10th Grade World Literature, College Preparatory
Year-long Theme: Defining Ourselves
Unit Theme: Decisions and Consequences: Do I dare disturb the universe?
Unit Techniques: Conflict, Metaphor, Static and Dynamic Character, Greek Tragedy,
Tragic Hero, Tragic Flaw, Dystopian Novel, Marxist Criticism, Epiphany
1. Unit Intro.
“The Road Not
Taken” Frost and
“Making a Fist”
Nye,
view clip from
Hoosiers;
Independent
Reading
6. Intro. Antigone,
video on
Sophocles and
Greek Drama,
view clip from
Braveheart;
Independent
Reading
11. Antigone wrapup, group work on
modern tragedy
plays; Independent
Reading
2. View Jerry
McGuire clip,
begin “Contents of
the Dead Man’s
Pocket” Finny;
Independent
Reading
3. Complete
“Contents . . .”;
Independent
Reading
4. “We Are Many”
Neruda and “I’ve
Seen the Promised
Land” King;
Independent
Reading
5. “Civil Peace”
Achebe;
Independent
Reading
7. Antigone;
Independent
Reading
8. Antigone;
Independent
Reading
9. Antigone;
Independent
Reading
10. Antigone,
begin group work
on modern tragedy
plays; Independent
Reading
12. Group work on
modern tragedy
plays; Independent
Reading
13. Present Plays;
Independent
Reading
14. Present Plays;
Independent
Reading
15. Present Plays;
Independent
Reading
16. “A Man Said
to the Universe”
Crane,
Intro. The
Chocolate War
Cormier;
Independent
Reading
17. Begin excerpt
from Kaffir Boy
Methabane, The
Chocolate War
continued;
Independent
Reading
18. Complete
Kaffir Boy excerpt,
The Chocolate
War continued;
Independent
Reading
20. Complete
“Through the
Tunnel,” The
Chocolate War
continued;
Independent
Reading
21. “We Wear the
Mask” Dunbar,
The Chocolate
War continued;
Independent
Reading
22. “The Vision
Quest” Lame Deer,
The Chocolate
War continued;
Independent
Reading
26. ABR’s, Intro
1984 Orwell, view
Tiananmen Square
video; Independent
Reading
27. ABR’s, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
23. “Eldorado”
Poe, begin “And of
Clay Are We
Created” Allende,
The Chocolate
War continued;
Independent
Reading
28. ABR’s, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
19. “The Base
Stealer” Francis
and begin
“Through the
Tunnel” Lessing,
The Chocolate
War continued;
Independent
Reading
24. Complete
“And of Clay . . .”,
complete The
Chocolate War;
Independent
Reading
29. ABR’s, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
30. Complete
ABR’s, view clips
from The Time
Machine and
Planet of the Apes,
1984 continued;
25. “The Boar
Hunt”
Vasconcelos,
wrap-up The
Chocolate War;
Independent
Reading
31. Begin “The
Masque of the
Read Death” Poe,
1984 continued;
Independent
Reading
32. Complete “The
Masque . . .”, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
33. “The Censors”
Valenzuela, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
34. Snow White
and the Seven
Dwarfs, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
36. Begin excerpt
from Brave New
World Huxley,
1984 continued;
Independent
Reading
41. 1984 wrap-up,
work on projects;
Independent
Reading
37. Complete
Brave New World
excerpt, 1984
continued;
Independent
Reading
42. Present
projects;
Independent
Reading
38.Final project
research in Media
Center
39. 1984
continued, work on
projects;
Independent
Reading
43. Present
projects;
Independent
Reading
44. Present
Projects;
Independent
Reading
30. Independent
Reading
35. “Ex-Basketball
Player” Updike
and “Miss Rosie”
Clifton,
1984 continued;
Independent
Reading
40. 1984
continued, work on
projects;
Independent
Reading
45. Complete
project
presentations, unit
wrap-up, “Do not
go gentle into that
good night”
Thomas and finish
viewing Hoosiers
clip; Independent
Reading
Drew Lawson
Dr. Cope
ENGL 7701
July 26, 2004
Thematic Unit
Year-long Theme: Defining Ourselves
Unit Theme: Decisions and Consequences: Do I dare disturb the universe?
Grade and Ability Level: 10th, College Preparatory
Unit Techniques: Conflict, Metaphor, Static and Dynamic Character, Greek Tragedy,
Tragic Hero, Tragic Flaw, Dystopian Novel, Epiphany, Marxist Criticism
Narrative
I have chosen each peace of literature in this unit due to its connection to the
theme “Decisions and Consequences: Do I dare disturb the universe?”. All of the texts
address, in some way, characters standing up for their beliefs (both good and bad),
defying some form of authority, and facing the consequences for their decisions. This
unit’s primary works include Antigone by Sophocles, The Chocolate War by Robert
Cormier, and 1984 by George Orwell. Each of these three texts focuses on one person’s
dogged defense of his or her beliefs in the face of tremendous opposition. Throughout
this unit, students will discuss how this theme is portrayed in each text. Students will not
only make connections between texts, but they will also make universal connections
between the texts and their lives, others’ lives, and the world around them. This unit will
challenge students to be individuals, thinking about and taking a stand for what they
believe, even if their beliefs challenge those of their peers, their parents, or society in
general; however, if students are to take a stand, they should be prepared to defend their
actions and face the consequences. Making individual decisions and being mature enough
to confront the consequences are important parts of growing up and, ultimately, in
defining who we are as individuals.
This unit incorporates a variety of literature, including poems, short stories,
nonfiction, drama, and novels. The unit begins with a week of poetry, short stories, and
nonfiction, introducing the theme and challenging students to make thematic connections
across literary genres. The remainder of the unit concentrates on drama and novels, with
short stories, poetry, and nonfiction used to teach the key terms and ideas of the larger
works.
I will occasionally introduce literary terms through minilessons, giving modern
pop culture examples of terms, discussing the examples, and then having students define
the terms themselves. For example, before teaching the term epiphany, I would show a
clip from the film Jerry McGuire where the protagonist experiences an epiphany that
changes his entire outlook on life. After presenting an overview of classical Greek
tragedy through a video, I will introduce individual terms such as tragic flaw and tragic
hero through minilessons while reading Antigone. Furthermore, while reading The
Chocolate War, I will introduce the types of conflict in minilessons, and while reading
1984, I will introduce the genre of the dystopian novel using video clips from The Time
Machine and Planet of the Apes. I will introduce literary terms so that students realize
that these are not merely antiquated techniques only applied in English classes. Students
will understand that these terms are still applicable today and that understanding these
terms will make them more astute viewers of pop culture and the world around them.
Throughout the unit, students will interact with texts in reader response journals. I
agree with Rosenblatt, Andrasick, and Probst that the act of reading is a transaction
between reader and text. Meaning is not locked inside of a text, waiting to be freed.
Instead, through personal experiences and reactions, readers apply their own meanings to
texts. Following Fulwiler’s example, I will have students respond to texts by encouraging
them to ask and answer questions, describe what they picture in their mind, connect and
extend the text to their personal experiences, other texts, movies, songs, etc., write about
passages they don’t understand and tell why, or write about passages they especially
enjoyed. Students will write in a conversational voice and will be graded on the content
and quality of their responses only. Students must, however, support what they write with
examples from the text. I will require students to write two response journals per week,
for a total of eighteen at unit’s end. Students will use their reader response journal topics
as prewriting for essay assignments over the course of the unit. I will use reader response
journals to show students that their thoughts on and opinions of literature certainly do
matter. Students who understand that their role as a reader is an active one where they are
encouraged to construct meaning are far more likely to fall in love with literature and
become life-long readers.
Harvey Daniel’s literature circles, however, will be the primary focus of
instruction throughout the unit. I will use literature circles because each role in the circle
models one of Harvey and Goudvis’ effective reading strategies. Furthermore, literature
circles not only offer students experience in cooperative learning groups, but they also
provide differentiated instruction. The roles in the literature circles will include
connector, illustrator, passage master, and discussion director. Prior to this unit, I will
have modeled each role in the literature circle for the students so that they will have a
clear understanding of their respective jobs. All students will have copies of Aidan
Chamber’s Tell-Me questions, and discussion directors can model their questions around
these. The class will also be accustomed to me using these questions to facilitate class
discussion. Connectors and passage masters will use their experience with reader
response journals to complete their roles in the literature circles. Illustrators will find
pictures that are in some way related to the reading and will provide a one paragraph
explanation as to why they chose this particular illustration. Literature circles will meet
three times each week with roles changing on a weekly basis. Through literature circles,
students will take responsibility for their learning while also practice small-group
speaking skills and effective reading strategies.
Throughout the semester, students will write in a variety of genres. In addition to
reader response journaling and literature circles, students will compose poetry after
reading “Making a Fist,” write a modern day tragedy play while reading Antigone, write a
persuasive essay from the perspective of a character in The Chocolate War, and
write/present a final research paper/Power Point project in which they will research one
historical aspect of 1984 and compare and contrast the novel thematically to two other
works they have read during this unit.
Short stories, nonfiction, and poems will be read in class through a variety of
methods. I will read portions of texts aloud to model Harvey and Goudvis’ effective
reading strategies to students. Students will occasionally read silently; however, I will
primarily use several of Burke’s oral reading strategies such as Quaker reading,
interrupted reading, reader’s theater, and reciprocal teaching. I will use reader’s theater
and reciprocal teaching as the students’ primary methods for reading Antigone. Plays are
meant to be heard and acted, not read. Using reader’s theater, I will assign parts to
students and have them perform certain scenes from Antigone, following up the
performance with a discussion of the scene. Students could ask the actors what a certain
line meant or why they chose to act a particular part the way they did, hence leading to an
in-depth discussion of the play. Through reciprocal teaching, students will read the play
in small groups and discuss it as they go along. Through reciprocal teaching, students
who are having trouble understanding the play can ask for assistance from those who
have a firm grasp of the text. Furthermore, students can practice speaking skills in small
groups. Working in the same small groups, students will also create and present tableaus
to summarize acts and scenes in Antigone. Each student will have a pose and a spoken
line, and each student must write a rationale explaining why he or she chose that
particular pose and line.
Interrupted reading is similar to reciprocal teaching, the difference being that
interrupted reading is done in pairs with one student reading and the other interrupting to
make comments, ask questions, etc. I will use interrupted reading when students read a
somewhat difficult text such as “The Masque of the Red Death” because students are
often enthralled with Poe and have many comments, yet his writing style is complex,
eliciting many questions, as well. The class will Quaker read with students standing to
read as long as they want before choosing a different reader. Following Zemelmann’s
Best Practice, I will allow daily class time for students to read books of their choice
independently, as well.
Students will occasionally read The Chocolate War and 1984 silently in class, but,
most often, these novels will be read for homework; however, certain important passages
or chapters will be read aloud in class, and certain chapters, such as the excerpt from
Goldstein’s book in 1984, will be summarized by me. I have chosen to handle
independent reading in this manner because I want students to apply the knowledge they
learn from reading short stories, poems, and nonfiction in class to these novels instead of
having me hold their hands and tell them everything I want them to know. Students will
understand the theme of The Chocolate War relatively easily, and once they have read
this YA novel, they will understand better how to analyze the same theme in the more
complicated novel 1984. As a result of “piggybacking” a YA novel on an adult novel, I
will not have to devote so much class time explaining 1984, thereby allowing students to
create knowledge for themselves.
Georgia Performance Standards:
ELA10RL1: The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (e.g.
diction, imagery, point of view figurative language, symbolism, plot events) and main
ideas in a variety of texts representative of different genres (e.g. poetry, prose [short
story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis
for interpretation. The texts are of the quality and complexity illustrated by the Grade
Ten reading list.
Meeting the Standard: Students will acquire knowledge about static and dynamic
character and the components of classical Greek tragedy through reading, discussing, and
writing about Antigone. Students will write and present modern tragedy plays to
demonstrate their knowledge of the conventions of the classical Greek tragedy. Students
will acquire knowledge about conflict and dystopian novel through reading, discussing,
and writing about the novel 1984, ultimately demonstrating their knowledge through an
essay/Power Point presentation, connecting the novel to the students’ lives and to other
texts covered in this unit. Students will acquire knowledge about the term epiphany
through a mini-lesson on the term and by reading and writing about the short story
“Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket.” Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the
term epiphany by writing a journal entry describing a personal epiphany. Students will
learn about metaphor through a mini-lesson on the term and through reading the poem
“Making a Fist.” Students will demonstrate their knowledge of metaphor by writing their
own “A Metaphor for Life” poem.
ELA10RL2: The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in literary
works and provides evidence from the works to support understanding.
Meeting the Standard: Students will identify a universal connection through the theme of
“Decisions and Consequences: Do I dare disturb the universe?”. This theme is central to
each text covered in this unit. Students will identify how each text portrays this theme
and compare and contrast these texts in journals, essays, literature circles, group and
individual projects, and class discussions. Students will not only connect the theme to
their lives and personal experiences, but they will also make a connection to the lives and
experiences of others. That this unit is arranged thematically stresses the importance and
unifying aspects of theme across various literary genres. While reading each text,
students will concentrate on ways that such diverse texts are united thematically.
ELA10RL3: The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to
contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time
periods.
Meeting the Standard: Students will connect Antigone to the Civil Rights Movement of
the 1960’s. Students will compare the character of Antigone to other leaders and groups,
both “good” and “bad,” such as Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ, Nelson Mandela, the
student-protesters of Tiananmen Square, terrorists, suicide bombers, etc., who sacrificed
themselves for their respective causes. Students will research the historical background of
1984, connecting the novel to Stalin, Hitler, and other totalitarian dictators throughout
history. Students will also research current human rights violations, and those who are
fighting against them, throughout the world. Students will discuss the ways that
Woodstock High School and the government of United States are both similar to and
different from Big Brother and the world of 1984.
ELA10RL4: The student employs a variety of writing genres (essays, narratives, poems,
or technical documents) to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of significant ideas in
sophisticated literary works.
Meeting the Standard: Students will write modern tragedy plays implementing the
elements of classical Greek tragedy. Students will write a persuasive essay from the
perspective of any character in The Chocolate War, either encouraging or discouraging
students to stand up for their beliefs. Students will write “A Metaphor for Life” poems
after reading “Making a Fist.” Students will write journal entries responding to literature.
Students will write about literature and make personal connections as they participate in
literature circles. Students will write a short research paper on one historical aspect of
1984 and create a Power Point presentation applying the theme of “Decisions and
Consequences: Do I dare disturb the universe?” to there own lives as well as comparing
and contrasting how the theme is portrayed in each of the major texts covered in this unit.
ELA10RL5: The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly
in reading and writing.
Meeting the Standard: Students will receive a list of pertinent vocabulary words for each
piece of literature. Students will study Latin and Greek prefixes, roots, and suffixes, using
them to decode meanings of unfamiliar words. I will utilize Burke’s and Allen’s
strategies for vocabulary instruction by having students complete vocabulary squares and
vocabulary clusters for assigned vocabulary, while also keeping a personal vocabulary
log addressing unfamiliar words they encounter while reading each text. Reading will be
the primary means of vocabulary instruction and acquisition in this unit.
Works Cited
Allen, Janet. Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12.. Portland:
Stenhouse, 1999.
Andrasick, Kathleen. Opening Texts: Using Writing to Teach Literature. Portsmouth:
Heinemann, 1990.
Burke, Jim. The English Teacher’s Companion: A Complete Guide to Classroom,
Curriculum, and Profession. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1999.
Chambers, Aidan. Tell Me: Children, Reading, and Talk. Gloucestershire: Thimble Press,
1993.
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1974.
Farrell, Edmund, J., and James R. Squire, eds. Transactions with Literature: A Fifty-Year
Perspective. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1990.
Fulwiler, Toby, and William A. Stephany, eds. English Studies: Reading, Writing, and
Interpreting Texts. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Glencoe Literature: Course Five. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Harvey, Stephanie, and Anne Goudvis. Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension
to Enhance Understanding. York, ME: Stenhouse, 1983.
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 3rd ed. Boston: St. Martin’s,
1993.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet, 1990.
Probst, R.E. “Reader-Response Theory and the English Curriculum.” English Journal 83
(1994): 37-44.
Zemelman, Steve. Best Practice. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1998.