Lesson
1
:
Learning Fairness from Literature
Grade
Grade 6
UNIT
7
•
Fairness
In Unit 7, Lesson 1, “Learning Fairness from Literature,” students will learn examples of fairness from a contemporary work of young adult literature, We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration. Additionally, students will answer questions to develop their critical thinking skills and advance their academic dialogue skills through class discussion.
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SUGGESTED TIME:
- The book, We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration by Frank Abe (Author), Tamiko Nimura (Author), Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator), and Matt Sasaki (Illustrator), is a graphic novel divided into 5 parts and is 147 pages total.
- The recommended reading assignment is that students complete one part throughout five in-class independent reading sessions or one part throughout five homework assignments.
- Students should complete the worksheet questions as they read the book.
- Please allow 50 minutes of class time to discuss the worksheet questions.
RELATED SUBJECT:
English Language Arts
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Read a contemporary work of young adult literature
- Identify and analyze the book’s central themes and ideas
- Identify and analyze the book’s genre, point of view, characters, setting, and plot
- Write answers to questions about the book, demonstrating understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar
- Engage effectively in collaborative discussions about the book
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- Book: We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration by Frank Abe (Author), Tamiko Nimura (Author), Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator), and Matt Sasaki (Illustrator)
- Video: Japanese-American Internment During WWII by The History Channel (~3 min)
- Prohuman Grade 6 Unit 7 Worksheet 1: Learning Fairness from Literature
VOCABULARY:
Fairness: I treat everyone the same. If someone has been left out, I bring them in.
ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET
LESSON PROCEDURE
Step 1:
- Ask students the definition of fairness.
- Give students the definition: I treat everyone the same. If someone has been left out, I bring them in.
Step 2:
- Explain that we will be reading a work of graphic nonfiction about the internment of people of Japanese descent in America during WWII.
- Ask students how many of them have read a graphic novel. Ask them how a work of graphic nonfiction is different than a graphic novel.
- Provide the definition of graphic nonfiction: a genre that combines visual art and written storytelling to convey factual narratives, presenting real-life events or concepts through a blend of illustrations and text.
- It is important to understand the historical context of this work. Play the video: Japanese-American Internment During WWII by The History Channel (~3 min)
Step 3:
- Have students complete the book, either through multiple in-class silent reading sessions or as homework: We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration by Frank Abe (Author), Tamiko Nimura (Author), Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator), and Matt Sasaki (Illustrator)
- Have students complete the short-answer questions on the worksheet as they read the book.
Step 4:
- Allow 50 minutes for in-class discussion of the short-answer questions on the worksheet.
GRADE 6 UNIT 7 WORKSHEET 1: LEARNING FAIRNESS FROM LITERATURE
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER WHILE READING
- What happened on December 7, 1941?
- What were some of the unfair justifications given for putting Japanese people in America into concentration camps?
- In Part 1, what were Japanese citizens and non-citizens forced to do?
- Who are the three main people whose stories are told in this book, and what is one thing you learned from each of them?
- On pages 45-6, what was James Purcell’s argument about the unfairness of putting people of Japanese descent into detention camps?
- What was unfair about classifying all Americans of Japanese descent as enemy aliens?
- Why were people sent to Tule Lake, and what were some of the injustices committed there?
- What was the outcome of Mitsuye Endo’s Supreme Court case?
- On page 124, what was the reaction to the Supreme Court ruling by those detained at Tule Lake, and why did they have this reaction?
- What was decided in the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians? Do you think this did enough for fairness?
- What is one way that you can show fairness to others?
- Write about and share a principle you want to live by that you learned from the one or more of the people featured in this book.
Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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