The Joy Luck Club Unit Overview
1. Choose a group of 4 to 5 people in your English class. Ask me to approve your group members.
My Group Members:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2. Decide with your group which mother-daughter pair you will read. Your choices are:
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Suyuan Woo (mother) and Jing-mei “June” Woo (daughter)
An-mei Hsu (mother) and Rose Hsu Jordan (daughter)
Lindo Jong (mother) and Waverly Jong (daughter)
Ying-ying St. Clair (mother) and Lena St. Clair (daughter)
Only two groups per class can do each mother-daughter pair. Circle the pair your group has selected after I have
approved your choice.
3. You will read one story from your mother-daughter pair on each of the following nights: Monday, November 30;
Tuesday, December 1; Wednesday, December 2; Thursday, December 3. You will complete an assignment for each of
those nights and discuss it with your group members on the following day.
Joy Luck Club Daily Assignment Summary
Date:
Monday, November 30
objective-based discussion questions
Assignment
Part 2:
vocabulary
Tuesday, December 1
objective-based discussion questions
parts of speech
Wednesday, December 2
objective-based discussion questions
parts of speech
Thursday, December 3
objective-based discussion questions
STAAR EOC
Friday, December 4
Reading (fill in the title of the short
story your group will read)
“The Price of Nice Nails” article
from the NYT
Assignment Part 1:
reading guide
Each of these assignments will be worth 10% of a major grade.
4. On Tuesday, December 8, and Thursday, December 10, your group will complete the project part of this unit. You
will create a visual representation of the relationships between the different major works of literature we have read this
year on a poster-sized piece of paper.
This assignment will be worth 50% of a major grade.
NAME:
DATE:
PERIOD:
JLC Reading: Monday, November 30
TITLE OF STORY: _______________________________________________
Part 1: As you read, come up with two questions based on some of the reading objectives we have covered in class this
semester. Possible objectives include:
allusion
foreshadowing
sentence style
analysis
imagery
suspense
author’s purpose
inference
theme
characterization
irony
conflict
plot
evaluation
point-of-view
You should generate your questions on your own – without the aid of your group members or the Internet. Answer your
question yourself. Then, in class, ask your group about your questions, and record notes about what they say.
Question 1:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Question 2:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Part 2: As you read, identify five words you did not know before. Fill out the chart for those words. This portion of your
assignment should be completed independently.
Word 1:
Sentence from JLC:
Page #: ____
Definition:
Connotations:
Original Sentence Using Word:
Word 2:
Sentence from JLC:
Page #: ____
Definition:
Connotations:
Original Sentence Using Word:
Word 3:
Sentence from JLC:
Page #: ____
Definition:
Connotations:
Original Sentence Using Word:
Word 4:
Sentence from JLC:
Page #: ____
Definition:
Connotations:
Original Sentence Using Word:
Word 5:
Sentence from JLC:
Page #: ____
Definition:
Original Sentence Using Word:
Connotations:
JLC Reading: Tuesday, December 1
TITLE OF STORY: _______________________________________________
Part 1: As you read, come up with two questions based on some of the reading objectives we have covered in class this
semester. Possible objectives include:
allusion
foreshadowing
sentence style
analysis
imagery
suspense
author’s purpose
inference
theme
characterization
irony
conflict
plot
evaluation
point-of-view
You should generate your questions on your own – without the aid of your group members or the Internet. Answer your
question yourself. Then, in class, ask your group about your questions, and record notes about what they say.
Question 1:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Question 2:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Part 2: Define the following parts of speech and identify two examples from your reading selection. Your group members
may help you on the second column, but not the third or fourth.
Part of Speech
noun
proper noun
common noun
count noun
non-count noun
verb
helping verb
linking verb
transitive verb
intransitive verb
emphatic form of
verb
adjective
adverb
adverb that does
not end in -ly
singular pronoun
plural pronoun
correlative
conjunction
subordinating
conjunction
preposition
definite article
indefinite article
interjection
Definition
Example 1 (give page number)
Example 2 (give page number)
JLC Reading: Wednesday, December 2
TITLE OF STORY: _______________________________________________
Part 1: As you read, come up with two questions based on some of the reading objectives we have covered in class this
semester. Possible objectives include:
allusion
foreshadowing
sentence style
analysis
imagery
suspense
author’s purpose
inference
theme
characterization
irony
conflict
plot
evaluation
point-of-view
You should generate your questions on your own – without the aid of your group members or the Internet. Answer your
question yourself. Then, in class, ask your group about your questions, and record notes about what they say.
Question 1:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Question 2:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Part 2: Below is a list of ten rules relating to parts of speech that writers should follow to communicate effectively. Find an example
of how Amy Tan follows this rule in the selection you have read. Then revise the sentence to demonstrate breaking the rule.
Writers should maintain consistency of tense to avoid confusing the reader.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should use gender-neutral nouns whenever possible to avoid bias.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should ensure that their pronouns match their antecedents in number and gender.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should use the subject and object forms of pronouns correctly, depending on the pronoun’s function in
the sentence.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should ensure that proper nouns are correctly capitalized.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should correctly spell the plural forms of nouns.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should ensure that the form of the verbs that they use agree with the number (singular or plural) of their
subject.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should use the correct forms of irregularly conjugated verbs.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should use adverbs, not adjectives, to describe verbs.
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
Writers should use precise nouns and verbs instead of vague nouns and verbs with modifiers (adverbs and
adjectives).
Amy Tan’s Sentence:
Page #: ___
Incorrect Revision:
JLC Reading: Thursday, December 3
TITLE OF STORY: _______________________________________________
Part 1: As you read, come up with two questions based on some of the reading objectives we have covered in class this
semester. Possible objectives include:
allusion
foreshadowing
sentence style
analysis
imagery
suspense
author’s purpose
inference
theme
characterization
irony
conflict
plot
evaluation
point-of-view
You should generate your questions on your own – without the aid of your group members or the Internet. Answer your
question yourself. Then, in class, ask your group about your questions, and record notes about what they say.
Question 1:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Question 2:
Objective:
My Response:
Notes on Group Members’ Responses:
Part 2: Based on the selection you read, you will create two multiple choice questions, one short answer response question,
and one thematic essay prompt. (You do not need to answer these questions – just create them.)
A. Multiple Choice Questions
Effective multiple choice questions ask the reader to think critically about the text and make inferences based on evidence –
not just recall facts. The incorrect answer choices for a multiple choice question should be plausible, not ridiculous; incorrect
answer choices are often partially, but not wholly, correct. Your multiple choice questions should be based on the objectives
listed on the front of this page.
1. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
A. ________________________________________________________________________________________
B. ________________________________________________________________________________________
C. ________________________________________________________________________________________
D. ________________________________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
A. ________________________________________________________________________________________
B. ________________________________________________________________________________________
C. ________________________________________________________________________________________
D. ________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Short Answer Response Question
An effective short answer response question is open-ended. It asks the reader to interpret the piece of literature. It should
have multiple possible answers that can be supported by text evidence.
Short Answer Response Question: ______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Expository Essay Prompt
An expository essay prompt deals with a universal, abstract theme that can be answered through personal experience,
literature, history, or current events. Base your prompt on the issues inside of the selection you read from JLC.
READ the following quotation.
Find a quotation that
deals with the theme of
your prompt.
THINK about ______________________________________________________.
WRITE an essay explaining ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________.
Complete the statement to ask the
reader to think about one aspect of
your theme.
Complete the prompt by asking the
reading to explain something about
an abstract theme.
Pre-AP ELA 1 Fall Semester Literature Visual Representation
Your group will create a visual product on a poster-sized sheet of paper to explore and explain the relationships between the
major works we have read this semester.
Your product must include:
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Your product may include:
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The Odyssey
Dracula
The Hot Zone
The Joy Luck Club
The Hunger Games
The Alchemist
I Am Malala
The relationships that you explore could encompass:
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theme
genre
geography
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plot
style
history
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conflict
patterns
characters
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collage
comic strip
menu
advertisement

something else approved
me
The form that your product takes could be a:
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diagram
chart
map
illustration
You must create a rough draft of your product before I will allow you to start working on the final product. I will probably
have some suggestions that I want you to incorporate.
I will evaluation your product using the rubric below:
Component
depth of analysis
and connections
text evidence
visual order/
visual logic
creativity
professionalism of
presentation
Explanation
I need to see evidence of thoughtful reflection on the literature that we have
read this year. If you tell me that The Joy Luck Club and I Am Malala are related
because they both have female protagonists, that is a superficial connection. If
you explore how those protagonists face a unique set of challenges because of
their gender, you’re on to an interesting line of thinking.
You are probably thinking, “Do we have to have text evidence for everything in
this class?” Yes. And not just in this class – in every text-based class, for the
rest of your lives. You need at least one quotation for every work of literature
incorporated into your product. Try to choose quotations that are particularly
meaningful and memorable.
Just as the order of the words in the sentence structures their meaning, the
ways in which you choose to organize your space visually will shape the
message of your product. The different pieces of your product need to be
integrated into a meaningful whole. Do not just put four different pictures in
random order onto your paper.
If the instructions for this product are vague, that is because I want to give you
the freedom to develop a work that goes beyond what I can possibly imagine.
Much of what we do in this class – grammar, structured writing, text analysis –
is subject to strict rules. I’m giving you a break from those rules in the hope
that you will come up with something weird and cool and delightful –
something totally unlike what the rest of the class is doing.
WHAT I DON’T WANT: Your product looks like you paid a chimpanzee in
bananas to complete it for you. The text is difficult to read, the visuals are
sloppy, there is little elaboration, the paper is stained and crumpled.
WHAT I DO WANT: Papers that I can put up in the hallway that will make
other teachers jealous. Carefully crafted work that is visually pleasing.
Possible Points