Disciplinary Text Sets

I plan to execute a unit on literary analysis in a ninth grade ESL classroom. The work to be analyzed will be Square Enix's  Final Fantasy X because the game is dense with literary elements accessible to students within a variety of reading comprehension levels. I will elect to guide student writing through activities and supportive texts to help students analyze the work. Students will either play or watch the 11-hour game over a period of a week and a half. I will assign the initial viewing and/or playthrough of the game the summer before our session starts so that students are familiar with the basic plot. The first two weeks of class will be dedicated to introducing the basics of literary analysis to students using the game and supportive texts for scaffolding. They will be tasked with tracking the basic elements of the story as well as thinking about different literary lenses through which they might analyze the work. Students will be frontloaded with different literary lenses and will be tasked to choose two of them to track throughout the game. Each day in class, I will provide support for students to think of each individual lens at points in the story in which those lenses are critical to understanding and analyzing the plot. The following disciplinary text sets include the text to be analyzed and a few texts I might choose to guide student analysis. The texts are hyperlinked either above or below the images. I elected also to include specific scenes of the game to support the use of the text for analysis.

Final Fantasy X. Square Enix of North America. November 2001. Video game.

OR

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster - The Movie - Marathon Edition (All Cutscenes/Story). By Yoshihinori Kitase. Played/Recorded by dansg08. June 7, 2014. Square Enix. Youtube. Video.

Final Fantasy X

Text Summary: Final Fantasy X is a video game in which a young man finds himself in a world that in many ways parallels the utopia from which came upon the destruction of his home by a giant whale-like fiend. The fiend, Sin, transports the young protagonist to a world eternally plagued by the self-resurrecting monster. It is there that the protagonist meets Yuna, a young woman who seeks to defeat Sin as her father had ten years ago. Yuna, the protagonist, and a party of trusted protectors journey to defeat Sin for good and bring an Eternal Calm to the world of Spira.

Quantitative Readability Evaluation:

To evaluate the readability of Final Fantasy X, I had copied and pasted transcripts of the game at two different points in the story onto Storytoolz. The initial analysis is from the first half an hour of game-play. The language is approachable albeit there isn't too much dialogue represented this early on. The second analysis is of the story's climax. Having played this game multiple times myself, I had decided that this scene used some of the most complex language. The average grade levels represented in both analyses are somewhat telling of the text's approachability. I had first played the game when I was an 8 year-old third grade student. While I had been capable of beating the game, I had only developed a surface understanding of the plot. Given my intention to teach the game to intermediate-advanced ESL students in a high school context, I'm convinced that on a sentence level, the game will appropriate for the students's collective zone of proximal development. I disagree, however, with quantitative evaluation because the ideas represented in the game are more complex than the words chosen to describe them.

Qualitatitve Readability Evaluation: As I had begun to describe in the previous section, the ideas represented in the game are far more complex than the language chosen to communicate them. The text structure is moderately complex in that the game systemically develops its own world and is explicit regarding the nuances of the cultures represented in the game. Certain aspects are implicit, albeit the most important and relevant details are communicated directly to the player. When the protagonist arrives in Spira, he is supposed to pretend he's an amnesiac because no one believes where he had come from. In this way, characters the protagonist encounters are tasked with explaining the world to both the protagonist and the player. The language used in the game is also moderately complex insofar as it's casual and conversational. Different accents, dialects, and registers of English are present in the game albeit these variations are comprehensible with little scaffolding. The game itself does not require prior knowledge of anything but a basic-intermediate understanding of the English language. The process of analyzing the text is what will require upper level thinking for students. Ideas of existential philosophy and racial and religious politics are present albeit not required of students to comprehend the plot. What makes this text appropriate for intermediate-advanced ESL students is the way that I elect to probe the intersection of race and religion within the context of the game. Alternative literary lenses are applicable and will be encouraged in the analysis of the game as well.

Potential Words to Scaffold: legacy, speculate, lineage, sacrilege, endeavor, endure

Text Purpose and Lesson Execution Ideas: I aspire to use Final Fantasy X as a literary text to instruct and practice literary analysis. The racial and religious tension the text are among the most obvious aspects of the game to consider upon analysis because races represented in the game are in conflict with both Sin and the religious imperialism used to rationalize Sin's existence and control the people and culture of Spira. Students may also elect to consider how gender is being represented, the intersection of gender and race, gender and religious culture/positionality, the mental (dis)ability statuses represented in the game, etc. I would provide students with graphic organizers to keep track of basic plot elements such as characters, plot, setting, themes, and the like. I would also provide students with graphic organizers to guide their analytical thinking with questions and space to take note of scenes, quotes, etc. that are pertinent to their analyses. The lesson would be frontloaded with texts about literary lenses, intersectionality, and a nonfiction comparative text so that students might begin to make connections with the real world.

Questions for Student Inquiry: What did the religion, Yevon, do for the people of Spira? Why do people have religion? How did Yevon treat the Al Bhed? Can religion be dangerous? Why or why not?

Sack. "Don't Shoot." Caple Cartoons. N.p.,n.d. Web. 23 July 2015

Text Summary: A police man holding up an African American family at gun point tells the media not to "shoot" or record his actions.

Quantitative Reading Evaluation: Not applicable

Qualitative Reading Evaluation: This text requires a student to understand the word "shoot" in two contexts: the capacity to release a bullet from a gun and the capacity to film an event. The text provides a satirical perspective of police brutality and the power of media. The text requires background information about the Ferguson riots, albeit the language and structure of the text are basic.

Potential Words to Scaffold: Police brutality, riot, prison industrial complex, structural racism, surveillance, #blacklivesmatter

Text Purpose and Lesson Execution Ideas: This simple text will be used to introduce how structural racism works in the United States. The text will also be used to illustrate the power of media exposure. Students will be guided to think about how the media in the world of Final Fantasy X is being used as a vehicle of hope and distraction and to think about what the media might be doing to affect race relations. Viewing or playing Final Fantasy X will be divided in sections. This text will be introduced before the third hour of gameplay viewing because the media's presence in Spira, the game's world, is most present at this point.

Questions for Student Inquiry: Is the camera more powerful than the gun? Who controls the camera? Who is controlling the camera when Yuna and the party enter Luca? What does Blitzball mean to the people of Spira?

Johnson, Ruth Lee. "How to Plead Insanity." Psychology Today. N.p., 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 July 2015. 

How to Plead Insanity

Text Summary: The article from Psychology Today details insanity as a legal construct in the United States. It discusses when and how a defendant might plea insanity and how insanity might be defined.

Quantitative Reading Evaluation:

Storytoolz approximates that the article's reading level is about twelfth grade albeit I'm inclined to disagree with this analysis considering the qualitative aspects of the text.

Qualitative Reading Evaluation: While some legal jargon is present in the text, students are not required to know anything about neither insanity nor law because the jargon is broken down explicitly. Psychology Today is not a scholarly source; it's a site used to explain topics of interest to the masses. It's structured in a moderately complex way because there are some connections between ideas that are implicit or subtle such as the way in which the laws represented contradict and interact with one another. Because my objective with this text is to examine Seymour, an antagonist from the work, I am using this article to contexualize insanity and to promote student discussion about Seymour as a character and social construction and perception of disability/culturally abnormal mental ability status.

Potential Words to Scaffold: estranged, lunatic, disturbed, diagnose, disorder, defendant, prosecutor

Text Purpose and Lesson Execution Ideas: As previously described, the article will be used to discuss Seymour's characterization and will promote students to think deconstruct ideas of "good," "evil" and ability status. I will first review the scene from the fourth hour of gameplay in which Seymour's late father Jyscal warns the party of his son's malintent. It is at this point that it is made explicit that Seymour is an antagonist thus I'd hope I could facilitate a discussion in which my class interrogates ideas of demonization. Students who intend to analyze the game through focusing on ability status representation would be encouraged to watch Seymour carefully and to consider comparing him to Yuna among other characters. Students will also be encouraged to think about how Yuna and Seymour's mixed racial identities impact their ability status and what that does for the story.

Questions for Student Inquiry: What is evil? Are you comfortable with who and how a person can plead insanity? Could Seymour plea insanity?

Ojibwa. "Religion 101: Religious Imperialism." Dailykos.com Street Prophets, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 July 2015.

Religious Imperialism

Text Summary: The religious imperialism article defines the term and cites international historical examples of it. The original text is long and detailed, so students will be provided with an edited version of the text.

Quantitative Reading Evaluation:

I would agree that without editing or scaffolding, the "Religion 101" text presupposes a late high school or young collegiate-level reading comprehension ability, albeit it depends mostly on the level of familiarity a student might have in the history content area. 

Qualitative Reading Evaluation: This text would be a tough sell for the students in my theoretical classroom although with some editing, the text may become more accessible. Instead of requiring students to read the entire article, I might opt for them to read the sections about the "other examples" or choose a text specifically about teaching creationism in schools. I have chosen this text, however, because the vocabulary used within the article exposes students to academic discourse and provides me the opportunity to teach them terms critical to articulating racial and religious minority oppression. The text is challenging in that the organization of ideas is intricate and discipline-specific. The knowledge demands are relatively basic. The main challenge of the text is the vocabulary used.

Potential Words to Scaffold: ethnocentrism, religious imperialism, subordinate, suppression, implementation, assimilation, proselytization, unconstitutional

Text Purpose and Lesson Execution Ideas: I plan to introduce the class to the aforementioned vocabulary words before presenting them with the article. I will then have the class read the article, pair share about the article, and then discuss as a whole class what we had gotten out of the text. I aspire to facilitate a discussion interrogating the ways in which Yevon functions to manipulate the people of Spira. I am hoping that students will then begin to make connections between the world of Final Fantasy X and their own struggles as a diaspora population. Most ESL students are not Christian and the narrative presented in this video game text does much to comment on the tension between Christianity and Islam.

Questions for Student Inquiry: Which religion is dominant in Spira? How is religious imperialism happening in Spira? What did Wakka credit Lord Jyscal for bringing to the Guado when the party met Seymour in Guadosalam?

Iyer, Deepa. "Our Streets, Our Stories." Deepaiyer.me. N.p., 20 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 July 2015.

Race, Suspicion, and Blame

Text Summary: Iyer recounts post-9/11 life for her local Desi community, highlighting the problematic nature of racial suspicion, the Patriot Act, and racist blaming politics. The narrative represented can be connected to Wakka's irrational racism toward the Al Bhed and their relationship with machina.

Quantitative Reading Evaluation:

The Story Toolz quantitative reading evaluation gauges the reading level at approximately 11th grade. I'm inclined to disagree for reasons discussed in the following section.

Qualitative Reading Evaluation: Iyer's blog entry uses mainstream vernacular English to describe the struggle of the Desi community in the United States. The language is not academic, thus comprehensive. Though there is a small knowledge demand requiring students to be familiar with 9/11, I plan to have offered this political context in a previous discussion about my own Desi identity and experiences with racism.The sentences have some subordinate clauses albeit the article is relatively short thus reading for comprehension is not made to be a particularly daunting endeavor.

Potential Words to Scaffold: allegation, radicalization, memorialization, advocacy, commemoration, simultaneously, implication

Text Purpose and Lesson Execution Ideas: To further scaffold students into making connections between the literature and real life, I'd introduce Iyer's blog and perhaps other narratives tailored to the diasporic communities represented in my classroom to facilitate a thinking space in which students might develop a critical awareness of the consequences of race-based suspicion and the construction of institutionalized white supremacy.

Questions for Student Inquiry: How are the Al Bhed treated in Spira? Is it fair? Why not? Are real people treated like the Al Bhed? If so, who and why? If not, why not?

"Damsel in Distress." Tvtropes.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 July 2015.

Damsel in Distress

Text Summary: "Damsel in Distress" discusses the basic role of the character trope in media, introduces subgenres of the trope, criticizes the trope, and delineates alternative related character tropes. The text is hyperlinked to the analysis of other tropes which might provide my students ample sources to analyze Final Fantasy X through a gendered lens.

Quantitative Reading Evaluation:

The average reading level of the article is grade 10 which appears to be an accurate assessment given the language and syntax of the article.

Qualitative Reading Evaluation: The text structure is moderately complex because the connections between ideas are at times implicit. The language ranges from conversational to academic; the writing voice is sassy albeit formal in its analysis. There are links, however, to the discipline-specific terminology thus making the article more accessible to students. The purpose is direct and the text does not require too much subject matter knowledge; it functions to help readers identify a character trope and assumes that students know what character tropes are. Given the context of my lesson, my students would already have some idea of what a character trope is, so the terminology would not likely confuse them.

Potential Words to Scaffold: plight, jarring, derailment, disposable, badass in distress, distress ball, defiant captive, character trope

Text Purpose and Lesson Execution Ideas: I would use the Damsel in Distress article in order to teach students to look at a text considering gender relationships and tropes. I had considered using an Anita Sarkeesian "Tropes vs Women" video albeit the terminology that she often uses isn't very well explained nor is it as accessible to analyze as this written text is. The article hyperlinks into many descriptions of gender tropes in all types of media and includes specific media forms and analysis on the page. I would frontload my classroom with a short lesson of what character tropes are, how they function, and how those tropes are sometimes used to make, enforce, or challenge a culture. We would then delve into the article together and tease it apart as a class, following some of the hyperlinks as we see fit. I'd show students the clip hyperlinked above and ask them to consider Yuna's positionality within the text and what that might say about women. I would stress that characters and tropes can be analyzed in many perspectives so that students understand that so long as they can support their analysis, they don't have to worry about being "right."

Questions for Student Inquiry: To what extent does Yuna function as a damsel in distress? How are the other women treated in the text? Are the men ever in distress? Who can act and make decisions? When?