9th Grade
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Unit 1
Embedded Assessment 1:
Your assignment is to interview a person who has attended a post-secondary institution (i.e., a two- or
four-year college, a training or vocational school, the military) and to write an interview narrative that
effectively portrays the voice of the interviewee while revealing how the experience contributed to his
or her coming of age.
Embedded Assessment 2:
Your assignment is to write an essay of argumentation about the value of a college education. Your
essay must be organized as an argument in which you assert a precise claim, support it with reasons and
evidence, and acknowledge and refute counterclaims fairly.
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Unit 2
Embedded Assessment 1:
Your assignment is to write an original narrative from real or imagined experiences or events. Your story
must include a variety of narrative techniques—such as foreshadowing, point of view, figurative
language, imagery, symbolism, and/or irony—as well as effective details and a well-structured sequence
of events.
Embedded Assessment 2:
Think about the Tim Burton films that you have viewed and analyzed. Choose three or four stylistic
devices (cinematic techniques) that are common to these films. Write an essay analyzing the cinematic
style of director Tim Burton. Your essay should focus on the ways in which the director uses stylistic
techniques across films to achieve a desired effect.
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Unit 3
Embedded Assessment 1:
Your assignment is to research the historical, cultural, social, or geographical context of the novel To Kill
a Mockingbird and investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the
United States during the Civil Rights Movement. You will work collaboratively to create an oral
presentation of your findings with multimedia support and guiding questions for your audience.
Embedded Assessment 2:
Your assignment is to write a passage analysis of a key coming-of-age scene from To Kill a Mockingbird.
After annotating the text to analyze Harper Lee’s use of literary elements in your selected passage, write
an essay explaining how the literary elements in this passage help develop a theme of the novel.
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Unit 4
Embedded Assessment 1:
Your assignment is to create a poetry anthology that will include an introduction to the collection, seven
or eight original poems with complementary visuals, and a reflection that explains the style and content
of the work presented. Use technology to create your anthology and to present it in a polished format.
Embedded Assessment 2:
Your assignment is to analyze a collection of work from a poet and write a style-analysis essay. You will
then select one of the poems you analyzed and present an oral interpretation of the poem to the class.
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Unit 5
Embedded Assessment 1:
Your assignment is to work collaboratively with your acting company to interpret, rehearse, and perform
a scene from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In preparation, each member of the acting
company will create a staging notebook providing textual evidence and commentary on the planned
interpretation. Finally, you will write a reflection evaluating your final performance.
Embedded Assessment 2:
Your assignment is to compose an argument for or against the inclusion of William Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet in the 9th grade curriculum. You will evaluate research and gather evidence from a
variety of sources about Shakespeare's relevance and influence in today's world. Finally, you will
synthesize and cite your evidence in an argumentative essay that maintains a formal style and tone
appropriate to your audience and purpose, uses rhetorical appeals, including logical reasoning, and
includes all the structural elements of an argument.
10th Grade
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Unit 1
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to write a reflective essay explaining your cultural
identity.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to collaborate with your peers to write an essay that
responds to the following synthesis prompt: To what extent does one’s culture inform the way one
views others and the world?
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Unit 2
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to write a narrative, either real or imagined, that conveys
a cultural perspective. Throughout this unit, you have studied narratives in multiple genres, and you
have explored a variety of cultural perspectives. You will now convey a real or fictitious experience that
includes one or more elements of culture.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to develop an argument about an issue that resonates
across cultures. You will choose a position, target audience, and effective genre to convey your
argument to a wide audience
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Unit 3
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to examine one aspect if tribal culture presented in Things
Fall Apart, its significance to the Ibo community, and compare and contrast how that cultural aspect
changed from pre-colonial to post-colonial Nigeria. You will create a presentation that reflects your
research
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to write an analytical essay about Things Fall Apart in
which you examine a character’s response to the cultural collision caused by the introduction of
Western idea into Ibo culture. In your essay, analyze how the collision challenges the character’s sense
of identity and explain how his response shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
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Unit 4
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to research, analyze, and present an oral interpretation of
a monologue. Your monologue should represent a point of view or cultural experience reflected in a
work of literature from outside the United States. You will need to use vocal and visual delivery to
convey a complex character’s voice. You will write a character sketch of the character you are
portraying. You will also evaluate your own and other students’ performances and write a reflection on
your oral interpretation.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to write an analytical essay about the effect of character
interaction in the play Antigone. Choose a character whose words, actions, or ideas contrast with
Creon’s character. Explain how these conflicting motivations contribute to Creon’s development as a
tragic hero and how the character interactions advance the plot or develop the themes of the play.
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Unit 5
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to present a solution to the environmental conflict your
group has researched. You will deliver a group presentation designed to contextualize the conflict for
your classmates and justify your approach to resolving it.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to transform your presentation from the first Embedded
Assessment into a documentary film advocating for a particular solution to the issue. Use researchbased evidence, persuasive appeals, and documentary film techniques to engage and convince an
audience of your argument.
11th Grade
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Unit 1
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to write a multi-paragraph essay that defines your
interpretation of what it means to be an American. This essay should use the strategies of definition and
different perspectives from the unit to help you develop a complex and thoughtful definition. If possible,
incorporate an iconic image into your essay.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to synthesize at least three to five sources and your own
observations to defend, challenge, or qualify the statement that America still provides access to the
American Dream. This question requires you to integrate a variety of sources (3–5) into a coherent, wellwritten argumentative essay. Your argument should be central; the sources and your observations
should support this argument.
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Unit 2
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to work with a group to write and perform an original
dramatic script in which you make a statement about a conflict that faces society. By doing so, you
should be able to demonstrate your understanding of how Arthur Miller spoke out about a
contemporary issue (persecution of suspected communists) while setting his drama in a time period
with corresponding events (persecution of suspected witches).
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to write and present an original, persuasive two- to threeminute speech that addresses a contemporary issue. It should include a clear claim, support,
counterclaim, and conclusion/call to action. Incorporate rhetorical appeals and devices to strengthen
your argument and to help you achieve your desired purpose.
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Unit 3
Embedded Assessment 1: Working in groups, your assignment is to plan, develop, write, revise, and
present an informational article on a timely and debatable issue of significance to your school
community, local community, or national audience. After your group completes its article, you will
individually develop a variety of editorial products that reflect your point of view (agreement,
alternative, or opposing) on the topic. Be creative with your editorial products and include at least two
or three different pieces, such as cartoons, editorials, letters, posters, photos, and so on.
Embedded Assessment 2: You have been studying how opinions are expressed and perceived in a
democratic society through a variety of rhetorical formats including satire. Your assignment is to
develop a satirical piece critiquing some aspect of our society.
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Unit 4
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to write a multi-paragraph reflective essay about a
significant personal experience that involves the pursuit of happiness and/or transcendental ideals,
being sure to describe the experience and your immediate response to it, as well as to reflect on the
significance of the experience.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to create a multi-genre research project that expresses
your research and perspective on a person, event, or movement that embodies the American ideal of
the pursuit of happiness.
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Unit 5
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to work in pairs or a small group to create an interactive,
multimedia research presentation about a topic related to the Harlem Renaissance. This presentation to
your classmates should include a variety of media and must also include an annotated bibliography.
Your presentation should focus on some aspect of the era that represents the values and ideas of the
Harlem Renaissance, such as Historical Context, Philosophy & Beliefs, the Arts, or Daily Life.
Embedded Assessment 2: Write an analytical essay in which you discuss how Zora Neale Hurston’s
writing is both a reflection of and a departure from the beliefs of the Harlem Renaissance. Include
aspects of the Harlem Renaissance that you see reflected in Hurston’s writing as well as characteristics
of Hurston’s writing that are departures from selected aspects of the Harlem Renaissance.
12th Grade
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Unit 1
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to create and present a photo essay expressing your
perspective (position) about an issue or topic of importance to you. You can use the argument you
wrote in Activity 1.14 to develop a final product, using at least ten images to develop a visual argument.
Include your intended thesis and a written rationale explaining how your images convey this thesis.
Embedded Assessment 2:Write a reflective essay that illustrates an event in which you or someone you
know felt like a “stranger in the village” or was perceived as a stranger by some group.
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Unit 2
Embedded Assessment 1: Work with a partner to write a script that transforms a scene from Pygmalion
so that it reflects one of the critical perspectives you have studied. You will also write a reflection
analyzing and evaluating your process and product.
Embedded Assessment 2:
Your assignment is to write an analytical essay applying the Feminist Critical Perspective to a short story.
You have two stories to read and choose from, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin or “The Chaser”
by John Collier. (Both stories are included on the following pages.)
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Unit 3
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to construct an argumentative essay that defends the
critical lens that you feel provides modern society with the most compelling view of literature (choose
among Historical, Cultural, or Feminist for this assignment). You will support the claim with valid
reasoning and with relevant and sufficient evidence from your reading and observations.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to interpret a scene from Othello using one of the critical
perspectives you have studied and then plan, rehearse, and perform the scene.
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Unit 4
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to write an argumentative essay, including an annotated
bibliography, that argues for the use of a particular critical lens to interpret an event, supporting your
argument with evidence from at least five texts gathered alone or with your group members.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to create a documentary text in a media channel of your
choice (TV news magazine, short documentary film, network news broadcast, podcast, etc.) in which you
transform the information you gathered from your research into an argument concerning the
topic/issue you have chosen. Your presentation should last 10 to 15 minutes. It may be recorded or
presented live.
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Unit 5
Embedded Assessment 1: Your assignment is to work with a group to present a novel or play to an
audience of your peers. You will collaboratively prepare an analysis of the literary work through multiple
critical perspectives and present it in a performance-based or visual medium of your choice. Your
analysis should include a summary of the text in the format of a graphic novel.
Embedded Assessment 2: Your assignment is to work with a group to present a novel or play to an
audience of your peers. You will collaboratively prepare an analysis of the literary work through multiple
critical perspectives and present it in a performance-based or visual medium of your choice. Your
analysis should include a summary of the text in the format of a graphic novel.