Unit IV: A Troubled Young Nation
ENG III
16 Class Meetings
Rev. January 2016
Essential Questions
● How does an individual maintain a sound heart in the face of society’s deformed
conscience?
Enduring Understandings with Unit Goals
EU #1: Nineteenth century American literature provides analytical and sensory
understandings of slavery in the United States.
EU #2: Literature provides a lens to understanding the plight of African Americans pre- and
post-Civil War.
EU #3: The role of women is beginning to change and women are becoming recognized
contributors on the literary landscape and catalysts for social change.
EU #4: Nineteenth century writers were influenced by specific intellectual movements,
including naturalism, impressionism, realism, and pragmatism
EU #5: Regionalism evolved as America’s unique literary voice and assured America’s
prominence on the international literary landscape.
Standards
Common Core State Standards/College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards:
RL.11-12.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves
matters uncertain.
RL.11-12.2: Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to
produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.11-12.3: Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate
elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the
characters are introduced and developed).
RL.11-12.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or
beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
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Unit IV: A Troubled Young Nation
ENG III
16 Class Meetings
RL.11-12.5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text
(e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic
resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
RL.11-12.6: Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is
directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
RL.11-12.9: Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century
foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period
treat similar themes or topics.
W.11-12.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using
valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.11-12.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style
are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are
defined in standards 1-3 above.
W.11-12.5: Develop and strengthen 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. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to
and including grades 11-12.)
W.11-12.7: 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, demonstrating understanding of the subject
under investigation.
W.11-12.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
SL.11-12.1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one,
in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building
on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
SL.11-12.3: Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric,
assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
L.11-12.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage
when writing or speaking.
L.11-12.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.11-12.3: 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.11-12.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases
based on grades 11-12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
L.11-12.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in
word meanings.
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Unit IV: A Troubled Young Nation
ENG III
16 Class Meetings
L.11-12.6: 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.
MSMHS 21st Century Learning Expectations
Competency 1: Read and write effectively for a variety of purposes
Competency 2: Speak effectively with a variety of audiences in an accountable manner
Competency 8: Take responsibility for his/her own learning and behavior
Unit Content Overview
Students explore the themes related to the evolving young nation, such as the challenges of
westward expansion, slavery, the changing role of women, regionalism, the displacement of
Native Americans, the growth of cities, and immigration. Building on the previous unit, in which
individualism figures as a prominent theme in American romanticism and transcendentalism, this
unit explores the expanding idea of the American individual and the related idea of the pursuit of
liberty in various forms; in addition to reading Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn students will read selected short stories.
● “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” and The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn Mark Twain [Short Story/Novel]
● “The Story of An Hour” Kate Chopin [Short Story]
● “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins
Gilman [Short Story/Novel]
● “Gettysburg Address” and “A House Divided” Abraham Lincoln [Speech]
Terms to know: Abolition, American Dream, assimilation, autobiography, biography,
determinism, Melting Pot, mood, naturalism, realism, regionalism, satire
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to…
● Analyze the role of culture and setting in local color and regional literature.
● Define literary realism and describe it as a style in American literature.
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Unit IV: A Troubled Young Nation
ENG III
16 Class Meetings
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Analyze salient historical forces that influenced the development of American literature in the
mid- and late-nineteenth century.
Describe the characteristics of literary naturalism, impressionism, realism, and pragmatism.
Analyze Twain’s focus on human freedom, equality, aristocracy, lying, nature v. convention,
family, religion, etc.
Analyze how Twain uses humor to defend and criticize.
Analyze how and why American literature has found its place in the literary canon.
Assured Learning Experiences
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Oral presentations
Teacher modeling
Note taking and annotating
Free writes
Graphic organizers
Guided writing
Collaborative writing
Shared writing
School-wide Rubrics
Focused peer editing
Conferences
Model texts and Student Exemplar
Sharing of Student Writing
• Multimedia Presentations
• Webquests
Inter-disciplinary Connection:
● Civil War; early stirrings Women’s Suffrage Movement; westward expansion,
displacement of Native Americans; urbanization and resultant economic disparity and
classicism.
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Unit IV: A Troubled Young Nation
ENG III
16 Class Meetings
Assessments
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS:
● Small-group seminars (teacher-guided)
● Whole-class discussion
● Graphic organizers
● Double-entry journals
● Silent sustained reading records
● Rubric #1: Communication
o Expository Essay
● Rubric #1: Communication
o Unit Test/Short Response
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS:
● Reading Quizzes: Multiple choice and short answer
● Unit Test (Multiple Choice and Essay)
● Expository Essay: Using characters from several of the unit’s selections--including
Huck Finn--analyze how characters maintain a sound heart in the face of society’s
deformed conscience.
● Research Paper: Thesis Statement, note cards and outline (preparation for draft during
Unit V)
Unit Task
Unit Task Name: Expository Essay: Maintaining a Sound Heart in the Face of Society’s
Deformed Conscience.
Description: Using information learned from the unit, students will compose an expository essay.
In the essay, students must discuss how African-American characters maintain a sound heart in
the face of society’s deformed conscience before and after the Civil War (EU 1 and 2). Students
must use characters from several of the unit’s readings, including Huck Finn.
Evaluation: MSMHS Rubric 1: Communication
Unit Resources
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Unit IV: A Troubled Young Nation
ENG III
16 Class Meetings
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Wiggins, G., et. al. (2012). Prentice Hall Literature Common Core Edition: Grade 11.
New Jersey: Pearson.
MSMHS School-Wide Rubrics
Audiobooks (CD/YouTube)
Internet Databases
Laptops
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
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