Maggie Muller

Prefatory Statement

              This unit project will have students creating a multiple genre research paper that gets at the heart of the prejudice during the civil rights era of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. Students will choose research topics that should clear up questions and make meaning of difficult prejudice issues and circumstances. They will clarify aspects of this prejudice seen around America during the Civil Rights struggle. Even today, students can see the struggles of different ethnicities, and how those different cultures work towards equality. Students will focus on major figures from this era while attempting to draw on that voice to try and make a difference, by putting things in perspective for their peers. They will also have the opportunity to share aspects of their research around the community, but especially around the school. This should make the experience more meaningful for community members. Seeing students come to terms with that struggle will help open their eyes to the constant problems still surrounding these issues today.

              The culminating project should help most students grow as researchers, thinkers and writers while developing a fundamental understanding of the different purposes for text. This will help especially in finding a clear voice, in the chaos of this struggle. They must create a narrative of themselves as a prominent figure from this era, a poem or short story that recognizes the pain and confusion of this time. Also including another two or three other ways to share that opinion. This could include a cartoon, a newspaper article, an obituary, or even a dramatic dialogue. It will all be connected in the multiple genre research, which should also lead to sharing photos and/or music lyrics that pertain to specific situations from this time.

              This unit will begin by having students learn and show mutual respect for classmates’ views on these controversial topics. Then present material to emphasize the struggle of certain ethnicities to gain equal rights and how that exists in today’s world. I will have students take a deeper look at the larger events in this era that activists fought for civil or equal rights for citizens. I will provide examples of poetry, fiction, songs, interviews and speeches, along with newspaper articles that provide poignant issues on these hard-hitting topics in order to get students going on this assignment. I will also focus their topics more narrowly and provide a Webquest assignment that allows students to research a given topic or leader and then create dialogue journals in order to provide the historical aspects of this time period. This will also help me see them progressing and actually learning through their research.

 It’s important for students to see the world through other lenses and this research paper is a great way to discuss that. I feel that issues of race, ethnicity and class are all social issues, and for some reason there are still wars being fought over these painful topics today. Having students come full circle and share their research will prompt them to use their understanding to stand up against social justice when they see it in the world. Creating unity in a classroom for a cause that has been fought throughout the last half of the past century will empower these students to take a deeper look at their own community and how they perceive the world around them. 

I believe students should learn from the past and through this dramatic look at the Civil Rights era, they will hopefully come to terms with the inequality that still exists in the world. It will always be there, however, this might present them with an opportunity disallow racial slang or abuse in their lives. It’s crucial for these students to gain an understanding of the struggle that went on for basic rights, and to be thankful they have the opportunities they do. Students will acquire these concepts by putting themselves in the shoes of a civil rights leader and finding that voice in their creative writing. This will be shown through poetry, narratives, letters and so on; all pulled together in a nice package, called the multi-genre research paper.

They could even take their projects a step forward by submitting some of their work to magazines that deal with topics of prejudice and intolerance across this country. Amnesty Now and Intelligence Report are great examples of places where these student articles might be published. Giving these students a chance to find a voice of this era and pushing them to be creative, and get into the topics will help put a perspective lens on their own lives.

Class Specification~ This unit would be work well for students in eighth grade or higher. It might be upsetting for students who are offended easily, since the civil rights movement dealt with a lot of controversial issues which still impact students of today. Dealing with the range of students from various socio-economic levels that may be in any given classroom could see both results and reactions. It would be appropriate to take a deeper look and analyze the impact of this movement through a creative means.

Significant Assumptions~ I assume students have a basic understanding of who Martin Luther King Jr. was and what he was fighting for in the civil rights movement. Also, I will assume that students by eighth grade will have an idea about segregation and Rosa Parks. I will also assume that they understand the inequality that was generated, even in schools and restaurants. I will assume that the students know how a research project should express direction, flow and fluency throughout. I assume they know how to read a passage and understand the tone and point the author is trying to make. I also assume they know how to come up with secure research on the Internet from the links I gave on the Webquest, but also through their own searching. I will finally assume that students know how to write letters and journal or diary, in order to illustrate their reactions and reflections.

Desired Outcomes/ Standards/ Objectives to be Met~ This requires students to have a general idea for this tragic struggle that raged on through two decades and is still being fought, in a sense, today. Students should gain cultural perspectives by using voice and creating a narrative, by involving the struggle seen by a civil rights activist from the era. I also feel students will recognize the obstacles that the activist’s faced, and how they coped with outright racism. It’s a challenging topic and I hope the students will use their writing skills to attain a positive and appropriate reaction to their topics. I chose the Minnesota content standard for writing, B., which involves the elements of composition. This includes focusing the quality ideas for a purpose; this brings in the idea of a multiple genre research paper to light. It should include creating narratives, informative reports using word processing, formulating an opinion with support and arguments, and also students will use the composing process. I would like students to learn the struggles for many African-Americans during the 1950’s and 60’s; and how that struggle has drastically changed the outcome of elections, schools and so on. Furthermore, students will be using technology in order to research prominent figures of this time. They will also keep a dialogue journal that will represent the research they’ve come up with throughout the unit. This journal will show me their progress and present itself as an assessment tool. Finally, they will be using their own creative research and writing process in order to create a historical fiction piece or short story.

Possible Whole-Class Activities: Creating a letter together and sending it into Intelligence Report or Amnesty Now magazine, since both journals cover pressing racial conflicts of today. I will have the students listen to Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and Bob Dylan’s “The Death of Emmet Till;” they will discuss questions involving whether the use of song was effective in this movement. I will also share a book of sonnets called A Wreath for Emmet Till, written by Marilyn Nelson, comprised of a crown of sonnets. This activity should help students create their own poems or sonnets for the multiple genre research paper.

Possible Small-Group Activities:  Discussing the novel Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. Along with a few short stories shared in 4 groups that illustrate hate, anger, and neglect but especially prejudice. Having them discuss these events through the National guards’ point of view and then switch it to the demonstrator’s point of view. 

Possible Individual Activities: Creating a Multiple genre research paper on a civil rights leader or closely related topic that has many voices to be shared. Individually students will be asked to create a narrative, a letter, and they will be allowed to add no less than three separate pieces into their multi-genre research. This could involve an interview, a cartoon, a map, a timeline, photos will be encouraged, song lyrics, poetry, scripting or dialogue. The students must create each of these genres on their own.

Ongoing Activities: The dialogue journals from the Webquest assignment, (found on the website: www.d.umn.edu/~mull0323/CivilRightsWebquest.htm), will be an ongoing activity used in order to help students come to terms with what they found throughout this assignment and how their attitudes have changed. I will check them at the end of each week and to reply to what they’ve found in their research and how they’re dealing with what they are learning about this era. Also, this gives them a chance to reflect on the controversial nature of these topics and how segregation has affected many generations. Another ongoing activity will be reading the book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin; this has many tangible examples of prejudice that most Blacks faced in the Deep South during this time. Finally, the multiple genre research paper itself is an ongoing assignment that will be assessed in its final product.

Student Resources: Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” Speech, Malcom X autobiography snippets, John Howard Griffin’s book Black Like Me, Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters excerpt, the use of “Strange Fruit” from Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan’s “The Death of Emmet Till” which directly relate to segregation. I will provide examples of civil rights political cartoons from the website, http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/bysubject/civil_rights/index.php. Finally the websites containing basic information on this era I put on the Webquest I created, which includes timelines, biographical details of leaders and photo galleries. Additionally, a book of sonnets by Marilyn Nelson titled, A Wreath for Emmet Till.

Unit Launch: Share with the students a brief glimpse into Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters, this first hand look at the Freedom Riders of the South is devastating and real. Showing students the pain and suffering that was dealt with for the simple luxuries of life, like riding in the front of the bus or eating at a diner counter. This will attempt to put the student’s lives in perspective, also providing them with enough fuel to be interested in pursuing a topic that deals with the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, for the remainder of the grading period. Also, in this class period I will have them begin to reflect in journal format, how this account of the Freedom Riders makes them feel. Ask them to write down their thoughts on hate crimes and how this incident is similar. Making students aware that they will be working on an ongoing project, which will be detailed on the Webquest website. This unit will include a dialogue journal, which they just began; and a culminating multiple-genre research paper.

Organization of Unit:

Week 1:

Monday: Introduce the idea of the Civil Rights Movement and have the students come up with a list of facts they already know that pertain to that time period. Give them the benefit of sharing in class, especially with each other to gauge the excitement. Begin the unit by sharing a first hand account of the terrors of being a Freedom Rider at this time. Allow them to reflect on hate crimes of today and the similarities to the way in which the Freedom Riders were treated.

Tuesday: I will then have the students begin the Webquest (www.d.umn.edu/~mull0323/CivilRightsWebquest.htm), explaining the idea behind it is to share with me their mental process during this large unit and also help them personally, to reflect on their findings. Students will grasp the concept of a multiple genre research paper, and begin their dialogue journals.

Wednesday: Begin the novel Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin. This is a first person account of the terrors blacks had to deal with in the Deep South in the early 1950’s. The experiment that Griffin puts himself through will be a stimulating topic for their dialogue journals. The students will be reading this novel throughout the unit, in order to gain further perspective of this era.

Thursday: The students will be researching their Webquest research topics on the media center computers, in order to prepare for their topics, and beginning their multiple genre research paper.

Friday: Play the students the songs, “Strange Fruit”(http://www.strangefruit.org/) and “The Death of Emmet Till,” in order to show them the effectiveness of other non-violent protest.

Week 2:

Monday: Have students begin with a prompt for their dialogue journals. The class could start with a discussion on the magnitude of Barak Obama becoming our nation’s 44th president. Giving the students a chance to reflect on the significance that occurred just forty years after African-Americans had to fight for the right to vote. Ask students to discuss together the value behind going after what you believe in and use Obama specifically as an example.

Tuesday: Begin by introducing the idea of a literature circle by handing out the required roles for discussion. Explaining that students will need to prepare, and then present their role by Friday. I will require that the students break into small groups of 4 or 5 to discuss the novel Black Like Me for the literature circle, and they should find those groups at that time. Each student in the group is designated a discussion director, a literary luminary, a connector or the illustrator. After groups are chosen, begin looking at poems from this era and have them begin creating poems in their dialogue journals. I will share the book of sonnets from Marilyn Nelson entitled, A Wreath for Emmet Till. These sonnets should help inspire students and prod their creative side, in order to create poems for their multiple-genre research paper.

Wednesday: Begin the discussion on narratives and help the students find voice through exercises with point of view, also by looking through several short stories. The short stories will provide examples of how the students may go about writing narratives. Push the students to go home and find a voice from their chosen topic out of the Webquest research, and start creating characters and point of view with a plot. Explain that they will be creating their own narrative for their multiple genre research paper and it should revolve around a conflict from their chosen topic.

Thursday: Have the students continue working on their narratives. Write these crucial objectives on the board:

1. plot – the series of events in a story

2. setting – where and when a story takes place

3. characters – the people involved in the events of the story

**4. point of view – the relationship of the narrator to the characters in the story. (This aspect will be really focused on for this assignment.)

5. theme – the main idea of the story, often a moral or lesson

6. conflict – a struggle between two opposing forces

7. suspense – the methods an author uses to keep the reader’s interest

Have them copy this into their dialogue journals with notes by each point. Then give them the rest of the hour to create a narrative. This narrative won't be due until the end of the unit, but they must have me check off their progress by the end of the week.

Friday: Lesson plan #1 will fit here in order for students to take on different perspectives when reading the novel Black Like Me, through the literature circle format.

Lesson Topic: Black Like Me Literature Circles   

Grade level: 8th Grade     Length of lesson: Two class periods

Use these role descriptions for the literature circles set up by abcteach.com

Name: _________________________ Book: ______________________________

Date: __________________  Assignment: _______________________________

Connector: Your job is to find connections between the book you are reading and the outside world. This means connecting what you read with your own life, to what happens at school or in the community, to similar events at other times and places, or to other people or problems. Once you have shared your connection to this section of the book, each member of your group will also relate their own connection to the book, although they may refer to a different passage.  Describe the part in the book, and then explain your connection.

Discussion Director: Your job is to write a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this part of the book. The best questions will come from your own thoughts, feelings, and ideas about this section of the book. You also need to write your own answers to these questions.

Literary Luminary: Your job is to choose a paragraph or sentences from the book to discuss with your group. Your purpose is to help other students by spotlighting something interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important from the text. You can read parts aloud yourself, or ask another group member to read them. Include your reasons for picking the paragraphs or sections you did. Please record the page number and paragraph.

Summarizer: Your job is to prepare a summary of the reading. Don’t tell the whole story, just focus on the important parts. The other members of your group will be counting on you to give them a quick statement that tells about the story (the summary), and the key points.

Illustrator: Your job is to draw some kind of a picture related to what you read in your section. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram, or stick figure scene. It can be about something that you read, something that the reading reminded you about, or an element of the story (plot, character, setting).

ABCTeach, http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/literature_circles/

(Some group members can take on another role that includes Vocabulary Enricher or Travel Tracer, since John Howard Griffin travels around the Deep South.)

Week 3:

Monday: Give the students “Amnesty Now” and “Intelligence Report” magazines, in order for them to reflect on the current intolerances and hate crimes that continue in the United States. Have each student create a letter for the magazine “Teaching Tolerance.” Send them all in to the Southern Law Poverty Center, with the prospects of being published.

Tuesday: Students will also be looking at political cartoons and obituaries from the civil rights era, aspects of newspapers that are generally allowed in multiple-genre research papers.

Wednesday and Thursday: The class will begin to take a look at and listen to powerful speeches made during this era. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X are crucial figures at this time, and having the students look at the importance of speech will prompt them to be well spoken and literate. We will briefly discuss Malcom X and share clips of his autobiography. His work during this time was not all nonviolent, and so I will focus the students attention towards Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his speech, and his nonviolent efforts, which assisted in obtaining civil rights and voting rights for people of color. Analyzing the power of violent and non-violent solutions will also be discussed through peer dialogue journaling. The second lesson plan will be shared during this week’s progress while looking at the importance of resistance. Students planning to involve speech in their multiple genre research have the opportunity; otherwise they may include the collage for their own “I have a dream,” that would translate to today’s society.

Friday: Students will still be reading Black Like Me during this third week, but they should be finishing up. With the culmination of this book, I will have them do an activity that allows them to choose a side. They have the option of writing in their dialogue journals as a Southern white or black person regarding John Howard Griffin’s experiment. They will reply as that person on, whether or not he was making a sound decision or if he was crazy to attempt this experiment.

Lesson Topic: Dr. Martin Luther King’s Speech   Grade level: 8th Grade

Length of lesson: Two class periods

I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

King Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have A Dream." Washington Memorial, Washington D.C.. 28 Aug 1963. MLK.online

Week 4:

Give the students this Monday through Thursday to polish up any aspects of the multiple-genre research that may not be their personal best. Tie up the unit of the multiple genre research paper through discussing the rubric and taking a look through their journals with them on an individual basis, by setting up meetings. Allow them the opportunity to share their findings from their dialogue journals, or their favorite genre from the research paper in class presentations on Friday. It’s important not to neglect students who are proud, and want to share their work with their peers or anyone special in the community that would welcome students from the area working on an equality project.

Supporting Materials for Teachers who will Teach the Unit: A few websites that I found include; http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/frontpage.htm, http://www.crmvet.org/nars/narshome.htm, http://www.crmvet.org/nars/simmonsn.htm and http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/bysubject/civil_rights/index.php. This final webpage includes examples of civil rights political cartoons. There is a great one with a drinking fountain that says the presidency, and a sign that says, “whites only” has been taken down and placed in the trash.

 I also linked a ton of great websites to the webquest I created at http://www.d.umn.edu/~mull0323/CivilRightsWebquest.htm.

Discussion Questions: I will be asking students these questions during the beginning of each class period in order to get them started with topics in their peer dialogue journals.

•How are students during this time directly affected by segregation laws and how has that changed over the years?

•How are these leaders, who attempted to change their worlds, respected/commended and paid homage too during our time?

•What sort of segregation is the most appalling to you as a student?

•Do you believe that these leaders made an impact on generations to come and how?

•How did nonviolent activities like Freedom Rides and sit-ins help in the efforts of this movement? Were they effective and how were they perceived around America at that time and then now?

• Were leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks immediately respected and if you lived during this time would you root for them or go with the crowd and deny them equality since that’s the way it has been forever?

•Did CORE and the SNCC have an undeniably powerful effect on this movement, according to what you’ve gathered on your topics?

Assessment Task:

The Multiple Genre research paper is the large assessment that I will be focusing on and it will be gauged by a rubric that isn’t that extensive. Allowing students the chance to share in dialogue journals each week and checking constantly to maintain their progress on the multiple-genre research paper that they will be creating; will substitute testing and other assessment tasks.

Rubric for Multiple Genre Research Paper

The multiple-genre research paper will be worth a total of 140 points and will make represent nearly 60% of the student’s grade.

Grades:

I will provide backing for the grades that I present to students, through the rubric found above. It will contain their amount of organization, flow/fluency, conventions, dialogue journals and especially voice. Their dialogue journals must have at least 8 lengthy entries in order to pass, since I am asking students to share in these at least every other day.  This will allow students to see their creative process through journaling and meeting the objectives of integrating multiple perspectives into their multiple genre research.

After checking to see that each student has completed the minimum amount of work, I will be looking for the students who went beyond the adequate amount of genres and dialogue journal entries. I will be looking for the specific outcome of using multiple perspectives to understand the Civil Rights era. In addition, I will be looking for the desired outcome of the students recognizing the obstacles that were pushed upon Blacks during this time.

The multiple genre paper will be weighted significantly more than the dialogue journals; the research paper will be accumulatively 60% of their grade during that grading period. It is worth a total of 140 points in all. Looking for the voice and fluency in each of the genres will be significantly weighted when grading the multiple-genre research paper. The dialogue journals will be included in the final product in order to show that they are completed, and also show growth. However, the dialogue journals are there in order to help the students use them as a sounding board and to share their reactions with each other; it’s really just a safe place for them to digest their feelings.