How Does Media Affect Our Identity?

This unit is designed for an 8th grade Reading class, which does guided reading groups, but is adaptable for any middle school reading class. The short story Recitatif serves as an exemplary tool for teaching ambiguity and bias. Recitatif, written by Toni Morrison, is a story in which she goes to great lengths to make sure that there is no certainty of which character is black and which is white.

The focus of this unit is three-fold. First, it is to teach bias. Students need to understand that texts they read often include bias, and they must learn to identify and then analyze these statements. Secondly, students will use this text to learn the skill of indirect characterization.

Since this unit will be used during a reading class, the objectives for most of the unit will be to teach universal skills, but there will be objectives that are specific to the actual short story. The activities and assignments in this unit are designed to teach students reading skills, but to also push students to make big text-to-self and text-world connections, and give them an opportunity to publish their opinions.