E N G L I S H
English
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12.3
Unit 12.3: Challenging Perspectives
Enduring Understandings
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Effective reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing are essential for literate individuals.
Effective communicators consider the words and ideas of others as they develop their own ideas.
Language allows us to make sense of the world and bring about change.
Literate individuals recognize the ethical use of language and have a responsibility to use
language ethically.
Essential Questions
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Why does my voice matter?
How do I join the conversation?
How does language reflect an understanding of the world?
How do texts inform thinking and change understanding?
How do writers and speakers ensure their voices are heard?
Common Tasks
Students should engage in a variety of tasks that demonstrate and deepen their learning. Teachers
should provide specific instruction on strategies during each stage of the writing process for at least one
of the common tasks. For other common tasks, teachers may focus instruction on one stage or may
implement the tasks as homework, timed writings, presentations, or structured discussions.
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Students analyze how
authors and artists
use works that are
serious, humorous,
and satirical to evoke
thought and change.
Then they employ
what Aristotle called
“the available means
of persuasion” to
challenge thinking
through their own
original works.
1.
Review the portfolio of your writing and set goals for revising and
editing.
2.
View one or more scenes from a television show or film and
analyze the techniques the writer or director uses to create humor
or satirize society.
3.
After reading satirical texts, write a short satire using the
techniques studied in class.
4.
Analyze how the author of a text uses the work to challenge
thinking or criticize society.
5.
Give a 2–3 minute speech explaining how a text you have read
challenged your thinking and shaped your perspective.
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E N G L I S H
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Unit 12.3: Challenging Perspectives
Recommended Tasks
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Choose a satirical article from a source such as The Onion
(www.theonion.com) to analyze. Identify the elements of satire and
evaluate the effectiveness of the piece.
Write a parody of a poem in which you imitate the style and structure
of the poem for a humorous purpose.
In groups, create a short film or play based on one of the group
member’s satirical pieces and present it to the class.
Analyze a piece of literary criticism and present it to the class.
(readwritethink.org lesson title: “Modeling Academic Writing
Through Scholarly Article Presentation”)
Examine how painters, songwriters, and other artists use their works
to provoke thought and encourage change.
The Writing Process
Unit 3 focuses on how to harness the power of language and literature to
bring about positive change. Students practice choosing the right words
and putting them into the right order to create writing that moves readers
emotionally and intellectually and that, at its best, incites social and
political action. Students experiment with techniques writers use to
expose injustice, to poke fun at the inane, and to mock the absurd. They
continue to hone their skills in creating an authentic and powerful voice.
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Students consider
how literature frames
issues and shapes
global conversations.
By considering works
in a range of tones,
students understand
that literature can be
a powerful vehicle
for social and
political commentary,
and they compose
works using some of
the techniques they
have learned.
Grammar, Usage, and Sentence Composing
Students continue to work on individual skills listed in their portfolios. In addition, certain skills will
be explicitly taught and integrated into writing instruction during Unit 3. The ultimate goal is to have
students connect grammar and usage to their reading and incorporate it meaningfully to achieve an
appropriate style in writing. Students will increase clarity in their writing and vary their style and voice
by
• using correct verb tense, subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, and pronoun
case.
• use subordination and coordination to lend sentence variety to their writing.
• analyze and imitate the sentence style of professional writers.
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Unit 12.3 Course Terms
Annotation
Argument
Assertion
Audience
Cinematic devices
o Blocking
o Camera angle
o Film frame
o Laugh track
o Lighting
o Music
o Transitions
Civil discourse
Close reading
Connotation
Deduction
Denotation
Documentation
Entering the conversation
Induction
Irony
Fiction film
Global conversation
Moving image
Narrative devices
o Plot
o Characterization
o Point of view
o Setting
o Conflict
o Mood
o Tone
o Epiphany (moment of
insight)
o Denouement
o Theme
Patterns of development
o Cause and effect
o Comparison and contrast
o Definition
o Division and classification
o Exemplification
o Narrative
o Problem and solution
Personal voice
Perspective
Portfolio
Rhetoric
Satire
o Humorous
o Biting
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Situation comedy (sitcom)
Six Traits of Writing
o Ideas
o Organization
o Voice
o Syntax or Sentence
Fluency
o Diction or Word Choice
o Conventions
Speaker
Style
Tone
Visual text
Works cited
Writing process
o Inquiry
o Pre-writing
o Drafting
o Revision or deep revision
o Editing or surface revision
o Presentation or publishing
E N G L I S H
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Unit 12.3: Texts
Challenging Perspectives
While certain titles are recommended for each unit, teachers may use the Unit 3 and 4 texts
interchangeably as appropriate. Throughout the year, teachers should combine classic literature with
contemporary works and choose a diverse group of writers who represent the richness of the world’s
cultures and traditions.
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The authors and
artists create text to
expose the foibles of
society. Students read
works that are serious
and satirical and
consider how authors
and artists nudge the
world through skillful
use of language.
Texts
Beowulf
Brave New World
Canterbury Tales
The Farming of Bones
God of Small Things
Grendel
Gulliver’s Travels
The Handmaid’s Tale
In the Time of the Butterflies
Kaffir Boy
“Master Harold”… and the boys
The Power of One
Pygmalion
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Typical American
What Is the What
Essays
“Body Ritual among the Nacirema” (ProQuest)
“A Modest Proposal”
“Xmas and Christmas:
A Lost Chapter from Herodotus”
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Tr. Seamus Heaney
Aldous Huxley
Geoffrey Chaucer
Edwidge Danticat
Arundhati Roy
John Gardner
Jonathan Swift
Margaret Atwood
Julia Alvarez
Mark Mathabane
Athol Fugard
Bryce Courtenay
George Bernard Shaw
Azar Nafisi
Gish Jen
Dave Eggers
Horace Miner
Jonathan Swift
C. S. Lewis
E N G L I S H
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Unit 12.3: Texts
Challenging Perspectives
Television Episodes
In preparation for the second common task, teachers should choose situation comedies or satirical
episodes. This is not an all-inclusive list; these are only a few ideas. Teachers should be careful to
choose subject matter that is appropriate for seniors, and while they should choose clips that provoke
thought, teachers should avoid objectionable content.
All in the Family
I Love Lucy
MASH
The Office
Scrubs
The Simpsons
Till Death Do Us Part
Teacher Resources
Deeper Reading
Image Grammar
Reading in the Dark
Reading in the Reel World
Sentence Composing
Teaching Adolescent Writers
Writing at the Threshold
http://www.hulu.com
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Kelly Gallagher
Harry R. Noden
John Golden
John Golden
Don Killgallon
Kelly Gallagher
Larry Weinstein
(Free films online)
While no common
tasks in this unit
require the speaking
process, students
engage in a vigorous
exchange of ideas,
challenging one
another to question
their own thoughts
and perspectives.
Vocabulary and Language Skills
Language study focuses on how word choice creates tone and voice.
Students will:
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continue to use Latin and Greek roots to comprehend unfamiliar words.
identify unfamiliar words in texts and employ strategies to understand meanings in context.
examine how connotations and denotations of words create humor and satire.
explore how the medium affects the way humor is conveyed.
know and use course terms for Unit 3.
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