Depictions of hunger in excerpts from Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist provide concrete images of hunger as learners determine its causes and decide whether to support a change in U.S. public policy related to the issue.

In a persuasive essay, learners describe the responsibilities of American citizenship and the cost of freedom. They connect how philanthropic action is a part of those costs. “Freedom isn’t free. It passes on an enormous debt to the recipient.”

While reviewing the expectations for immigrants to become citizens, young people learn about their own rights and civic responsibility. They learn that freedom isn't free. It was purchased by service and requires continued responsibility of citizens to uphold the rights and expectations of the common good. 

Students identify causes they care about and related nonprofits or community resources. They use writing as a tool to make a difference, using persuasive writing techniques.

Students will recognize the linguistic strategies that Alice Walker uses in her introduction to Anything You Love Can Be Saved that persuade readers to believe in her causes, and thus begin to think about techniques that they can use in their own activist writing, which they will do in the final lesson of the unit.

Pages