Month: Themes/Essential Concepts/Skills/Content
Instructional
Questions
/Standards Addressed
Strategies/Assessments
Writing Assignments,
Projects, Performances
Creating a community of
Familiarization/identification of the protocols
Listen to, provide, and evaluate constructive
AUG
Sept
Oct
encouragement, growth and
learning : setting our own norms
and standards by which to co-exist.
feedback; solve problems by identifying,
synthesizing, and evaluating data
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Word analysis and decoding (idioms, syntax,
allusion, analogies, metaphors, similes)
necessary for a successful learning community,
Socratic Seminars, Constructivist Activities,
Text Renderings, Chalk Talks
Cornell notes/summaries
Changes in perspectives, the
dynamics and influences of Modern
Thought and
the seeds of change.
Analyze theme to show the text’s connections to
human experience and/or lessons learned in text.
Evaluate the effect of an author’s use of point of
view; analyze elements of plot when the point of
view is changed.
Evaluate the use and purpose of imagery, figurative
language, and sound devices; analyze the author’s
use of language and/or syntax.
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work
Write reflective texts that compare specific
incidents with broader themes using textual
evidence to support assertions
Word analysis and decoding (idioms, syntax,
allusion, analogies, metaphors, similes)
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work. Analyze the author’s
use of language and/or syntax; make inferences and
draw conclusions to explain the author’s use of
stylistic devices to create tone; analyze intended
and unintended effects of persuasive and/or
propaganda techniques in text; analyze persuasive
language and techniques for intent and/or
effectiveness in text.
Make inferences and draw conclusions to
determine important information, main idea, and
supporting details with a focus on political essays,
research articles, workplace documents, consumer
documents, nostalgic pieces, commentaries, and
special interest articles; analyze the author’s use of
organizational structure; analyze the logic and/or
support of an author’s argument, viewpoint, or
perspective.
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Word analysis and decoding (idioms, syntax,
Vocab practice: journals
Root words/origins/prefixes, suffixes, diction
and word choice
Reading strategies and protocols: Annotations
Dialectical journals w/ summary types
plagiarism awareness
Writing practice and methodologies: pre-write to
revision
*protocols
Rubrics
Cornell notes/summaries
The paradigm shift; at what price
comes intellectual freedom?
Resources
“The Disembodiement of Everyday Life” Rebecca Solnit / “A Slow Walk of Trees”Toni Morrison / “Thinking as a Hobby” –
William Golding
from “The Allegory of the Cave” by
Plato
“Treating Others as Persons, Not Things”
Immanuel Kant and The Categorical
Imperative
Introduction: Four Twentieth Century
Paradigms
Sigmund Freud, Frederich Nietzsche,
Charles Darwin, Karl Marx and selected
writings
Hegel and The Dialectics
Philosophical overview
Reading Strategies: Dialectical
Journal/Annotations
Writing Practices: Thesis Statements, Abstracts
and Summaries
Rhetorical Strategies in Writing: The Persuasive
Essay
Research Methodologies and Plagiarism
Awareness
Outside Reading Assignment;
Analysis
*protocols
Rubrics
Cornell notes/summaries
from The Origin of the Species by
Charles Darwin
“Consciousness as Social” by
Frederich Nietzsche
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and
Robert E. Lee
Other selected essays
allusion, analogies, metaphors, similes)
Nov
War and Remembrance: The Rise
of Realism and Descent into
Naturalism:
World War I,
World War II and the Cold War
The Vietnam War
Literature as Social commentary
Dec
War and Remembrance: The Rise
of Realism and Descent into
Naturalism:
World War I,
World War II and the Cold War
The Vietnam War
Literature as Social Commentary
Analyze the author’s use of language and/or
syntax; make inferences and draw conclusions to
explain the author’s use of stylistic devices to
create tone; analyze intended and unintended
effects of persuasive and/or propaganda techniques
in text; analyze persuasive language and techniques
for intent and/or effectiveness in text.
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Word analysis and decoding
Vocab practice: journals
Root words/origins/prefixes, suffixes, diction
and word choice
Reading strategies and skills Annotations
Dialectical journals w/ summary types
Timed writing response/essay questions
*protocols
Socratic seminars
Outside reading project/presentation
Group discussion
Cooperative group activities discussion/literature
circles
All Quiet on the Western Front; Erich Maria
Remarque
“In Another Country”, &
“A Natural History of the Dead”; Ernest
Hemingway
From “The Waste land”; T.S. Eliot
Catch-22; Joseph Heller
from Children in the Holocaust and World
War II: Their Secret Diaries & Night; Elie
Wiesel
The Things They Carried; Tim O’Brien
From Slaughterhouse Five; Kurt Vonnegut
Write expository texts using organizational
structures, relevant evidence, and stylistic devices
appropriate to audience and purpose.
Write narrative/descriptive compositions that
demonstrate control of a range of strategies to
achieve purpose.
Write literary analysis based on critical stances
supported by the text and/or a variety of sources.
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Make inferences and draw conclusions to explain
the author’s use of stylistic devices to create tone
and mood, and to explain the author’s use of irony.
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Analyze an author’s use and purpose of
symbolism.
Word analysis and decoding
*Lit analysis paper; (how authors use literary
devices rhetorically, aesthetically, and to elicit
response)
Abstracts
Timed writing response/essay questions
*protocols
Socratic seminars
Outside reading Vocab practice: journals
Root words/origins/prefixes, suffixes, diction
and word choice
Reading strategies and skills Annotations
project/presentation
Group discussion
Cooperative group activities discussion/literature
circles
All Quiet on the Western Front; Erich Maria
Remarque
“In Another Country”, &
“A Natural History of the Dead”; Ernest
Hemingway
From “The Waste land”; T.S. Eliot
Catch-22; Joseph Heller
from Children in the Holocaust and World
War II: Their Secret Diaries & Night; Elie
Wiesel
The Things They Carried; Tim O’Brien
From Slaughterhouse Five; Kurt Vonnegut
Jan
Feb
The Existential Introduced and
the Absurd Revisted:
Literature as social Commentary
Reading Text as Intentional
Inference
Objective Truth vs. Subjective
Truth
Connotation vs Denotation
The Fight for Dignity in the Face of
Modernity
Literature as Social Commentary
March
A Struggle for Recognition and
Understanding in the Survival of
the Ordinary: The Modern
Dilemma
Write persuasive text using rhetoric appropriate to
audience and purpose that clearly states and
supports a position.
Write narrative/descriptive compositions that
demonstrate control of a range of strategies to
achieve purpose.
Write literary analysis based on critical stances
supported by the text and/or a variety of sources.
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Organize ideas through cause and effect or
comparison/contrast to enhance central theme
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Read to comprehend, interpret and evaluate
literature
*Lit Analysis paper: (The Absurdist Hero)
Timed writing response/essay questions
*protocols
Socratic seminars
Outside reading project/presentation
Vocab practice: journals
Root words/origins/prefixes, suffixes, diction
and word choice
Reading strategies and skills Annotations
Group discussion
Cooperative group activities discussion/literature
circles
Cornell Notes/summaries
Inference, conclusion, deduction, induction
conclusion
Rhetorical strategies/effectiveness
Writing process and practices
The Existential Introduced and the
Absurd Revisited:
from “The Myth of Sisyphus”
Albert Camus
The Stranger
Albert Camus
from “Being and Nothingness”
Jean Paul Sartre
Siddartha : Herman Hesse
Analyze the author’s use of language and/or
syntax; make inferences and draw conclusions to
explain the author’s use of stylistic devices to
create tone and effect
Analyze the influence of historical events and
culture on an author’s work.
Use textual evidence to analyze
theme/meaning/scope of literature
Write narratives that reveal the writer’s attitude
toward the subject
Edit compositions for use of standard English
Make supported inferences using textual eveidence
Literary analysis paper: The Definitve Man,
Hemingway Style
Reading text as intentional: Literary Analysis:
allusion, figurative language,symbolism,
characterization, tone, mood, etc.
Reading Strategies: Annotations/Dialectical
Journals
Inference, conclusion, deduction, induction
conclusion
connotation vs. denotation
Writing process and practices
Vocab journals
Critical reading of text/ Literary Analysis:
allusion, figurative language,symbolism,
characterization, tone, mood, etc.
Reading Strategies: Annotations/Dialectical
Journals
Inference, conclusion, deduction, induction
conclusion
connotation vs. denotation
Research methodologies
Outside reading novel project
Writing process and practices
Literary terms project begins
Vocab journals
Socratic Seminars
Rubrics
Protocols/Literary Circles
The Old Man and The Sea
Ernest Hemingway
“A Clean Well-Lighted Place”
Ernest Hemingway
“Hills Like White Elephants”
Ernest Hemingway
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
Ernest Hemingway
and other selected writings
A Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams
Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller
The Ballad of the Sad Café
Carson McCullers
and other selected writings
Unit:
Themes and
Month: Essential
Questions
April
May
A Study in Aesthetic Theory:
Symbolism, Impressionism,
Expressionism, Imagism, and
Surrealism
Beyond the realm of existence;
Science Fiction
Reflective exercises on the
dilemma of man in modern
times
Cinema as Social
commentary/Artistic
Merit/Artist’s Vision
Concepts/Skills/Content
Assessments (Writing
Assignments, Projects,
Performances)
Resources
Write narrative/descriptive compositions that
demonstrate control of a range of strategies to
achieve purpose.
Write literary analyses based on critical stances
supported by the text and/or a variety of sources.
Formulate research questions and use a research
design to gather information
Evaluate possible resources for credibility and
usefulness cite sources of information using a
standard form of documentation
Justify a position by using logic and refuting
opposing viewpoints
Participate in discussion by evaluating, synthesizing
and identifying data
Reading text as intentional: Literary Analysis and
evaluation / effectiveness allusion, figurative
language,symbolism, characterization, tone, mood,
etc.
Reading Strategies: Annotations/Dialectical
Journals
Inference, conclusion, deduction, induction
conclusion
connotation vs. denotation
Research methodologies
Outside reading novel project
Writing process and practices
Literary terms project continues
Vocab journals
Socratic Seminars
Rubrics
Protocols/Literary Circles
“The Metamorphosis”
Franz Kafka
Write narrative/descriptive compositions that
demonstrate control of a range of strategies to
achieve purpose.
Write literary analyses based on critical stances
supported by the text and/or a variety of sources.
Formulate research questions and use a research
design to gather information
Evaluate possible resources for credibility and
usefulness cite sources of information using a
standard form of documentation
Justify a position by using logic and refuting
opposing viewpoints
Participate in discussion by evaluating, synthesizing
and identifying data
Critical analysis of lit devices and their
effectiveness
Reading Strategies: Annotations/Dialectical
Journals
Inference, conclusion, deduction, induction
conclusion
connotation vs. denotation
Research methodologies
Outside reading novel project
Writing process and practices
Literary terms project continues
Vocab journals
Socratic Seminars
Rubrics
Protocols/Literary Circles
2001:A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke
“Revelation”
Flannery O’Connor
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Connor
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
T.S. Eliot
from “A Sheaf of Imagist Verse”
Lowell, Pound, Williams
and other selected writings
Film Study: Stanley Kubric’s 2001:A
Space Odyssey
The Martian Chronicles; Ray Bradbury
June
Reflection of the 20th century
and the quintessential dilemmas
of the modern man
Test taking strategies and study skills are
emphasized in review for final exams
All other elements/standards will be touched upon
throughout the course of the year
Review/Test taking strategies/protocols
Preparation for final exams
Writing process and practices
Probing questions
Summarizations/evaluations
Socratic Seminars
Group work/whole discussion
Selected writings by class choice