Sixteen in America: Learning to Cope and Owning Our Stories

Grades: 9-12

Time: 2–8 sessions of approx. 50 min. each, or 1–5 block sessions of approx. 90 min. each

Related Links

Download All Files for this Guide (zip file)

Standards for this Guide

Read Sixteen in America in the Magazine

Overview

Today’s American teenagers are coming of age in a society filled with the most indebted, obese, addicted, and medicated adults of any generation in US history. Social worker, researcher, and storyteller Brené́ Brown sees this reality as both a symptom of disconnection and a denial of our universal human experiences of fear, shame, and pain.

Brown asserts, “When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending.” Our students do not have to become the next generation of numb adults. They can write their own brave new endings, but only if they learn ways to reject the myth of vulnerability as weakness and, in its place, learn to value vulnerability as the key to resilience and authenticity.

Written from her perspective as a high school senior, Marissa Levy’s courageous essay about her struggle with mental illness models vulnerability as strength and will inspire other teenagers to tell and own their stories. When we give students the opportunity to shine a light on their experiences of personal turmoil, our classrooms can help transform disconnection and denial into empathy and belonging.

In these lessons, students will read and study the essay “Sixteen in America” and use it as an entry point for social critique and the exploration of education, family, mental health, and identity.

 

Standards

Standards met through this curriculum

Learning Outcomes/Essential Questions

Students will:

  1. Use reading strategies to enhance comprehension and critical thinking.
  2. Use textual evidence to analyze personal argument techniques and structure.
  3. Explore issues of education, family, mental health, and identity while demonstrating their ELA and history/social studies skills through reader response, literary nonfiction writing, and/or discussion.

Essential Questions:

  1. Why is it important to share our stories of personal struggle, and how might these stories shape the ways we live and relate to one another?
  2. What are the causes and consequences of mental illness, and how can we best address these causes in order to create better lives for all people?
  3. How does technology affect our sense of identity and reality?
  4. How do we define success and happiness in our society, and in what ways can we choose to accept and/or challenge these definitions?
  5. What does it mean to be a teenager in America today?

Depth of Knowledge (DOK)

Levels 1, 2, 3, 4

For more information on DOK, see DOK Slide Wheel

Materials/Technology

Computers/devices with which students may produce and publish their writing (optional)

Printouts

Download All Files for this Guide (zip file)

Writing Scoring Guides

Writing Scoring Guides:

SBAC Explanatory Writing Scoring Guide

ODE Informative/Explanatory Writing Scoring Guide (English)

ODE Informative/Explanatory Writing Scoring Guide (Spanish)

ODE Writing Scoring Guide in Student Language (English)

ODE Writing Scoring Guide in Student Language (Spanish)

Social Science Scoring Guides

Social Science Scoring Guides:

ODE Social Science Scoring Guide (English)

ODE Social Science Scoring Guide (Spanish)

ODE Social Science Scoring Guide (Russian)

ODE Social Science Scoring Guide in Student Language (English)

ODE Social Science Scoring Guide in Student Language (Spanish)

ODE Social Science Scoring Guide in Student Language (Russian)

Preparation

  1. Review all resources and decide which components you will include and how many lessons to allot for this curriculum. (Note: Almost every component can be used as a stand-alone piece or combined with other components.)
  2. Read and take notes on the “Sixteen in America” essay.
  3. Review and prepare your chosen handouts.
  4. Decide what formatting, length specifications, and writing process steps you will require for the essay writing assessment.
  5. Preview and prepare optional extensions.

Reading Strategies

  1. Model and instruct students to use the AVID® Marking the Text strategy as they read the article.
    1. Before reading, number the paragraphs. (A paragraph begins at any break in the text, even if it is not indented.)
    2. While reading, circle key vocabulary, dates, names, places, events, and important numbers/statistics.
    3. After reading, go back and re-read sections, underlining strong images, descriptions, dialogue, and author’s reflections.
       
  2. While reading, pause at various places and model the think-aloud strategy to demonstrate comprehension/summarization of the text.
     
  3. TAG Option: You may choose to give advanced readers the SOAPS Text Analysis handout for tracking the author’s argument and purpose during their reading. Students’ observations using this strategy can be incorporated into later lesson steps, such as discussion and writing responses.

Instructional Plan

BEFORE READING

  1. Warm-up:
    Display or distribute the NAMI Children & Teens Mental Health Fact Page to students, and read the information aloud or ask students to read it silently.

    Ask students to respond to the following questions in writing and/or discuss them with a partner:

    What information confirms what you already knew? What information is new to you? What surprises you? Do you think mental illnesses are easy to spot? Why or why not?

    Give students time to think about and record their responses, then conduct a think-pair-share to review responses as a class before moving on.

    (Please note: Because mental illness can be a very sensitive topic, you may want to give students the option of keeping their responses confidential. Advise students to speak with you or another adult privately if they feel they need more support in relation to the issues that come up in this lesson.)

DURING READING

  1. Dialectical journal:
    Present the dialectical journal and model how students should look for quotations and take notes as they read. After introducing the reading strategies you will use, read the essay with students or ask them to read silently. If reading aloud, pause to review, synthesize information, and model note-taking at various points during the reading process.

    Give students time to review the text and add more quotations and responses to their dialectical journals. Consider using a think-pair-share or mini-discussion as an informal assessment of reading and responses.

AFTER READING

  1. Essay structural analysis:
    Present the structural analysis handout and discuss the aspects of the author’s argument that students will be asked to look for: Opening, Claim/Thesis, Evidence (Personal and Outside Sources), and Conclusion. Pre-teach these concepts as needed if students are not already familiar with them.

    Option: Distribute colored pencils or highlighters, and assign a color to each text element: Opening, Claim/Thesis, Evidence (Personal and Outside Sources), and Conclusion. Review and mark the text with students, examining the function of each paragraph. Discuss the author’s choices and the effect of those choices on the reader. Pay special attention to the author’s use of personal evidence in combination with outside sources (research).
     
  2. Personal argument essay:
    Help students break down the prompt and discuss the specific requirements you have set for this assessment, along with the timeline and steps of the writing process students might complete: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, publishing. Give students time to brainstorm and share their ideas during the pre-writing and drafting stages, and use think-pair-shares, exit slips, and/or other methods as informal assessment.

    During stages of the writing process, return to the “Sixteen in America” essay as a model, along with the models provided in the Optional Extensions section:

    Professional Example: Your Cultural Attire
    Professional Example: Between Ribbon and Root
    Student Essay Sample: A Generation Zer’s Take
    Student Essay Sample: Civil Obedience
    Student Essay Sample: Muddying a Sacred Cloth
    Student Essay Sample: The Red Stain on Society

    Review with students the ways in which writers use their personal stories as a starting point, then develop their positions and bring them into a broader conversation through research.
     
  3. “Sixteen in America” post-reading discussion (optional extension):
    Ask students to prepare all of their notes and previous work on the “Sixteen in America” essay. Share the discussion rubric and give students additional instructions on discussion expectations and format. Set up instructional time to include discussion preparation, the discussion itself, and debriefing after the discussion. You may want to have students turn in their notes for a writing portion of the overall discussion grade.

Differentiation

ELL and SPED Supports: Scaffolded assignment options, reading strategies

TAG Extensions: Leadership opportunities during discussion and/or Socratic Seminar, SOAPS Text Analysis handout to use during and after reading, optional extensions and related reading/resources

Assessment/Student Performance Tasks

  1. Dialectical journal/structural analysis/reader response and discussion (formative)
  2. Essay writing assessment (can be used as formative or summative)
  3. Post-reading discussion (can be used as formative or summative)

Additional Resources/Related Reading

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Brene Brown: Shame, Courage, and Vulnerability

Optional Extensions

Professional Example: Your Cultural Attire

Professional Example: Between Ribbon and Root

Student Essay Sample: A Generation Zer’s Take

Student Essay Sample: Civil Obedience

Student Essay Sample: Muddying a Sacred Cloth

Student Essay Sample: The Red Stain on Society

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