Lesson Title: Exploring Perspectives with Three Cups of Tea

Subject: English Language ArtsGrade Level: 7th & 8th

Time Frame: 50 minutes (one middle school period)

Objective Students will gain experience considering different perspectives by writing a narrative from the point of view of a character related to Three Cups of Tea (conclusion to Three Cups of Tea unit).

Rationale One of the main goals of the book Three Cups of Tea is to increase the reader’s understanding of diverse perspectives. This lesson, which requires students to learn about a character and then write a narrative from that character’s point of view, aims to improve this understanding—a skill that allow students to be better deliberators, communicators, and proponents of tolerance and acceptance.

Prior Knowledge Reading of Three Cups of Tea. Understanding of the concepts of “narrative” and “point of view.” Ability to write in complete sentences with correct use of grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Understanding of the events that occurred on 9/11. Completion of a “diversity wheel.”

Standards (from ALEX)

Apply strategies appropriate to type of reading material, including making inferences to determine bias or theme and using specific context clues, to comprehend eighth-grade informational and functional reading materials (4)

Analyze works of literature for character motivation (6)

Write in narrative, expository, and persuasive modes with attention to descriptive elements (8)

Apply mechanics in writing (9)

Essential Questions

What makes us who we are? How would your perspective change if a piece of your pie changed (diversity wheel)? What do we accomplish by trying to understand another person’s perspective? Is it possible to truly understand the way someone else thinks? Why are there so many different religions, races, cultures, and opinions?

Assessment/Differentiation/AccommodationFormative Assessment

Diversity wheel homework assignment and activity will assess student’s abilities to follow directions and to think about the multiple characteristics that form every individual.

Character webs will assess students’ understanding of the text, ability to select specific information from text, and ability to draw their own conclusions based on textual information.

Summative Assessment (attach example)

Narrative from character’s perspective. This will assess students’ understanding of the text and other information presented (video clips, discussions), ability to explore a different perspective, and ability to select information from the text and further extrapolate them creatively.

Differentiated Instruction

Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no one with obvious language or academic needs in my class. I have not observed the teacher making any specific accommodations in this classroom. I will be employing specific modeling strategies,

however, to ensure that students have a good understanding of how to complete their assignments.

Lesson PlanLesson Overview Students will get a glimpse of diversity by discussing the diversity wheel, and then

will focus in on a specific point of view that is probably different from their own. They will complete a character web for a randomly selected Three Cups of Tea character or related fictional persona, which will require them to both gather textual evidence and draw additional conclusions about the character’s thoughts and opinions. The narrative will build upon these conclusions and require students to synthesize all of their knowledge and thoughts up to this point.

Materials Completed diversity wheel, “ELMO” visual presenter, selected video clips, paper strips with character names, character web and prompt handouts

Bell ringer/Review Activity

Discussion of diversity wheel to get students thinking about the various elements that compose each of us. Teacher will show the class her own diversity wheel, discuss the symbolism, ask a student volunteer to share his or her diversity wheel

Activities and Procedures (with transitions and time allocations)

1. Diversity Wheel (7 minutes)a. Place teacher-completed diversity wheel under the ELMO. Explain that the

circle or “pie” represents who I am. It is not just one flavor of pie; it’s more like a Dr. Pepper pie with 23 flavors—many different things make up who I am. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget about all the different pieces of the pie and focus on just one. For example, when someone is sexist or racist, they are focusing on one piece of the pie (gender or race), which isn’t fair.

b. Ask a student to volunteer to share his or her diversity wheel. Talk about what it means to them. They should be proud to be who they are, and every slice of the pie is a part of that. If you took away one slice, it would change something about their identity. Also, if you focus only on one slice, you are ignoring most of the pie, and you don’t see who they really are.

c. Reiterate the point that everyone is made up of many different slices. When you think about a person who practices Islam, remember that there is more to them than just their religion. Follow the example of Greg Mortenson when he had tea with members of the Taliban in Chapter 20. Instead of focusing just on the fact that they were Taliban members, he asked them about other slices of their pies—their families and their children.

2. Video Clips (7 minutes)a. What Do Americans Think of Muslims? http :// www . youtube . com / watch ?

v = KRS 1 sB 5 d 7 vw b. A Land Called Paradise http :// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = sbcmPe 0 z 3 Sc

3. Character Webs (15 minutes)a. Keeping in mind the diversity of every individual, pass out the webs and

prompts (consider putting them on one piece of paper, front and back).b. Ask a student to read the prompt aloud (Imagine that Greg Mortenson is

planning on building a school in or near your village, if you are a native of Pakistan or Afghanistan. If the character you have chosen is an American, you will respond to the news that Mortenson has been building schools in the lands that harbor terrorists. How does this make you feel? If you approve of this plan, explain why you are in favor of the school. If you object, explain

why you disapprove. Based on evidence from the book, thoroughly explain your reaction. Include page numbers to support your answer.)

c. Explain that the students will now investigate their character. They should use the book to find some answers, such as quotes and actions.

d. Use the I Do, We Do, You All Do, You Do modeling strategy to fill out parts of a character web in front of the class, demonstrating the use of an index.

e. Explain that if their character is not directly in the book, they may need to rely more on the video clips, but they can still find evidence in the book to help support their narratives (for example, an action for an American citizen may be to send hate mail to Greg Mortenson, something that is actually done in the book).

f. Once students are done with their character webs, they should move on to their narratives. Remind them that they should use the ideas from their character webs to create their narratives.

4. Narratives (20 minutes) – to be finished for homework or in a later class period.

Closure The students will probably not have enough time to finish their narratives in class, so the closure will be a reminder to finish them at home. Remind them to be creative, use the information they wrote in their character webs, and document the textual evidence with page numbers.

References Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver RelinWhat Do Americans Think of Muslims? (youtube video) http :// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = KRS 1 sB 5 d 7 vw A Land Called Paradise (youtube video) http :// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = sbcmPe 0 z 3 Sc

Pennies for Peace Curriculum Resource Guide http :// www . scribd . com / doc /29171875/3- Cups - of - Tea - Unit - Guide

Each of the following materials will print on a separate page.

Prompt

Write from the point of view of your character. It is October, 2001. If your character is a native of Pakistan or Afghanistan, imagine that Greg Mortenson is planning on building a school in or near your village. If your character is an American, you will respond to the news that Mortenson has been building schools in the lands that harbor terrorists. How does this make you feel? If you approve of this plan, explain why you are in favor of the school. If you object, explain why you disapprove. Based on evidence from the book, thoroughly explain your reaction. Include page numbers to support your answer.

Characters

Some of the individuals below are not characters in Three Cups of Tea, but are generic individuals related to the issues the book presents.

Tara (Mortenson’s Wife) President Bush

Twa’Ha (Haji Ali’s son) Jahan (Haji Ali’s daughter)

A child in AfghanistanMan with a high school

education from Mississippi

A Muslim citizen of New York City

A Christian citizen of New York City

A survivor of 9/11An Army Veteran who fought

in Iraq