Unit 1: The Hero and the Anti-Hero
In this unit, students will revisit the archetypal concept of the hero and its contemporary relevance,
including the modern notion of the anti-hero. Major focus will be upon the relationship among
human identify and the individuals and cultures with whom we interact. The hero will become a
controlling course theme—including changing cultural notions of what constitutes a hero figure and
heroic action. Possible readings include poetry: Antigone, Medea, Death of a Salesman, Beowulf,
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales ; short stories and novels:
The Rocking-Horse Winner, The Old Man and the Sea, Robinson Crusoe, The Stranger; dramatic
literature: Antigon, Medea, Death of a Salesman and Fences as well as essays: The Myth of
Sisyphus, Minute by Minute 9/11/01 and English Today and Tomorrow. The unit ends with students
generating a formal literary analysis essay.
Standards of Learning:
12.1, 12.3, 12.4, 12.7
Unit 2: The Play’s the Thing—Comedy and Satire
In contrast to the more serious works studied in Unit One, this unit will provide students with the
opportunity to investigate comedy through the ages. What is funny? Why do we laugh at certain
things? How do concepts of comedy and farce change based upon culture and era? The unit will
also explore the concept of satire—and its uses as social commentary and social criticism. Possible
readings may include: The Pardoner’s Tale, A Modest Proposal, From The Life of Samuel Johnson,
Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Bear—A
Farce in One Act, and That’s All. The unit ends with students developing a presentation about the
enduring relevance of comedy and satire.
Standards of Learning:
12.3, 12.4, 12.6, 12.7
Unit 3: All for Love or Power? Elizabethan Tragedy
In this unit, students will engage in a variety of learning activities—including Reader’s Theater and
reciprocal teaching—to enhance their collaborative skills in analyzing and critiquing great works
of literature. The unit will allow students to complete an in-depth study of a great Shakespearean
tragedy—and revisit the enduring power and influence of this great playwright. All students will
read Macbeth, supplemented by choices from the following: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Julius
Caesar, representative Shakespearean sonnets, essays: “Example of a Queen: Elizabeth I”
“Shakespeare’s Language” and critical comment essays: “Soliloquies and Asides,” “The Mystery of
Evil,” and “Macbeth and the Witches.”
A range of reading selections will be available, but all will focus upon the Shakespearean tragic
hero figure—and the structure of the Shakespearean tragedy. Titles may include Hamlet, King
Lear and Macbeth. This unit does not require a formal transfer task.
Standards of Learning:
12.3, 12.4, 12.6, 12.7
Unit 4: Literature as a Tool for Self-Reflection
This unit will explore literature focused on the theme of human introspection and self-reflection,
including ethical and moral decision-making. Short didactic genres such as the sonnet, parable,
and wisdom tale will provoke student discourse and debate. Students will explore great historical
figures by creating personal reflections and self-analysis expressed through the genres of the
biography and autobiography. Major emphasis will be upon the role of this genre in the modern
era. Works may include poetry: Sonnets 30 and 75, To His Coy Mistress, Death Be Not Proud,
Ulysses, Dover Beach, My Last Duchess, Porphyria’s Lover, Sonnet 17” (Pablo Neruda), Nonfiction
Pieces: The Diary of Samuel Pepys and “On Keeping a Notebook”; Prose Fiction: “Marriage Is a
Private Affair” and “In the Shadow of War” (Ben Okri) as well as more extended literature
circle texts: Into Thin Air, The Color of Water, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
(Sherman Alexie), Heart of Darkness, Alive! The Story of the Andes Survivors, Like Water for
Chocolate , Sold, A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Boy Soldier and No Country for Old Men.
This unit concludes with students creating a blog, video, poem, electronic slideshow or visual about
the significance of literature in their lives.
Standards of Learning:
12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6,
12.7
Unit 5: And the Answer Is…? The Research Paper
Students will refine their research writing skills and understanding. This unit will focus upon
students’ posing a research question; analyzing relevant and varied sources to discern and
support a controlling thesis statement; and completing the work with appropriate citations
and formatting. Formal presentations will enhance student self-expression. Ideally, students
will select a research focus of personal interest to them—and present their findings in both a
written and/or multi-media format. Students will evaluate factual content v. opinion in online
and print sources. Students’ research project serves as their summative assessment; there is
no separate transfer task.
Standards of Learning:
12.1, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7,
12.8
QUARTERS THREE
AND FOUR
QUARTER TWO
QUARTER ONE
Grade 12 English: Year-at-a-Glance
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested TimeFrame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Unit 6: Their Truth Rocked the World! Literature of the Romantic Rebellion
This unit will provide students with opportunities to explore parallel themes in various genres of
world literature. Major focus will be on the recurrent theme of the meaningful life—and how
we strive to find meaning our everyday lives. Students will compare informational text with
more expressive fictional text and poetry and discuss and how these forms address such
themes as relationship, alienation and estrangement, self-efficacy, and human interdependency. Selected readings may include Selected English poems by the Romantic poets
Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Byron (“The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” “The
Chimney Sweeper,” “The Poison Tree,” “Ozymandias,” “Kubla Khan,” “Ode to Autumn,” “The
Cloud,”” “She Walks in Beauty Like the Night,” The World is Too Much With Us,” as well as
selected classical and modern poems written reflecting romantic ideals and themes by
authors such as Tu Fu, Li Po, e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, W. B. Yeats, James Wright, and
Gary Snyder.
Standards of Learning:
12.3, 12.4, 12.6, 12.7
Unit 7: Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Going?
This culminating unit will explore the modern era in world literature. Students will examine
themselves in relationship to world authors and their perceptions of the world. They will
reflect upon what they have gained from their study of literature during this and previous
academic years. The unit will also allow them to reflect upon how their perceptions of reality
compare to those expressed in modern works of literature. Key themes will include the search
for identity, the struggle to find solace and comfort in a world that is constantly changing,
and the interesting and challenging ways in which cultures interact—and sometimes collide
with one another. Teachers and students will select readings from an expansive list including
all genres:
Nonfiction

A Hope in the Unseen (Ron Suskind)

The Pact (Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt)
Poetry

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock” (T. S. Eliot)

“The Hollow Men” (T. S. Eliot)

“The Mower” (Philip Larkin)

“Digging” (Seamus Heaney)

“To An Athlete Dying Young” (A. E. Housman)

“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” (D. H. Lawrence)
Short Stories

“No Witchcraft for Sale” (Doris Lessing)

“B. Wordsworth” (V. S. Naipul)

Selected stories from This is How You Lose Her (Junot Diaz)
Drama

The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde)

Arms and the Man (George Bernard Shaw)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)

Hedda Gabler (Henrik Ibsen)

Master Harold and the Boys (Athol Fugard)

Driving Miss Daisy (Alfred Uhry)

Monster (Walter Dean Myers)
Novels

A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseni)

The Kite Runner by (Khaled Hosseni)

A Lesson Before Dying (Earnest Gaines)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey)

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

On the Road (Jack Kerouac)

Breath, Eyes, Memory (Edwidge Danticat)

Jasmine (Bharati Mukherjee)

The Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)

Purple Hibiscus (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
Standards of Learning:
12.2, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks