Tales of Adoption and Courage Unit Overview

Through interviews, surveys, and family research, students will gain a better understanding of what courage and sacrifice mean within the context of Michael's Reflection and within their own family. Students also investigate how families function and the many different (and changing) faces of the family unit.

Reflection: Tales of Adoption and Courage by Michael Song

Michael shares his story of being adopted from Korea in his One World Reflection. He explains how adoption is the ultimate show of selflessness and requires both biological and adoptive families to make sacrifices and hard decisions in order to provide the child with a better life.

Tales of Adoption and Courage

Learning Activity: English/Language Arts-Shaped by Sacrifice

English/Language Arts /

9th 10th 11th 12th

/ 3-5 class periods (135-300 min)

Through this Learning Activity, students will explore the meanings of key terms and create working definitions for these terms. Students will then explore the presence of courage and selflessness in the Reflection, their own lives, and in the history of their family. Finally, students will synthesize their understandings in a writing piece and a formal Socratic Seminar.

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Learning Activity: Science-The Question of Nature versus Nurture in Human Development

Science /

6th 7th 8th

/ 90 minutes (1-2 class periods)

Students will learn about the Nature versus Nurture debate in human development and explore basic genetic principles, as well as environmental factors that play a role in this debate.

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Learning Activity: Social Studies-What is a Family?

Social Studies /

6th 7th 8th

/ 1-3 class periods (45-135 min)

Students will share their family structure and its functionality with the class, then survey their peers to determine their family structures and functionality, and analyze the classroom and school data to determine the definition and functionality of family today.

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Unit Resources

Previewing the Reflection:

A series of open-ended pre-reading questions designed to engage students, assess prior knowledge, and expose any pre-conceived ideas about the person or culture explored in the Reflection. Previewing the Experience questions are intended to be non-threatening and accessible to a range of students. Students are encouraged to answer honestly, and to discuss their answers with their classmates.

Previewing the Reflection PDF:

Previewing the Reflection

Understanding the Reflection:

This resource is to be used during and after students read the Reflection. Included in it are a series of reading comprehension questions designed to check for student understanding of the Reflection. These questions formats include multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, true/false, short response, or other effective questioning strategies.

Understanding the Reflection PDF:

Understanding the Reflection

Reviewing the Reflection:

This resource is to be used after students read the Reflection. It includes a series of post-reading questions designed to encourage student reflection and assess changes in students' perception and understanding of the cultural issues addressed in the unit through some deliberately repeated questions in the "Previewing the Experience" activity.

Reviewing the Reflection PDF:

Reviewing the Reflection

Visualizing the Reflection:

This resource is to be used after students read the Reflection. I ncluded are a series of questions designed to strengthen students' ability to interpret and analyze visual materials. The type of visual material used as the basis for the questions may include maps, graphs, charts, pictures, videos, and diagrams. While the introduction of the visual materials will increase student understanding of the issues raised by the Reflection, the questions are an opportunity for students to practice the increasingly important skill of visual comprehension and interpretation.

Culture Cube:

This resource can be used at any point within a unit. The Culture Cube allows students to think about and organize their research of any culture into eight major traits (social groups, government, history, language, daily life, economy, religion, and art). The Culture Cube can prepare students before reading a Reflection, or before doing unit resources and learning activities. Similarly, teachers can use the Culture Cube to wrap up or assess students’ knowledge after engaging in the other unit resources and learning activities. The Culture Cube can be used in isolation of or integrated with the larger One World Curriculum. Definitions and examples of each trait of culture are given to guide students. The Culture Cube requires students to go beyond the Reflection for their research, so teachers need to make available a number of different resources from which students might gather information, including, but not limited to: textbooks, websites, encyclopedias, reference books, reports and maps.

Reflection Response:

This resource should be used after the students read the Reflection. Students are presented with a list of questions intended to illicit a more personal response about the Reflection they have just read. After considering those questions, students compose a letter to the author of the Reflection with their thoughts, observations, questions and comments. Teachers should feel free to contact Rachel @oneworldeducation.org if they would like to have their students' finished letters delivered to the One World Ambassador.

Reflection Response PDF:

Responding to the Reflection