Yearlong Plan
Matthew Gallagher
Overarching Concept:
How does literature reflect society in historical, present,
and future contexts?
Tenth Grade
EDUC 463, Spring 2011
Context
This is a Tenth Grade Literature Class at Poudre High School. Students in this
class will generally be between the ages of 14 and 17. There are 27 total students in this
classroom, 11 boys and 16 girls. Race and ethnicity of these students closely resembles
Poudre High School as a whole: 76% White, 17% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 2% Black, and
1% American Indian. Poudre High School has a graduation rate of 95%. About 21% of
students are on the free or reduced lunch program. Poudre High School is located on the
Northeastern side of the city of Fort Collins. 49% of people in this area 25 years old or
older have obtained a college degree and the median household income is $31,768.
Given that there is a readily available university in Fort Collins, parents tend to be
supportive and active in their child’s education. These parents also tend to be fairly
open-minded to literary selections. Poudre High School has several policies allowing
parents to be involved. These policies include a monthly newsletter, an online grade
viewing website, and a required parent-teacher contact and parent-school contact in
instances of failing grades or school absences.
This Yearlong Plan covers 36 weeks of instruction. Students attend 50 minutes
class periods five days a week. Included in this Yearlong plan are six units. Each of
these units vary from four to six weeks in length and will cover a specific time period in
world history and its relation to Language Arts.
Overarching Concept
This plan will be based on the question: How does literature reflect society in
historical, present, and future contexts? To address this question, we will look at six
major time periods in world history. These time periods are listed out in full in the next
section, “Sequence of Units”. Within each time period we will examine how literature
led to and generated from the politics and events of that time period. For example, the
“World War II” Unit includes The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, known to be a
commonly read book for Hitler, Mussolini, and other dictators. The unit also includes
Maus, a graphic novel written by Art Spiegelman in 1972, about Nazi Germany. While
we examine these time periods and the chosen corresponding texts, we will be focusing
on a few main questions throughout each unit: What perspectives can we identify from
this time? How are these shown in the Language Arts? How can we speculate about
how Language Arts affected people and leaders in this time period? Through these
questions and other more specific questions to each unit, we will address the overarching
concept for the entire year.
Sequence of Units
The units “Imperialism”, “World War II”, “The Cold War”, “The Civil Rights
Movement”, “The Present”, and “Utopia vs. Dystopia”, will be covered in chronological
order. Much importance is placed on how each time period affects the next, so the units
must appear in chronological order. Although, the texts I’ve included within the “Utopia
vs. Dystopia” unit were written over a span of centuries the setting of the text can always
be placed in the future. “Imperialism” and “World War II” are placed together because
World War II can be seen as the breaking point of imperialism. “The Cold War” unit
immediately follows the “World War II” Unit, because the connection between the two
time periods is causal. The Civil Rights Movement also has a strong connection to World
War II, but this connection is somewhat harder to see. Although the cold war ended after
the civil rights movement took place, because of the direct correlation between the cold
war and ww2 and the lasting effects the civil rights movement had on the present. The
civil rights movement unit has been placed after the “Cold War” Unit. The texts selected
for “The Present” have a shadow of how current issues, like reliance on technology,
could lead to the ideas presented in the final unit, “Utopia vs. Dystopia.” The aim of this
sequence is to show students the timeline of these important time periods and how they
affect the politics and society the of following time periods, as well as their affect on the
history and politics of the present. The units are designed to ease students into heavier
content and readings, through a variety of genres. The different genres will address
different interests and styles of learning and will also give students an idea of the many
Language Arts and possible modes of communication. The second unit, World War II,
will include book clubs and a culminating presentation to ensure the entire class will be
familiar with each book club text. The freedom and creativity involved in this unit is
meant to incite student engagement in the course material. The last three units allow
students to look at a wide variety of texts (comics, plays, poems, novels, short stories,
commercials, films, and children’s stories), in order to give them some idea of what they
can choose to produce in their final projects. Units four and five have been created with a
flexible timeline in order to ensure that students will be given adequate time to complete
their final projects.
Standards
This Yearlong plan is centered on the Colorado Department of Education’s Colorado
Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, and Communication. All six standards are
addressed in the six units of the yearlong plan. Each unit contains activities and
assessments developed with elements that focus on these standards. One instance of this
is that students will keep daily writing journals. All Journal prompts have been designed
to improve student skills primarily in standards 2, 3, and 4, while some prompts may
concentrate on aspects of the other standards. A more specific explanation of how these
standards are addressed is provided in the “Units” section of this yearlong plan.
Unit 1: Age of Imperialism - (6 weeks)
Objectives:
This Unit is designed to give students a glimpse of how imperialism has shaped the world
we live in today. Students will examine what effect conquerors have on the conquered
and how these effects remain generations after the original conquests. This unit will
introduce students to how links can be made between history and literature.
Texts:
 Excerpts from Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift-Novel (1.5 weeks)
 “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell-Short Story (1 week)
 Excerpts from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe-Novel (1.5 weeks)
 “Parachute” by Lenrie Peters-Poem (1 week)
 Avatar directed by James Cameron-Film (1 week- Depending on time left at end of
Unit)
Weeks 1 and 2: What forces drove imperialism? What is satire?
Weeks 3 and 4: What are some perspectives within imperialism?
Weeks 5 and 6: How did this time period influence class texts? How do different
perspectives influence the texts that came out of this time period?
Activities and Assessment:
 Introduce daily journals.
 Identify purposes and methods of writing.
 Discuss effective research techniques.
 Webquest: Find information on a country associated with Imperialism.
 Three-page research paper on historical conquest of a country and how it affected
the literature of all nations involved.
 Peer-editing of research papers.
Standards:
1.1, 2.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1
Unit 2: World War II – (6+ weeks)
Objectives: The World War II Unit depicts a critical time in world history. This unit
provides an in depth look at the feelings of the time as well as a general glance at the
psychology of what brought about and ended this war. Students will examine a variety of
genres and analyze how they portray this time period. Students will work in book clubs
to analyze, in depth, their text. Books clubs will create a presentation based on their
chosen text.
Texts:
 Online articles from Harry S. Truman Museum and Library Website regarding the
decision to drop the Atomic Bomb. (1 week)
o http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/in
dex.php
 Book Club Texts: (5 weeks)
o Lord of the Flies by William Golding-Novel
o Maus by Art Spiegelman-Graphic Narrative
o The Book Thief by Markus Zusak-Novel
o The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli-Novel
o The Diary of Anne Frank, play adapted from Anne Frank’s Diary-Play
Weeks 1 and 2: In what ways did World War II come out of Imperialism? What
literature came out of, or is based on this time period?
Weeks 3 and 4: What are some perspectives within this time period? How has literature
affected people and their leaders before and after this time period?
Weeks 5 and 6: How are stories and ideas portrayed differently through different
Language Arts? How do voice, tone, and narrator affect how you read and interpret a
story?
Activities and Assessment:
 Journal entries.
 Watch and Respond to videos of past classes’ projects.
 Mentor Text analysis of voice.
 Write short stories experimenting with narrator.
 Book Club Meetings. (Keep Notes)
 Each book club group presents a 30-minute presentation based on their book club
text.
o Presentations must include a visual aid and each group member must
speak for 5 to 8 minutes. Each member must also interact with or address
the visual aid at some point during their portion of the presentation.
 Peer-assessment of project presentations.
Standards:
1.2, 2.1, 2.3, 3.1
Unit 3: The Cold War – (5+ weeks)
This unit ties in closely with our unit on World War II. The resulting worldwide
weakness and fear directly led to the Cold War. Students will examine how culture
contributed to the fears Americans felt during this time and how those fears contributed
to culture at the time. Students will also examine how emotion, logic, and reason could
be seen in the Language Arts of this time, and how those affect people in that historical
context.
Weeks 1 and 2: How did emotion, logic, or reason influence the decision making at this
time? What are some perspectives from this time period?
Weeks 3 and 4: Can we learn from history and literature? What are the strongest
persuasive tools in writing arguments? How?
Texts:
 Selected Scenes from The Crucible by Arthur Miller-Play (2 weeks)
 Red Dawn directed by John Milius-Film (2 weeks)
 “Daisy” a campaign commercial from the Cold War-Commercial (1+ weeks)
Activities and Assessment:
 Reader’s Theater presentation on The Crucible in context of the McCarthy Trials.
 Journal entries.
 Test on Red Dawn.
 Analysis of persuasive arguments.
 Turn in Journal for first grading period.
Standards:
1.2, 2.1, 4.2
Unit 4: The Civil Rights Movement – (6+ weeks)
This unit focuses on one of the most important movements in our nation’s history. This
unit will help students gain an inside perspective of this movement and how the culture
contributed to the politics of the time period and vice versa. Language Arts were a major
influence on the society and politics of this time. This class will identify and examine
these influences.
Texts:
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“X-Men” Comics by Stan Lee (1 week)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee-Novel (4 weeks)
To Kill a Mockingbird-Film (If there’s time at the end of novel unit)
“Hurricane” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan-Songs (0.5 week)
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou-Poem (0.5 week)
Weeks 1 and 2: How do different forms of narratives and genres influence how we
receive the text? How do we reach different audiences with our choices of genre?
Weeks 3 and 4: What perspectives do we see emerging from this time period? How are
these perspectives shown in the Language Arts?
Weeks 5 and 6: Where do new ideas and concepts come from and how do they reach the
masses?
Activities and Assessment:
 Journal entries.
 Mentor Text analysis of poetry, song writing, graphic narratives, films, etc.
 Fish bowl discussions on genres.
 Test on To Kill a Mockingbird film.
 Reconstruct 2 to 4 chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird-Novel into a different genre.
 Create a work from any genre designed to impact society.
 Peer-editing.
Standards:
21, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1
Unit 5: The Present - (6 weeks)
This unit focuses on how culture reflects modern issues. Students will examine how this
relationship resembles and differs from relationships we have looked at in earlier units.
Students will examine how the usage of language and parts of speech relate to voice.
They will also analyze the influence of technology on culture and literature.
Texts:
 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins-Novel (3 weeks)
 Advertisements (iPad, Old Spice, Online dating, etc) and Reality T.V. shows
(Survivor and Amazing Race)- (1 weeks)
 It’s a Book by Lane Smith-Children’s Story- (1 week)
 The Lorax by Dr. Seuss-Children’s Story- (1 week)
Weeks 1 and 2: What perspectives can you identify in the present? How have these been
shaped by the time periods we have covered this year? What differences would the new
medias of today have made on these previous time periods?
Weeks 3 and 4: How is voice developed? What tools can we use to portray voice? How
do current Language Arts portray this time period? How does this differ from your
perspective?
Weeks 5 and 6: How do we adjust our writing for different audiences? What
assumptions do we make about our audiences? How do we portray different ideas and
concepts within our writing?
Activities and Assessment:
 Journal Entries.
 Fish bowl discussion on how modern issues are portrayed in current Language
Arts.
 Test on Advertisements and Reality T.V. shows.
 Mentor Text analyzing voice and figurative language.
 Students must write a children’s story portraying a current issue in society.
 Peer-editing of children’s stories.
Standards:
2.1, 2.3, 3.1, 3.3
Unit 6: Utopia vs. Dystopia
We will cap off the year with a look at how all the issues we have looked at in earlier
units may contribute to a perfect society or the opposite. We will explore how historical
context affects how the authors of our texts portray the future and their purpose in
presenting the future in this way.
Texts:
 Students’ choice Anthem by Ayn Rand-novel or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray
Bradbury-novel (3 weeks)
 Global Warming photograph of Polar Bear on lone sheet of ice (0.5 week)
 Excerpts from The Republic by Plato (2 weeks)
 Poem “Utopia” by Wislawa Syzmborska (0.5 week)
Weeks 1 and 2: How do you see the future? How have past or present events shaped the
future you see? How does time period influence depictions of the future?
Weeks 3 and 4: What role does an author’s purpose play in a work? How does this
purpose affect the composition of their work? How do author’s draw on society for ideas?
Weeks 5 and 6: What sources will you use for your portrayal of the future? How have
Utopian and Dystopian works been used to address current issues for the time periods
they have been created in?
Activities and Assessments:
 Journal entries.
 Turn in Journal for final grading period.
 Test on novels.
 Students will create a Multiple Pathways Project in which they will show their
version of a Utopia or Dystopia based on the perspective of one of our class
authors.
 Peer-editing of Multiple Pathways Project.
Standards:
1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 4.2