2014-2015 Curriculum Maps: ELA Grade 9
Bell English Department
Title
Time
1.
Elements of
Fiction
(Suggestions:
Plot, Setting,
Character,
Narrator, Word
Choice, Tone, and
Voice)
2.
Summary Writing
Diagnostic
1-2
weeks
3.
Introduction to
the Writing
Process (Jane
Schaffer) &
structures of
paragraphs and
essays.
3-4
weeks
Suggested Big
Idea
Everyone’s
story matters.
Suggested Essential
Questions
1. What do names tell
us?
CCSS Writing Focus
NARRATIVE
WRITING
2. What does my name
say about me?
3. How does writing
help me share who I
am?
2 Days
Summary
Writing is
essential for
academic
writing.
Writing is a
Process.
Academic
Writing is
based on
Concrete
Details that
Support the
claim.
INFORMATIVE/
EXPLANATORY
WRITING
1. How do we write in
and for school?
2. Why is writing a
process?
INFORMATIVE/
EXPLANATORY
WRITING
&
3. Why is it essential for
writers to be clear and
concise in their writing?
4. What is the structure
of an effective
paragraph?
5. What is the structure
of an effective essay?
ARGUMENTATIVE
WRITING
CA Common Core State
Standards Addressed
W 9-10.3
Write narratives to develop
real or imagined experiences
or events using effective
technique, well-chosen
details, and well-structured
event sequences.
Suggested
Performance Task
* “My Name”
autobiographical
narrative.
* “I am” Poem.
Suggested Texts
RL 9-10.2
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.
W 9-10.2
Write informative/
explanatory texts to examine
and convey ideas, concepts,
and information clearly and
accurately through the
effective selection,
organization, and analysis of
content.
* Summary Writing
Diagnostic
* Students complete a
Summary graphic
organizer and write
an On-demand
summary of the given
text.
* “ Should the Lakers
give Shaq his contract
extension?” by Sacha
Terrill (Informational
Text)
W 9-10.2
Write informative/ explanatory
texts to examine and convey
ideas, concepts, and information
clearly and accurately through
the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of
content.
W 9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent
writing in which the
development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience. (Gradespecific expectations for writing
types are defined in standards 13.)
W.9.9
* Informative/
Explanatory
paragraphs.
* Informative/
Explanatory 4-5
paragraph essay.
* “Hurdles” by Derek
Kim (Comic)
* “Freshman Year:
Make or Break” by
Betsy Hammond
(Informational Text)
* PML Articles: Global
Warming, Heroes
* “My Name” by
Sandra Cisneros.
(Literature)
2014-2015 Curriculum Maps: ELA Grade 9
Bell English Department
Draw evidence from literary
texts to support analysis.
Title
4.
Author’s Style
Time
3-5
weeks
Suggested Big
Idea
Claims in
academic
writing must be
evidence based.
Different texts
share similar
themes and
central ideas.
(Guilt,
Obsession,
Madness)
Suggested Essential
Questions
1. Working with
Evidence and Making
Claims: How Do
Authors Structure Texts
and Develop Ideas?
2. How can I organize
my information to
present my ideas
clearly?
3. What is the Author’s
Point of View and how
does it influence his or
her style?
CCSS Writing Focus
INFORMATIVE/
EXPLANATORY
WRITING
(Compare/Contrast
Text Structure)
CA Common Core State
Standards Addressed
Suggested
Performance Task
Suggested Texts
RL & RI 9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual
evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from
the text.
RL & RI 9-10.4
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).
W.9-10.9
Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and
research.
a. Apply grades 9–10 Reading
standards to literature (e.g.,
“Analyze how an author draws
on and transforms source
material in a specific work [e.g.,
how Shakespeare treats a theme
or topic from Ovid or the Bible
or how a later author draws on a
play by Shakespeare]”).
b. Apply grades 9–10 Reading
standards to literary nonfiction
(e.g., “Delineate and evaluate
the argument and specific claims
in a text, assessing whether the
reasoning is valid and the
evidence is relevant and
sufficient; identify false
statements and fallacious
reasoning”).
SL.9-10.1.a
Come to discussions prepared,
having read and researched
material under study; explicitly
draw on that preparation by
referring to evidence from texts
* Students will
participate in an
evidence-based
discussion in which they
will collect and organize
evidence using an
Evidence Collection
Tool to guide their
contribution to the
discussion topic.
* “The Tell-Tale Heart”
by Edgar Allan Poe
(Short Story)
* Identify a central idea
in “The Tell-Tale Heart”
and discuss how point
of view and structural
choices contribute to
the development of that
central idea over the
course of the text.
* Identify a central idea
shared by both texts, “I
felt a Funeral, in my
Brain,” and “The TellTale Heart,” and make
an original claim about
how Dickinson and Poe
develop and refine this
idea.
*Identify a central idea
shared by one literary
text and one
informational text. Use
specific details to
explain how this central
idea develops over the
course of each text, and
compare how the
authors’ choices about
text structure
contribute to the
development of this
idea. (Informative/
Explanatory Writing)
* “I felt a Funeral, in
my Brain,” by Emily
Dickinson (Poem)
* “True Crime: The
roots of an American
obsession” by Walter
Mosley (Informational
Text)
* PML: “Hurdles,”
“Super Unleaded”
2014-2015 Curriculum Maps: ELA Grade 9
Bell English Department
and other research on the topic
or issue to stimulate a
thoughtful, well-reasoned
exchange of ideas.
Title
Time
Suggested Big
Idea
Suggested Essential
Questions
CCSS Writing Focus
CA Common Core State
Standards Addressed
Suggested
Performance Task
Suggested Texts
PERIODIC ASSESSMENT #1
5.
Introduction to
Mythology
(Inference,
Theme Analysis,
Allusion,
Symbolism)
3-4
weeks
* The past
influences the
present.
1. What are the criteria
of a myth?
2. What patterns exist
in myths?
3. What patterns do
myths use to explain
our world?
ARGUMENTATIVE
WRITING
&
INFORMATIVE
WRITING
4. How do myths reflect
cultural beliefs and
values?
6.
Epic and Myth:
The
Odyssey
3
weeks
*Exploration
challenges you
to explore the
“unknown.”
1. What is the hero’s
journey and what does
it symbolize?
2. How does the hero’s
journey reveal
universal anxieties of
the unknown?
3. How does the hero’s
journey address the
importance of change?
ARGUMENTATIVE
WRITING
&
INFORMATIVE
WRITING
W 9-10.1
Write arguments to
support claims in an
analysis of substantive
topics or texts, using valid
reasoning and relevant and
sufficient evidence.
W 9-10.4
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.)
W.9.9 – Draw evidence
from literary texts to
support analysis.
* Argumentative essay
W 9-10.1
Write arguments to support
claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient
evidence.
W 9-10.4
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.)
W.9.9 – Draw evidence
from literary texts to
* Argumentative essay.
*Informative/
Explanatory
paragraphs/ Essay:
Throughout the unit,
students write
routinely to explain
aspects of Greek
mythology.
Research project &
Presentation: Students
write an explanatory
report on a Greek/
Roman god or goddess,
and prepare a
presentation for the
class.
* Informative/
explanatory paragraphs
and/or essay.
*Myths representing
various cultures.
* Various Greek &
Roman Myths.
(Echo, Narcissus,
Prometheus, Pandora,
Arachne the Spinner,
Theseus & the
Minotaur, etc…)
* Various
Informational texts
regarding Greek &
Roman gods and
goddesses.
* “The Cyclops” from
“The Odyssey, Book 9.”
Pages 660-670
* Homer (translated
by Robert Fitzgerald).
“The Odyssey.”
* Sophocles, The
Oedipus Cycle:
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus
at Colonus, Antigone
2014-2015 Curriculum Maps: ELA Grade 9
Bell English Department
support analysis.
7.
Shakespeare
4-5
weeks
“A Midsummer Night’s
Dream”
“Romeo & Juliet”