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in everyone.  This is why the family is such a common topic in literature. 

Everyone can relate in some way or another.  An author does not need to

build schema about family.  While definitions and descriptions of family

varies, the idea itself does not.  Thus, the family is an excellent topic for a

thematic unit in the study of literature.

            Family in Focus provides six thematic units all dealing with the family for grades six through twelve.  The first unit is entitled “Parents: Friends or Foes?” is designed for a sixth grade classroom, thus the title and subject matter is appropriate.  The day by day outline quickly becomes routine, beginning with journal or free-write prompts on topics such as “When you think of the word ‘family’ what comes to mind?; Why are families important?; Whether parental advice is welcome or unwelcome and why, etc.”  This activity is meant as an ice-breaker for the day’s activity which is usually a reading activity followed by a creative response.  While the creative responses require the students to move into higher level thinking, the pattern for the duration of the unit is very repetitive.  There is very little variation from the pre-reading activity, reading activity, creative response cycle.  The material is directly related to literature, but creativity is very limited to paper and pencil, with the occasional discussion response.  The unit is actually quite teacher-centered.  The teacher rarely ever relegates control to the students.  Thus the material becomes repetitive because it follows the same format over and over and over.

            The second unit is entitled “A Whole Language Unit for the 8th Grade.”  Overall, it’s objectives are much more clear and precise than the first unit, thus the unit itself is more cohesive.  This unit also utilizes a better variety of teaching and learning strategies.  There are discussions, short in-class reaction papers, videos, journaling, reader-response techniques and explication.  This unit also utilizes “Show and Tell” where the teacher provides a “short telling sentence” and the students are asked to write a paragraph on the sentence showing or depicting the statement rather than telling it (3).  This is a good idea that is useful in getting the students to synthesize the material taught to them.  Day seven includes an improvisational, familial role playing activity.  The author suggests taking volunteers, however, a better way to go about such an activity might be to split the class into groups, which constitute families, and assigning roles to each member of each group.  Then the class could simultaneously role play and the teacher could walk around the classroom, observe, monitor and facilitate.  This would be less nerve-wracking for the students and it would force everyone to become an active participant rather than a passive onlooker.  If more cooperative learning strategies were logically integrated into this unit, it would be a very strong teaching tool.

            The third, forth, and fifth units become increasingly less user-friendly.  All are not so much unit plans as they are activity ideas complete with book lists, worksheets, vocabulary tests and exams.  Each is designed for older children and thus expect higher levels of cognitive abilities, but most are just the same type of activities over and over.  There is little variation and there is little room for creative expression and a teachable moment because the units are so highly structured around content and the deeper meanings of the theme of the family.  There is no group work, no attempt at teaching to the multiple Intelligences, no sponges and no objectives.  All of the activities are discussion based and the “unit” is set up more as a book discussion rather than a unit outline.  These unit plans would not be as helpful for me because they are simply too unorganized and rigid.

            The last unit in the book is entitled, “Families On Stage:  The Changing Role of the American Family as Seen in Dramatic Literature During the Past Century” is the most useful and appropriate unit in the entire book.  “Families On Stage” addresses the theme of family as a parallel, yet integrated structure within the genre of drama so that the students are studying both the family and the plays themselves simultaneously.  Family is not presented as a theme exemplified by literature; instead, the two are intrinsically intertwined.  This approach easily lends to attaining specific literary as well as thematic objectives.  All of the activities are varied; there is not as much repetition.  Overall, it is a better, more thought out and concise unit

            A major critique of the entire book is that none of the units ever really address the issue of multiculturalism or diversity as an aspect of the family. This would be an excellent  topic that begs exploration within the realm of the family because the definition and perception of the family differs greatly from culture to culture.  Overall I felt that many of the units were disorganized and some were downright repetitive and unusable.  Most of the ideas were very general and informative rather than summative and analytical, with the exception of “Families On Stage” and “A Whole Language Approach.”  Nanette Brown, Berry College