presentations, and
dramatic approaches
• Give directions and
explain complex processes
Standard 2:
• Present interpretations
and responses to literary
texts and performances in
presentations to school
and public audiences
Standard 3:
• Express opinions and
make judgments about
ideas, information,
experiences, and issues in
literary, scientific, and
historical articles, in
public documents, and in
advertisements
• Present reasons,
examples, and details
from sources such as films
to defend opinions or
judgments
• Respond to constructive
criticism
• Use visuals and
technology to enhance
presentation
Standard 4:
• Speak informally with
familiar and unfamiliar
people, individually and in
group settings
• Respect the age,
gender, social position,
and cultural traditions of
the listener
• Use social
communication in
workplace settings to
foster trust and build
goodwill
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
determine author’s
perspective, purpose, and
intended audience
• Identify text structure –
use graphic organizers
• Preview or survey texts
noting structural markers
• Identify and focus on
key words and phrases
that signal text direction
• Identify kinds of
language used in
particular texts
• Analyze and evaluate
sensory imagery,
figurative language, and
verse form in poetry
• Use oral readings and
written responses to
identify and distinguish
examples of verse form
• Form opinions and
make judgments by
analyzing and evaluating
texts from more than one
critical perspective
• Select, reject, and
reconcile ideas and
information in light of
beliefs
• Apply personal and
academic criteria to the
evaluation of texts
• Analyze and evaluate
the intellectual and/or
emotional impact of
specific texts on the reader
Standard 4:
• Share reading
experiences and reactions
to texts
• Consider the age,
gender, social position,
and cultural traditions of
the writer
• Understand authors’
use of tone, diction, and
language as appropriate to
social contexts
• Recognize types of
language that are
appropriate to social
communication (cont. in
next column)
as historical, cultural,
social, and psychological
• Use telecommunication
to participate in Listserv
discussion groups
• Maintain a writing
portfolio that includes
writing for critical
analysis and evaluation
Standard 4:
• Share the process of
writing with peers and
adults; for example, write
a condolence note, getwell card, or thank-you
letter with writing
partner(s)
• Respect the age, gender,
and cultural traditions of
the recipient
(continued from previous
column)
(e.g., informal vocabulary,
culture-specific
terminology, jargon,
colloquialisms, and email
conventions)
interviewing, reviewing
literary works, and other
forms of speaking
• Evaluate the impact of
the medium on the
message
Standard 4:
• Participate as a listener
in social conversation with
one or more people who
are friends, acquaintances,
or strangers
• Respect the age,
gender, social position,
and cultural traditions of
the speaker
• Listen for multiple
levels of meaning,
articulated and unspoken
• Encourage the speaker
with appropriate facial
expressions and gestures
• Withhold judgment
• Appreciate the
speaker’s uniqueness
•
Respond respectfully
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
Assessments
Formative
• Large and small group discussions
• Reading Journals
• Short critical writing pieces addressing
guiding questions and performance
indicators
• Class presentations of historical research
and interpretations of literature, film, art,
and music
• Quizzes
• Any key indicator from above used to
assess progress and provide feedback
• Peer evaluations of student work
• Process check-ins for large critical,
research, and creative writing pieces or
presentations
Summative
Writing and project portfolio
Major writing/presentation assignments
each marking period
Contributions to a course website
documenting and linking resources for the
history and influences of immigration
Multi-media identity project
Any key indicator from above used to
assess student
Materials and Resources
Materials will include primary source materials from the time period under study to include
authentic voices describing varied experiences and perspectives. We’ll also study non-fiction
and fiction writing about groups and individuals at that time. Our inquiry will include our own
critical readings and analyses of these pieces, comparing and contrasting the experiences and
perspectives of different groups. Throughout the course, we’ll build shared and individual
understandings of how our own race, ethnicity, and other cultural influences shape our
experience of our own time in history.
Music and Spoken Word: Publicly available and privately purchased music characteristic of
specific time periods and/or ethnic groups will serve as text. Students will analyze lyrics and
rhythms as poetry. Examples include recordings of slave work songs, early blues, festival music
of ethnic groups, etc. Particular emphasis will be given to musical roots of contemporary music.
Recorded speeches will serve as historical and literary texts as well.
Literature: Students will read one classic or contemporary major work each marking period.
Examples include The Known World by Edward P. Jones, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt,
Fences by August Wilson, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Short stories, poetry, essays,
diaries, children’s books and informational texts will supplement and support the readings of the
larger texts. The course will emphasize works of African American literature but will include
examples of the literary traditions of other ethnic groups and perspectives as well.
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
Film: The course will incorporate various film formats as both informational texts, as in the case
of Amistad , Eyes on the Prize, or Beyond the Color Line, and as cultural artifacts and texts, as in
the case of The Milagro Beanfield War, Shaft, or Smoke Signals.
Art: Students will respond to images of various art mediums through sensory impression,
individual interpretation, and group interpretations using critical lenses developed in the course.
We’ll also explore how art reflects culture and how art might shape culture.
Websites: The websites listed below may serve as reference sites, resources, or as a source of
instructional ideas.
Immigration: Ellis Island Database www.ellisisland.org
University of New Hampshire interactive history site www.digitalhistoryuh.edu
Library of Congress American Memory Project
www.memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/introduction.html
University of North Carolina immigration timeline
www.unc.edu/∼perreira/198timeline.html#immigration
Multiculturalism:
Teaching Tolerance www.tolerance.org
Southern Poverty Law Center http://www.splcenter.org/center/tt/teach.jsp
Facing History http://www.facinghistory.org/campus/reslib.nsf
Project Look Sharp at Ithaca College
http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/media.php
http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/teaching.php