Brian Sauerbeck
English 1
Curriculum Guide
Bellevue High School
Unit 1: Coming of Age (9 weeks)
This opening unit introduces “coming of age” as the thematic focus of the year by asking
students to explore fictional characters and real individuals who encounter self-defining
incidents. As students interact with multiple texts, they will refine their understanding of
voice, review advertising appeals, and establish a foundational understanding of learning
strategies and key concepts they will apply throughout the year.
Common Core State Standards addressed:
W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.
W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, well-chosen details and well structured event sequence.
W.9-10.4: Produe clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.9-10.5: Develop and strengthn writing as needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant
for a specific purpose and audience.
W.9-10.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a
question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or
broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject,
demonstratingunderstanding of the subject under investigation.
W.9-10.8: Gather relevant informaion from multiple authoritative print and digital
sources, using advanced searches effectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding
plagerism and following a standard format for citation.
W.9-10.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
W.9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection,
and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
tasks, purposes, and audiences.
RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and through textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
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RL.9-10.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refines by specific details: provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting
motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters and
advance the plot or develop the theme.
RL.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language evokes a sense of
time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RL.9-10.5: Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text,
order events within it (e.g. parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g. pacing,
flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
RL.9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a
work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of
world literature.
RL.9-10.7: Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different
artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
RL.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including
stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently,
with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RI.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI.9-10.3:Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events,
including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and
developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
RI.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language of a
court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
RI.9-10.5: Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and
refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g. a
section or chapter).
RI.9-10.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how
an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
RI.9-10.7: Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g. a
person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are
emphasized in each account.
RI.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the
grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently with scaffolding as needed at the
highest end of the range.
SL.9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative disucssions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10
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topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly
and persuasively.
SL.9-10.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or
formats (e.g. visually, quatitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of
each source.
SL.9-10.3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning and use evidence of
rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
SL.9-10.4: Prsent information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely,
and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the
organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose
audience, and task.
SL.9-10.5: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g. textual graphical, audio, visual,
and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
SL.9-10.6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command
of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
L.9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
L.9-10.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.9-10.3:Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in
different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend
more fully when reading or listening.
L.9-10.4: Determine or claify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grades 9-10 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a
range of strategies.
L.9-10.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings.
L.9-10.6: Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or
expression
Week 1:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to contextualize prior knowledge about key ideas and concepts
and analyze the skills and knowledge necessary for success in this unit.
2. Students will learn to categorize information.
3. Students will learn to analyze how diction, imagery, and syntax comprise the
literary concept of voice and how to address them in their own writing.
Activities:
1. Students will preview the unit including analyzing the unit overview and
embedded assessments.
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2. Students will create time-line of their own “coming of age.” They will decide
what age it begins and ends. Students will also analyze what age they receive
certain privileges and responsibilities.
3. Students will define diction, syntax, and imagery and identify these in an excerpt
of Sandra Cisneros’s My House on Mango Street and Imma Achilike’s “Why
Couldn’t I Have Been Named Ashley?.”
Formative Assessment:
1. Bellringers: I collect these daily
2. Class discussion of inferences about the speaker in each text.
3. Students’ time-lines.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will write a piece (can be in the form of a poem or an essay) about their names.
They might write about the importance of their names, their feelings about their names,
whether they would change their names if they could etc.
Week 2:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to conduct an interview and synthesize information.
2. Students will learn to make predictions about and assess interest in texts to make
choice for reading.
3. Students will learn to evaluate the personal effectiveness of specific-learning
strategies.
Activities:
1. Students will read a partner’s “my name” piece and interview one another using
open-ended questions.
2. Students will draft a brief written interview narrative of their partner and present
it to the class.
3. Students will read the SpringBoard Learning strategies.
4. Students will select a “coming of age” novel.
Formative Assessment:
1. Interview narrative presentation.
2. Students will identify and reflect on the usefulness of the strategies in their
literacy development by using a graphic organizer.
3. Students will answer prediction questions based on their novel.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will take a quiz on clauses, and sentence types including simple, compound,
complex, and compound complex.
Week 3:
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Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze how diction, imagery, and syntax create a
distinctive voice; students will learn to mark a text.
2. Students will learn to summarize an incident and identify the effect of the
incident.
3. Students will learn to explain how a writer’s or speaker’s voice shapes a reader’s
response.
4. Students will apply knowledge of diction, syntax, and imagery to understand a
new text.
5. Students will plan and generate interview questions.
Activities:
1. Students will read “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, “Oranges” by Gary Soto, and an
excerpt from Speak by Laurie hales Anderson.
2. As students read, they will analyze and mark the text for syntax, imagery, tone,
and inferences about the speaker.
3. Students will read “Cut” by Bob Greene. As students read they will analyze the
cause and effect relationship of the five speakers.
4.
Formative Assessment:
1. Students will fill in a graphic organizer that analyzes and compares the
speakers’ voice in “Eleven,” “Oranges,” and the excerpt from Speak.
2. Students will Write a paragraph explaining how the voice of one of the
speakers from “Cut” helps to shape the reader’s response.
3. Students will analyze “Cut” from an interviewer’s (Bob Greene) point of
view. They will make inferences to questions Greene may have asked and
make a list of follow-up questions they would like to ask.
High Level Thought Activity:
After reading “Eleven,” “Oranges,” and the excerpt from Speak, students will write a
brief analysis of one author’s use of diction, syntax, and/or imagery to achieve the effect
of a youthful voice.
Week 4:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to compare and contrast the effectiveness of prose and poetry
in conveying an experience.
2. Students will learn to create open-ended interview questions.
3. Students will learn to apply knowledge of diction, syntax, and imagery to
understanding a new text.
4. Students will plan and generate interview questions.
Activities:
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1. Students will read “Always Running” ( short story) and “Race Politics” (poem)
by Luis J. Rodriguez. These two texts relate the same experience in different
mediums.
2. Students will mark the text and analyze diction, imagery, and syntax in the above
texts; students will make inferences about the speaker based on voice.
3. Students will read and annotate an excerpt from First Love by Judith Ortiz Cofer.
Formative Assessment:
1. Class discussion of which version of Rodriguez’s text is more powerful? Which is
easier to visualize and understand? What componets of coming of age are present
in the two texts?
2. Students will rewrite one of Rodriguez’s texts from the point of view of the
speaker’s older brother.
3. Students will answer questions text questions about the First Love.
4. Students will write five open-ended questions they would ask the narrator in an
interview about the text and possible responses in the voice of the narrator.
5. Students will consider their independent reading novel. They will write a list of
the key events, explain why their novel can be considered a coming-of-age novel,
and complete a mock interview of the narrator like the one they did for Judith
Ortiz Cofer.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will choose the voice of one of the characters from Rodriguez’s texts and
practice answering interview questions. With a partner, students will role play how the
interview might sound. First, one of the students will ask questions while the other
answers in the voice of one of the characters. The interviewee should try to maintain the
voice of the character by keeping word choice, language, and culture in mind. Students
will need to use open-ended interview questions.
Week 5:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to extend understanding of characterization by making text-toworld connections via music.
2. Students will learn to summarize questions and answers from an interview;
students will learn to classify interview questions as open-ended and follow-up.
3. Students will learn to identify aspects of voice in an interview write-up and
recognize the effect of direct and indirect quotations in conveying voice.
4. Students will learn to punctuate quotations.
Activities:
1. Students will brainstorm songs and create a playlist for their independent novel.
2. Students will view an interview of Doug Miller (a Bellevue High School
Alumnus) conducted by Charlie Coleman (a former Bellevue High School
football coach) for his show, Northern Kentucky Sports Legends, on ICN6.
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3. As students view the interview they will write down the questions asked, and
summarize the responses given.
4. Students will read an interview narrative by “Bethany Only Looking Ahead” by
Jan TenBruggencate.
5. As students read the interview narrative they will annotate the text for imagery,
syntax, and tone.
6. Students will then reread the interview narrative; this time students will use two
different colored highlighters to highlight direct and indirect quotations.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will use their list of songs from a character’s voice in their independent
novel that explains the reasons these songs are included in his or her playlist.
2. After viewing the interview, students will classify which of Charlie Coleman’s
(interviewer) questions were open-ended, which were follow-up, and which
questions began a new line questioning.
3. Students will answer text questions about the text.
4. Students will review how to punctuate direct and indirect quotations.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will write a reflection on the importance of asking follow-up questions.
Week 6:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to summarize, paraphrase, and quote.
2. Students will synthesize answers and create a report of a Q and A interview.
3. Students will produce a plan for an interview.
Activities:
1. I will arrange for the class to interview someone about their “coming of age”
incident (if worst comes to worst, me).
2. Before interviewing the selected person the students will fill out the first two
columns of a KWL chart and make a list of questions that they think might get
and keep the interview flowing.
3. During the interview with the selected person students will take notes
(summarize, paraphrase, and quote) of the questions asked and the responses
given.
4. Students will fill in the “L” column of their KWL chart.
5. Students will brainstorm a list of people they might be able to interview outside of
school for their embedded assessment.
6. Students will brainstorm a list of questions and possible follow-up questions they
might ask during the interview.
7. Students will work on Interview Narratives
Formative Assessments:
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1. Students will review the transcript of the interview of the selected person. They
will use two colors to highlight questions that begin a new topic, questions that
follow-up responses, and lastly students will write any follow-up questions that
they wished were asked but weren’t.
2. Exit Slip containing who, when, and how they interview.
High Level Thinking Activity:
After interviewing the selected person and using your notes, write a narrative of the
interview. Students will try to capture the voice and personality of the interviewee as they
retell his or her coming-of-age experience. Following the model of “Bethany Only
Looking Ahead,” students can convey the personality of the interviewee by these
methods:
 Describing how the interviewee is speaking, acting, and looking.
 Describing the setting of the interview.
 Conveying the significance of the events discussed.
 Including both direct and indirect quotations.
Embedded Assessment 1: Presenting an Interview Narrative
Assignment: Students will interview a person who has attended high school and to write
an interview narrative that effectively portrays the voice and experience of the
interviewee.
Students will be scored on their Ideas, Organization, Use of Language, Conventions, and
Evidence of Writing Process.
Week 7:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to design, conduct, and interpret a peer survey.
2. Students will learn to compare and contrast current issues affecting teens’ reading
choices.
3. Students will learn to identify common techniques used in advertising.
4. Students will learn to explain why certain advertising techniques appeal to
specific audiences.
Activities:
1. Students will design and conduct a survey for high school students about their
reading habits and interpret the results.
2. Students will read “As If! Marketing to Older Teens” by Judith Rosen. Students
will mark the text for specific ways items are marketed to teens.
3. Students will define and analyze an example of the Elements of an Argument
(hook, claim, concessions, and refutations, support, and summary/call to action.
4. Students will analyze a collection of advertisements for intended audience and
advertising techniques (bandwagon, avant-garde, testimonials, facts and figures,
and transfer.
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Formative Assessments:
1. Students will use their survey data to write an argument, using the Elements of an
Argument, for why or why not reading is the “ideal” activity for teenagers.
2. Students will examine one specific advertisement closely for slogan, product
placement, copy, logo, plot, audience, gender representation, and claims made by
the advertisement.
3. After analyzing selected advertisements, students will write a paragraph
identifying the target audience, and whether they think the advertisement was
effective in persuading the audience of its message.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will work in groups to create a two or three minute dramatization of a
commercial that uses two or more advertising appeals. Their commercials will attempt to
sell any common item they have with them in class (a pen, a backpack, a bottle of water,
etc.)
Week 8:
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze the use of rhetoric in advertising.
2. Students will learn to describe the characteristics of a variety of media channels.
3. Students will learn to understand how to select the media channels that are most
appropriate for a specific audience.
Activities:
1. Students will read the definition of and examples of Rhetorical appeals (pathos,
ethos, and logos).
2. Students will generate a list of examples of each of the rhetorical appeals.
3. Students will jot down notes about the qualities and descriptions of the most
likely audience for Print Advertisements (magazine, newspaper, posters,
billboards, book display, and book jackets), commercials (television, film/video
trailer, and radio) and Interviews (television, radio, and podcasts).
Formal Assessments:
1. Students will use the advertisements they analyzed previously to analyze for
rhetorical appeals.
2. Exit Slip: Students will make decisions about their independent reading novel.
Who would they advertise to? What rhetorical appeals would they use? What
medium would they use to advertise?
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will choose one of the texts the class has read in this unit and to imagine
creating an ad to persuade an audience to read it. Students will create rough sketch or
outline of a print ad for one of the texts. Students will need to include an example of
ethos, pathos, or logos.
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Embedded Assessment 2: Creating an Ad Campaign for a Novel
Assignment: The students’ assignment is to create an advertising campaign for their
independent reading novel. The campaign must include two of the three media genres (a
dramatized commercial, an interview with an author, a print advertisement) that they
have examined in this unit. The target audience is their classmates. As support for their
advertising campaign, they will write an argument using the five elements of
argumentation that they are using to persuade their classmates to read the book. The
project will also include a written analysis of the persuasive techniques and advertising
claims that they used and how they appeal to your target audience.
Students will be scored on their Advertising Campaign, Advertising Elements, Reflective
Text, Conventions, and Evidence of Collaboration.
Week 9: Wrap-up/Catch-up week
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to reflect on what they have learned.
Activities:
1. Students will return to their Learning Strategies log and review/reassess the
learning strategies that are best for them.
2. Students will reflect on what they have learned throughout this unit.
3. Students will complete make-up work.
Formative Assessment:
1. Students will complete another learning log and reflect on strategies used
throughout the preceding activities.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will analyze all the learning targets for the year. They will write an essay that
identifies the learning targets they believe they have mastered, the ones they have an
okay understanding of, and what they still need more help on.
***Note***
The independent reading novel assigned in week two is completed outside of class.
Students are responsible for reading a quarter of the book each week and answering
assigned guided reading questions for each section.
Unit 2: Defining Style (9 weeks)
This unit continues the coming-of-age theme by revealing the unique connection between
written texts (short-stories) and visual media (film). In this unit, students examine the
ways in which authors of short stories and directors of visual media manipulate their
audience’s reactions through their unique stylistic choices. By studying film alongside
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short stories, students will come to see film as a separate and unique genre, worthy of
serious study along with drama poetry, fiction, and prose.
Common Core State Standards Addressed:
W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through
W.9-10.4: Produe clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.9-10.5: Develop and strengthn writing as needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant
for a specific purpose and audience.
W.9-19.6: Use technology, including the interent to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to
link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
W.9-10.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a
question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or
broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject,
demonstratingunderstanding of the subject under investigation.
W.9-10.8: Gather relevant informaion from multiple authoritative print and digital
sources, using advanced searches effectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding
plagerism and following a standard format for citation.
W.9-10.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
W.9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection,
and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
tasks, purposes, and audiences.
RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and through textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.9-10.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refines by specific details: provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting
motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters and
advance the plot or develop the theme.
RL.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language evokes a sense of
time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RL.9-10.5: Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text,
order events within it (e.g. parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g. pacing,
flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
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RL.9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a
work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of
world literature.
RL.9-10.7: Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different
artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
RL.9-10.9: Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a
specific work (e.g. how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible
or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).
RL.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including
stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently,
with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RI.9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI.9-10.3:Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events,
including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and
developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
RI.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language of a
court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
SL.9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative disucssions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10
topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly
and persuasively.
SL.9-10.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or
formats (e.g. visually, quatitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of
each source.
SL.9-10.4: Prsent information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely,
and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the
organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose
audience, and task.
SL.9-10.5: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g. textual graphical, audio, visual,
and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
SL.9-10.6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command
of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
L.9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
L.9-10.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.9-10.3:Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in
different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend
more fully when reading or listening.
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L.9-10.4: Determine or claify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grades 9-10 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a
range of strategies.
L.9-10.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings.
L.9-10.6: Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or
expression
Week 1 (10):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to contextualize prior knowledge about key ideas and concepts
and analyze the skills and knowledge necessary for success in this unit.
2. Students will learn to interpret quotations about revenge to personal experience.
3. Students will learn to use the writing process to draft a reflective essay.
4. Students will learn to analyze how an author achieves specific effects of tone and
theme.
5. Students will learn to apply and reflect on reading strategies that promote
comprehension of complex ideas.
Activities:
1. Students will read and analyze the about the unit and the embedded assessments.
2. Students will read five quotes about revenge (a theme in this unit) interpret the
quotes, and give a reason for agreement or disagreement.
3. Students will read “A Poison Tree” by William Blake.
4. While reading “A Poison Tree,” students will highlight the different choices the
speaker makes about revenge, identify the speaker’s shift, and describe the
attitude of the speaker.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will make a list of the knowledge and the skills necessary to succeed in
this unit.
2. Students will reflect on one of the revenge quotes. Students will comment on the
imagery and how that affects their response.
3. After reading “A Poison Tree,” students will paraphrase the last two lines of the
poem. They will then analyze the cause of the ending.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will draft a response in which they express their feelings about revenge. They
will include a personal reflection about a time when they had a choice about taking
revenge or when they were the recipient of someone’s vengeful attitude or action. They
should consider using one of the quotations in your essay, crediting the author of the
quote.
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Week 2 (11):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to use context clues to clarify the meaning of unknown or
ambiguous words.
2. Students will learn to predict outcomes based on clues in the text.
3. Students will learn to understand and explain nuances of character and the way
characterization advances plot.
4. Students will learn to identify short story elements and analyze their function
within a narrative.
Activities:
1. Students will categorize difficult vocabulary words from “Cask of Amontillado”
by Edgar Allan Poe.
2. Students will read background information on Catacombs and Carnival.
3. Students will read “Cask of Amontillado,” marking the text as they read.
4. Students will review the elements of a short story (setting, exposition,
complications, climax, falling action, resolution/denoucement, characters, theme,
conflicts, and literary elements).
Formative Assessments:
1. Exit Slip: Without reading back over the text, what you learned about “Cask of
Amontillado?”
2. As students read “Cask of Amontillado,” they will fill in a graphic organizer
listing the characteristics they discover or infer about Montressor and Fortunato.
3. Students will fill in a Short Story Diagram labeling all the elements of a short
story.
High Level Thought Activity:
“The Cask of Amontillado” begins with this sentence: “The thousand injuries of
Fortunato, I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed
revenge.” Using what you know about the two characters, write a creative story about one
of these “injuries.” Your story should include a well-developed conflict and resolution as
well as dialogue and suspence to enhance the plot.
Week 3 (12):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze how the use of irony achieves specific effects.
2. Students will learn to identify images from a written text and apply them in a
visual rendering.
3. Students will learn to draw on prior knowledge and experiences to elaborate on
the meaning of events, main ideas, and themes in a text.
4. Students will learn to formulate appropriate oral and written responses while
interviewing or being interviewed.
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Activities:
1. Students will review the concepts of verbal and situational irony.
2. Students will create a list of examples of irony.
3. Students will review the concept of imagery.
4. Students will brainstorm images from the final scene of “Cask of Amontillado.”
They will look at the characters, the place, and the clothing.
5. Students will interview one another with questions from their textbook. They will
record one another’s responses. This will serve as pre-reading activity for “The
Stolen Party” by Lilana Heker.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will fill out a graphic organizer for verbal irony in “The Cask of
Amontillado.” One side will be the quotation (What is stated) and the other will
be what it means.
2. The students will locate the passage from “Cask of Amontillado” in which
Fortunato says, “He is an ignoramus.” They will read from that point to the end of
the story and draw a picture that represents how the story ends.
3. Prediction: You will read a story entitled “The Stolen Party.” Taking into
consideration the prompts for you interview questions, predict what the story
might be about.
High Level Thought Activity:
The students will write an essay explaining how Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The
Cask of Amontillado” uses irony to show Montresor’s true intentions. Students will
provide evidence from the text to support your claims. Include a thoughtful introduction,
detailed body paragraphs, and an insightful conclusion.
Week 4 (13):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to identify and recognize literary elements in a short story and
identify multiple purposes for reading and select strategies to guide the reading.
2. Students will learn to visualize in order to elaborate and deepen comprehension of
increasingly complex texts.
3. Students will learn to identify and distinguish among points of view.
4. Students will learn to rewrite a text in another point of view.
5. Students will learn to understand that narrative perspective influences the
interpretation of events, characters, and themes.
6. Students will learn to identify and diagram short story elements and analyze their
function within a narrative to understand the author’s intended effects.
Activities:
1. Students will read “The Stolen Party” by Lilana Heker. As they read they will
annotate the text for conflict, attitude, dialogue, and cause and effect.
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2. Students will select a reading strategy from the strategies learning log. They will
reflect on it in their learning log.
3. Students will reread the final paragraphs of “The Stolen Party.” This time they
need to focus their reading on shift.
4. Students will draw a scene of the ending of “The Stolen Party.”
5. Students will define and discuss Point of View (first person, third person
omniscient, and third person limited).
6. Students will be given three different situations from three different points of
view. For each situation, the students will need to rewrite it from both of the other
types of point of view they have just learned.
7. Students will reread “The Stolen Party.” After reading, they will complete a Short
Story Diagram.
Formative Assessments:
1. Class discussion of the concept of “good versus evil” in “Cask of Amontillado”
and “The Stolen Party.”
2. Students will draw a scene of what they imagine might happen immediately after
the scene they have just drawn (the ending). If the story were to contain one more
scene, what would it look like? Students should consider what might happen to
the money. Who, if anyone, would end up with it?
3. Exit Slip: Students will list the Benefits and limitations of each type of Point of
View they learned.
4. Students will choose one short story element from their diagram of “The Stolen
Party” and draw a scene from the story that exemplifies their element. Drawings
can be either symbolic or representative.
High Level Thought Activity:
After creating their scene of “The Stolen Party,” students will write a continuation of the
narrative to match their vision. Students will need to continue the conflict and perhaps
devise an alternative resolution. Students will need to use dialogue.
Week 5 (14):
Learning Target:
1. Students will learn to analyze theme, key ideas, main ideas, and supporting ideas
within a complex text.
2. Students will learn to understand internal and external conflicts.
3. Students will learn to analyze and interpret how directors use cinematic
techniques to achieve specific effects.
4. Students will learn to identify cinematic techniques in a commercial.
5. Students will learn to revise sketches and transform them into a storyboard and to
explain the effect of the cinematic choices.
Activities:
1. Students will read “Marigolds” by Eugenia W. Collier. As they read they will use
SIFT (symbol, images, figurative language, and ton/theme) to mark the text.
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2. Students will define Cinematic Techniques (shots and framing, camera angles,
camera movements, lighting, editing techniques, and sound).
3. Students will use a rolled up piece of paper to “practice” camera shots and
movements.
4. Students will search through magazines on a scavenger hunt for examples of
cinematic techniques. They will categorize the pictures and create a collage
labeling the pictures for viewers.
5. Students will view a commercial that employs a variety of cinematic techniques
(e.g., shots, framing, camera angels, camera movement, lighting, editing, and
sound). As they watch the students will need to identify cinematic devices.
6. Students will read and discuss the purpose of a storyboard.
Formative Assessment:
1. Students will fill out a SIFT graphic organizer using their annotations from
reading “Marigolds.”
2. Class discussion: Consider the effects of each cinematic technique and the kinds
of situations in which a director might use them. Discuss the similarities between
an author’s purpose and a director’s choices.
3. Students will present their collages.
4. Students will revisit the sketches they made for “A Poison Tree” and create a
storyboard of several frames for a storyboard adaption of the poem. The students
will need to make specific choice for cinematic techniques that would effectively
capture the text as film.
5. Students will reflect on their storyboard: Why did you choose the framing,
lighting, and music that you did? What words or phrases from the poem made you
picture this? Explain.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will choose the most significant cinematic technique they identified from the
commercial they watched, and write an interpretive statement that explains the effect of
this cinematic technique.
Embedded Assessment 1: Creating a Storyboard
Assignment: The students’ assignment is to work collaboratively to transform a section of
a printed text (one of the short stories from this unit) into a storyboard. The students will
also include a written explanation of the intended effects of your choices. The storyboard
should be at least twenty shots.
Students will be graded on their display of cinematic elements, explanatory text, and
evidence of collaboration.
Week 6 (15):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to draw on relevant prior knowledge and experience to make
connections between text and film.
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2. Students will learn to recognize that authors both use and deviate from genre
norms to achieve specific effects.
3. Students will learn to draw appropriate conclusions about research topics and
develop context for the films to be analyzed.
4. Students will learn to identify common themes.
5. Students will learn to an author’s explicit purpose for writing and understand style
elements (mood and tone) in two media.
6. Students will learn to draw a direct connection between text and film, using
textual evidence to support claims.
7. Students will learn to analyze how media producers use cinematic techniques to
achieve specific effects.
8. Students will learn to reflect on choices in direction to achieve a desired effect.
9. Students will learn to analyze how media producers use cinematic techniques to
achieve specific effects.
Activities:
1. Students will take a survey about their film preferences.
2. Class will come to a consensus about the top ten films ever made with reasons
why.
3. Students will review the concepts of subject and theme.
4. Students will read “Hollywood Outsider Tim Burton” from cbsnews.com and
mark the text for subjects that might arise in Burton’s films that reflect some of
his beliefs or experiences.
5. Students will explore the concepts of mood and tone as they read excerpts from
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
6. Students will be placed into groups and given an index card with five cinematic
techniques written on it. The students will create a short scenario using the terms
on their card and present their scene demonstrating the terms on their cards.
7. Students will view a short clip of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (0:40:240:49:40). Students will take notes on the cinematic devices used and their effects
in the film
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will compare and contrast the techniques and effects available to
directors in film and author’s in text in a Venn diagram.
2. Reflection: Students will evaluate the research process. What did they learn about
research, and how will they apply that knowledge to future research tasks?
3. Students will views the beginning (0-0:20:20) of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. As they read they will take notes on how (cinematic devices)
Burton creates mood and tone.
4. Students will view a segment of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (0:27:360:38:00) and identify the film techniques used in this segment. Afterwards they
will analyze the effect Burton made by using these techniques.
5. Students will write a short piece that compares the choices that are made in
cinema to the choices that are made in literature and the effects they create.
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High Level Thought Activity:
Students will be divided into groups where they will research one of the following topics:
Johnny Depp, Vincent Price, Gothic Literature, and Edgar Allan Poe. The students will
research their topics on the Internet, using at least three sources. The students will create
a brief presentation of a summary of the individual or subject and the connections to the
ideas the class uncovered regarding Tim Burton.
Week 7 (16):
Learning Activities:
1. Students will examine cinematic and literary elements of film (tone, mood,
imagery, and motif) and clarify how media producers use conventional production
elements to achieve specific effects.
2. Students will learn to analyze how an author or director achieves specific effects
and purposes through literary/cinematic devices.
3. Students will learn to craft an analytical statement and support it with evidence
from the text, and include reflective commentary to explain interpretations.
4. Students will learn to predict how the director might capture a particular aspect of
a screenplay and craft a reflection that rationalizes the prediction.
Activities:
1. Students will view the beginning of Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (00:02:42). As they read they will make notes on the cinematic techniques and
intended effects. They will use this remark on the tone and mood of the film.
2. Students will view scene 2 of Edward Scissorhands (0:02:44-0:05:03).
3. Students will view scenes 3-5 of Edward Scissorhands (0:05:17-0:26:32). As they
read (closely watch) they will comment on the cinematic devices observed and
their intended effects.
4. Students will view scenes 5-13 of Edward Scissorhands (0:26:39-0:51:44). As
they read they will comment on the cinematic devices observed and their intended
effects.
5. Students will read a transcript of the dialogue between Edward and Kim from
Edward Scissorhands (they have not viewed this scene yet). Students will then
create a five-scene storyboard making specific cinematic choices of the scene.
6. Students will view scenes 13-19 of Edward Scissorhands (0:51:45-01:17:20). As
they read they will comment on the cinematic devices observed and their intended
effects.
7. Students will view scenes 19-24 of Edward Scissorhands (1:17:20-1:40:00). As
they read they will comment on the cinematic devices observed and their intended
effects.
Formative Assessments:
1. After watching Scene 2, students will remark on the shift in the scene and how it
was accomplished. They will also make predictions of what they think the film
will be about.
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2. After viewing scenes 3-5, students will write an analytical statement (purpose of
cinematic element, example of effect, and effect of this cinematic choice) for one
of their observations.
3. After viewing scenes 5-13, students will write an analytical statement with textual
support and reflective commentary (your explanation of the importance or
relevance of your example and the way your example supports your analysis).
4. Students will answer reflection questions about their storyboard asking them to
defend the cinematic choices they made.
5. With a group, students will create a well-developed paragraph analyzing one
element from scenes 13-19 they observed.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will write a well-developed paragraph analyzing Burton’s use of a cinematic
element in Edward Scissorhands. Students will include all the features they have
practiced, including analytical statements with textual support, reflective commentary,
and closure.
Week 8 (17):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to understand and identify the connection between technique
and effect in film.
2. Students will learn to draw direct connections between style in film and text.
3. Students will learn to draft a text that presents a coherent and smooth progression
of ideas and organization.
4. Students will learn to evaluate a draft for revision purposes.
5. Students will learn to synthesize information from multiple sources.
Activities:
1. Students will view two thirty-minute clips of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. As
students read the film they note the cinematic techniques and intended effects.
2. Students will review the elements of style (tone, mood, diction, imagery,
organization, syntax, and point of view). They will then decide what
corresponding cinematic technique a director can use for the same purpose.
3. Students will read over the assignment for Embedded Assessment 2 and scoring
guide.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will fill in a graphic organizer (a tri-Venn Diagram) that compares and
contrasts the similarities and differences in the films they have viewed.
2. Students will formulate a thoughtful thesis that responds to this prompt: Citing
examples from at least two films, explain what cinematic techniques best display
the style of Tim Burton. How does he use those techniques to achieve a particular
effect?
3. Students will draft an outline for their stylistic analysis essay.
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High Level Thought Activity:
After viewing Corpse Bride, what similarities in style and/or theme did you notice in
relation to the other films you watched?
Embedded Assessment 2: Writing a Style Analysis Essay
Assignment: The Students’ assignment is to write an essay analyzing the cinematic style
of director Tim Burton. The essay will focus on the ways in which the director uses
stylistic techniques across films to achieve a desired effect.
The students will be scored on their ideas, organization, use of language, conventions,
and evidence of writing process.
Week 9 (18): Wrap up/Catch-up week
Learning Targets:
2. Students will learn to reflect on what they have learned.
Activities:
4. Students will reflect on what they have learned throughout this unit.
5. Students will complete make-up work.
Formative Assessment:
2. Students will complete another learning log and reflect on strategies used
throughout the preceding activities.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will analyze all the learning targets for the unit. They will write a short essay
that identifies the learning targets they believe they have mastered, the ones they have an
okay understanding of, and what they still need more help on.
Unit 3: Exploring Poetic Voices
This unit continues the coming-of-age thematic concepts by examining diverse
perspectives on societal issues, life experiences, community outlook, rites of passage, and
character development. Poetry most poignantly conveys the power of words, of feelings,
and of images to address issues of importance to writers’ unique stylistic choices. A deep
understanding of the function and effect of stylistic techniques empowers students to
emulate the style of a published author and, in turn, develop a signature style in their own
poetry. By studying poetry intensely and writing their own, students will see their voices
emerging in the literary community and make their contribution alongside other poets.
Common Core Standards Addressed:
W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
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W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.
W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, well-chosen details and well structured event sequence.
W.9-10.4: Produe clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.9-10.5: Develop and strengthn writing as needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant
for a specific purpose and audience.
W.9-19.6: Use technology, including the interent to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to
link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
W.9-10.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a
question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or
broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject,
demonstratingunderstanding of the subject under investigation.
W.9-10.8: Gather relevant informaion from multiple authoritative print and digital
sources, using advanced searches effectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding
plagerism and following a standard format for citation.
W.9-10.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
W.9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection,
and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
tasks, purposes, and audiences.
RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and through textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.9-10.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refines by specific details: provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language evokes a sense of
time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RL.9-10.5: Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text,
order events within it (e.g. parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g. pacing,
flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
RL.9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a
work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of
world literature.
RL.9-10.7: Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different
artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
RL.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including
stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently,
with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
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RI.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.9-10.3:Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events,
including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and
developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
RI.9-10.5: Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and
refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g. a
section or chapter).
RI.9-10.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how
an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
RI.9-10.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text,
assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient;
identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.
RI.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the
grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently with scaffolding as needed at the
highest end of the range.
SL.9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative disucssions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10
topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly
and persuasively.
SL.9-10.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or
formats (e.g. visually, quatitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of
each source.
SL.9-10.3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning and use evidence of
rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
SL.9-10.4: Prsent information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely,
and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the
organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose
audience, and task.
SL.9-10.5: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g. textual graphical, audio, visual,
and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
SL.9-10.6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command
of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
L.9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
L.9-10.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.9-10.3:Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in
different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend
more fully when reading or listening.
L.9-10.4: Determine or claify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grades 9-10 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a
range of strategies.
L.9-10.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings.
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L.9-10.6: Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or
expression
Week 1 (19):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to contextualize prior knowledge about key ideas and
concepts.
2. Students will learn to analyze the skills and knowledge necessary for success in
this unit.
3. Students will learn to understand the process of making meaning from a poem.
4. Students will learn to write a poem expressing perceptions of poetry.
Activities:
1. Students will read the Unit Overview, Learning Focus, and Embedded
Assessments for the unit.
2. Students will choose one of ten poets’ perspectives about poetry quotations. They
will write the quote on an index card and their interpretation.
3. Students will read “Poetry” by Pablo Neruda. Students will use metacognitive
markers to mark the text.
4. Students will also define and mark the above text for repetition, verb choices,
anaphora, and form.
Formal Assessments:
1. Students will make a list of the knowledge and the skills necessary to succeed in
this unit.
2. After reading the quotations, students will respond to the following prompt: What
is poetry?
3. Class discussion of “Poetry.”
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will write a free verse poem about poetry. “A Poem About A Poem”
Week 2 (20):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to discover how authors generate ideas.
2. Students will learn to interpret a writer’s perspective on poetry.
3. Students will learn to analyze the craft and style of professional writers.
4. Students will learn to understand the function and use of literary devices.
Activities:
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1. Students will read an excerpt from Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge’s essay
“Poemcrazy.” As students read they will mark the text for specific points to
reference.
2. Students will define literary devices (refrain, tone, imagery, diction, hyperbole,
allusion, and connotation) in their personal poetry glossary.
3. Students will use the personal poetry glossary throughout the unit to fill in
examples from the text and explanation of function and use.
Formal Assessments:
1. Students will become an “expert” on one portion of the essay and present their
analysis to the class.
2. Class discussion: identify Susan Wooldridge’s insights that the class can use
when writing poetry.
3. Students will create original examples of literary devices for their personal poetry
glossaries.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will select one term from their personal poetry glossary that is of particular
interest to them and create a graphic representation that captures the essence of the term.
Week 3 (21):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to draft an autobiographical narrative for the introduction of
the poetry anthology.
2. Students will learn to examine the structure of a free-verse catalogue poem.
3. Students will learn to analyze a text for imagery and tone.
4. Students will learn to create a free-verse poem in the style of a published author.
5. Students will learn to analyze a poem’s structure (line breaks, stanzas, sense
units).
6. Students will learn to analyze, and critique the function of voice, imagery, and
diction.
7. Students will learn to create an original poem emulating the author’s style and/or
incorporating the literary devices analyzed.
Activities:
1. Students will respond to the following freewrite: Think about a memory of your
childhood in which an outsider might perceive to be negative but are actually
positives. What do these childhood experience reveal about who you are as a
person?
2. Students will read Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Nikki Rosa.” As they read they will
mark the text for powerful images.
3. Students will reread Giovanni’s poem and this time mark the text for detail that
provide insight into the speaker’s character. They will also highlight Giovanni’s
use of diction.
4. Students will listen to Lauryn Hill’s song “Every Ghetto Every City.”
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5. Students will review structure of poetry (line breaks, stanzas, sense units, end
punctuation, etc).
6. Students will read “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks in prose version. They
will gather in small groups to decide how they would break the poem into stanzas
and sense units.
7. Students will then read Brooks’s version of “We Real Cool” paying attention to
rhyme scheme, meter, and emphasis on key ideas. They will compare it to their
own versions.
8. Students will discuss what message about life Brooks is sending to young people
in her poem and how the structure and musical devices create an effect.
9. Students will generate a list of subjects or topics they are passionate about and
freewrite about one of them explaining it to a person who knows nothing about it.
10. Students will read “Fast Break In Memory of Dennis Turner, 1946-1984” by
Edward Hirsch. As students read they will mark the text for diction (basketball
jargon) and imagery.
Formative Assessments:
1. After reading “Nikki Rosa” students will generate a list of questions they would
like to ask Giovanni to further analyze the poem.
2. Students will emulate either Giovanni’s or Hill’s style to create an original
catalogue poem about their own lives or coming-of-age experiences. The poem
should reveal aspects of their character through details. Students should then write
a brief autobiography that connects ideas from their poem to an overview of their
lives.
3. Students will go back to their original catalogue poem and revise it to incorporate
purposeful line breaks and stanzas.
4. Class Discussion: How does knowing your audience affect their voice (tone,
purpose, audience, and context of message)?
5. Students will write an analytical statement about Hirsch’s use of diction in his
poem “Fast Break.”
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will try to capture in words the essence of a subject they are passionate about
incorporating skillful use of voice, diction, and/or imagery. Students should revise the
format into an original poem emulating Hirsch’s use of the action-oriented, specialized
diction of basketball, or another topic such as skateboarding, hockey, or whatever passion
or pastime they want to write about. Students will mark their poems to identify where
they showcase their knowledge of voice, diction, and/or imagery and in the margin
explain their intended effect.
Week 4 (22):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze the function and effect of an extended metaphor.
2. Students will learn to create a poem incorporating an extended metaphor.
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3. Students will learn to make a connection between a poem’s content and symbolic
visuals.
4. Students will learn to identify and critique the function of hyperbole and allusion.
5. Students will learn to write an analytical statement examining figurative language.
6. Students will learn to analyze a poem to identify a thematic concept.
Activities:
1. Students will read Julio Noboa Polanco’s poem “Identify.” As they read they will
circle the words “flowers” and “weeds.”
2. Class discussion of metaphor and extended metaphor.
3. Students will read Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Ego Tripping.” As they read they will
use metacognitive markers to mark the text as well as annotating for word
denotation and connotation.
4. Class discussion of hyperbole and allusion.
5. Students will use a TPCASTT organizer to analyze Audre Lorde’s poem
“Hanging Fire.”
6. Class discussion of theme.
Formative Assessment:
1. After reading “Identity,” students will write an original poem using metaphors,
symbols, or repetition to reinforce an idea or concept.
2. After reading “Ego Tripping,” students will write an original poem on a subject of
their choice emulating the style in “Ego Tripping.” They will mark the text for
hyperbole and allusion and explain their intended effect in the margin.
3. Students will use an analytical statement to explain a theme of Audre Lorde’s
poem, “Hanging Fire.”
High Level Thought Activity:
After reading Audre Lorde’s “Hanging Fire” students will write an original thematic
poem on the subject of their choice. Students will mark their poems to identify where
they showcase their knowledge of theme, and explain the intended effect in the margin.
Week 5 (23):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze odes for figurative language.
2. Students will learn to examine the structure of a sonnet.
Activities:
1. Class discussion of odes.
2. Students will read Pablo Neruda’s poem “Ode To My Socks” and Sandra
Cisneros’s “Abuelito Who.” As students read, they will mark the text for
figurative language and identify the function of the figurative language.
3. Students will read William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18.” Students will identify the
rhyme scheme as they read.
4. Class discussion of “quatrain,” “rhyming couplet,” and “Iambic Pentameter.”
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5. Students will read Dr. Seuss’s book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” As students read,
they will analyze the poem for iambic language.
Formative Assessments:
1. Class discussion of Odes and figurative language.
2. Students will choose a person or things to which they pay homage, honor, praise,
or respect and draft an original ode that uses figurative language.
3. After reading “Sonnet 18,” students will analyze the purpose of each quatrain and
how the couplet brings closure to the ideas presented in the sonnet.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will choose a topic and write a sonnet. The sonnet needs to be annotated to
identify the structure.
Embedded Assessment 1: Creating a Poetry Anthology
Assignment: The students will create a thematic poetry anthology with an introduction to
the collection, seven or eight original poems with complementary visuals, and a reflection
explaining the style and content of the work.
Students will be scored on their original annotated poems, introduction, reflection, and
organization and presentation.
Week 6 (24):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze a poem for connotation.
2. Students will learn to write a style-analysis paragraph.
3. Students will learn to understand tone.
4. Students will learn to write an analytical paragraph on the effect of tone.
Activities:
1. Students will predict what a poem will be about based on the title.
2. Students will read Dwight Okita’s poem, “In Response to Executive Order 9066:
All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers.” As
students read they will complete a TPCASTT for the poem.
3. Class discussion of denotation and connotation.
4. Class discussion of “tone.”
5. Students will listen to two different versions of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen
Spirit” (one by Nirvana and one by Tori Amos).
6. As students listen to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and read along with the lyrics,
students will comment on the tone of the two songs.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will write a paragraph analyzing the function of connotation in “In
Response to Executive Order 9066.”
2. Class discussion of “tone” and “shift” in “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
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High Level Thought Activity:
After listening and reading the two versions of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” students will
write a style analysis paragraph identifying the tone and explaining how it shifts between
the two songs.
Week 7 (25):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze poetry.
2. Students will learn to independently apply a poetry analysis strategy.
3. Students will learn to plan and present an oral interpretation of a poem.
Activities:
1. Students will read Anne Sexton’s poem, “Young.”
2. As students read, “Young,” they will complete a TPCASTT on the poem.
3. Students will view a clip from Def Poetry Jam. This will be a model for their oral
interpretation of a poem.
4. Students will break into groups where they will complete a TPCASTT of one of
the following poems:
 “Combing” by Gladys Cardiff
 “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth
 “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
 “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson
 “Scars” by Daniel Halpern
 “American Hero” by Essex Hemphill
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will reflection on how the TPCASTT strategy assists them to make
meaning of a complex poem.
2. Class discussion of oral interpretation of poetry.
3. Each student will complete a brief analysis of their groups poem connecting the
group’s analysis to the oral interpretation.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will create an oral interpretation of their poem. Their interpretation should
demonstrate their understanding of the poem through movement, inflection, gestures,
facial expressions, sound effects, props, and so on. The students will present their oral
interpretation to the class using the following format:
 Introduce the author and title of the poem.
 Present the group’s oral interpretation.
Week 8 (26):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to examine stylistic elements in an author’s work.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Students will learn to generate a strong thesis.
Students will learn to analyze and revise draft statements for syntax.
Students will learn to extract ideas from the thesis to explore in topic sentences.
Students will learn to create a rhetorical plan for an essay.
Activities:
1. Students will review and discuss their favorite poems in this unit.
2. Students will read “The Beep Beep Poem,” by Nikki Giovanni marking the text
for the author’s use of “onomatopoeia.”
3. Students will read “Kidnap poem,” also by Nikki Giovanni. However, they won’t
know the author and will need to identify the author based on her style.
4. As a class we will use the graphic organizer about her style to create a working
thesis for a stylistic analysis essay.
5. Students will complete a graphic organizer, like the one they did for Giovanni, for
the style of their chosen author. Students will need to go to the computer lab to
analyze multiple poems by that author.
6. Students will write their thesis statements on the board and as a class they will
provide feedback “syntax surgery” for the thesis statement.
7. Class discussion of thesis statements and topic sentences.
8. Students will read a model outline of analysis of Giovanni’s style.
Formative Assessments:
1. Class discussion of onomatopoeia and its effect.
2. Students will complete a graphic organizer asking them to analyze Nikki
Giovanni’s style based on textual evidence and examples.
3. Students will review their author’s work and identify a stylistic technique
particular to his or her style. They will then craft a working thesis and revise it in
small groups.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will create a rhetorical plan for their essay and note all of the possible examples
(outline). Students will then complete a “pair-share,” discussing and explaining ideas
before generating a first draft.
Embedded Assessment 2: Analyzing and Presenting a Poet
Assignment: The students’ assignment is to analyze a collection of work from a poet, and
write a style-analysis essay. They will then select one of the poems they analyzed and
present an oral interpretation of the poem to the class.
Students will be graded on their ideas, organization, use of language, evidence of writing
process, and presentation.
Week 9 (27): Wrap up/Catch-up week
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to reflect on what they have learned.
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Activities:
1. Students will reflect on what they have learned throughout this unit.
2. Students will complete make-up work.
Formative Assessment:
1. Students will complete another learning log and reflect on strategies used
throughout the preceding activities.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will analyze all the learning targets for the unit. They will write a short essay
that identifies the learning targets they believe they have mastered, the ones they have an
okay understanding of, and what they still need more help on.
Unit 4: Interpreting Drama Through Performance
One of the most widely read “coming of age” texts, Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo
and Juliet is the core text in this unit. Students apply to the play what they have
previously learned about voice, film, and poetry. This unit guides students in an
examination of the ways that directors and actors use theatrical elements to interpret and
perform a text. Opportunities to hear and speak the language, view filmed interpretation,
and perform scenes will enhance students’ understanding of Shakespeare’s play.
Common Core State Standards Addressed:
W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.
W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, well-chosen details and well structured event sequence.
W.9-10.4: Produe clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.9-10.5: Develop and strengthn writing as needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant
for a specific purpose and audience.
W.9-19.6: Use technology, including the interent to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to
link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
W.9-10.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a
question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or
broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject,
demonstratingunderstanding of the subject under investigation.
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W.9-10.8: Gather relevant informaion from multiple authoritative print and digital
sources, using advanced searches effectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding
plagerism and following a standard format for citation.
W.9-10.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
W.9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection,
and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
tasks, purposes, and audiences.
RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and through textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.9-10.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refines by specific details: provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting
motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters and
advance the plot or develop the theme.
RL.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language evokes a sense of
time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
RL.9-10.5: Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text,
order events within it (e.g. parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g. pacing,
flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
RL.9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a
work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of
world literature.
RL.9-10.7: Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different
artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
RL.9-10.9: Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a
specific work (e.g. how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible
or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).
RL.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including
stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently,
with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RI.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.9-10.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how
an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
RI.9-10.7: Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g. a
person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are
emphasized in each account.
RI.9-10.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text,
assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient;
identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.
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RI.9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the
grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently with scaffolding as needed at the
highest end of the range.
SL.9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative disucssions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10
topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly
and persuasively.
SL.9-10.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or
formats (e.g. visually, quatitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of
each source.
SL.9-10.3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning and use evidence of
rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
SL.9-10.4: Prsent information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely,
and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the
organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose
audience, and task.
SL.9-10.5: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g. textual graphical, audio, visual,
and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
SL.9-10.6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command
of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
L.9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
L.9-10.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.9-10.3:Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in
different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend
more fully when reading or listening.
L.9-10.4: Determine or claify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
and phrases based on grades 9-10 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a
range of strategies.
L.9-10.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings.
L.9-10.6: Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or
expression
Week 1 (28):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze the skills and knowledge necessary for success in
the unit.
2. Students will learn to build fluency, confidence and poise when speaking in front
of an audience.
33
3.
4.
5.
6.
Students will learn to analyze relationships between characters in a play.
Students will learn to understand the concept of tragedy.
Students will learn to recognize the function of the chorus.
Students will learn to memorize, paraphrase, and deliver verse.
Activities:
1. Students will read the Unit Overview Learning Focus, and Embedded
Assessments of the Unit.
2. Class discussion of monologue.
3. Students will use photographs (from magazines) to draft a short monologue in the
voice of the person in their photograph. Students who are listening, will ask the
“character” questions and the presenting student will need to answer in that
character’s voice.
4. Students will read Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “We Wear The Mask.” As
students read they will use the SIFT strategy to analyze the poem.
5. After completing the High Level Thought Activity (Tableau), they will sort the
cast of characters into three classifications: Capulet, Montague, and Unafilliated.
6. Students will use this “sorting” to create a bookmark that has information about
each character.
7. Class discussion of tragedy, chorus, and sonnet.
8. Students will read the “Prologue” from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by
William Shakespeare.
9. Students will practice reading the “Prologue” aloud as a class, small group, and
individually.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will make a list of the knowledge and the skills necessary to succeed in
this unit.
2. Class discussion about how Dunbar’s poem may relate to the play Romeo and
Juliet.
3. After completing the High Level Thought Activity (tableau), students will reflect
on how well their group worked together. They will describe the effective
speaking and listening skills that members of their group practiced, and explain
why they were effective.
4. Class discussion of the prologue.
5. Students will try and fill in blanks from the “Prologue” from memory.
High Level Thought Activity:
The students will be given a card with a character’s name and description on it. They will
then “become” the character and work in a group to create a tableau. The groups will
practice arranging themselves according to their descriptions.
Week 2 (29):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to understand and analyze syntax.
34
Students will learn to analyze author’s use of figurative language.
Students will learn to analyze how plot is advanced.
Students will learn to demonstrate appropriate oral delivery.
Students will learn to analyze author’s use of language structure, distinguishing
between verse and prose.
6. Students will learn to apply understanding of elements of visual delivery.
7. Students will learn to understand interpretation and theatrical elements.
8. Students will learn to compare and contrast media with written text.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Activities:
1. Students will read Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet.
2. Students will compare and contrast Shakespearean syntax and modern syntax.
3. Students will practice using archaic words such as: thee, thy, hath, art, thou,
mime, etc.
4. Students will begin filling out a Timeline of Events graphic organizer. This
organizer asks students to list the Act/Scene, setting, and plot events for each
“day” of the play. Students will return to this Timeline of Events after reading
each Act.
5. Class discussion of verse and prose and how Shakespeare uses diction signals to
distinguish between social classes.
6. Students will view two different film interpretations: Franco Zeffireli and Baz
Luhrumann. Zeffireli scenes 5-6 (0:22:49-0:38:47) and Luhrumann scenes 8-12
(0:25:30-0:33:12). These clips are from the “feast” scene.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will read Act 1, Scene 4 individually and analyze what Paris is being
compared to and what that comparison tells us about Paris.
2. Students will be assigned a quote from the play. The students will need to identify
who their quote belongs to and the context surrounding the quote. Students will
then create masks for their character. Lastly, students will share their quote with
other students, while wearing the mask, and try to identify to whom each is
speaking.
3. As students view the film interpretations they will make note on the costumes and
music. They will then identify the effect of the director’s choices.
Students will complete a Venn diagram comparing similarities and differences between
reading a text and viewing a film. They will be given the following prompts to focus their
answers:
4. What can a film do that live performance cannot and vice versa?
5. What tools and strategies do directors of plays and directors of films share? What
tools and strategies are different?
6. Are you more entertained by watching movies or watching live performances?
Why?
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will respond to the following prompt:
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What is the essence of the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet? Write a piece that
explains which film more effectively captures the essence of the first meeting between
Romeo and Juliet. The piece should include a thesis statement along with textual support
and reflective commentary. The piece should make specific references to theatrical
elements, such as costumes, music, props, and actions.
Week 3 (30):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to compose a persuasive text in response to a prompt.
2. Students will learn to use print and electronic resources to research information.
3. Students will learn to translate Shakespearean language into current English.
Activities:
1. Students will read a writing situation and accompanying writing prompt. After
reading students will brainstorm and record what writing strategies they will use
before writing their piece.
2. Class discussion of metacognition. Metacognition: the ability to know and be
aware of one’s own thought process. It is a tool that helps students identify and
evaluate their learning.
3. Students will choose a topic from Romeo and Juliet, of Elizabethan England to
complete their research topic.
4. Students will research their topic and prepare for their presentation.
5. Students will read Act 2 of Romeo and Juliet.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will respond to and revise their writing prompts from their writing
situation.
2. Students will translate famous lines from the play into modern English.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will take on the role of “dramaturge,” an important member of an acting
company. The dramaturge helps the director make informed decisions by providing
pertinent information related to the play. Students will research a topic of interests
(related to Shakespeare and/ore Romeo and Juliet) and prepare to share their findings
with their classmates. The students will present this information to the class utilizing
technology (powerpoint, video, slideshow, etc.). The students will keep track of their
sources so that they can create a bibliography.
Week 4 (31):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to compare and contrast media versions with written text.
2. Students will learn to analyze blocking in a scene.
3. Students will learn to identify literary devices and their effects.
36
4. Students will learn to recognize how puns affect and inform characterization.
5. Students will learn to understand how a character foil enhances the understanding
of the main character.
6. Students will learn to visualize a scene and plan a performance.
Activities:
1. Students will view Scene 7 of Zefferilli’s film (0:40:18-0:51:39) and scene 14 of
Luhrmann’s film (0:35:38-0:45:05).
2. As students view the two films they will take notes on the set design and actor
movement and the effect these choices create.
3. Students will reread Act 2 Scene 3 of the play and identify examples of literary
devices.
4. Students will paraphrase the dialogue between Romeo and the Friar at the end of
Act 2 Scene 3 of the play.
5. Class discussion of “pun” and “character foil.”
6. Students will reread Act 2 Scene 4 of the play and identify puns and take notes on
how Mercutio is a character foil for Romeo.
7. Students will “visualize” a wedding scene between Romeo and Juliet in
Shakespeare’s time and modern time. They will make decisions on costumes,
music, and staging. The students will need to identify the effect of each of their
choices.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will write a short essay in which they compare the two films, considering
the set design, actors’ movements, and other theatrical elements. They can choose
to organize their essay subject-by-subject or feature-by-feature.
2. Students will choose of the literary devices they identified in Act 2 Scene 3 and
analyze it for the effect on the scene.
3. Students will choose at least ten lines of dialogue, and transform the interaction
into an email or an instant message conversation.
4. Class discussion of “pun” and “character foil” after rereading Act 2 Scene 4.
5. Students will answer Causes and Consequences questions about the play so far.
High Level Thought Activity:
Writing Prompt: Shakespeare did not stage Romeo and Juliet’s vows but you can imagine
what the characters said. Reread lines in Act 2 that help you get a sense of the
protagonists’ voices. Take notes about the way they talk to and about each other. Then,
write a script with wedding vows for the star-crossed lovers. In your script, include
descriptions of gestures, movement, and staging that evoke a definite tone or mood.
Week 5 (32):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to collaborate on planning for a performance.
2. Students will learn to orally interpret a literary text.
3. Students will learn to draft a persuasive text.
37
4. Students will learn to compare and evaluate film productions.
Activities:
1. Students will break into groups and be choose/assigned the scene they will be
responsible for producing for Embedded Assessment 1.
2. Students will rehearse their scene.
3. Students will read Act 3 of the play.
4. As they read Act 3 Scene 1, students will analyze how each character is behaving
and what their motivation for behaving that way is.
5. Students will annotate the Prince’s speech at the end of Act 3, Scene 1 of the play.
Students will annotate for ways to orally present the scene, keeping the
character’s voice.
6. Students will view scene 11 of Zefferilli’s film (1:12:08-1:27:00) and scenes 2021 of Luhrumann’s film (0:58:30-1:10:06).
7. As students view the film interpretations they will note how each character is
behaving and what causes their behavior to change.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will choose the director of their group, the characters, and the
dramaturge. As a group, they will brainstorm topics for the dramaturge to research
to help them perform their scene.
2. Writing Prompt: Do you think this is a fair punishment for the crime? Choose one
of the characters from the scene and write his or her response to the Prince’s
decree (Romeo’s banishment).
3. Students will analyze how each director signals change in the mood of the scene.
They will consider any changes in set, props, costumes, music and other sounds,
lighting, and editing.
High Level Thought Activity:
Writing prompt: Write an essay that explains which film version more powerfully
conveys the seriousness of “fire-eyed fury.” Be sure to provide textual support and
reflective commentary. Be mindful of the strategies you use in the writing process.
Week 6 (33):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to analyze characterization and conflict.
2. Students will learn to analyze an author’s use of figurative language.
3. Students will learn to explore and evaluate a character’s options.
4. Students will learn to interpret subtext.
5. Students will learn to rehearse oral interpretation and movement.
6. Students will learn to analyze a character’s voice.
Activities:
1. As students continue to read Act 3 they will record Romeo and Juliet’s emotional
roller-coaster.
38
2. Students will list the key incidents in the story that reveal Juliet’s and Romeo’s
emotions.
3. As Students read Act 3, Scene 5 they will identify the advice Juliet receives from
her family and friends following Romeo’s banishment and impending marriage to
Paris.
4. Students will split into groups and be given a card all with the same line.
However, each student will receive a different situation to go along with the line.
Students will read their line to their group in the voice of the person in their given
situation. The other students will try to guess the emotion that the speaker is
trying to portray.
5. Class discussion of subtext.
6. Students will begin reading Act 4 of the play.
7. As students read Act, Scene 1, they will identify Juliet’s subtext when speaking to
her family.
8. As students read Act 4, scenes 2-3, one student will read Juliet’s line while
another student will stand behind and pantomime Juliet’s true feelings.
9. Students will identify with whom Juliet speaks as her true self and with whom she
“wears a mask.”
10. Students will analyze Juliet’s monologue at the end of Act 4, scene 3. They will
highlight images that associate with death and underline all the potential
outcomes of drinking the Friar’s potion that frighten Juliet.
11. Students will finish reading Act 4.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will visualize and illustrate the oxymorons Juliet uses to describe Romeo
(in her speech beginning with “O serpent heart hid with a flow’ring face!”).
2. Students will create a graphic organizer that identifies what Juliet might do and
what the consequences of each decision might be.
3. The class will split into two groups. One group will design and present a
pantomime of “what Juliet would rather do than marry Paris” and the other group
will design and present a pantomime of the steps in the Friar’s plan for Juliet.
4. Students will write a piece evaluating whether or not Juliet made a good decision
in drinking the potion.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will evaluate the Friar’s plan for Juliet. They will explain the subtext of his plan.
Does it seem wise? Why or why not?
Week 7 (34):
Learning Targets;
1. Students will learn to interpret a visual text.
2. Students will learn to apply reading strategies in order to read a challenging text
independently.
3. Students will learn to compare and contrast film interpretations.
4. Students will learn to plan for an essay of argumentation.
39
Activities:
1. Students will individually read Act 5 of the play.
2. Students will view 5 different paintings (visual text) and analyze them for how
they present Juliet lying in the tomb.
3. As students read Act of the play, they will answer comprehension questions about
the text.
4. Students will identify and locate stage directions on a map of a stage.
5. Students will view scene 16 (2:00:53-2:12:36) of Zefferilli’s film interpretation
and scene 27 (1:41:55-1:51:22) of Luhrumann’s film interpretation.
6. Students will then create a graphic organizer to accompany the films and analyze
each of the director’s choices for effect.
7. The class will generate a list of themes from the play and support them with
textual evidence.
8. Students will split into three groups. One group will find examples, from each
scene, for how “Youth and Inexperience” led to Romeo and Juliet’s death,” one
will do the same for “Adult Interference,” and the last will do “Fate/Chance.”
Formative Assessments:
1. After viewing the artwork, students will get into their drama groups and
brainstorm how these depictions can apply their upcoming performance.
2. Before reading the last scene, students will create a bubble cluster, and brainstorm
every option they see for Romeo and the possible outcomes of each option.
3. After reading the last scene, students will draw the stage of the scene and identify
where they would place props, blocking, and scenery. They will label the location
of these things with stage directions.
4. Writing prompt: Write a piece that explains which interpretation of Romeo and
Juliet you found more effective. Be sure to make specific references to theatrical
elements, such as costumes, props, gestures, music, and other details to support
your response.
5. After the students compile their textual evidence, and thinking about the causes of
the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, they will write a thesis statement that addresses
the question: Who or what is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?
6. After writing their thesis statements, students will outline their persuasive essay.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will compose a persuasive essay in which they argue that one of the three causes
is the most important. They will discuss each of the causes. They will show which is the
most important by organizing their essay from least to most important. They will use
transitions to reflect their organization. Also they will consider the five elements of
argumentation.
They will be score on their ideas and organization, use of language (persuasive
techniques), and conventions.
Embedded Assessment 1: Presenting a Shakespearean Scene
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Assignment: Students will work with their acting company to interpret, rehearse, and
perform a scene from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In addition to the performance,
actors, the director , and the dramaturge will prepare notebooks (text, diagram of the set,
lighting and sound, props, costumes, character analysis, research questions, bibliography,
suggestions, explanation, reflection, and meeting log) to accompany the scene.
Students will be scored on their staging notebook, performance, evidence of
collaboration, and reflective text.
Week 8 (35):
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to reflect on processes for creating and presenting a
performance.
2. Students will learn to reflect on growth in speaking and listening.
3. Students will learn to recognize elements that connect readers to texts.
4. Students will learn to reflect on growth in reading and writing through use of
strategies.
Activities:
1. Students will review their Embedded Assessment 1 project. They will breakdown
the assignment with what they learned, what went well, and how it could be
better. They will pay particular attention to their speaking skills.
2. Students will rate themselves as a listener and a speaker based on a scale of 1-10.
3. Students will make a list of their pieces of work that they would like to include in
their portfolio. They will also identify on which strategies they feel they have
improved the most in this unit and what they feel they have mastered.
4. Students will create a graphic organizer that analyzes what activities changed
their feelings, that they/the teacher enjoyed, and what they found challenging. The
students will also identify what strategies they used for these activities.
Formative Assessments:
1. Students will identify two speaking and listening strategies they have used and
helped them the most. Students will need to explain their choices.
2. Students will review the challenging activities they identified in their graphic
organizer. What did the strategies you learned add to the activity? Explain.
Students will also analyze what strategies they used most often in this unit and
which helped them the most.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will write a response to an activity and text that they completed in this unit.
They will trace their connection (or lack of it) to this activity throughout the whole
process of completing the task. In their response, they will discuss the strategies they
used and their effect on the activity. They are not writing a review of the activity (saying
whether or not it was good) but focusing on their response to that activity and text.
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Embedded Assessment 2: Writing a Metacognitive Reflection
Assignment: Students will write a reflective essay about their growth as a reader, write,
speaker, and listener. Their essay should include examples of reading, writing, speaking,
listening, and collaborative strategies they have used this year. They should also explain
how these strategies helped them to improve their ability to read and comprehend
challenging texts as well as write and present original texts.
Week 9 (36): Wrap up/Catch-up week
Learning Targets:
1. Students will learn to reflect on what they have learned.
Activities:
1. Students will reflect on what they have learned throughout this unit.
2. Students will complete make-up work.
Formative Assessment:
1. Students will complete another learning log and reflect on strategies used
throughout the preceding activities.
High Level Thought Activity:
Students will analyze all the learning targets for the unit. They will write a short essay
that identifies the learning targets they believe they have mastered, the ones they have an
okay understanding of, and what they still need more help on.
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