Learning Objectives: Analyze and evaluate what it means to create coalitions and friendships that are connected through activism and equity. How did these unlikely duos work together? What myths or tropes do their friendships dismantle?

Essential Questions: What essential questions align with your lesson objectives?

1. How do unlikely coalitions or friendships deconstruct bias to create more cohesive classrooms?

Standard(s)/Benchmark(s): How are you aligning your lesson with state or district standards?

• Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.
• Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
• Identify the role of individuals, groups and institutions in people’s struggle for safety, freedom, equality and justice.
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.
• Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research.
• Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
• Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
• Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Checking Your Bias

• Dismantling the model minority myth

Visual Introduction of Coalitions

• Highlighting parallels between the depiction of Asian people and Black Americans throughout U.S. history
• Modern murals created together by AAPI and Black artists/activists

Introduction of Poetic Devices

• What are they? How do we use them? How do we center voices in creative writing?
• Identify and analyze the poetic devices of a poem together as a class to practice these skills

This unit helps to dismantle myths and bias by revealing the joy and power of unlikely coalitions and friendships in minoritized communities. It celebrates those advancements and connections and seeks to make their stories more visible so students can learn from the valuable lessons and stride toward justice that these coalitions committed to.

Introduction of Primary Sources

• What are they? How do we use them? Defining credible research.

Treasure Hunt for Primary Sources

• Divide students into small groups; Each group will have an envelope containing artifacts and sources relating to Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs or Cathy Park Hong.
  • You could also include the male perspective with people such as George Takei or Bruce Lee
• Students will read and examine the artifacts, primary sources, and secondary sources in the envelope.
• Students will identify which items are primary sources, choosing two primary and one secondary source to use later.

Textual Mining for Poetic Devices

• Each group will be given two poems, one by an Asian American poet and another by a Black poet
• The poems will be accompanied by background information about the poet
• Students will read the poems and identify the poetic devices used in them
  • Students can consider the poetry of Cathy Park Hong, poems from Angel Island and other minoritized poets (both historical and contemporary).
  • This activity continues building knowledge and adds literacy learning.

Flash Fiction

• In the same groups from the previous phase, students will craft a flash biography/memoir of the person they explored (100-300 words total).
• This activity provides an opportunity for students to practice planning and editing a narrative, as well as utilize their imagery and description skills.
• Students will create a presentation based on their flash memoirs and sources to share what they learned about the person to the rest of the class.

Patchwork Poetry

• Students may choose to either work independently or in groups.
• In groups students will synthesize similar themes from the two poems by crafting a new cohesive poem using lines from each poem.
  • This activity is an opportunity for students to practice cohesive writing as well as build upon their understanding of coalitions in a creative way.
• Students will independently write a modified cento poem of 50 lines.
  • A cento poem is a patchwork poem comprised of 100 lines borrowed from other poems/poets.
  • This activity exposes students to a diverse spectrum of poets, forms, devices and themes.
• Students who worked in groups will create a presentation to introduce the poets, their shared themes and the group’s new poem to the rest of the class.
• Students who worked independently will create a visual presentation of their Cento poem and share the themes they encountered when writing with the rest of the class.

Engagement: How does the the lesson provide multiple pathways for students to learn the material? For example, will you offer opportunities for small-group learning, discussion, focused practice with precise feedback, or independent work?

• This lesson offers students individual work, small-group activity and whole-group presentation.
• There are a variety of layered texts (primary sources, secondary sources and poetry).
• For ELL students the lesson can be scaled with AI to help with translation.
• Gifted students may complete a flash memoir about themselves centered around themes from the lesson.

Expression: How will students demonstrate what they have learned? The creation of many paths is important, as is creativity. Tiered assignments, oral exams, building a model, making a video and using portfolio assessment are examples of the varied demonstration of learning.

• Students will craft a flash memoir of the person they explored (100-300 words total).
• Students will synthesize similar themes from the two poems by crafting a new cohesive poem using lines from each poem.

Assessment: How will you assess what students have learned? How can you ensure that your assessment and evaluation are equitable and aligned with the various ways students demonstrate what they have learned?

For their final project, students will work in pairs to answer the following essay prompt: Imagine how two individuals we have learned about in class from the AAPI and Black community, respectively, would work together to address a modern social issue such as affirmative action, immigration or voting rights. Use a minimum of three sources to support your ideas (artifacts, primary sources, secondary sources, poems).