Grade 12
1st Quarter
Unit/
Topic
Psychology
and Literature
Personal/
College Essay
Ambiguity
Conte’s
Bipolar Model
of Personality
Traits
Freud’s Theory
of Personality
Structure
Erikson’s
Psychosocial
Stages of
Development
Mead’s Sociocultural mode
of inquiry
Durkheim’s
Sociological
Theory
ELA Pacing Guide
Guided
Essential
Questions
How do we utilize our
formal training in the
transition from high
school to college, the
workplace, etc.?
What language tools
must be learned in
order to enter new
disciplines such as
psychology, sociology,
etc.?
How can each model
be used to interpret
characters in literature?
Skills in Content
Area
Question assumptions.
Use linguistic cues for
denotative and connotative
meanings.
Question incongruities.
Read each model for
information.
Take notes selectively.
Identify model’s premise as a
critical lens.
Learn vocabulary (jargon) of
each new model.
How can each model
be used to gain selfknowledge?
Apply model to several short
stories, poems, or song lyrics to
interpret character.
How can this insight be
communicated to
others (college essays,
job applications,
scholarship application,
etc.)
Apply model to oneself to gain
insight.
Communicate self-knowledge to
others.
Page 1 of 6
Assessments
Objective vocabulary quiz for
each new model.
Objective quiz for literal level
meanings of short stories.
Small group discussion to
interpret character through
each new critical lens (model)
Write introduction to
hypothetical essay including a
controlling idea that applies
model to story, poem or song
Represent model in drawing,
chart, power point
presentation, video or
enactment for class sharing.
Write a college essay, job
application essay, scholarship
essay, etc.
Write directed in-class essay
that fully develops controlling
idea with supporting evidence.
NYS Performance
Indicators
Standard 1:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for information and
understanding.
Standard 2:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for literary response
and expression.
Standard 3:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for critical analysis
and evaluation.
Standard 4:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for social
interaction.
Grade 12
ELA Pacing Guide
2nd Quarter
Unit/ Guided Essential Skills in Content
Topic
Questions
Areas
Oedipus the
King by
Sophocles
Themes:
Tragic hero
blindness vs.
sight
(insight) free
will vs.
determinism
In what ways is Oedipus
the King a repository of
Greek history and
culture?
What are Aristotle’s
terms of tragedy?
Why is Oedipus
considered a tragic hero?
What is play’s structure?
History:
Ancient
Greek
politics,
culture
Genres:
Play, poetry
(ode)
What part does the
chorus play?
Assessments
Take notes from oral and
written sources. Learn to
be selective.
Quiz on history, culture, and
beliefs of Greece’s Golden
Age.
Research Greek history.
Oral reading, both individual
and group, of play
Engage in oral reading of
play, including choral
codes.
Learn Aristotle’s laws of
tragedy.
Small group discussions to
form opinions about
character
NYS Performance
Indicators
Standard 1:
Students will read, write, listen and
speak for information and
understanding.
Standard 2:
Students will read, write, listen and
speak for literary response and
expression.
Presentation of small group
discussions to rest of class
Apply laws to Oedipus.
Analyze characters.
How should the play be
performed?
Page 2 of 6
Apply Aristotle’s terms to
Oedipus in writing.
Present ideas using posters,
creative reenactments
(modern settings, etc.)
sculpture, etc. to class
Timed in class essay that
supports and develops a
critical lens.
Standard 3:
Students will read, write, listen and
speak for critical analysis and
evaluation.
Standard 4:
Students will read, write, listen and
speak for social interaction
Grade 12
3rd Quarter
Unit/ Topic
Death of a Salesman
By Arthur Miller
Themes:
Gaps between:
reality and illusion
and
generations
Conflicting versions
of the “American
dream”:
-opportunity vs.
security
-rural vs. urban, etc.
Genre: play
innovations in
Structure and
symbolic content
Historical: Socioeconomic context:
Post WWII
ELA Pacing Guide
Guided
Essential
Questions
What are the causes of
Willy Loman’s
deteriorating mental
state?
How do family
members contribute to
the dysfunction?
What conditions in post
WWII United States
create opportunity
and/or difficulty for the
characters?
How is the play
structured to support its
themes?
Is Willy Loman a
legitimate tragic hero?
Skills in Content
Area
Page 3 of 6
Assessments
Analyze Willy Loman’s
mental lapses.
Quizzed for literal level
understanding.
Take notes from oral and
written reports.
Oral reading of play.
Research post-WWII
United States
Find causal relationship
between research and
Willy’s dilemma.
Understand symbolic
content of objects and
places in play.
Compare/contrast
Oedipus as tragic hero to
Willy Loman as tragic
hero.
Small group topics for class
presentations on themes,
conflicts, symbolic content and
structure.
Journal entry to personalize
reality/illusion gaps and
challenges in our lives
(expectations, adjustments to
disappointments, for example).
Debate: Use Aristotle’s laws of
tragedy and Miller’s essay,
“Tragedy and the Common
Man” to Compare/contrast
differing notions of tragic hero.
Note how each reflects its
historical context.
Poster and videos are
encouraged.
NYS Performance
Indicators
Standard 1:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for information and
understanding.
Standard 2:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for literary response
and expression.
Standard 3:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for critical analysis
and evaluation.
Standard 4:
Students will read, write, listen
and speak for social
interaction.
Grade 12
4th Quarter
Unit/ Topic
Fences by August
Wilson
Context: AfricanAmerican Post-WWII
experience
ELA Pacing Guide
Guided Essential
Questions
What characterizes the
African-American migration
from the antebellum
plantation to the industrial
north, according to August
Wilson?
Themes:
-ambiguity of tragic
hero
-generational conflict
-redemption
-free will vs.
determinism
How does Troy Maxson’s
personal history parallel that
of the group?
Genre: Play
-structure
-innovations in style,
technique
What major symbols
organize and enrich the
play’s meanings?
Language Study
-formal, informal
-elevated, colloquial
What family history and
circumstances differentiates
Troy as an individual?
What is the measure of
Troy’s character in all of its
complexity?
Skills in Content
Area
Take notes from oral and
written information.
Page 4 of 6
Assessments
Oral reading of play
noting playwright’s
manipulation of diction
Read together aloud.
Form opinions and make
judgments about Troy’s
character.
Small group topics for
class presentations on
themes, conflict, structure
and comparison/contrast to
Death of a Salesman.
Write essay.
Journal entry: Personal
Application of theme- free
will vs. determinism as it is
presented in play.
Objective test
Debate: ambiguity of
heroism.
NYS Performance
Indicators
Standard 1:
Students will read, write,
listen and speak for
information and
understanding.
Standard 2:
Students will read, write,
listen and speak for literary
response and expression.
Standard 3:
Students will read, write,
listen and speak for critical
analysis and evaluation.
Write in-class essay.
Standard 4:
Students will read, write,
listen and speak for social
interaction
Grade 12
Hamlet Unit
Unit/ Topic
ELA Pacing Guide
Guiding
Questions
Hamlet by
William
Shakespeare
How do Hamlet’s
seven soliloquies
function?
Themes:
Tragic Hero
Corruption
How pervasive is
corruption in
Denmark?
Where does it
originate?
Appearance vs.
Reality
Revenge
Imagery
Figurative
Language
Characterization
Why does Hamlet
delay revenge?
In what ways does he
suffer due to both
character (personality)
and circumstance?
What is the nature of
the ghost?
Skills
Selective oral reading
Listening to professional
readings.
Responsive writing
Modern “translation” of
Shakespearian language
Page 5 of 6
Assessments NYS Performance Indicators
Daily response
through individual
journal writing or
group discussions.
Participation in
class discussions.
Quizzes for literal
level meaning.
History/Culture
Critical
Responses
Film Study
Although Hamlet
feigns madness, does
he ever actually
become mad?
How does imagery
support themes of
corruption, appearance
vs. reality, revenge and
Standard 2: Students will read, write,
listen and speak for literary response and
expression.
Interpret soliloquies
Read criticism.
Paraphrase
soliloquies in
writing
Small group discussion
Compare/contrast to other
works.
Standard 3: Students will read, write,
listen and speak for critical analysis and
evaluation.
Trace imagery in
support of stated
themes
Essay writing
Structure
Standard 1: Students will read, write,
listen and speak for information and
understanding.
Standard 4: Students will read, write,
listen and speak for social interaction.
Grade 12
Unit/ Topic
ELA Pacing Guide
Guiding
Questions
disorder?
How do critics’
interpretations of the
play vary?
How do a variety of
films reflect these
differences?
What aspects of
Hamlet’s interrupted
life as inheritor of
Denmark’s corruption
and his father’s need
for revenge are
universal?
Skills
Page 6 of 6
Assessments NYS Performance Indicators