HPISD CURRICULUM
(ENGLISH II, GRADE 10)
EST. NUMBER OF DAYS: 6TH SIX WEEKS
UNIT NAME
CENSORSHIP THROUGH LITERATURE
Unit Overview
Through this unit, students will be introduced to the concept of censorship in society, specifically through literature
from both literary and historical contexts.
1.
2.
Generalizations/Enduring Understandings
3.
4.
5.
Concepts
Guiding/Essential Questions
Learning Targets
Censoring texts is an act of power and, therefore, certain concepts or beliefs are upheld while others are
denied or rejected based on the censor’s beliefs.
Persuasion is a common technique used in censorship in order to sway the audience to think, act, or feel a
certain way.
The purpose of censorship is three-fold: protection, change, control.
How does the social standards of appropriateness implicitly or explicitly play a role to support or reject
censoring something?
Censorship is not exclusively thought to be beneficial or harmful.
Censorship, Laws and Policies, Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Freedoms
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Is censorship of literature a value or a detriment to education?
How has censorship been used historically?
What was the purpose of said censorship?
Is censorship successful?
Is censorship a necessary medium to protect people from themselves/the harsh realities of the world?
How do authors, reporters, filmmakers, etc. work to sway their audiences to act, think, feel, etc. a certain
way?
Students will deepen understanding of censorship of literary works by relating them to historical context and daily
interactions.
Students will evaluate personal conceptions of the levels of appropriate/inappropriate censorship.
Students will evaluate decision-making based on the approach of the various characters.
Formative Assessments
Journal Writing, Short Answer Responses, Reading Checks, Book Talks
Summative Assessments
Timed Writes, Unit Test
TEKS
TEKS (Grade Level) / Specifications
(5) Reading/Comprehension of Literary
Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences
and draw conclusions about the structure and elements
of fiction and provide evidence from text to support
their understanding. Students are expected to
C) evaluate the connection between forms of narration
(e.g., unreliable, omniscient) and tone in works of
fiction; and
Specifications
By analyzing the diction and tone of various passages in
Fahrenheit 451, students will connect voice and point of
view to meaning and author’s purpose.
Students are expected to recognize that symbols and
allusions within a Fahrenheit 451 carry a cultural meaning.
(7) Reading/Comprehension of Literary
Text/Sensory Language. Students understand,
make inferences and draw conclusions about how an
author's sensory language creates imagery in literary
text and provide evidence from text to support their
understanding. Students are expected to
A) explain the function of symbolism, allegory, and
allusions in literary works
(9) Reading/Comprehension of Informational
Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make
inferences and draw conclusions about expository
text and provide evidence from text to support their
understanding. Students are expected to:
(A) summarize text and distinguish between a
summary and a critique and identify non-essential
information in a summary and unsubstantiated
opinions in a critique;
(12) Reading/Media Literacy. Students use
comprehension skills to analyze how words, images,
graphics, and sounds work together in various forms
to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply
earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly
more complex texts. Students are expected to:
(D) evaluate changes in formality and tone within
the same medium for specific audiences and
purposes.
(13) Writing/Writing Process. Students use
elements of the writing process (planning, drafting,
revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text.
Students are expected to:
(A) plan a first draft by selecting the correct genre for
conveying the intended meaning to multiple audiences,
determining appropriate topics through a range of
strategies (e.g., discussion, background reading,
personal interests, interviews), and developing a thesis
or controlling idea;
(15) Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts.
Students write expository and procedural or workrelated texts to communicate ideas and information to
specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are
expected to:
(C) write an interpretative response to an expository or
a literary text (e.g., essay or review) that:
(i) extends beyond a summary and literal analysis;
(ii) addresses the writing skills for an analytical essay
and provides evidence from the text using embedded
Students will learn to support their opinions with text
evidence and sound reasoning
Students will understand how word choice indicates and
affects the author’s intended tone and will understand why
tonal shifts within a work influence various audiences.
Students will employ various brainstorming techniques to
determine an audience, a topic, and a thesis.
Students will analyze the literary devices, rhetorical devices,
diction, and tone of a passage in Fahrenheit 451 then
complete a tone analysis essay based on the passage they are
given.
Students will use subjunctive mood to explore future possible
outcomes in response to a passage from Fahrenheit 451
Processes and Skills
Topics
quotations; and
(iii) analyzes the aesthetic effects of an author's use of
stylistic and rhetorical devices; and
(17) Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions.
Students understand the function of and use the
conventions of academic language when speaking
and writing. Students will continue to apply earlier
standards with greater complexity. Students are
expected to:
(B) identify and use the subjunctive mood to express
doubts, wishes, and possibilities.
Analysis of characters’ motives by inferring meaning
of their actions; determining main idea; analyzing the
elements of a novel; developing deeper understanding
of texts.
Censorship; Character Development; Finding Value in Multiple Opinions/Values through Discussion
Facts
Language of Instruction
Elements of Writing, Character Types, Character Developing, Inference, Symbolism, Extended Metaphor
State Assessment Connections
National Assessment Connections
Resources
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
“Burning a Book” by William Stafford (Poem)
“The Phoenix” Sylvia Townsend Warner (Short Story)
Sadler-Oxford Level F Vocabulary Book