Farewell to Manzanar Lesson

Farewell to Manzanar Unit: Objectives | Activities | Assessments
Autobiography Study: Farewell to Manzanar
Duration: approximately 6 weeks

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OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the unit, students will be able to…

Define autobiography and the primary literary components of an autobiography: character, static and dynamic, primary and secondary; plot; setting; conflict, internal and external; and theme

Offer definitions and explanations of the primary literary components of a specific autobiography: Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston.Exploring the theme of decisions and choices by analyzing and evaluating the decisions made by the book's central characters and comparing them to the students' own.

Use the skills of prediction, evalutation and synthesis while completing various activities and projects.

Discuss the primary literary components of Farewell to Manzanar in cooperative groups and in essay format.

Recognize the primary literary components of Farewell to Manzanar in a final test assessment.

Explain the significant events leading up to and following the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Identify important primary documents and speeches associated with this time period.

Define propaganda and explain its significance to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Compare propaganda of WWII to propaganda of the United States' conflict with Afghanistan of 2002.

Use the Internet as a research tool.

Demonstrate skills in goal-setting, organization, and writing through the completion of a long-term project.

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ACTIVITIES:

Before Reading:

To introduce the unit, students will use a KWL graphic organizer to determine what they know about WWII and what they want to know, specifically focusing on the internment of Japanese Americans. As the unit progresses, students will attempt to answer their questions from the "what I want to know" section and will add this and other information to the "what I learned" section.
Students will complete a Trackstar activity to gain background information about this period in time.
Students will organize their English notebooks into sections: Plot, Characters, Conflict, Setting, Theme, Vocabulary.
Students will form jigsaw groups to aid in the reading of the novel Farewell to Manzanar. The expert groups assigned will be: Plot, Characters, Conflict, Setting, Theme and Vocabulary. Students will also be assigned reading groups.

During Reading:

Before reading the each section of assigned chapters, the teacher will provide a list of novel-specific vocabulary words that the students will add to the "vocabulary" section of their notebooks.
Students will take notes over their assigned expert group topic.
Students will meet in their expert groups each class period to compare and discuss notes. Then, students will meet in reading groups (comprised of members from each expert group) to share and record notes from each remaining section. Note: those groups that consist of 4 members will divide up the extra work. Those students assigned to the "vocabulary" expert group will be expected to find a minimum of 5 unfamiliar words (not those assigned by the teacher) and their definitions.
On select days throughout the unit, students will engage in various activities, including watching a tape recorded interview of an internment camp survivor, listening to Eisenhower's "Day of Infamy" Speech , viewing the anti-Japanese propaganda of the time, listening to Japan's surrender, and comparing current events involving the 2002 Afghanistan conflict with the events of the novel by watching recorded segments of news broadcasts and reading the newspaper.

Students will complete a final test over the autobiography and its components. Their completed notebooks will act as study guides.
Students will complete a Trackstar activity in which they compare and contrast the propaganda of WWII to the propaganda following the September 11, 2002 tragedy. Student Sample
Students will complete their choice of project.