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- Unit Type
- Core
- Suggested Pacing
- 9 Weeks
- Performance Task
- Literary Analysis and Original Poem
Suggested Pacing
| Unit Arc | Instructional Time | Essential Question | Key Milestones |
|---|---|---|---|
Spark | 3 lessons | What does it mean to live between two worlds? |
|
Investigation 1 | 18 lessons | What is blood, and how does it work both as a symbol of family ties and our shared humanity? |
|
Investigation 2 | 16 lessons | What is culture, and how does it shape our identity and sense of belonging—especially when we move between more than one world? |
|
Unit Context
Knowledge Building Topic
Connections of Blood and Culture: How biological ties and cultural heritage shape identity—and what it means to belong to more than one community or world.
I'm Learning About
how blood works as a biological connection and as a symbol of family, heritage, and shared history.
how culture shapes identity through shared language, traditions, and ways of seeing the world.
how people navigate identity and belonging when moving between two cultures or communities.
how authors use storytelling to explore what connects us to the people and places that shaped us.
Knowledge Goals
Analyze how blood functions as both a biological process and a literary symbol of family connection, identity, and shared heritage.
Evaluate how the author uses imagery, figurative language, and verse structure to convey emotion, theme, and cultural meaning.
Interpret how culture, heritage, and bicultural experience shape identity and belonging in the text.
Analyze how recurring motifs—including blood, color, and heroism—develop themes of connection, loss, and becoming across the novel.
Knowledge-Building Questions
How does the novel use blood as a symbol of connection, family, and loss—and how does the science of blood deepen this meaning?
How do imagery, figurative language, and verse structure convey emotion and reveal character?
How does culture—through language, tradition, and shared experience—shape a person's identity and sense of belonging?
What does it mean to navigate life between two cultures, and how does the narrator make sense of both worlds?
Essential Questions
Investigation 1: What is blood, and how does it work as a symbol of both family ties and our shared humanity?
Investigation 2: What is culture, and how does it shape our identity and sense of belonging especially when we move between more than one world?
Unit Texts
Novel
Red, White, and Whole
Rajani LaRocca
Short-Form Text
“Search for My Tongue”
Sujata Bhatt
Read text
Short-Form Text
Fish Cheeks
Amy Tan
Read text
Short-Form Text
Olympic Hopeful Works to Improve Bone Marrow Registries
Frederica Boswell, NPR
Read text
Short-Form Text
Savitri: A Princess Who Would Not Give Up
Standard News Bureau
Read text
Short-Form Text
Through Her Grief, an Indian American Photographer Rediscovers Her Heritage
Maansi Srivastava, NPR
Read text
Short-Form Text
What can go wrong with blood? An overview of anemia, bleeding, blood clotting and blood cancers.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), adapted by Newsela
Read text
Short-Form Text
What Is Blood?
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), adapted by Newsela
Read text
Short-Form Text
Youth: Bicultural Identity, Then and Now
Bhavana Kunnath, Khabar, an Indian American magazine
Read text
