AMERICAN BORN CHINESE Unit Plan: Discussion Prompts, Exercises, Reading Quizzes, Writing Assignment

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This 135-page EDITABLE curriculum has everything you’ll need for profoundly stimulating lessons on Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese! Invite your class to engage in student-driven discussions without compromising on intellectual rigor. The pre-reading handout, discussion questions, image analysis worksheets, vocabulary lists, and analytical writing assignment will challenge your students to dig beneath the surface of the text and generate profound interpretive insights!!

The graphic novel is an aesthetically innovative genre in which meaning is created through the interplay of image and text. How do we read a novel in which two narrative channels — one verbal, the other visual — interact? And how do graphic novels challenge readers to expand the set of interpretive techniques that make up “close reading”? This unit will help students understand complex questions about literary and aesthetic form, the experience of social exclusion, and the troubling history of racial stereotypes in American popular media.

Here are some highlights from the 135-page curriculum:

• Author Biography: Open this unit by reading and discussing a 3-page biography of Gene Luen Yang. The biography introduces students to Yang’s experience growing up as one of the only Asian-American students in predominantly white schools in California. As such, it introduces readers to many of the themes that will emerge in American Born Chinese: the painful experience of social exclusion, the threat of racial stereotypes, the healing power of literature, etc. (3 pages)

• Discussion Question Handouts (x9): Thirty pages of higher-order discussion questions guaranteed to inspire profoundly thoughtful class discussions! This unit features double-sided handouts with 8-10 questions for each of the book’s 9 chapters. The discussion questions are the beating heart of these lesson plans. They challenge students to build interpretive arguments that require the support of carefully selected textual evidence — leading to keen interpretive insights! Guaranteed to elicit student engagement and foster profound discussions! (20 pages)

• Discussion Question Answer Keys (x9): The answer keys to the discussion questions are informed by cutting-edge scholarship by literature professors who specialize in the graphic novel and Yang’s American Born Chinese. Of course, there is rarely a single “correct” answer for any question; rather, the discussions questions are made up of higher-order questions designed to foster lively exchanges and interpretive debates among students. They challenge students to build interpretive arguments that require the support of carefully selected textual evidence. (40 pages)

• Quick Writes: A “quick write” can be used at any time in a class to get students to pause and reflect on the text in writing. Introduce a quick write before you begin a discussion to allow students to collect their thoughts. Or roll one out toward the end of a discussion to let students capture and refine their best ideas. (9 pages)

• Image Analysis Worksheets (x5): These worksheets challenge students to analyze and compare more than a dozen visually complex panels from American Born Chinese. Students will reflect on how Gene Luen Yang builds meaning by through the use of aesthetic strategies such as visual parallels, verbal puns, inversions, symbolism, etc. Help students figure out what it means to “close read” a graphic novel. Worksheets are provided for chapters 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9. Answer keys included. (18 pages)

• Vocabulary Lists (x9): Lists of 8 vocabulary words for every chapter, complete with definitions and sample sentences with the words as they are used in American Born Chinese. A total of 72 words. (9 pages)

• Reading & Vocabulary Quizzes (x9): Daily quizzes with 6 questions on the reading homework plus another 4 questions on the vocabulary words. If you choose not to have your students study vocabulary, you can still use the portion of the quiz focused on reading comprehension. Grading these quizzes is simple and quick. They’re an easy way to log 9 grades into your gradebook. Answer keys included. (18 pages)

• Analytical Writing Assignment: Challenge students to take their interpretations one step further by writing an analytical paper on Gene Luen Yang’s complex graphic novel. Let students choose from one of three thought-provoking sample topics — or invite them to develop a similar topic of their own. Writing schedule and rubric included. (4 pages)

I recognize that every teacher has different strategies for making literature come alive in the English classroom. Therefore, the materials in this unit are bundled as a single EDITABLE Word document which you can CUSTOMIZE to suit your teaching style and/or your students’ skill levels.

Thank you for choosing Rigorous Resources!

Happy teaching!

Adam Jernigan, Ph.D.

adamjernigan@gmail.com