Âś Lesson Plan: Who We Are, Who We See: Identity and Perspective Before Reading Before the Ever After
| Author(s): |
Catherine Gibbons |
| School(s): |
Gateway Regional High School |
| Contact Info: |
[email protected] |
Basic Information
| Grade Level(s): |
9th |
| Content Area(s): |
ELA |
| Suggested Length of Lesson: |
About 60 minutes |
Lesson Overview
This pre-reading lesson uses station activities and some AI output to introduce students to the themes of Before the Ever After (especially identity). Students explore the concept of literature as a window, mirror, or sliding glass door, and reflect on their own identities while learning to engage with AI-generated content thoughtfully and critically.
Lesson Frame
- We will explore how literature helps us understand ourselves and others through the lens of identity and experience.
- I will reflect on my own identity and consider how Before the Ever After may serve as a window, mirror, or sliding glass door for me.
NJSLS
- NJSLS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development.
- NJSLS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.
- NJSLS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
AI Integration
- Intended Outcome of AI Use: AI will be used by the teacher to generate sample identity profiles, reflective writing, and book recommendations for a station activity. This gives students safe, curated exposure to AI-generated content, offering opportunities for critical thinking about the limits and bias of AI.
- AI Literacy or Skill Developed: Students will learn to analyze and question AI-generated content. They will practice identifying how AI outputs may lack cultural nuance or personal insight, helping them build digital discernment.
Materials & Tools:
- AI Tool(s) Used:Used by Teacher to Create Profiles for Critiquing
- School AI Sidekick (or your school approved AI platform)
- Google Slides Presentation: Google Slides Outline for Pre-Reading Lesson: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
- Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTaDvyHhoWk
Mini-lesson / Direct Instruction
- Discuss how identity influences how we read and respond to texts.
- Introduce the idea that AI can help us generate ideas, but also has limitations and bias, because it pulls from stored data that may not reflect all lived experiences.
Learning Activity
Opening / Activation of Prior Knowledge (10 minutes): Display Dr. Rudine Sims Bishopâs quote:
âBooks are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange⌠and sometimes sliding glass doors⌠and sometimes mirrorsâŚâ
Brief class discussion (5-7 minutes):
- Discuss how identity influences how we read and respond to texts.
- Introduce the idea that AI can help us generate ideas, but also has limitations and bias, because it pulls from stored data that may not reflect all lived experiences.
- Explain that todayâs stations use AI to analyze and interact safely through School AI Sidekick (or school approved AI platform).
Stations (35 minutes 5-7 minutes each station)
- Station 1: Identity Mapping (Student-Centered): Students create personal identity maps (or use a template) to list cultural, personal, and social aspects of who they are.
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Station 2: AI Profile Analysis (Teacher-Curated AI): Read 2-3 identity âprofilesâ generated by AI. Students evaluate them using prompts like:
- What feels missing or unrealistic?
- Would this feel more authentic if a person wrote it? Why?
- What can this tell us about how AI understands identity?
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Station 3: Mirror, Window, or Door? (Literary Lens): Students read the back cover from Before the Ever After and predict: Will this book be a mirror, window, or sliding glass door for you? Why?
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Station 4: School AI Sidekick Prompt & Response Station (Student-Centered)
- Use School AI Sidekick or your school approved AI tool
- Type this prompt: âWhat kind of themes or emotions do you expect in a book about a young athlete and his father going through memory loss?â
- Discuss:
- Do you agree with the AI response? Why or why not?
- What do you predict this book might explore?
- Station 5: Video Reflection (Authorâs Intent): Watch a short video of Jacqueline Woodson talking about her work. Students reflect:
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How does her perspective shape her writing?
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Could AI ever tell her story? Why or why not?
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Closure / Assessment / Reflection (5-10 minutes)
- Students respond to a short writing prompt poles on Google Classroom:
- âHow can reading stories, especially ones that arenât like our own, help us grow?â
- âWhatâs one thing you learned about identity or AI today that surprised you?â
Differentiation & Accessibility:
- Sentence stems and graphic organizers for ELLs
- Visuals and simplified instructions at each station
- Accountable talk phrases to help foster student centered discussions
- Modified shared book experience for struggling readers
- Challenge questions or creative extensions for advanced students
Assessment: