QUARTER THREE
QUARTER TWO
QUARTER ONE
Grade 11 English
Year-at-a-Glance
Unit 1: In the Beginning: Revisiting Our Country’s Roots—Native American
and Colonial Literature
In this unit, students will analyze Native American literature, comparing and
contrasting unifying patterns, themes, and techniques. Students will explore
regional cultural identity—Students will read a variety of texts.
Standards of Learning:
11.1; 11.3; 11.7
Unit 2: To Thine Own Self Be True! Personal Discovery in Puritan Literature
In this unit, students will explore early Colonial literature—including regional
and cultural identity—and the enduring influence of Puritan values/norms.
This unit will emphasize persuasive writing, and character analysis. Students
will complete their first formal research paper. This assignment will
concentrate on students’ investigation of a research question related to themes
and conflicts presented in the literature studied during this grading period.
Standards of Learning:
11.1; 11.3; 11.5; 11.6;
11.7
Unit 3: Express Yourself! Romanticism, Transcendentalism and Conflict in
America
In this unit, students will investigate the origins of American romanticism and its
extension into the Transcendental philosophy expressed by Emerson and
Thoreau. Students will continue their investigation of conflicts and perspectives
underlying the American experience, including tensions within and across
regional, cultural, and group ideologies. Students will read a variety of works
from the Romantic and Transcendentalism periods.
Standards of Learning:
11.1; 11.2; 11.3; 11.4;
11.5; 11.7
Unit 4: I am a Woman, Hear Me Roar! Realism and Naturalism in American
Literature
This unit will focus on the emergence of realism and naturalism, with a focus
upon the treatment of women in American literature. Students will engage in
a research project focusing upon a theme, issue, or motif studied this
semester. Students will be encouraged to express their findings, insights, and
conclusions in a variety of formats. Ideally, this project should reflect students’
views of the American literary experience in all its richness and complexity.
Standards of Learning:
11.2; 11.3; 11.4; 11.5;
11.8.
Unit 5: Party Like It’s 1929! The Roaring Twenties and the American Dream
This unit will emphasize the recurrent theme of the American Dream and its
depiction in novels like The Great Gatsby—including both its positive aspects
as well as its underlying conflicts and contradictions. Throughout the unit
students will also work through the research process, a key part of their
reading, writing, and data analysis and interpretation work during this
academic year. The anchor unit text will be The Great Gatsby.
Standards of Learning:
11.3; 11.4; 11.7
Unit 6: The Emergence of the Modern Era in American Literature
Students will read fiction and non-fiction from this era, including excerpts from
journalistic depictions of such phenomena as the Dust Bowl and prohibition.
Students will have an extended opportunity to complete a comprehensive
research study of a key aspect of American literature. It will also help them to
reinforce their use of key research methodology, including focusing upon a
controlling research question, using a range of sources to collect and analyze
evidence and data, presenting conclusions in a clear and developed fashion.
Standards of Learning:
11.2; 11.3; 11.4; 11.7
Suggested Time Frame:
3-4 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
5-6 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
3-4 weeks
QUARTER FOUR
Unit 7: A Change is Gonna Come: Changing Concepts of Good v. Evil in the
20th Century
In this unit, students will continue their investigation of conflicts and
perspectives underlying the American experience, including tensions within and
across regional, cultural, and group ideologies. Students will continue to
explore themes related to social issues and conflicts that transformed the
cultural and literary landscape in the modern era. Works will include themes
involving civil rights, generational conflict, and alienation.
Standards of Learning:
11.1; 11.3; 11.4; 11.7
Unit 8: To Infinity and Beyond! Where Are We Going? What Will It Be Like
When We Get There?
In this unit, students will engage in a series of projective investigations—
synthesizing their experiences with American literature and using research to
pose and test hypotheses about the future of American civilization. Students
will complete in an independent project requiring them to investigate a critical
problem, issue, conflict, or theme from American literature. Students will
generate an original work product (e.g., research paper, performance,
presentation) and present it to the class.
Standards of Learning:
11.1; 11.3; 11.4; 11.7
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks
Suggested Time Frame:
4-5 weeks