This web page is the work of methods students at the University of Delaware learning about teaching multi-cultural literature and unit planning. Another purpose to our webpage is to also learn about ways to express ideas with our students using technology. We want our audience to know that  none of these plans has been executed within classes, but  we hope to share our ideas about teaching with various cultural novels, or revisit some classics with a multi-cultural focus.  We invite you to share with us observations and experiences using these literary works or teaching strategies.

English 483 Teaching of Literature

Student Work | English Dept. | English Ed.

Name and e-mail	Multi-cultural identity	Annotation	Unit plan
Adam Abbott	Palestinian		Habibi
Becker,Daniel	African	This unit is the African novel about war  and guerilla fighters.  The graphic male sex and violence causes this novel to be  carefully considered before teaching it to high school students.	Beast of No Nation
Andrea Cisneros	Chinese-American	The Joy Luck Club is about a daughter coming to terms with the death of her mother and the generational divides that separate a group of a Chinese mothers and Chinese American daughters. This unit uses The Joy Luck Club to introduce 9th grade students to the process of close/critical reading a multicultural text.	Joy Luck Club
Amber Donoflio	Dominican-American		How the Garcai Girls Lost Their Accents
Lauren Kindbeiter	Mexican-American	This unit uses the coming of age novel The House on Mango Street as a resource for learning about culture and identity, as well as concepts such as theme, style, symbolism, and bildungsroman.	House on Mango Street
Gabrielle Knauer	Jewish	My unit plan uses  Night, a non-fictional piece of multi-cultural literature to introduce the students to the Holocaust, and to explore the theme of identity (who are we, which experiences helped shape  our identity, and who do we want to be in the future?)	Night by Elie Wiesel
Hillary Mix	Mexican	This unit plan is based upon Linda Sue Parks' A Single Shard, a story about an orphan who becomes a potter's apprentice in 13th c. Korea. The plans cover structural and literary elements, and historical and cultural context.	Like Water for Chocolate
Keri Moore	African-American	This  unit plan examines how theme in Shakespeare can travel through time and culture using Romeo and Juliet and Romiette and Julio, a novel addressing the struggles that two African-American and Hispanic teenagers face when they fall in love.	Raisin in the Sun
Petra Palmer	Chinese American		Woman Warrior
Kathleen Prisco			The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
Alisa Singer			The Secret Life of Bees
Kathryn Smith	African		Things Fall Apart
Tristan Spates	Victorian English		Lavinia's Window
Erin Stevens	Southern USA		Scorpions
Jonathan Weston			Kite Runner

English Department | Dr. Deborah M. Alvarez | 56 Memorial Hall, Newark, DE 19716 | 302-831-2297 phone