Mr. Brubaker
Speak Novel Unit Plan #1
Big Ideas
1. Finding your voice and expressing oneself
2. Emotional surviving difficult situations
3. The meaning of truth varies between individuals.
4. What is right and what is wrong varies between individuals.
5. Earlier actions foreshadow major conflicts or adversity.
Essential Questions
How will you find your voice in high school?
What road will you take?
What does it mean to survive?
How do you define survival?
Is telling the truth always the right thing to do?
How can avoiding the truth cause conflict?
How can major conflicts be avoided?
How does one survive a major conflict?
Topical Questions
How did Melinda find her voice or true self?
How did Melinda emotionally Survive
How does Melinda avoid the truth?
Why doesn’t Melinda just tell somewhat what happened the night of the party?
How did forgoing the whole truth cause further conflict or adversity.
What could Melinda’s parents have done differently?
What could her teachers have done differently?
Novel Materials & Additional Texts
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Speak – L. Halse Anderson
“I Am” – John Clare
“I Am A….” Activity
“Alone” – Maya Angelou
Multimodal Texts
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Speak (2004) film adaption
Writing Assignments
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I Am – personal poem
Essential Questions
o Before text
o After text
Extended Response Questions
Power-Write
Novel Assessments
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Double Entry Journals
o Characters & Quotes
Character Interaction Worksheet
Power-Write Discussions
o Character List & Plot Summary
o Character Interactions, Themes, Important Quotes
o Criticism: Characters, novel, appropriate, inappropriate
Power-Write Paper
Reading Checks
Comprehension Test
Learning Objectives
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Students will analyze characters and their interactions while predicting how character
actions could predict the plot.
Students will analyze themes, character interactions, and important quotes throughout the
novel.
Students will use textual evidence to support their analysis of the reading.
Students will comprehend the text and have the ability to form correlations between it
and the big ideas.
Students will create a Power-Write paper in which they will evaluate the novel as a
whole.
Students will present analysis of the text within collaborative discussions.
Students will comprehend and apply newly discovered vocabulary words from their
workbook.
Students will comprehend and identify figurative language use.
Additional Learning
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Vocabulary Workbook
Figurative Language (Continued throughout the year)
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Literary Element Analysis (Continued throughout the year)
Literary Terms (Continued throughout the year)
Argumentative or Analytical Composition
Additional Assessments
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Vocabulary Workbook
Vocabulary Chapter Test
Vocabulary Unit Test
Vocabulary Extended Response
Idioms Worksheet
Figurative Language Discovery Assignment
Figurative Language Quiz
Figurative Language Unit Test
Argumentative or Analytical Composition
Common Core Standards
Reading
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Writing
R.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
R.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details;
provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations)
develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or
develop the theme.
R.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on
meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal
or informal tone).
RL.5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it
(e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as
mystery, tension, or surprise.
RI.5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular
sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).
RI.6. determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses
rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
R.10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literacy nonfiction in the grades 9-10 text
complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
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W.1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid
reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and
information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of
content.
W.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.5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying
a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and
audience
W.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared
writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to
display information flexibly and dynamically.
W.7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including
a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate;
synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
W.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
W.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.
Speaking and Listening
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SL.1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
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groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building
on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
SL.4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such
that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and
style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
Language
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L.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
L.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling when writing.
L.3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to
make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or
listening.
L.6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases,
sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level;
demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or
phrase important to comprehension or expression