- In what ways does text interaction encourage thought and action?

- Author’s Purpose: The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, or to persuade or convince the audience to do or not do something. 
- Imagery: A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell; figurative language. The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work. 
- Literary Devices: Tools used by the author to enliven and provide a voice to the writing (e.g., dialogue, alliteration). 
- Metaphor: A figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object. Metaphors suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object. - An example is “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Here, Juliet, the first object, is identified with the qualities of the second object, the sun. 
- Symbolism: A device in literature where an object represents an idea. 
- Style: How an author writes; an author’s use of language; its effects and appropriateness to the author’s intent and theme.

- Bob Dylan. The Times They Are A-Changin. Lyrics at http://www.bobdylan.com/#songs/the-times-they-are-a-changin and video clip at
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9vwxn_the-times-they-are-achanig_music 
- Florence Kelley. (1905). Speaks Out on Child Labor and Woman Suffrage. http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/childlabor-womansuffrage/ 
- Gwendolyn Brooks. We Real Cool. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15433 
- Paul Laurence Dunbar. We Wear the Mask. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/we-wear-the-mask 
Choices:
- Mark Twain. (2004). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. BookSurge Classics.
- George Orwell. (2003). Animal Farm. Plume. (a good choice for social commentary and use of irony)
- Silence Dogood, No. 4 by Benjamin Franklin. (The language is old-fashioned, but the text represents an example of humor used to bring about change.
http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf1/sd4.htm 

- Watch the students as they write their answers to "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and assist those who might require additional practice.
- Assist students as they work on Kelley's speech. Interact with the groups while they are debating the texts.
- Give feedback on each individual's written responses to help students assess their progress toward the lesson's goal.

Clear instruction, active participation, and scaffolding
W: Examine how persuasion is used in literature to critique aspects of society. 
H: Get students interested in politics by asking them to name historical political activism, uprisings, and the forms those movements took.
E: Encourage group discussions and peer evaluation in addition to teacher evaluation.
R: Ask students to reflect on their reading while writing their observations about selected examples of persuasion, and allow them to reconsider their initial entries and consider how other points of view may have influenced their thinking.
E: Allow students to collaborate with others and compare their opinions with those of their classmates through discussion of written responses.
T: Allow for group projects, class discussions, and individual performances.
O: Arrange the lesson so that it starts with a topic that everyone is familiar with and ends with group discussion and personal reflection.

Focus Question: What is the process of using persuasion to increase political and social awareness?

Say, "A common thread in American life is political activism and rebellion against conventional wisdom. In the previous lesson, we studied some instances of political activism and social unrest in the words and spirit of "We Shall Overcome" and Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech. Which historical American political movements and uprisings come to mind?" Here are some suggested examples:

the Tea Party in Boston
the America's Revolution
the Abolitionist Movement
the secession of the South from the Union
the growth of labor unions
the Women's Suffrage Movement
the evolution of the blues
the Jazz Age of the 1920s
the Beat Generation
rock & roll
the movement of civil rights
the counterculture—hippies
the anti-Vietnam War protests

Note: Students might bring up more recent examples, like bullying, the Iraq Wars, animal rights, and going green.

"What forms of political activism or rebellions were these examples expressed in? " (physical aggression; nonviolent demonstrations like marches and sit-ins; the Underground Railroad; books, newspaper articles, and editorials; speeches, poetry, songs, films, and television programs) Describe how different facets of persuasion have been employed as change agents.

Part 1

Say, "Speeches and editorials aren't the only ways that people can comment on society. Poems, drama, novels, and lyrics have all been influential."The Times They Are A-Changin" by Bob Dylan was a staple song of the counterculture of the 1960s. Students should watch the video and read the lyrics. Next, have students annotate a copy of the lyrics to complete the following:

Examine and explain at least one of the song's verses concerning persuasion.

Add a final statement expressing Dylan's desire for his audience to believe.

Ask volunteers to share their answers with the whole class. Here are some suggested examples:

With the lyrics "... admit that the waters/Around you have grown," he begins to sing, adding that one must either sink or swim.

The alterations occurring are likened to menacing entities: a deluge, a whirling wheel, an intense conflict that will “soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.”

The phrase "The line it is drawn/The curse it is cast" describes how an old order is fading.

Dylan's advice to take up swimming is laced with a bittersweet humor in the lyrics.

To "keep your eyes wide" for the impending changes, he extends an invitation to authors and critics.

The battle that is about to befall politicians is what he tells them to watch out for.

As children are now traveling a different road from their parents, he cautions parents that they are no longer able to control them.

He claims that an existing order is eroding and that a new one is emerging, but it will be unstable and cause social unrest.

Part 2

Declare, "This next piece is even more straightforward than Bob Dylan's lyrics. Florence Kelley, a lawyer who resided at the Jane Addams Hull House, an immigrant settlement house in Chicago, gave this speech in 1905. She committed herself to attempting to enhance working conditions." After reading Kelley's speech, assign the following tasks to your students:

All three types of persuasive arguments—logical, ethical, and emotional—should be illustrated in a journal entry.

Finish with a statement identifying Kelley's purpose.

Allow students to work independently before sharing their findings in a class discussion. Possible responses include:

rational appeal: "Two million children under the age of sixteen who are earning their bread."

ethical appeal

+ demonstrates her concern for children's welfare by mentioning their "pitiful privilege of working all night long," solidifying her position as a concerned citizen.
+ makes statements implying that she thinks women's voting rights would benefit children.
+ denotes what women must do to assist because they are unable to vote.

emotional appeal

+ expresses empathy for the children's predicament by stating, "A girl of six or seven years, just tall enough to reach the bobbins, may work eleven hours by day or by night," to illustrate their conditions.
+ calling the children who work "little beasts of burden," he claims that they have been "robbed of school life so that they may work for us."

author’s purpose

+ to encourage women to appeal to voters who are working men.
+ to release kids from their labor situations.
+ to assist in granting women the right to vote.

Gather the answers to be used in the unit's performance assessment.

Part 3

Describe: "A renowned poet of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was Paul Laurence Dunbar. He is most known for his poem "We Wear the Mask." Give the class a reading of the poem. After that, ask students to finish the following:

Enumerate the precise words in the poem that evoke strong feelings and provoke thought.

Write a conclusion stating your interpretation of Dunbar's motivation for this poem.

Discuss the poem. Here are some possible responses:

Dunbar employs the mask as a metaphor for concealing true emotions behind a false front.

The use of emotive language in phrases like "torn and bleeding hearts," "tears and sighs," and "tortured souls" helps to portray the suffering of those who suffer on the inside while maintaining a happy exterior.

Dunbar might have wanted to convey the African-American people's struggle to endure oppression and slavery. More broadly, the poem suggests that appearances can be deceiving and that many people tend to conceal their true feelings.

Gather student-written answers to utilize in the unit's performance assessment.

Extension:

Ask students who are prepared to go beyond the basics to go back through their readings and choose two that they believe are related in some way. This connection could be based on subject, tone, or any other kind of connection the students might notice. Ask students to do background reading on the writers, then have them compose a paragraph outlining how and why each expressed political activism or rebellion.

Assign students who require extra learning opportunities to analyze two speeches concerning women's rights (refer to the Related Resources) and pinpoint the persuasive strategies employed by each speaker to elevate their level of social and political consciousness.