Using Film, Poetry, and Music to Learn About Social Issues Present during Hurricane Katrina
This curriculum unit will take place in my sixth grade English/Language Arts class; it will be a 10 day unit that is meant to accommodate a 90 minute block schedule. We will be focusing on understanding and comparing the tone of two poems from survivors of Hurricane Katina that are forms of artistic expression meant to shed light on the social injustices revealed by the natural disaster. Lessons are designed to first allow students to gain background knowledge of the storm as well as the social issues that are present. We will debate on whether this storm is truly just a natural disaster or can be classified as a human disaster as well. Next, we will analyze the poetry to identify the tone present and how it expresses the social issues brought forth by the storm
To continue integrating art into the unit, we will study different forms of artistic expression such as poetry, photography, and songs as way for people to express their point of view on current social injustices. The culminating piece is for students to create a form of artistic expression that highlight their point of view on a modern social issue.