Youngstown City Schools Curriculum Project
ENGLISH / LANGUAGE ARTS - - Grade 12
Unit #1
LOOKING AHEAD (4.5 weeks ) 2013-2014
SYNOPSIS: In this unit, students will consider what goals they would like to achieve academically and personally during their
senior year. They will analyze a variety of fiction and non-fiction selections as well as poetry dealing with planning for the future
and consider how best to develop habits of self-discipline and thoughtful planning. Students will strengthen their literary
analysis skills, including (a) explicit as well as implicit details, supporting the latter with actual text evidence; (b) the themes
and central ideas of text and how they are developed during the piece; (c) the interactions among events, ideas, and
individuals to create the character and tone of the text; and (d) the author’s viewpoint and rhetorical style, including his or her
techniques of persuasion. The students will participate in collaborative discussions, for which they prepare with research and
primary documents. Additionally, students will master the writing process, showing proficiency in grammar, punctuation,
spelling, and the effective use of on-level vocabulary. By the end of the unit, students will analyze unfamiliar literary text and
compose original pieces of writing to prepare them for similar tasks in their post- high school careers.
STANDARDS
RL 12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from
the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RL 12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how
they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI 12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from
the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RI 12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop
over the course of the text.
RI 12.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and
content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.
RI 12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high
end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
W 12.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and
audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
W 12.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or
a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
SL 12.1.a Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse
partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by
referring to evidence from texts and other
L 12.2
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
a. Observe hyphenation conventions.
b. Spell correctly.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
1
Materials
Fiction
“Once Upon a Time,”
Nadine Gordimer (pg.
1156 of anthology)
“Araby,” James
Joyce (pg. 986 of
anthology)
Non-Fiction
“You’re Not Special,” David McCullough
Poetry
“It would be neat if
with the New Year,”
Jimmy Santiago
Baca
“Graduation Speech to Stanford Graduates,” Steve Jobs
“Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind, “ Arthur L. Costa
“On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to Read,” David Raymond
“The Many Paths to Success - - With or Without a College Education,”
Katie Mather. (Awaiting permission from Bedford Publishers)
Drama
“Slam, Dunk, &
Hook,” Yusef
Komunyakaa
All nonfiction texts (except the Mather piece) and poems were found
online, so no permission is needed.
Key Terms
General Vocabulary
selected vocabulary
from texts
tone
parody
symbol
symbolism
Literary Skills
theme
point of view
author’s purpose
rhetoric
style
Writing Skills
annotation
style
writing groups
task
development
purpose
organization
audience
MOTIVATION
Speaking /Listening Skills
Socratic Seminar
TEACHER NOTES
1. Teacher asks students: “What do you think senior year will be like? What do you expect of
senior year? What worries you about senior year?” Ss discuss in small groups, then wholeclass. If teacher needs to establish entry-levels, a Reading-Writing survey is Attachment #1.
2. Teacher passes out the poem “It would be neat if with the New Year” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
(Attachment #2). Students read the poem silently, and then the teacher reads it aloud to
students. Teacher models the process of annotation, using the first stanza of the poem.
Note: For teachers not familiar with annotating a text, visit the AP Central article at
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/197454.html.
Teacher may show a 3 minute clip to help Ss understand annotation of a text;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzrWOj0gWHU].
3. Teacher gives students a list of options for annotation (Attachment #3) to keep in notebook as
a reference. Students work in pairs or small groups to annotate the remaining stanzas of the
poem.
4. In their Journal, students respond to the following prompt: “Like Baca’s boots in the poem, we
all have positive and negative life experiences. What positive and negative experiences do you
bring to your senior year? Where do “your boots” hope you will go this year - - your last year of
high school - - and begin to plan for the future?”
5. Students read and annotate the poem “Slam, Dunk, and Hook” as further practice of annotation
(Attachment #4). Teach may show students a video clip of the poet reading the poem aloud;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9MYq0iTjoc. When finished, students compare and
contrast their annotations with the textbook example (attached).
6. Teacher reminds students of Independent Reading requirement (Attachment #5).
[ cont’d ]
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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MOTIVATION
TEACHER NOTES
7. Teacher helps students set goals for the Unit (1 personal and 1 academic ); students record in
Notebooks.
8. Teacher previews “authentic assessments” as expectations for the Unit ( i.e., explains what
students will be expected to accomplish by the end of the Unit ).
TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES
TEACHER NOTES
1.
Students read the graduation speech: “You’re Not Special” by David McCullough (Attachment #6).
They circle words and phrases that demonstrate tone, author’s style, and powerful language. Students
underline words and phrases that state and support the author’s purpose. The teacher draws students’
attention to passages in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, explaining how style and content
contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text. Students practice annotating their
interpretations, insights, and questions. (RI 12.1; RI 12.3; and RI 12.6)
2.
Students read the graduation speech “Graduation Address to Stanford Graduates” by Steve Jobs
(Attachment #7). In the margin, students number the main ideas. In an objective summary, students
explain how the main ideas are developed over the course of the text. NOTE: teacher may model how
to write an effective summary (RI 12.3)
Teacher may choose to also show a video clip of the speeches:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=3&oq=Steve+Jobs+&ie=UTF8&rlz=1T4ASUT_enUS458US458&q=steve+jobs+stanford+speech&gs_upl=0l0l0l15594lllllllllll0&aqi=
g4&pbx=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfxYhtf8o4
3.
In their journals, students respond to the following prompt: “What impact do you think graduation
speeches have on high school seniors? Choose one piece of advice from each speech, and explain how
it is relevant to you personally.”
4.
Students use their annotations of the speeches and journal responses to participate in a Socratic
Seminar. See the attached handouts and rubric (Attachment #8). (SL 12.1a)
Note: For more information regarding Socratic Seminar, see the following sites:
http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/socratic-seminars-30600.html
http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/strategies/socratic-seminar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxZMGK6IdEs
5.
Using the class texts and activities as motivation and insight, students draft a “Letter to My Future Self,” a
two-three page letter addressing the following prompt: “What academic and personal goals had you
hoped to achieve throughout your senior year?” The letter should demonstrate synthesis of our class
discussions and the texts that we have read in class. The teacher may need to review the format for a
friendly letter in addition to addressing an envelope. Students bring their typed rough drafts to class.
6.
NOTE: Teacher signs up for a computer lab to allow students one or two class periods to type their rough
drafts. Most writing, except for the one-to-two days of typing, will be done out of class. See Activity #15.
Students will bring four typed copies of their draft “Letter to My Future Self” to class so that they can
participate in writing groups. (W 10.4; W 12.10; L 12.2)
7.
Students take the “Habits of Mind Self-Assessment” (please print the PDF from - m.murphy.wikispaces.com/file/view/Habits_of_Mind_Rubric.pdf)
8.
Teacher divides the article “Habits of Mind” by Arthur Costa (Attachment #9) into meaningful chunks.
Students are assigned to read sections - - some individually, some in dyads, some in small groups.
Students take notes on ALL sections; paraphrase key sections; and summarize the article. To discuss the
article, use whole group and jigsaw. (RI 12.1; RI 12.3; and RI 12.6)
[ cont’d ]
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES
9.
TEACHER NOTES
In their journals, students respond to the following prompt: “After learning the 16 Habits of Mind, (a)
choose two habits with which you are successful, and explain how and why you are successful. (b)
Choose two habits with which you are NOT successful, and explain why you struggle with them, and (c)
suggest how you can work to improve these two during your senior year.” (W 10.4; W 12.10; L 12.2 - hyphenation and spelling)
Students read the nonfiction text “On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to Read” by David Raymond
(Attachment #10). In their annotations, students note task, audience, purpose, and the theme of the
article. After reading the article, students create a double entry journal. In the left column, students
write five key points from the article. In the right column, students cite specific line(s) that provide
textual evidence of the key point. In the left column, students also record three things that the author
implies. In the right column, they will provide textual evidence. (RI 12.1; RI 12.3; and RI 12.6)
Note: For more information on double-entry journals, visit http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22091/
10. Students discuss the text in a Socratic Seminar, in small groups, or in a think-pair-share. (SL 12.1a)
11. Students read the fiction short story “Once Upon a Time” by Nadine Gordimer (page 1156 of the 12 th
grade anthology). Teacher defines and discuss the literary terms parody and symbolism.
12. As they read, students complete a Reader Response Guide, including - - ( see sample Directed
Reading Guide for Fiction - - Attachment #11)
(a) New Words
(b) Explicit Details (RL 12.1)
(c) Implicit details
(c) Central Theme
(d) Supporting Ideas
(e) I Wonder…
(f) Objective summary of the text (RL 12.2)
13. Students discuss their response to task #12 with a partner in a Think-Pair-Share, small group or in a
Socratic Seminar. Students add to their responses if necessary. Note: The teacher may need to guide
students toward the theme that individuals often build walls to protect themselves when faced with the
unknown. Students can discuss the walls that they have built as a result of fear of the unknown in
regard to their futures.
Note: The teacher reminds students of the assigned date to bring four typed copies of their “Letter to
My Future Self” to class so that they can participate in writing groups. See Attachment #12. (W 12.4;
12.10; and L 12.2 - - hyphenation and spelling)
14. On the assigned date, students review their “Letters to My Future Self” drafts in their Writing Groups.
Students are reminded to print four copies of their draft for the group. All groups should follow the
Writing Group Protocols. If students have never participated in a Writing Group, they will need support
throughout the process. Be patient and know that Writing Groups are a very rewarding experience for
students. Please note that the protocol states each groups should spend approximately 10-15 minutes
on each student draft. Plan class time accordingly.
After completing the Writing Group Protocols, the teacher assigns a due date for the final draft.
Students use their Writing Group evaluations to edit and revise their drafts. (W 12.4; 12.10; and L 12.2
- - hyphenation and spelling)
RE: RI 12.10 - - by year’s end, Ss will have read an adequate assortment of on-level literature via the
Independent Reading requirement. See attached.
TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT
TEACHER NOTES
1. Unit Test ( consisting of multiple choice and 2- and 4-point essay items )
2. Journals / Notebook entries
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
TEACHER NOTES
Each student will - 1. Analyze a passage from a NEW (not read during the Unit) FICTION passage dealing with looking
ahead; from that analysis, the student will - - [ on a response form provided ]
a. cite explicit detail from the text and draw valid inferences, the latter supported by text
detail (RL 12.1)
b. identify the theme or central idea and how it develops over the course of the text,
including how it is shaped and refined by events in the piece. (RL 12.2)
c. write an objective summary of the pieces. (RL 12.2)
2. Analyze a passage from a NEW (not read during the Unit) NON-FICTION text dealing with
looking ahead; from that analysis, the student will - - [ on a response form provided ]
a. a. cite explicit detail from the text and draw valid inferences, the latter supported by
text detail (RI 12.1)
b. explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the
course of the text. (RI 12.3)
c. identify the author’s point of view or purpose in the text, citing a passage in which
the rhetoric is particularly effective, explaining how style and content contribute to
the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text. (RI 12.6)
3.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience using one of the four following college application
essay prompts: (W 12. 4; W 10.2; L 12.2 - - hyphenation and spelling)
a. Tell us about the neighborhood that you grew up in and how it helped shape you
into the kind of person you are today. (Yale and the University of Chicago)
b. If you could be a “fly on the wall” to observe any situation -- historical, personal, or
otherwise -- describe what you would choose to observe and why. What would you
hope to learn and how would it benefit you? (University of Pittsburgh)
c. Discuss the best advice you ever received and explain its effect on your life.
(University of Pennsylvania)
d. Describe a personal habit that helps to define you as a person.
4. Evaluate personal and academic Unit goals to determine level of success.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
1. Analyze the following FICTION passage, and answer the prompts that follow.
(adapted from ) “Dead Flowers” by John A. Rowe
Despite the bitter cold, I went down to the street to empty a bucket of dead flowers that
had been sitting in my room. They kept poking their dying heads at me , and I decided I
could stand it no longer. The dumpster was up at the corner of our street, but that
would be a good walk for me. On the way to the dumpster, my hat blew off and into the
yard, and I put the bucket down to chase it. As I came back to the street, I saw a man
walking up the street, and he was looking at me. Odd, I thought. I had no idea who he
was and was sure he didn’t really know me. The man started gathering speed, right
toward me.
Then another man walked out of the building next to mine , and as he stepped down the
stairs, he too set eyes me. He turned his head to see the man gathering speed behind
him, and then they were both coming toward me.
I couldn’t think fast enough - - what
could I do? What did they keep telling you on TV?
The bucket ! - - I’d heave the bucket
at one of them, and the other one would trip over him .
But it was when they both ran past me that I realized both men were rushing to the
corner to catch the bus that was rolling up the street behind them.
a. Give three explicit details from the text and draw three valid inferences, the latter supported by text detail.
(RL 12.1)
Explicit Detail #1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
Explicit Detail #2 __________________________________________________________________________________________
Explicit Detail #3 __________________________________________________________________________________________
Inference #1 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Text detail to support _______________________________________________________________________________
Inference #2 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Text detail to support _______________________________________________________________________________
Inference #3 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Text detail to support _______________________________________________________________________________
b. identify the theme or central idea and how it develops over the course of the text, including how it is
shaped and refined by events in the piece. (RL 12.2)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Authentic Assessment, p. 2
c. write an objective summary of the piece. (RL 12.2)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Analyze the following NON-FICTION passage, and answer the prompts that follow.
This is part of the speech that John F. Kennedy gave when he became President of the United States.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure
of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been
summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who
answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again - - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not
as a call to battle, though embattled we are - - but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight
struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation" - - a struggle against the
common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and
West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending
freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shank from this responsibility - - I welcome it.
I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other
generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light
our country and all who serve it - - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you
can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together
we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same
high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience, our only
sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love,
asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth, God's work must truly be our
mission and our destiny.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Authentic Assessment, p. 3
a. cite explicit detail from the text and draw valid inferences, the latter supported by text detail (RI 12.1)
Explicit Detail #1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
Explicit Detail #2 __________________________________________________________________________________________
Explicit Detail #3 __________________________________________________________________________________________
Inference #1 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Text detail to support _______________________________________________________________________________
Inference #2 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Text detail to support _______________________________________________________________________________
Inference #3 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Text detail to support _______________________________________________________________________________
b. explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. (RI 12.3)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. identify the author’s point of view or purpose in the text, citing a passage in which the rhetoric is particularly
effective, explaining how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.
(RI 12.6)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Authentic Assessment, p. 4
3. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience using one of the four following college application essay prompts: (W 12. 4; W 10.2; L
12.2 - - hyphenation and spelling) BE CONCISE and DIRECT. [ teacher may select from or do all ]
a. Tell us about the neighborhood that you grew up in and how it helped shape you into the kind of person
you are today. [ application form for the University of Chicago and Yale University ]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. If you could be a “fly on the wall” to observe any situation -- historical, personal, or otherwise -- describe
what you would choose to observe and why. What would you hope to learn and how would it benefit
you? [ application form for the University of Pittsburgh ]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Authentic Assessment, p. 5
c.
Describe the best advice you ever received and explain its effect on your life. [ application form for the
University of Pennsylvania ]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. Describe a personal habit that helps to define you as a person.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Attachment #1
Youngstown City Schools
Reading & Writing Survey
Name ______________________________
Date ____________
Please respond to the following questions completely and honestly. The more information you give me about yourself as a reader and a
writer, the more I can help you to grow in your skills throughout this year. Please answer using complete sentences and proper mechanics.
1.
What do you like best about writing? As a writer, what do you do well?
2.
What do you dislike about writing? As a writer, what skills do you need to work on?
3.
Describe the things you write during your free time (poetry, songs, stories, emails, blog, FaceBook, Twitter, etc)?
4.
In your opinion, what makes a good writer? What things does a good writer do?
5.
What is the best piece of writing you’ve ever done? What makes it so good?
6.
Rate your writing skills:  advanced  average  below average. Why did you rate yourself the way you did? Be specific.
7.
In your opinion, what makes a good reader? What things do good readers do?
9.
Describe what you read in your free time (books, magazines, the Internet, etc.)?
10.
Rate your reading skills:  advanced  average  below average. Why did you rate yourself the way you did? Be specific.
11.
What are the qualities you look for in a good book? What topics (sports, romance, mystery) do you like to read?
12.
What’s the best book you’ve ever read? What made it so good?
13.
Do you have a favorite author?  yes ________________________  no What do you like about his/her books?
14.
Describe (don’t name !) your best Language Arts teacher. How did he/she help you to improve as a reader and/or writer?
15.
What advice would you give to me that might help you to be a better reader and writer?
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Attachment #2
It would be neat if with the New Year
By Jimmy Santiago Baca ( for Miguel )
It would be neat if with the New Year
I could leave my loneliness behind with the old year.
My leathery loneliness an old pair of work boots
my dog vigorously head-shakes back and forth in its jaws,
chews on for hours every day in my front yard—
rain, sun, snow, or wind
in bare feet, pondering my poem,
I’d look out my window and see that dirty pair of boots in the yard.
But my happiness depends so much on wearing those boots.
At the end of my day
while I’m in a chair listening to a Mexican corrido
I stare at my boots appreciating:
all the wrong roads we’ve taken, all the drug and whiskey houses
we’ve visited, and as the Mexican singer wails his pain,
I smile at my boots, understanding every note in his voice,
and strangers, when they see my boots rocking back and forth on my
feet
keeping beat to the song, see how
my boots are scuffed, tooth-marked, worn-soled.
I keep wearing them because they fit so good
and I need them, especially when I love so hard,
where I go up those boulder strewn trails,
where flowers crack rocks in their defiant love for the light.
from Winter Poems Along the Río Grande. Copyright © 2004 by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Used by permission of New Directions Publishing
Corp., http://www.ndpublishing.com/.
Source: Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2004)
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2013-2014
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Attachment #3
How to Annotate a Text
As an "active reader," you already know that when you read textbook assignments, you should have questions
in your mind. As you read, you should be looking for the answers to these questions. You should also have a
pencil in hand so that you can "annotate" your text. As the word suggests, you "take notes" in your textbook.
Unlike "highlighting," which is a passive activity, the process of annotating text helps you to stay focused and
involved with your textbook. You'll find that the process of taking notes as you read will help you to concentrate
better. It will also help you to monitor and improve your comprehension. If you come across something that you
don't understand or that you need to ask you instructor about, you'll be able to quickly make note of it, and then
go on with your reading.
Annotation is your thinking on paper. It is also evidence to your teacher that you read and thought about the
reading.
The following is a list of some techniques that you can use to annotate text:

Mark anything that you think is important, confusing, interesting, or surprising.

Underline important terms.

Circle definitions and meanings.

Write key words and definitions in the margin.

Signal where important information can be found with key words or symbols in the margin.

Use circles, underlines, and arrows to help identify information.

Write short summaries in the margin at the end of sub-units.

Write the questions in the margin next to the section where the answer is found.

Indicate steps in a process by using numbers in the margin.

Annotation is to help you become a better reader and learner. It is not polished and perfect.
Thinking is messy, and so your annotations may also be a little messy.
http://faculty.bucks.edu/specpop/annotate.htm
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #4
Slam, Dunk, & Hook
by Yusef Komunyakaa
Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercury's
Insignia on our sneakers,
We outmaneuvered to footwork
Of bad angels. Nothing but a hot
Swish of strings like silk
Ten feet out. In the roundhouse
Labyrinth our bodies
Created, we could almost
Last forever, poised in midair
Like storybook sea monsters.
A high note hung there
A long second. Off
The rim. We'd corkscrew
Up & dunk balls that exploded
The skullcap of hope & good
Intention. Lanky, all hands
& feet...sprung rhythm.
We were metaphysical when girls
Cheered on the sidelines.
Tangled up in a falling,
Muscles were a bright motor
Double-flashing to the metal hoop
Nailed to our oak.
When Sonny Boy's mama died
He played nonstop all day, so hard
Our backboard splintered.
Glistening with sweat,
We rolled the ball off
Our fingertips. Trouble
Was there slapping a blackjack
Against an open palm.
Dribble, drive to the inside,
& glide like a sparrow hawk.
Lay ups. Fast breaks.
We had moves we didn't know
We had. Our bodies spun
On swivels of bone & faith,
Through a lyric slipknot
Of joy, & we knew we were
Beautiful & dangerous.
Yusef Komunyakaa, "Slam, Dunk, & Hook" from Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems. Copyright © 2001
by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5
Youngstown City Schools
INDEPENDENT READING PROGRAM GUIDELINES
Grade 12 English / Language Arts
GROUND RULES
1. Submitted documentation will comprise 20% of the letter grade each 9 weeks.
2. In keeping with the Common Core standards, materials selected must be from a
variety of sub-genres (see Genre Checklist - - attached).
3. All materials selected must be approved by either the teacher or the Media
Specialist / Librarian.
4. To be included in the grade for any nine weeks, all work must be submitted on the
forms provided one week prior to the end of each quarter.
5. All reading must be done outside of class; all of the write-ups must be completed
outside of class with the exception of one period per nine weeks to consult with the
teacher.
FOR THE YEAR
FICTION
Four novels of at least 200 pages each (e.g., 1per quarter); book review format attached
NOTE: at the end of each grading period, students will submit an interim form to document
progress. If they finish the novel within the quarter, they will submit a complete form.
Sample interim report form attached.
Eight short stories of at least 4 pages each; response sheet attached
NON-FICTION
Twelve pieces of at least 900 words each; response sheet attached
NOTE: Photocopies must be submitted with the response sheet.
These entries may be provided by content teachers (e.g., Science, Social Studies, Art,
Music, etc.) and may count toward the course requirements in those subjects, if teacher
permits.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Independent Reading Checklist
Fiction
Adventure
Contemporary
Classical
Mystery
Contemporary
Classical
Science Fiction
Contemporary
Classical
Allegory
Contemporary
Classical
Historical
Contemporary
Classical
Myth
Contemporary
Classical
Realistic Fiction
Contemporary
Classical
Parody or Satire
Contemporary
Classical
Graphic Fiction
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
Comedy
Contemporary
Classical
Tragedy
Contemporary
Classical
Narrative
Contemporary
Classical
Drama
Historic Event
Contemporary
Classical
Musical
Lyrical
Contemporary
Classical
Free Verse
Contemporary
Classical
Sonnet
Contemporary
Classical
Ode
Contemporary
Classical
Ballad
Contemporary
Classical
Epic
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
Essay
Speech
Contemporary
Classical
Poetry
Non-Fiction
Opinion Piece
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
Essays about Art
or Literature
Contemporary
Classical
Biography
Contemporary
Classical
Autobiography
Contemporary
Classical
Memoir
Contemporary
Classical
Journalism
Contemporary
Classical
Historic Account
Contemporary
Classical
Scientific Account
Contemporary
Classical
Technical Account
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
Classical
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Youngstown City Schools
Independent Reading Documentation
Student: ____________________________ Teacher: ____________________ Date: ___________________
Selection: _______________________________ Author: _________________________ Pages: _________
Genre: ________________________ Sub-Genre: _____________________
[ use above Checklist for Genres and Sub-Genres ]
NOVEL
 Final Report
 Contemporary  Classical
 Interim Report
Summary of Material Read
Chronological Diagram of Plot Events, labeled with Characters and Setting(s)
Author’s Theme (message)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis of Author’s Style (i.e., use of language, imagery, tone; include reference to figurative devices and
connotation)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Reflection and Analysis (i.e., did you enjoy the book - - why or why not? Why would you or would
you NOT recommend it to a friend?)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Independent Reading Documentation
Student: ____________________________ Teacher: ____________________ Date: ___________________
Selection: _______________________________ Author: _________________________ Pages: _________
Genre: ________________________ Sub-Genre: _____________________
[ use above Checklist for Genres and Sub-Genres ]
 Contemporary  Classical
SHORT-STORY
Summary of the Short Story
Chronological Diagram of Plot Events, labeled with Characters and Setting
Author’s Theme (message)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis of Author’s Style (i.e., use of language, imagery, tone; include reference to figurative devices
and connotation)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Reflection and Analysis (i.e., did you enjoy the story - - why or why not? Why would you or
would you NOT recommend it to a friend?)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Independent Reading Documentation
Student: ____________________________ Teacher: ____________________ Date: ___________________
Selection: _______________________________ Author: _________________________ Pages: _________
Genre: ________________________ Sub-Genre: _____________________
[ use above Checklist for Genres and Sub-Genres ]
 Contemporary  Classical
DRAMA
Summary of the Drama
Chronological Diagram of Dramatic Events, labeled with Characters and Setting(s)
Dramatist’s Theme (message)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis of Dialogue (i.e., use of language, imagery, tone; include reference to figurative devices and connotation)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Reflection and Analysis (i.e., did you enjoy the drama - - why or why not? Why would you or
would you NOT recommend it to a friend?)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Independent Reading Documentation
Student: ____________________________ Teacher: ____________________ Date: ___________________
Selection: _______________________________ Author: _________________________ Pages: _________
Genre: ________________________ Sub-Genre: _____________________
[ use above Checklist for Genres and Sub-Genres ]
 Contemporary  Classical
POETRY
Summary of the Poem
Diagram of poetic sequence and detail (verse by verse), including any Characters and Setting(s)
Poet’s Theme (message)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis of Lyrics (i.e., use of language, imagery, tone; include reference to figurative devices and connotation)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Reflection and Analysis (i.e., did you enjoy the poem - - why or why not? Why would you or
would you NOT recommend it to a friend?)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Independent Reading Documentation
Student: ____________________________ Teacher: ____________________ Date: ___________________
Selection: _______________________________ Author: _________________________ Pages: _________
Genre: ________________________ Sub-Genre: _____________________
[ use above Checklist for Genres and Sub-Genres ]
 Contemporary  Classical
NON-FICTION
Summary of the Non-Fiction Text
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Key Details
(1) _______________________________________________________________________________________
(2) _______________________________________________________________________________________
(3) _______________________________________________________________________________________
Key Inferences Drawn
(1) _______________________________________________________________________________________
(2) _______________________________________________________________________________________
(3) _______________________________________________________________________________________
Key Word or Phrase #1
Definition in THIS context
Connotation ?
Key Word or Phrase #1
Definition in THIS context
Connotation ?
Location (p. # and “context” )
Original sentence that shows understanding
Definition in THIS context
Figurative Expression ?
Location (p. # and “context” )
Original sentence that shows understanding
Definition in THIS context
Connotation ?
[ cont’d ]
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #5, cont’d
Location (p. # and “context” )
Key Word or Phrase #1
Definition in THIS context
Original sentence that shows understanding
Connotation ?
Definition in THIS context
Figurative Expression ?
One connection to your own experience
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #6
“You’re Not Special” - - Graduation Speech
By David McCullough
Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of
the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to
you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you.
So here we are… commencement… life's great forward-looking ceremony. (And don't say, "What about
weddings?" Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other
than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-lookat-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement. And can you imagine a
television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and
disbelief, their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limitstesting procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent… during halftime… on the way to the refrigerator. And
then there's the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like
that'll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings.)
But this ceremony… commencement… a commencement works every time. From this day forward… truly… in
sickness and in health, through financial fiascos, through midlife crises and passably attractive sales reps at
trade shows in Cincinnati, through diminishing tolerance for annoyingness, through every difference,
irreconcilable and otherwise, you will stay forever graduated from high school, you and your diploma as one, 'til
death do you part.
No, commencement is life's great ceremonial beginning, with its own attendant and highly appropriate
symbolism. Fitting, for example, for this auspicious rite of passage, is where we find ourselves this afternoon,
the venue. Normally, I avoid clichés like the plague, wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole, but here we are on
a literal level playing field. That matters. That says something. And your ceremonial costume… shapeless,
uniform, one-size-fits-all. Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or
intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you'll notice, exactly the same. And your diploma… but for
your name, exactly the same.
All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special.
You are not special. You are not exceptional.
Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every
assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter
how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you're nothing special.
Yes, you've been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other
things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you,
tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you
again. You've been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You've been feted and fawned over and called
sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we've been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science
fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet.
Why, maybe you've even had your picture in the Townsman! [Editor's upgrade: Or The Swellesley Report!] And
now you've conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of
this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building…
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #6, cont’d
But do not get the idea you're anything special. Because you're not.
The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can't ignore. Newton, Natick, Nee… I am
allowed to say Needham, yes? …that has to be two thousand high school graduates right there, give or take, and
that's just the neighborhood Ns. Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now
from more than 37,000 high schools. That's 37,000 valedictorians… 37,000 class presidents… 92,000
harmonizing altos… 340,000 swaggering jocks… 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs. But why limit ourselves to high
school? After all, you're leaving it. So think about this: even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that
means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you. Imagine standing somewhere over there on Washington Street
on Marathon Monday and watching sixty-eight hundred yous go running by. And consider for a moment the bigger
picture: your planet, I'll remind you, is not the center of its solar system, your solar system is not the center of its
galaxy, your galaxy is not the center of the universe. In fact, astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center;
therefore, you cannot be it. Neither can Donald Trump… which someone should tell him… although that hair is
quite a phenomenon.
"But, Dave," you cry, "Walt Whitman tells me I'm my own version of perfection! Epictetus tells me I have the spark
of Zeus!" And I don't disagree. So that makes 6.8 billion examples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks of Zeus. You
see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our
unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another-which springs, I think, from our fear of our own
insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality - we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love
accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point - and we're happy to
compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that's the quickest way, or only way, to have something to
put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a
better spot on the social totem pole. No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or
lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it's "So what does this get me?" As a consequence, we
cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to
Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans. It's an epidemic - and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is
immune… one of the best of the 37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School… where good is no longer good
enough, where a B is the new C, and the midlevel curriculum is called Advanced College Placement. And I hope
you caught me when I said "one of the best." I said "one of the best" so we can feel better about ourselves, so we
can bask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable, and count ourselves among the elite, whoever
they might be, and enjoy a perceived leg up on the perceived competition. But the phrase defies logic. By
definition there can be only one best. You're it or you're not.
If you've learned anything in your years here I hope it's that education should be for, rather than material
advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You've learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the
chief element of happiness. (Second is ice cream… just an fyi) I also hope you've learned enough to recognize
how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning. It's where you go
from here that matters.
As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other
than you love it and believe in its importance. Don't bother with work you don't believe in any more than you would
a spouse you're not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison.
Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of selfsatisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages. And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a
matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and
demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love,
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #6, cont’d
everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock
subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you'll be in
no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.
The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap
because you're a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer. You'll note the founding fathers took pains to
secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-quite an active verb, "pursuit"-which leaves,
I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots rollerskate on Youtube. The first President
Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live
deep and suck out all the marrow. The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally,
someone… I forget who… from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem. The
point is the same: get busy, have at it. Don't wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore,
find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands. (Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, let me point
out the illogic of that trendy little expression-because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of
your life. Rather than You Only Live Once, it should be You Live Only Once… but because YLOO doesn't have
the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn't matter.)
None of this day-seizing, though, this YLOOing, should be interpreted as license for self-indulgence. Like
accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It's what happens when you're
thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge,
enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to
be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative,
independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the
6.8 billion-and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human
experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only
with the recognition that you're not special.
Because everyone is.
Congratulations. Good luck. Make for yourselves, please, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.
http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/18720284/2012/06/06/full-transcript-youre-not-special-speech
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #7
Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford University
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the
world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college
graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18
months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she
decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so
everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they
decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in
the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course."
My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had
never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months
later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford,
and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't
see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me
figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to
drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the
best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest
me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles
for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one
good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my
curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the
campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped
out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I
learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter
combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way
that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were
designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the
first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac
would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the
Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never
dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they
do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very
clear looking backwards ten years later.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #7, cont’d
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have
to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny,
life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was
20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion
company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year
earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well,
as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the
first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a
falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What
had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs
down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce
and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running
away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events
at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start
over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have
ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a
beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of
my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell
in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first
computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the
world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology
we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a
wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful
tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.
Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is
going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep
looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great
relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't
settle.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #7, cont’d
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last,
someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33
years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my
life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for
too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make
the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of
embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly
important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking
you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly
showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this
was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than
three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's
code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10
years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will
be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope
down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a
few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed
the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of
pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more
decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death
was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet
death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be,
because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out
the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you
will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which
is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out
your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They
somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #7, cont’d
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was
one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here
in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before
personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and
polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along:
it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run
its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover
of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find
yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay
Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have
always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-10-06/tech/30249828_1_college-tuition-calligraphy-adoption
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #8
Guidelines for Participants in a Socratic Seminar
1. Refer to the text when needed during the discussion. A seminar is not a test of memory. You are not
"learning a subject"; your goal is to understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in the text.
2. It's OK to "pass" when asked to contribute.
3. Do not participate if you are not prepared. A seminar should not be a bull session.
4. Do not stay confused; ask for clarification.
5. Stick to the point currently under discussion; make notes about ideas you want to come back to.
6. Don't raise hands; take turns speaking.
7. Listen carefully.
8. Speak up so that all can hear you.
9. Talk to each other, not just to the leader or teacher.
10. Discuss ideas rather than each other's opinions.
Dialogue is characterized by:







suspending judgment
examining our own work without defensiveness
exposing our reasoning and looking for limits to it
communicating our underlying assumptions
exploring viewpoints more broadly and deeply
being open to disconfirming data
approaching someone who sees a problem differently not as an adversary, but as a colleague in
common pursuit of better solution.
Expectations of Participants in a Socratic Seminar
When I am evaluating your Socratic Seminar participation, I ask the following questions about
participants. Did they….
Speak loudly and clearly?
Cite reasons and evidence for their statements?
Use the text to find support?
Listen to others respectfully?
Stick with the subject?
Talk to each other, not just to the leader?
Paraphrase accurately?
Ask for help to clear up confusion?
Support each other?
Avoid hostile exchanges?
Question others in a civil manner?
Seem prepared?
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #8, cont’d
Stem Questions that Facilitate & Sustain Dialogue for the Socratic Seminar
These stem questions are not only for the leader of the seminar but for participant use as well. It is a great idea to post the list in your
classroom as a reference tool for students. At first, when students use them, they may seem a bit artificial; however, the more you
make them a regular practice in your classroom, the more comfortable and automatic they will become for both you and your students.
Agree / Disagree
 Has anyone else had a similar . . .?
 Who has a different . . .?
Clarification
 I'm not sure I understand . . .?
 Tell me more about . . .?
 Do you see gaps in my reasoning?
 Are you taking into account something
different from what I have considered?
Support Questions
 Can you give us an example of . . .?
 Where in the story . . .?
 What would be a good reason for . . .?
 What is some evidence for . . .?
Cause and Effect
 Why do you think that happened?
 How could that have been prevented?
 Do you think that would happen that way again?
Why?
 What are some reasons people . . .?
Compare / Contrast
 How are __________ and _______
alike? Different?
 What is that similar to?
 Can you think of why this feels different
than . . .?
 How does this (poem, book, incident, etc.)
remind you of . . .?
Benefits / Burdens

What are some of the reasons this
wouldn't (would) be a good idea?

Would anyone like to speak to the
opposite side?

Those are some reasons this would
work; what reasons might it not work?
Counterexample

Would that still happen if . . . ?

What might have made the
difference?
Point of View / Perspective
 How might she/he have felt . . .?
 What do you think he/she was thinking when .
. .?
 He might not like that, but can you think of
someone who would?
 _____________ has expressed a different
opinion. Are there others?
 Do you have a different interpretation?
 Do you have different conclusions?
 How did you arrive at your view?
Structure / Function
 If that was the goal, what do you think about .
. (the action, reaction)?
 What were her/his choices of how to . . .?
 Why was she/he doing that? (Reply gives
reason) What do you think of that approach?
 What better choices could he/she have
made?
 What rules would we need to make sure . . .?
Different Situation
 Can you describe a situation that would . . .?
 Suppose ________________. Would that
still be true? Why or why not?
Solicit Questions
 What are some things that you wonder
about?
 What would you like to know about?
 Are there questions we should remember
now?
Personal Experience
 What would you do in that situation?
 Has anything like that ever happened to you?
 In what way are you alike or different from
___ [ character in the piece ]
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #8, cont’d
Socratic Seminar Rubric
Student's Name:
Date:
Topic:
4
 frequently contributes meaningfully to the discussion
 uses specific references to the text or film
 builds on another's point explains ideas thoroughly
 explains ideas clearly
 initiates new ideas
 pays attention when others speak
 makes direct references to points made by other students
 includes others through verbal exchange or invitation into conversation
3
 occasionally contributes to the discussion
 refers to the text or film in general ways
 occasionally refers to another's point
 attempts to explain ideas
 may initiate a new idea
 pays attention when others speak
2
 rarely contributes to the discussion
 shows little evidence of knowledge regarding the text or film
 presents unexplained ideas
 makes tangential remarks
 becomes involved sporadically
 rarely pays attention when others speak
1
 makes little or no contribution to the discussion
 no evidence of knowledge regarding the text or film
 speaks off topic
 shows uninvolved attitude
 interrupts when others speak
 dominates
 makes personal criticisms of the ideas of others
 shows disrespect
 attempts to obstruct the discussion process
 does not pay attention to others
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #9
Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind
by Arthur L. Costa
When we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know
which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The
impeded stream is the one that sings. - - Wendell Berry
Write the Habits of Mind in
your own words. You may
also add comments &
questions.
Horace Mann, a U.S. educator (1796–1859), once observed that "habit is a cable; we weave a
thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it." In Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind,
we focus on 16 Habits of Mind that teachers and parents can teach, cultivate, observe, and assess.
The intent is to help students get into the habit of behaving intelligently. A Habit of Mind is a pattern
of intellectual behaviors that leads to productive actions. When we experience dichotomies, are
confused by dilemmas, or come face-to-face with uncertainties, our most effective response
requires drawing forth certain patterns of intellectual behavior. When we draw upon these
intellectual resources, the results are more powerful, of higher quality, and of greater significance
than if we fail to employ such patterns of intellectual behavior.
A Habit of Mind is a composite of many skills, attitudes, cues, past experiences, and proclivities. It
means that we value one pattern of intellectual behaviors over another; therefore, it implies making
choices about which patterns we should use at a certain time. It includes sensitivity to the contextual
cues that signal that a particular circumstance is a time when applying a certain pattern would be
useful and appropriate. It requires a level of skillfulness to use, carry out, and sustain the behaviors
effectively. It suggests that after each experience in which these behaviors are used, the effects of
their use are reflected upon, evaluated, modified, and carried forth to future applications. Figure 2.1
summarizes some of these dimensions of the Habits of Mind, which are elaborated in Chapter 3.
The following sections describe each of the 16 Habits of Mind.
Following are descriptions and an elaboration of 16 attributes of what human beings do when they
behave intelligently. We choose to refer to them as Habits of Mind. They are the characteristics of
what intelligent people do when they are confronted with problems, the resolution to which are not
immediately apparent. These behaviors are seldom performed in isolation. Rather, clusters of such
behaviors are drawn forth and employed in various situations. When listening intently, for example,
one employs flexibility, metacognition, precise language and perhaps questioning. Please do not
think that there are only sixteen ways in which humans display their intelligence. It should be
understood that this list is not meant to be complete. It should serve to initiate the collection of
additional attributes.
Persisting
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make
mistakes, but they never quit. - - Conrad Hilton
Efficacious people stick to a task until it is completed. They don't give up easily. They are able to
analyze a problem, and they develop a system, structure, or strategy to attack it. They have a
repertoire of alternative strategies for problem solving, and they employ a whole range of these
strategies. They collect evidence to indicate their problem-solving strategy is working, and if one
strategy doesn't work, they know how to back up and try another. They recognize when a theory or
an idea must be rejected and another employed. They have systematic methods for analyzing a
problem, which include knowing how to begin, what steps must be performed, what data must be
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9, cont’d
generated or collected, and what resources are available to assist. Because they are able to sustain
a problem-solving process over time, they are comfortable with ambiguous situations.
Students often give up when they don't immediately know the answer to a problem. They
sometimes crumple their papers and throw them away, exclaiming "I can't do this!" or "It's too hard!"
Sometimes they write down any answer to get the task over with as quickly as possible. Some of
these students have attention deficits. They have difficulty staying focused for any length of time;
they are easily distracted, or they lack the ability to analyze a problem and develop a system,
structure, or strategy of attack. They may give up because they have a limited repertoire of problemsolving strategies, and thus they have few alternatives if their first strategy doesn't work.
Managing Impulsivity
Goal-directed, self-imposed delay of gratification is perhaps the essence of emotional self-regulation:
the ability to deny impulse in the service of a goal, whether it be building a business, solving an
algebraic equation, or pursuing the Stanley Cup. - - Daniel Goleman
Effective problem solvers are deliberate: they think before they act. They intentionally establish a
vision of a product, an action plan, a goal, or a destination before they begin. They strive to clarify
and understand directions, they develop a strategy for approaching a problem, and they withhold
immediate value judgments about an idea before they fully understand it. Reflective individuals
consider alternatives and consequences of several possible directions before they take action. They
decrease their need for trial and error by gathering information, taking time to reflect on an answer
before giving it, making sure they understand directions, and listening to alternative points of view.
Often, students blurt out the first answer that comes to mind. Sometimes they shout an answer,
start to work without fully understanding the directions, lack an organized plan or strategy for
approaching a problem, or make immediate value judgments about an idea (criticizing or praising it)
before they fully understand it. They may take the first suggestion given or operate on the first idea
that comes to mind rather than consider alternatives and the consequences of several possible
directions. Research demonstrates, however, that less impulsive, self-disciplined students are more
successful. For example, Duckworth and Seligman (2005) found
Highly self-disciplined adolescents outperformed their more impulsive peers on every academic
performance variable, including report-card grades, standardized achievement test scores,
admission to a competitive high school and attendance. Self-discipline measured in the fall
predicted more variance in each of these outcomes than did IQ, and unlike IQ, self-discipline
predicted gains in academic performance over the school year. (p. 940)
Listening with Understanding and Empathy
Listening is the beginning of understanding. … Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening. Let the
wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance. —Proverbs 1:5
Highly effective people spend an inordinate amount of time and energy listening (Covey, 1989).
Some psychologists believe that the ability to listen to another person—to empathize with and to
understand that person's point of view—is one of the highest forms of intelligent behavior. The
ability to paraphrase another person's ideas; detect indicators (cues) of feelings or emotional states
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9, cont’d
in oral and body language (empathy); and accurately express another person's concepts, emotions,
and problems—all are indicators of listening behavior. (Piaget called it "overcoming egocentrism.")
People who demonstrate this Habit of Mind are able to see through the diverse perspectives of
others. They gently attend to another person, demonstrating their understanding of and empathy for
an idea or a feeling by paraphrasing it accurately, building upon it, clarifying it, or giving an example
of it.
Senge, Roberts, Ross, Smith, and Kleiner (1994) suggest that to listen fully means to pay close
attention to what is being said beneath the words—listening not only to the "music" but also to the
essence of the person speaking; not only for what someone knows but also for what that person is
trying to represent. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light
the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in oneself, slowing the
mind's hearing to the ears' natural speed and hearing beneath the words to their meaning.
We spend 55 percent of our lives listening, but it is one of the least taught skills in schools. We often
say we are listening, but actually we are rehearsing in our head what we are going to say when our
partner is finished. Some students ridicule, laugh at, or put down other students' ideas. They
interrupt, are unable to build upon, can't consider the merits of, or don't operate on another person's
ideas.
We want students to learn to devote their mental energies to another person and to invest
themselves in their partner's ideas. We want students to learn to hold in abeyance their own values,
judgments, opinions, and prejudices so they can listen to and entertain another person's thoughts.
This is a complex skill requiring the ability to monitor one's own thoughts while at the same time
attending to a partner's words. Listening in this way does not mean we can't disagree with
someone. Good listeners try to understand what other people are saying. In the end, they may
disagree sharply, but because they have truly listened, they know exactly the nature of the
disagreement.
Thinking Flexibly
Of all forms of mental activity, the most difficult to induce even in the minds of the young, who may be
presumed not to have lost their flexibility, is the art of handling the same bundle of data as before, but
placing them in a new system of relations with one another by giving them a different framework, all of
which virtually means putting on a different kind of thinking-cap for the moment. It is easy to teach
anybody a new fact. … but it needs light from heaven above to enable a teacher to break the old framework
in which the student is accustomed to seeing. - - Arthur Koestler
An amazing discovery about the human brain is its plasticity—its ability to "rewire," change, and
even repair itself to become smarter. Flexible people have the most control. They have the capacity
to change their minds as they receive additional data. They engage in multiple and simultaneous
outcomes and activities, and they draw upon a repertoire of problem-solving strategies. They also
practice style flexibility, knowing when thinking broadly and globally is appropriate and when a
situation requires detailed precision. They create and seek novel approaches, and they have a welldeveloped sense of humor. They envision a range of consequences.
Flexible people can address a problem from a new angle using a novel approach, which de Bono
(1991) refers to as "lateral thinking." They consider alternative points of view or deal with several
sources of information simultaneously. Their minds are open to change based on additional
information, new data, or even reasoning that contradicts their beliefs. Flexible people know that
they have and can develop options and alternatives. They understand means-ends relationships.
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Attachment #9, cont’d
They can work within rules, criteria, and regulations, and they can predict the consequences of
flouting them. They understand immediate reactions, but they also are able to perceive the bigger
purposes that such constraints serve. Thus, flexibility of mind is essential for working with social
diversity, enabling an individual to recognize the wholeness and distinctness of other people's ways
of experiencing and making meaning.
Flexible thinkers are able to shift through multiple perceptual positions at will. One perceptual
orientation is what Jean Piaget called egocentrism, or perceiving from our own point of view. By
contrast, allocentrism is the position in which we perceive through another person's orientation. We
operate from this second position when we empathize with another's feelings, predict how others
are thinking, and anticipate potential misunderstandings.
Another perceptual position is macrocentric. It is similar to looking down from a balcony to observe
ourselves and our interactions with others. This bird's-eye view is useful for discerning themes and
patterns from assortments of information. It is intuitive, holistic, and conceptual. Because we often
need to solve problems with incomplete information, we need the capacity to perceive general
patterns and jump across gaps of incomplete knowledge.
Yet another perceptual orientation is microcentric, examining the individual and sometimes minute
parts that make up the whole. This worm's eye view involves logical, analytical computation,
searching for causality in methodical steps. It requires attention to detail, precision, and orderly
progressions.
Flexible thinkers display confidence in their intuition. They tolerate confusion and ambiguity up to a
point, and they are willing to let go of a problem, trusting their subconscious to continue creative and
productive work on it. Flexibility is the cradle of humor, creativity, and repertoire. Although many
perceptual positions are possible—past, present, future, egocentric, allocentric, macrocentric,
microcentric, visual, auditory, kinesthetic—the flexible mind knows when to shift between and
among these positions.
Some students have difficulty considering alternative points of view or dealing with more than one
classification system simultaneously. Their way to solve a problem seems to be the only way. They
perceive situations from an egocentric point of view: "My way or the highway!" Their minds are
made up: "Don't confuse me with facts. That's it!"
Thinking About Thinking (Metacognition)
When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself. - - Plato
The human species is known as Homo sapiens sapiens, which basically means "a being that knows
their knowing" (or maybe it's "knows they're knowing"). What distinguishes humans from other forms
of life is our capacity for metacognition—the ability to stand off and examine our own thoughts while
we engage in them.
Occurring in the neocortex, metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is our ability to know what we
know and what we don't know. It is our ability to plan a strategy for producing the information that is
needed, to be conscious of our own steps and strategies during the act of problem solving, and to
reflect on and evaluate the productiveness of our own thinking. Although inner language, thought to
be a prerequisite for metacognition, begins in most children around age 5, metacognition is a key
attribute of formal thought flowering at about age 11.
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Attachment #9, cont’d
The major components of metacognition are, when confronted with a problem to solve, developing a
plan of action, maintaining that plan in mind over a period of time, and then reflecting on and
evaluating the plan upon its completion. Planning a strategy before embarking on a course of action
helps us keep track of the steps in the sequence of planned behavior at the conscious awareness
level for the duration of the activity. It facilitates making temporal and comparative judgments;
assessing the readiness for more or different activities; and monitoring our interpretations,
perceptions, decisions, and behaviors. An example would be what superior teachers do daily:
developing a teaching strategy for a lesson, keeping that strategy in mind throughout the instruction,
and then reflecting upon the strategy to evaluate its effectiveness in producing the desired student
outcomes.
Intelligent people plan for, reflect on, and evaluate the quality of their own thinking skills and
strategies. Metacognition means becoming increasingly aware of one's actions and the effect of
those actions on others and on the environment; forming internal questions in the search for
information and meaning; developing mental maps or plans of action; mentally rehearsing before a
performance; monitoring plans as they are employed (being conscious of the need for midcourse
correction if the plan is not meeting expectations); reflecting on the completed plan for selfevaluation; and editing mental pictures for improved performance.
Interestingly, not all humans achieve the level of formal operations. As Russian psychologist
Alexander Luria found, not all adults metacogitate. Although the human brain is capable of
generating this reflective consciousness, generally we are not all that aware of how we are thinking,
and not everyone uses the capacity for consciousness equally (Chiabetta, 1976; Csikszentmihalyi,
1993; Whimbey, Whimbey, & Shaw, 1975; Whimbey, 1980). The most likely reason is that all of us
do not take the time to reflect on our experiences. Students often do not take the time to wonder
why they are doing what they are doing. They seldom question themselves about their own learning
strategies or evaluate the efficiency of their own performance. Some children virtually have no idea
of what they should do when they confront a problem, and often they are unable to explain their
decision-making strategies (Sternberg & Wagner, 1982). When teachers ask, "How did you solve
that problem? What strategies did you have in mind?" or "Tell us what went on in your head to come
up with that conclusion," students often respond, "I don't know. I just did it."
We want students to perform well on complex cognitive tasks. A simple example might be drawn
from a reading task. While reading a passage, we sometimes find that our minds wander from the
pages. We see the words, but no meaning is being produced. Suddenly, we realize that we are not
concentrating and that we've lost contact with the meaning of the text. We recover by returning to
the passage to find our place, matching it with the last thought we can remember, and once having
found it, reading on with connectedness. This inner awareness and the strategy of recovery are
components of metacognition.
Striving for Accuracy
A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake. - -Confucius
Whether we are looking at the stamina, grace, and elegance of a ballerina or a carpenter, we see a
desire for craftsmanship, mastery, flawlessness, and economy of energy to produce exceptional
results. People who value truthfulness, accuracy, precision, and craftsmanship take time to check
over their products. They review the rules by which they are to abide, they review the models and
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #9, cont’d
visions they are to follow, and they review the criteria they are to use to confirm that their finished
product matches the criteria exactly. To be craftsmanlike means knowing that one can continually
perfect one's craft by working to attain the highest possible standards and by pursuing ongoing
learning to bring a laserlike focus of energies to accomplishing a task.
These people take pride in their work, and they desire accuracy as they take time to check over
their work. Craftsmanship includes exactness, precision, accuracy, correctness, faithfulness, and
fidelity. For some people, craftsmanship requires continuous reworking. Mario Cuomo, a great
speechwriter and politician, once said that his speeches were never done; it was only a deadline
that made him stop working on them.
Some students may turn in sloppy, incomplete, or uncorrected work. They are more eager to get rid
of the assignment than to check it over for accuracy and precision. They are willing to settle for
minimum effort rather than invest their maximum. They may be more interested in expedience
rather than excellence.
Questioning and Posing Problems
The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of
mathematical or experimental skill. … To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a
new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances. - -Albert Einstein
One of the distinguishing characteristics of humans is our inclination and ability to find problems to
solve. Effective problem solvers know how to ask questions to fill in the gaps between what they
know and what they don't know.
Effective questioners are inclined to ask a range of questions:
* What evidence do you have?
* How do you know that's true?
* How reliable is this data source?
They also pose questions about alternative points of view:
* From whose viewpoint are we seeing, reading, or hearing?
* From what angle, what perspective, are we viewing this situation?
Effective questioners pose questions that make causal connections and relationships:
* How are these (people, events, or situations) related to each other?
* What produced this connection?
Sometimes they pose hypothetical problems characterized by "if" questions:
* What do you think would happen if … ?
* If that is true, then what might happen if … ?
Inquirers recognize discrepancies and phenomena in their environment, and they probe into their
causes:
* Why do cats purr?
* How high can birds fly?
* Why does the hair on my head grow so fast, while the hair on my arms and legs grows so slowly?
* What would happen if we put the saltwater fish in a freshwater aquarium?
* What are some alternative solutions to international conflicts, other than wars?
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9, cont’d
Some students may be unaware of the functions, classes, syntax, or intentions in questions. They
may not realize that questions vary in complexity, structure, and purpose. They may pose simple
questions intending to derive maximal results. When confronted with a discrepancy, they may lack
an overall strategy to search for and find a solution.
Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
I've never made a mistake. I've only learned from experience. - - Thomas A. Edison
Intelligent humans learn from experience. When confronted with a new and perplexing problem,
they will draw forth experiences from their past. They often can be heard to say, "This reminds me
of …" or "This is just like the time when I …" They explain what they are doing now with analogies
about or references to their experiences. They call upon their store of knowledge and experience as
sources of data to support, theories to explain, or processes to solve each new challenge. They are
able to abstract meaning from one experience, carry it forth, and apply it in a novel situation.
Too often, students begin each new task as if it were being approached for the first time. Teachers
are dismayed when they invite students to recall how they solved a similar problem previously—and
students don't remember. It's as if they had never heard of it before, even though they recently
worked with the same type of problem! It seems each experience is encapsulated and has no
relationship to what has come before or what comes after. Their thinking is what psychologists refer
to as an "episodic grasp of reality" (Feuerstein et al., 1980); that is, each event in life is separate
and discrete, with no connections to what may have come before or no relation to what follows.
Their learning is so encapsulated that they seem unable to draw it forth from one event and apply it
in another context.
Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
I do not so easily think in words. … After being hard at work having arrived at results that are perfectly clear …
I have to translate my thoughts in a language that does not run evenly with them. - - Francis Galton, geneticist
Language refinement plays a critical role in enhancing a person's cognitive maps and ability to think
critically, which is the knowledge base for efficacious action. Enriching the complexity and specificity
of language simultaneously produces effective thinking.
Language and thinking are closely entwined; like either side of a coin, they are inseparable. Fuzzy,
vague language is a reflection of fuzzy, vague thinking. Intelligent people strive to communicate
accurately in both written and oral form, taking care to use precise language; defining terms; and
using correct names, labels, and analogies. They strive to avoid overgeneralizations, deletions, and
distortions. Instead, they support their statements with explanations, comparisons, quantification,
and evidence.
We sometimes hear students and adults using vague and imprecise language. They describe
objects or events with words like weird, nice, or OK. They name specific objects using such
nondescriptive words as stuff, junk, things, and whatever. They punctuate sentences with
meaningless interjections like ya know, er, and uh. They use vague or general nouns and pronouns:
"They told me to do it," "Everybody has one," or "Teachers don't understand me." They use
nonspecific verbs: "Let's do it." At other times, they use unqualified comparatives: "This soda is
better; I like it more" (Shachtman, 1995).
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9
Gathering Data Through All Senses
Observe perpetually. - - Henry James
The brain is the ultimate reductionist. It reduces the world to its elementary parts: photons of light,
molecules of fragrance, sound waves, vibrations of touch—all of which send electrochemical signals
to individual brain cells that store information about lines, movements, colors, smells, and other
sensory inputs.
Intelligent people know that all information gets into the brain through sensory pathways: gustatory,
olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. Most linguistic, cultural, and physical learning is
derived from the environment by observing or taking it in through the senses. To know a wine it
must be drunk; to know a role it must be acted; to know a game it must be played; to know a dance
it must be performed; to know a goal it must be envisioned. Those whose sensory pathways are
open, alert, and acute absorb more information from the environment than those whose pathways
are withered, immune, and oblivious to sensory stimuli.
The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is.
This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all those related bits of data
from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data
strengthens the data into something that's learned rather than just memorized (Willis, 2007).
We are learning more and more about the impact of the arts and music on improved mental
functioning. Forming mental images is important in mathematics and engineering; listening to
classical music seems to improve spatial reasoning. Social scientists use scenarios and role
playing; scientists build models; engineers use CAD-CAM; mechanics learn through hands-on
experimentation; artists explore colors and textures; and musicians combine instrumental and vocal
music.
Some students, however, go through school and life oblivious to the textures, rhythms, patterns,
sounds, and colors around them. Sometimes children are afraid to touch things or get their hands
dirty. Some don't want to feel an object that might be slimy or icky. They operate within a narrow
range of sensory problem-solving strategies, wanting only to describe it but not illustrate or act it, or
to listen but not participate.
Creating, Imagining, Innovating
The future is not some place we are going to but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made,
and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination. - - John Schaar, political scientist
All human beings have the capacity to generate novel, clever, or ingenious products, solutions, and
techniques—if that capacity is developed (Sternberg, 2006). Creative human beings try to conceive
solutions to problems differently, examining alternative possibilities from many angles. They tend to
project themselves into different roles using analogies, starting with a vision and working backward,
and imagining they are the object being considered. Creative people take risks and frequently push
the boundaries of their perceived limits (Perkins, 1991). They are intrinsically rather than
extrinsically motivated, working on the task because of the aesthetic challenge rather than the
material rewards.
Creative people are open to criticism. They hold up their products for others to judge, and they seek
feedback in an ever-increasing effort to refine their technique. They are uneasy with the status quo.
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9
They constantly strive for greater fluency, elaboration, novelty, parsimony, simplicity, craftsmanship,
perfection, beauty, harmony, and balance.
Students, however, often are heard saying "I can't draw," "I was never very good at art," "I can't sing
a note," or "I'm not creative." Some people believe creative humans are just born that way and that
genes and chromosomes are the determinants of creativity.
Responding with Wonderment and Awe
The most beautiful experience in the world is the experience of the mysterious. —Albert Einstein
Describing the 200 best and brightest of USA Today's All USA College Academic Team, Tracey
Wong Briggs (1999) states, "They are creative thinkers who have a passion for what they do."
Efficacious people have not only an "I can" attitude but also an "I enjoy" feeling. They seek intriguing
phenomena. They search for problems to solve for themselves and to submit to others. They delight
in making up problems to solve on their own, and they so enjoy the challenge of problem solving
that they seek perplexities and puzzles from others. They enjoy figuring things out by themselves,
and they continue to learn throughout their lifetimes. One efficacious person is chemist Ahmed H.
Zewail, a Nobel Prize winner, who said that he had a passion to understand fundamental
processes: "I love molecules. I want to understand why do they do what they do" (Cole, 1999).
Some children and adults avoid problems and are turned off to learning. They make such comments
as "I was never good at these brain teasers," "Go ask your father; he's the brain in this family," "It's
boring," "When am I ever going to use this stuff," "Who cares," "Lighten up, teacher; thinking is hard
work," or "I don't do thinking!" Many people never enrolled in another math class or other "hard"
academic subject after they weren't required to in high school or college. Many people perceive
thinking as hard work, and they recoil from situations that demand too much of it.
We want students to be curious, to commune with the world around them, to reflect on the changing
formations of a cloud, to feel charmed by the opening of a bud, to sense the logical simplicity of
mathematical order. Intelligent people find beauty in a sunset, intrigue in the geometric shapes of a
spider web, and exhilaration in the iridescence of a hummingbird's wings. They marvel at the
congruity and intricacies in the derivation of a mathematical formula, recognize the orderliness and
adroitness of a chemical change, and commune with the serenity of a distant constellation. We want
students to feel compelled, enthusiastic, and passionate about learning, inquiring, and mastering
(Costa, 2007).
Taking Responsible Risks
There has been a calculated risk in every stage of American development—the pioneers who were not afraid
of the wilderness, businessmen who were not afraid of failure, dreamers who were not afraid of action. - Brooks Atkinson
Risk takers seem to have an almost uncontrollable urge to go beyond established limits. They are
uneasy about comfort; they live on the edge of their competence. They seem compelled to place
themselves in situations in which they do not know what the outcome will be. They accept
confusion, uncertainty, and the higher risks of failure as part of the normal process, and they learn
to view setbacks as interesting, challenging, and growth producing. However, responsible risk
takers do not behave impulsively. Their risks are educated. They draw on past knowledge, are
thoughtful about consequences, and have a well-trained sense of what is appropriate. They know
that all risks are not worth taking.
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9
Risk takers can be considered in two categories: those who see the risk as a venture and those who
see it as adventure. The venture part of risk taking might be described in terms of what a venture
capitalist does. When a person is approached to take the risk of investing in a new business, she
will look at the markets, see how well organized the ideas are, and study the economic projections.
If she finally decides to take the risk, it is a well-considered one.
The adventure part of risk taking might be described by the experiences from Project Adventure. In
this situation, there is a spontaneity, a willingness to take a chance in the moment. Once again, a
person will take the chance only if experiences suggest that the action will not be life threatening or
if he believes that group support will protect him from harm (e.g., checking out the dimensions of
weight, distance, and strength of a bungee cord before agreeing to the exhilaration of a drop).
Ultimately, people learn from such high-risk experiences that they are far more able to take actions
than they previously believed. Risk taking becomes educated only through repeated experiences. It
often is a cross between intuition, drawing on past knowledge, striving for precision and accuracy,
and a sense of meeting new challenges.
Bobby Jindal, then executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of
Medicare, stated, "The only way to succeed is to be brave enough to risk failure" (Briggs, 1999, p.
2A). When people hold back from taking risks, they miss opportunities. Some students seem
reluctant to take risks. They hold back from games, new learning, and new friendships because
their fear of failure is far greater than their desire for venture or adventure. They are reinforced by
the mental voice that says, "If you don't try it, you won't be wrong," or "If you try it and you are
wrong, you will look stupid." The other voice that might say, "If you don't try it, you will never know,"
is trapped by fear and mistrust. These students are more interested in knowing whether their
answer is correct or not than in being challenged by the process of finding the answer. They are
unable to sustain a process of problem solving and finding the answer over time, and therefore they
avoid ambiguous situations. They have a need for certainty rather than an inclination for doubt.
We hope that students will learn how to take intellectual as well as physical risks. Students who are
capable of being different, going against the grain of common thinking, and thinking of new ideas
(testing them with peers and teachers) are more likely to be successful in an age of innovation and
uncertainty.
Finding Humor
You can increase your brain power three to fivefold simply by laughing and having fun before
working on a problem. - - Doug Hall
Why we laugh, no one really knows. Laughing is an instinct that can be traced to chimps, and it may
reinforce our social status (Hubert, 2007). Humor is a human form of mutual playfulness. Beyond
the fact that laughing is enjoyable, it may have medicinal value as well. Laughing, scientists have
discovered, has positive effects on physiological functions: blood vessels relax, stress hormones
disperse, and the immune system gets a boost, including a drop in the pulse rate. Laughter
produces secretion of endorphins and increased oxygen in the blood. Humor has been found to
have psychological benefits as well. It liberates creativity and provokes such higher-level thinking
skills as anticipating, finding novel relationships, visual imaging, and making analogies. People who
engage in the mystery of humor have the ability to perceive situations from an original and often
interesting vantage point. They tend to initiate humor more often, to place greater value on having a
sense of humor, to appreciate and understand others' humor, and to be verbally playful when
[ cont’d ]
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #9, cont’d
interacting with others. Having a whimsical frame of mind, they thrive on finding incongruity;
perceiving absurdities, ironies, and satire; finding discontinuities; and being able to laugh at
situations and themselves.
Some students find humor in all the wrong places—human differences, ineptitude, injurious
behavior, vulgarity, violence, and profanity. They employ laughter to humiliate others. They laugh at
others yet are unable to laugh at themselves. We want students to acquire the habit of finding
humor in a positive sense so they can distinguish between those situations of human frailty and
fallibility that require compassion and those that truly are funny (Dyer, 1997).
Thinking Interdependently
Take care of each other. Share your energies with the group. No one must feel alone, cut off, for that is
when you do not make it. - - Willie Unsoeld, mountain climber
Humans are social beings. We congregate in groups, find it therapeutic to be listened to, draw
energy from one another, and seek reciprocity. In groups we contribute our time and energy to tasks
that we would quickly tire of when working alone. In fact, solitary confinement is one of the cruelest
forms of punishment that can be inflicted on an individual.
Collaborative humans realize that all of us together are more powerful, intellectually or physically,
than any one individual. Probably the foremost disposition in our global society is the heightened
ability to think in concert with others, to find ourselves increasingly more interdependent and
sensitive to the needs of others. Problem solving has become so complex that no one person can
go it alone. No one has access to all the data needed to make critical decisions; no one person can
consider as many alternatives as several people.
Some students may not have learned to work in groups; they have underdeveloped social skills.
They feel isolated, and they prefer solitude. They say things like "Leave me alone—I'll do it by
myself," "They just don't like me," or "I want to be alone." Some students seem unable to contribute
to group work and are job hogs; conversely, other students let all the others in a group do all the
work.
Working in groups requires the ability to justify ideas and to test the feasibility of solution strategies
on others. It also requires developing a willingness and an openness to accept feedback from a
critical friend. Through this interaction, the group and the individual continue to grow. Listening,
consensus seeking, giving up an idea to work with someone else's, empathy, compassion, group
leadership, knowing how to support group efforts, altruism—all are behaviors indicative of
cooperative human beings.
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning
The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds. —John F. Kennedy
In a world that moves at warp speed, there is more to know today than ever before, and the
challenge of knowing more and more in every succeeding day, week, month, and year ahead will
only continue to expand exponentially. The quest for meaningful knowledge is critical and never
ending.
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #9, cont’d
Intelligent people are in a continuous learning mode. They are invigorated by the quest of lifelong
learning. Their confidence, in combination with their inquisitiveness, allows them to constantly
search for new and better ways. People with this Habit of Mind are always striving for improvement,
growing, learning, and modifying and improving themselves. They seize problems, situations,
tensions, conflicts, and circumstances as valuable opportunities to learn (Bateson, 2004).
A great mystery about humans is that many times we confront learning opportunities with fear rather
than mystery and wonder. We seem to feel better when we know rather than when we learn. We
defend our biases, beliefs, and storehouses of knowledge rather than invite the unknown, the
creative, and the inspirational. Being certain and closed gives us comfort, whereas being doubtful
and open gives us fear. As G. K. Chesterton so aptly expressed, "There is no such thing on earth as
an uninteresting subject; there are only uninterested people."
Because of a curriculum employing fragmentation, competition, and reactiveness, students from an
early age are trained to believe that deep learning means figuring out the truth rather than
developing capabilities for effective and thoughtful action. They have been taught to value certainty
rather than doubt, to give answers rather than to inquire, to know which choice is correct rather than
to explore alternatives. Unfortunately, some adults are content with what they already believe and
know. Their childlike curiosity has died. They exhibit little humility because they believe they are all
knowing. They do not seek out or discover the wisdom of others. They do not know how or when to
leverage a love of and lust for learning. As a result, they follow a path of little value and minimal
opportunity.
Our wish is for creative students and people who are eager to learn. This Habit of Mind includes the
humility of knowing that we don't know, which is the highest form of thinking we will ever learn.
Paradoxically, unless we start off with humility, we will never get anywhere. As the first step, we
must already have what eventually will be the crowning glory of all learning: to know—and to
admit—that we don't know and to not be afraid to find out.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108008/chapters/describing-the-habits-of-mind.aspx
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #10
“On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to Read” by David Raymond
One day a substitute teacher picked me to read aloud from the textbook. When I told her, "No, thank you," she came unhinged. She
thought I was acting smart and told me so. I kept calm, and that got her madder and madder. We must
have spent 10 minutes trying to solve the problem, and finally she got so red in the face I thought she'd blow up. She told
me she'd see me after class.
Maybe someone like me was a new thing for that teacher. But she wasn't new to me. I've been through scenes like that all
my life. You see, even though I'm 17 and a junior in high school, I can't read because I have dyslexia. [dyslexia: a reading
disability ] I'm told I read "at a fourth-grade level," but from where I sit, that's not reading. You can't know what that means
unless you've been there. It's not easy to tell how it feels when you can't read your homework assignments or the
newspaper or a menu in a restaurant or even notes from your own friends.
My family began to suspect I was having problems almost from the first day I started school. My father says my early years in school we
worst years of his life. They weren't so good for me, either. As I look back on it now, I can't find the words to
express how bad it really was. I wanted to die. I'd come home from school screaming, "I'm dumb. I'm dumb—I wish I were
dead!"
I guess I couldn't read anything at all then—not even my own name— and they tell me I didn't talk as good as other kids.
But what I remember about those days is that I couldn't throw a ball where it was supposed to go, I couldn't learn to swim,
and I wouldn't learn to ride a bike, because no matter what anyone told me, I knew I'd fail.
Sometimes my teachers would try to be encouraging. When I couldn't read the words on the board, they'd say, "Come on,
David, you know that word." Only I didn't. And it was embarrassing. I just felt dumb. And dumb was how the kids treated
me. They'd make fun of me every chance they got, asking me to spell cat or something like that. Even if I knew how to
spell it, I wouldn't; they'd only give me another word. Anyway, it was awful, because more than anything I wanted friends.
On my birthday when I blew out the candles I didn't wish I could learn to read; what I wished for was that the kids would
like me.
With the bad reports coming from school, and with me moaning about wanting to die and how everybody hated me, my
parents began That's when the testing started. The school tested me, the child-guidance center tested me, private
psychiatrists tested me. Everybody knew something was wrong—especially me.
It didn't help much when they stuck a fancy name onto it. I couldn't pronounce it then - - was only in second Grade - and I was ashamed to talk about it. Now it rolls off my tongue, because I've been living with it for a lot of Years - - dyslexia.
Elementary School
All through elementary school it wasn't easy. I was always having to do things that were "different," things the other kids
didn't have to do. I had to go to a child psychiatrist, for instance.
One summer my family forced me to go to a camp for children with reading problems. I hated the idea, but the camp turned
out pretty good, and I had a good time. I met a lot of kids who couldn't read and somehow that helped. The
director of the camp said I had a higher IQ than 90 percent of the population. I didn't believe him.
About the worst thing I had to do in fifth and sixth grade was go to a special education class in another school in our town.
A bus picked me up, and I didn't like that at all. The bus also picked up emotionally disturbed kids and retarded kids. It was
like going to a school for the retarded. I always worried that someone I knew would see me on that bus. It was a relief to go
to the regular junior high school.
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #10, cont’d
Junior High School
Life began to change a little for me, then, because I began to feel better about myself. I found the teachers
cared; they had meetings about me, and I worked harder for them for a while. I began to work on the potter's wheel,
making vases and pots that the teachers said were pretty good. Also, I got a letter for being on the track team. I could
always run pretty fast.
High School
At high school the teachers are good and everyone is trying to help me. I've gotten honors some marking
periods, and I've won a letter on the cross-country team. Next quarter I think the school might hold a show of my pottery.
I've got some friends. But there are still some embarrassing times. For instance, every time there is writing in the class, I
get up and go to the special education room. Kids ask me where I go all the time. Sometimes I say, "to Mars."
Homework is a real problem. During free periods in school I go into the special ed room, and staff members read
assignments to me. When I get home, my mother reads to me. Sometimes she reads an assignment into a tape recorder,
and then I go into my room and listen to it. If we have a novel or something like that to read, she reads it out loud to me.
Then I sit down with her and we do the assignment. She'll write, while I talk my answers to her. Lately I've taken to
dictating into a tape recorder, and then someone-my father, a private tutor, or my mother types up what I've dictated.
Whatever homework I do takes someone else's time, too. That makes me feel bad.
We had a big meeting in school the other day—eight of us, four from the guidance department, my private tutor, my
parents and me. The subject was me. I said I wanted to go to college, and they told me about colleges that have facilities
and staff to handle people like me. That's nice to hear.
As for what happens after college, I don't know and I'm worried about that. How can I make a living if I can't read? Who
will hire me? How will I fill out the application form? The only thing that gives me any courage is the fact that I've learned
about well-known people who couldn't read or had other problems and still made it. Like Albert Einstein, who didn't talk
until he was 4 and flunked math. Like Leonardo da Vinci, who everyone seems to think had dyslexia.
I've told this story because maybe some teacher will read it and go easy on a kid in the classroom who has what I've got.
Or, maybe some parent will stop nagging his kid and stop calling him lazy. Maybe he's not lazy or dumb. Maybe he just
can't read and doesn't know what's wrong. Maybe he's scared, like I was.
mrshatzi.com/files/on-being-seventeen.pdf
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #11
Youngstown City Schools
SAMPLE DIRECTED READING GUIDE FOR FICTION TEXT
Student: ____________________________ Teacher: ___________________ Date: ___________________
Selection: _______________________________ Author: _________________________ Pages: ________
A. Key Details ( i.e., what the author says; what’s in print ) (RL 9-12.1);
(1) ____________________________________________________________________________________
(2) ____________________________________________________________________________________
(3) ____________________________________________________________________________________
B. Key Inferences Drawn ( i.e., what the author means; what’s behind the print ) (RL 9-12.1);
(1) ____________________________________________________________________________________
(2) ____________________________________________________________________________________
(3) ____________________________________________________________________________________
C. Central Idea / Theme
________________________________________________________________________________________
How is this central idea further developed through the text? (RL 9-12.2)
Create a flow-chart of plot events and idea development, indicating tie-ins with settings and characters
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Attachment #11, cont’d
D.
Complex Characters (RL 9-12.3) How do they develop over the course of the text ?
Character _______________________________
Interaction with other characters ___________________________________________________
Advances to plot ________________________________________________________________
Develops the theme _____________________________________________________________
Change over the course of the story ________________________________________________
Character _______________________________
Interaction with other characters ___________________________________________________
Advances to plot ________________________________________________________________
Develops the theme _____________________________________________________________
Change over the course of the story ________________________________________________
Character _______________________________
Interaction with other characters ___________________________________________________
Advances to plot ________________________________________________________________
Develops the theme _____________________________________________________________
Change over the course of the story ________________________________________________
E. Key Vocabulary
Word or
Phrase
Meaning as used
in the text
Original Sentences reflecting
student’s OWN understanding
Connotation ?
Figurative Language?
Connotation ?
Figurative Language?
Connotation ?
Figurative Language?
[ cont’d ]
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Attachment #11, cont’d
Connotation ?
Figurative Language?
F. Summary (RL 9-12.2)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
YCS Grade 12 English/Language Arts: Unit 1 Looking Ahead 2012-13
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Attachment #12
Writing Group Procedures
1. Divide the time equally (10-15 minutes per person).
2. The writer distributes copies, and then reads his/her work aloud without apologizing for it.
3. Before reading, the writer should give an Author’s Note and Status Report. An Author’s Note informs your group about
your successes and problem areas in your writing piece. You should clearly explain to them where you need extra help
from them. A Status Report lets your group know where you are in the development of your paper. It is important to know
if this piece is in first draft form or third.
4. The peers will mark ideas, comments, concerns, and points of interest in the margins of their copy of the author’s work.
5. The writer guides responses; he/she decides what is allowable and what is off limits.
6. The goal is to give ideas to the author that can improve their paper and/or let them know what strong points they should
elaborate on.
7. All copies are given back to the author to revise and edit.
8. The next person in the group repeats these steps until all members have had a turn.
Types of Response to Papers
1. Support and Encouragement: Emphasize how readers connect to ideas and/or experiences of the writer. These
responses show the writer how well you listen to the idea and message. It is always good to give at least one of
these comments to build a positive group environment.
2. Identifying Trouble Spots: If the author explains a part is hard for them, try to help them make the spot less
confusing for readers. Put a star by passages you like and squiggles where it is confusing. These marks will help
when it is your turn to discuss the paper. It is very important to help with trouble spots of papers. Everyone is
here to learn and get help.
Reasonable Expectations for Your Group:
1. Everyone should make at least two comments on everyone’s paper.
2. Everyone should have a new draft.
3. Everyone should treat each other and their work with respect.
4. Everyone should expect to be confronted by me or other group members of they fail to meet the above
expectations.
Your paper will only improve with honest criticism from your group.
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Attachment #12, cont’d
Author’s Note
Complete this sheet about the draft you are bringing to your writer’s group.
1. What do you want your group to know about the subject of your writing? Inform your group members how you want
them to respond to your writing?
2. Where is your paper in the process of development (first draft, ninth draft, a journal of a dream you had and wrote it
down quickly, etc.)?
3. What do think is successful in this piece of writing? Be specific.
4. What are you concerned or worried about in your paper? What area(s) might need some extra reflection?
5. What specific help would you like from your group today?

Question 6 needs to be completed after meeting with your writing group.
6. What aspects helped or hindered you during the writing group experience?
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Attachment #12, cont’d
Writing Group Peer Sheet
Complete this sheet about each person’s paper you read in the group.
Author: ___________________
1.
What part did you like best?
2.
What part needs some work?
3.
What parts did you relate to in the paper or in the author’s writing process?
4.
Any additional comments?
Author: ___________________
1.
What part did you like best?
2.
What part needs some work?
3.
What parts did you relate to in the paper or in the author’s writing process?
4.
Any additional comments?
Author: ___________________
1.
What part did you like best?
2.
What part needs some work?
3.
What parts did you relate to in the paper or in the author’s writing process?
4.
Any additional comments?
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