"Theorizing U.S. National Identity through Multicultural Texts,"
	Examining American Identity and Defining Our Own - Timeri Tolnay, Willard Intermediate
	The unit on "Examining American Identity and Defining our Own" was designed to be taught in an eighth grade English Language Development class. The themes presented in the unit are certainly applicable to most any secondary student, but the literature proposed to teach these themes comes largely from an eighth grade text book. The unit's primary goal is to teach students that they have values. This unit has students reading a number of stories that deal with characters who struggle with problems as a result of the values that they hold. For instance, in "The Treasure of Lemon Brown," a boy has a conflict with his father because the boy values playing basketball and the father values academic excellence. While reading this story, the teacher will lead students to recognize this conflict in values that exists between the father and son. This unit suggests that children are confronted by different opposing forces that try to encourage them to value certain things. For instance, parents usually want children to respect their elders, while the school might encourage children to pursue academic success at any cost. Sometimes these values conflict with one another. It is during adolescence that students begin to make decisions on their own more frequently. Students should be made aware of the fact that most people base their decisions on a set of values, and that there are different influences in society that work to encourage us to value one thing over another. With that understanding, the unit focuses a great deal on the media. We look at TV, magazines and newspapers and analyze what these media encourage us to value. Hopefully upon completion, students will have a better sense of their own values and feel more confident in their ability to recognize outside forces that work to influence their personal belief system.