ELA 11.4 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE/ ANTI-TRANSCENDENTALISM
SCHOOL NAME: RHINEBECK HIGH SCHOOL
GRADE LEVEL: 11
UNIT TITLE/THEME: AMERICAN RENAISSANCE / ANTI-
UNIT LENGTH: 6 WEEKS
TRANSCENDENTALISM
DATE CREATED: SUMMER 2016
1. UNIT OVERVIEW
In this unit, students will explore the divergent voices and perspectives of the American Renaissance.
They will read the poetry of Dickinson and Whitman in order to conceptualize the emerging poetic voices.
Reading brief biographies and letters will enrich their understanding of the literary works and the
conversations about literature at the time period. Imitation and adaptation exercises will allow them to
identify, play, and practice with the techniques and tools of the time period in their own creative writing.
Structured discussions about Melville’s “Bartleby” will hone their reading, listening, and speaking skills.
Students will complete an interactive webquest on the death of Edgar Allan Poe, researching various
theories and arguing a claim about the most probable cause of death through a persona in a RAFT
response. Finally, students will storyboard the final scenes of “The Fall of the House of Usher” to better
visualize the complex imagery and symbolism. They will come away with an understanding of the
complexity of the 19th century American literary identity.
2. FOCUS and ONGOING STANDARDS
FOCUS STANDARDS
(standards to be assessed in this unit)
ON-GOING STANDARDS
(standards that will be addressed, but not assessed)
RL.11-12.1 Cite text evidence
RL.11-12.3 Author’s choices in developing elements
of story
RL.11-12.9 Foundational works of American
literature
W.11-12.10 Write routinely; short/long time
frames)
W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary texts to
support analysis
W.11-12.7 Short/long research to solve a problem
L.11-12.4 Discover word meanings using a variety
of strategies
SL.11-12.1a Draw on prepared research for
discussion
L.11-12.5 Understand figurative lang. and nuance in
word meaning
3. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS MAY INCLUDE
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
How does the poetry of Whitman and Dickinson express the emerging American poetic identity through
both content and style?
How do Anti-Transcendentalist/Dark Romantic writers offer a different perspective on topics such as:
nature, the self, and morality?
How do primary documents inform our conversation about literary works and reflect the changing
American literary landscape?
ELA 11.4 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE/ ANTI-TRANSCENDENTALISM
4. TEXTS MAY INCLUDE
TEXT
GENRE
Selected poetry of Dickinson and Whitman
Brief Author Biographies; letters to/from the authors
“Bartleby” by Herman Melville
Excerpt from Moby Dick by Melville
“Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
Primary Documents (Poe Webquest)
Enrichment: Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”
poetry
nonfiction
short story
novel
short story
nonfiction
5. UNIT ASSESSMENTS MAY INCLUDE
Fishbowl Discussion on Melville
Storyboarding “The Fall of the House of Usher”
RAFT Argument on “It’ll Be the Death of Me”
Collaborative Style Adaptation of Dickinson and Whitman
6. FOCUS ON LANGUAGE
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
Essential Vocabulary/ Vocabulary Focus
Academic Word List (AWL)
Language of Literary and Rhetorical Analysis
Vocabulary from Core Texts
formative
formative
summative
summative
GRAMMAR AND CONVENTIONS
Focus Within the Unit
Sentence Imitation (using core texts as models)
Sentence Composition, Expansion, Combination
(related to unit material)
7. ROUTINES MAY INCLUDE
CLASSROOM PRACTICES AND ROUTINES
3-2-1
3x3x3
60-Second Shakespeare
Annotating Texts
Anticipation Guide
Author’s Chair
Believing/Doubting Game
Blog Writing/Online Discussion
Chalk Talk
Choral Reading
Connecting the Minds
Dialectical Journals
Do Now
Envelope Quotations
Exit Slips
Fishbowl
Flow Chart
Found Poetry
Gallery Walk
Gist
Handmade Thinking
Independent Reading
Jigsaw
K-W-L
Learning Stations
Literature Circles
Loop Writing
Most Important Word
Novel Ideas Only
One-on-One Writing
Conferences
Oral Presentation
Outlining
Parking Lot
Peer-Review
Pinball
Poetry Explosion
Poetry Walk
Quaker Reading
Question-AnswerRelationship
Quickwrites
RAFT writing
Reading Moments
Recitation
Self-Assessment
Sentence Diagramming
Socratic Seminar
Somebody Wanted But So
Storyboarding
Tableaux
T-Chart
They Say/I Say Templates
Think-Pair-Share
TPCASTT/STARLETTS
Venn Diagram
Vocabulary Squares
Walking Poetry
Web/Mapping
Word Wall
Write Around
Writing Frames
Writing Portfolio