Enduring Understandings:

 The struggle for equity in
Students will know…



Part of our identity stems from the communities within which we are raised.
America is an ongoing part of our history. effects in writing
Authors select specific details and diction in order to produce different effects in writing
Details in the text can be used to support your own analysis

Features of a research paper

Steps in the research process
Essential Questions:


How does where I’m from shape who I am?
Can America ever achieve
“liberty and justice” for all?
Readers build their analysis of a text through their interpretation of details
 Unit vocabulary
 Authors create structures to produce certain
Students will be able to…
 Select and interpret both significant and subtly

Content-Specific Vocabulary:
 Symbolism

Monologue
 Dialogue
 Stage directions
 Modernism
 Diction

Stylistic choices
 Research question

MLA

Thesis statement

Works Cited

In-text citation

Paraphrasing

Summarizing

Quoting stated details
Define and apply new words from texts and unit vocabulary
 Analyze the effect of an author’s structural choices

Analyze the effect of an author’s use of details and diction

Use text to support analysis

Research, write, edit, and revise a research paper.
Resources:

 A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
 Current news articles
 www.grammarbytes.com
 www.quizlet.com

From textbook: o “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr.
Martin Luther King Junior o Encyclopedia of Chicago o “Ballad of Birmingham” o “Stride towards Freedom” o “Necessary to Protect” o “MLK: He showed us the Way” o “Coming of Age in Mississippi” o “Revolutionary Dreams” o “My Dungeon Shook”




From Models for Writers (Bedford/St. Martin’s):
“The Ways of Meeting Oppression” MLK Jr. o o o
From The Language of Composition (Bedford/St.
Martin’s): o o
From Current Issues and Enduring Questions
(Bedford/St.Martin’s) o
“What Happiness Is” Eduardo Porter
“What’s in a Name?” Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Chapter 10: Writing with Sources
“Being a Man” Paul Theroux
“In Search of the Good Family”
“The Equal Rights Amendment: Is it Still
Needed?” o “The Happy Life” o “Let America Be America Again” o “On Racist Speech”
Standards:
CCSS R1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS R5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
CCSS R3: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a drama such as how characters are developed.
CCSS R4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings
Performance Tasks:
 Research Paper
Other Evidence:
 Discussion Forum responses
 Critical reading journal
 Reader response questions
 Vocabulary log
 Article of the Week responses
 Grammar quizzes

Enduring Understandings:
 As a world power, America often becomes involved in the affairs of other countries.
 Obedience and individuality both serve specific purposes in our lives.

Other nations may not perceive our country in the same way that we do, and it is important to understand the global perspective on many issues.
Students will know…
Resources:
 Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon

Current news articles
 www.grammarbytes.com
 www.quizlet.com

From textbook:
 o o o o o
From The Language of Composition (Bedford/St.
Martin’s): o o
“Why Soldiers won’t talk”
“The death of the ball turret gunner”
“Adam”
“Survival in Auschwitz”
“Ambush”
“The perils of obedience”
“The destruction of culture” o Visual text and responses – “Guernica” o “Commencement Speech and Mount
Holyoke College”

Readers build their analysis of a text through their interpretation of details

Unit vocabulary

Details in the text can be used to support your own analysis

Writers (esp. non-fiction) use rhetorical appeals to influence their audiences.

In order to write effectively, essayists choose concise language
Essential Questions:


Are we responsible for the whole world?
What is the relationship between obedience and individuality?

How does America fit into the international community?
Content-Specific Vocabulary:
 Characterization
 Aside

Dynamic/Static Characters
 Common Application

Colloquialisms

Dialect

Rhetorical appeal

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Tone

Objective/Subjective

Bias

Evidence
 Concise
Students will be able to…

Select and interpret both significant and subtly stated details

Define and apply new words from texts and unit vocabulary

Use text to support analysis

Use rhetorical appeals in their own persuasive writing

Draft, edit, and revise a short essay
 From Current Issues and Enduring Questions
(Bedford/St.Martin’s) o “Rejecting the draft” o “The Failure of an all-volunteer military” o “Man or sheep?”

From Models for Writers (Bedford/St. Martin’s): o “Be specific” o “The meanings of a word” o “Intensify/downplay” o “The case for short words” o “Let’s think outside the box of bad clichés” o “The principles of poor writing” o “Polaroids” o “Simplicity”

Standards:
CCSS R1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS R3: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a drama such as how characters are developed.
CCSS R4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings
CCSS R7: Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem, evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
Performance Tasks:
 Common Application College Essay
Other Evidence:
 Discussion Forum responses
 Critical reading journal

Reader response questions

Article of the Week responses

Grammar quizzes

Vocabulary log
Enduring Understandings:

America is made up of a variety of voices.
Students will know…
 Readers build their analysis of a text through their interpretation of details
 Unit vocabulary

Authors select specific details and diction in order to produce different effects in writing

Our choices as readers reflect our personalities
Essential Questions:

How do I reflect America’s
“melting pot”?
Content-Specific Vocabulary:

Metaphor

Simile

Imagery

Rhetorical appeals

Figurative language

Sensory details
Students will be able to…
 Select and interpret both significant and subtly stated details
 Define and apply new words from texts and unit vocabulary

Analyze the effect of an author’s choices

Finish an independent reading selection and create a persuasive project inviting others to read it

Resources:

Independent reading novels

Current news articles – students select articles based on themes from their reading and create their own questions
 www.grammarbytes.com
 www.quizlet.com

From textbook: o Selections from the “American Mosaic” section of Unit 6
Standards:
CCSS R2: Determine two or more themes or central ideas from the text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide and objective summary of the text.
CCSS R3: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a novel such as how characters are developed.
Performance Tasks:

“One-pager” novel evaluation

Independent reading GRASPS (Glogster project)
Other Evidence:

Discussion Forum responses

Reader response questions

Vocabulary log
 Article of the Week responses

Grammar quizzes