Sample Lesson Plan
Week 14 Monday: Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance - “Aurora Rising”
Learning Outcomes:
Students will...
Practice critical thinking by considering multiple perspectives on appropriateness
Analyze and discuss select “concerning/objectionable” passages from “Aurora Rising”
Reflect on how they might respond to objections about “Aurora Rising”
Warm-Up (5mins)
Discuss with a partner:
After reading “Aurora Rising,” how would you rate its appropriateness for a teen reader on a scale from 1-10 (1 = inappropriate, 10 = appropriate), and why?
Thinking about your own experience as a teenager, would you have felt this story was appropriate? Would your parents/guardians have felt the same?
Small Group “Concerning Content” Review/Discussion (15 mins)
Each small group (4-5 groups total) selects one of the “concerning/objectionable” pieces of content from “Aurora Rising” (identified by booklooks.org) below:
After reading through their selected piece of content, groups discuss the following:
Why might someone feel that this piece of content is concerning or objectionable for a teen reader? What perspective might they be coming from?
Why might someone feel that this piece of content is valuable or appropriate for a teen reader?
Share Out (15 mins)
Rotating around the room, each group shares their selected piece of content and gives a brief overview of their discussion about why people might advocate for or against this material.
Large Group Discussion (20 mins)
As a class, we discuss:
What do you notice about these different pieces of “objectionable” content? Are there any trends in the type of content that gets flagged as concerning?
What is the relationship between political/controversial content and perceived appropriateness? Why does this relationship exist?
How does “Aurora Rising,” as a story, frame this content? How does this framing add context to these pieces of content?
Free Write (15 mins)
Having considered their own perspectives as well as the perspectives of others. Students take a few minutes to reflect:
PROMPT: Imagine you are a teacher at your former high school (think about the demographics and culture at your school), and you’ve assigned “Aurora Rising” as a reading for your sophomore students. A parent who has looked at booklook.org reaches out with concerns about their child reading this material. How would you react/respond?
Wrap-Up - Hand in your free writes at the end of class. We will open next class with a discussion of how we might respond to a concerned parent and talk about strategies for having productive and considerate conversations about literature.
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