English III CCSS
English III is a survey of American Literature and literary culture from its inception
through the twentieth century. Students will explore the major literary forms,
themes, authors, and periods of American Literature. They will understand how this
literature represents the experiences of people native to America, those who
immigrated to America, and those who were brought to America against their will.
Emphasis is placed on a rhetorical analysis of the literature to determine how
authors achieve a particular purpose or effect. Through focused readings,
composition, speaking and listening activities, vocabulary study and research,
students will continue to build the literacy skills they need to meet the challenges of
high school and beyond.
Curriculum decisions for this course are guided by the Common Core State
Standards. These standards were developed to provide clear and consistent goals for
student learning and to ensure that students have the skills they need to be
successful beyond high school. These standards define what students need to know
and be able to do by the end of each grade. In additional to defining grade-level
skills, the ELA standards require that students be exposed to increasingly more
complex texts to which they apply those skills. In order for curriculum to align to
these standards, it must be both rigorous and relevant. It must also expose students
to certain critical content. In English language arts, that content includes classic
myths and stories from around the world, America’s Founding Documents,
Foundational American literature, and Shakespeare. English III students will
continue their climb up this staircase of skills through their study of the following
units:

Unit 1: Intersection in a New World: The focus of this unit will be on the
earliest American literature. Students will read first-hand accounts of the
dreams and the challenges the first settlers in the New World faced. They
will read fiery Puritan sermons and the cultured poetry of a young slave.
The reading will highlight the intersection, and resulting conflicts, of Native
American, European, and African American cultures as well as establish
some of the themes that will appear in the literature of America for centuries
to come.
Unit 2: Becoming a Nation: The focus of this unit will be on the historic and literary
significance of documents relating to the establishment of the new government in
America as well as on some of the poetry and prose of the period. Students will compare
and contrast points of view presented on related issues. They will also compare and
contrast the tone used in foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution. They will use what they learn about the qualities of an effective
argument to create one of their own.
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
Grading Scale
97.00-100%
93.00-96.99%
90.00-92.99%
87.00-89.99%
83.00-86.99%
80.00-82.99%
77.00-79.99%
73.00-76.99%
70.00-72.99%
67.00-69.99%
63.00-66.99%
60.00-62.99%
0-59.99%
Assignment Weighting per
Unit With Projects
Lessons: 15%
Quizzes: 25%
Projects: 30%
Tests: 30%
Assignment Weighting per
Unit Without Projects
Lessons: 21%
Quizzes: 36%
Tests: 43%
 Unit 5: Regional Voices: In this unit, students will continue to explore the theme of individualism, expanding
their idea of what that looked for all Americans in the nineteenth century. They will look at the issues of racism,
slavery, inequality and displacement through the words of those who experienced these issues first hand and
those who worked to make America a more tolerant nation. They will also explore the theme of regionalism and
examine how fictional characters in the works of writers like Twain and Jewett express the challenges facing
America in this period.
 Unit 6: American Modernism: This unit explores American literature from the beginning of the 20th century
through the Great Depression. Students will be introduced to the characteristics that define literature as modern
and analyze those characteristics in poetry, fiction and drama. Because the movement is complex, the unit is
subdivided into categories allowing for a more focused analysis of the different aspects of modernism and its
writers.
 Unit 7: Post WW II: This unit focuses on the literature that followed the Second World War and takes
students up to what is known as the postmodern period in literature. Like the previous unit, this final unit is
divided into sub-categories. Students will read representative works from the abundance of southern literature.
The unit also includes a number of selections from the 1960s that mirror this turbulent decade's struggle with
issues similar to ones we face today.
Course Requirements
1. Keep up with your daily lesson plan. If you fall a day behind, work
extra hard to catch up the next day.
2. Ask your teacher questions regularly to clarify concepts.
Resources
Academy Support
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the messaging system or call 888-399-4267 to speak with a
teacher on the phone.
Glossary and
Credits
Each unit contains a Glossary and Credits section with important
formulas and definitions. This is a useful section to read and
study.
Resource Center
Visit the Resource Center to access academic policies, The Bridge
– Student Newsletter, and additional student resources
(handouts, study guides, and videos) to help you in your course.
Unit 1: Intersection in the New World
Assignments
1 Course Overview
24 Quiz 3
2 The New World
25 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form A
3 William Bradford
26 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form B
4 Roger Williams
27 Truth and Fiction in The Crucible
28 John Proctor and Abigail Williams, The
5 Anne Bradstreet
Crucible
6 More Poetry of Anne Bradstreet
29 The Crucible—History Repeats Itself
7 John Berryman: "Homage to Mistress
Bradstreet"
30 Project: Essay: John Proctor's Dilemma
8 Project: Essay: Anne Bradstreet, Puritan
Poet
31 The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial
9 Quiz 1
32 The Writings of Phillis Wheatley
33 Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Literary
10 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form A
Criticisms
34 Project: Essay: Literary Criticism and
11 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form B
Phillis Wheatley
12 Mary Rowlandson, Captive
35 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
13 Benjamin Franklin's "Remarks
Concerning the Savages of North
36 Project: Essay on Jonathan Edwards's
America"
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
37 Understanding Words and Usage in
14 Project: The Great Civilized Debate
Older Writing
15 Project: Essay: Puritan New World
Mission
38 Quiz 4
16 Quiz 2
39 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form A
17 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form A
40 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form B
18 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form B
41 Special Project
19 Arthur Miller
42 Review
20 Analysis of The Crucible, Act I
43 Test
21 The Crucible–Act II
44 Alternate Test – Form A
22 The Crucible – Act III
45 Alternate Test – Form B
23 Literary Analysis of The Crucible
46 Glossary and Credits
Unit 2: Becoming a Nation
Assignments
1 Founding Documents of the United
20 Project: Essay: Comparison of the
States
Voyages of Equiano and Bradford
2 Persuasiveness in Writing
21 Quiz 3
3 Analyzing Patrick Henry
22 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form A
4 Persuasion and Thomas Paine's The
American Crisis
23 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form B
5 Project: Persuasive Essay: Thomas
Paine's Use of Persuasion
24 Understanding Federalist No. 10
25 The Preamble to the Constitution and
6 Quiz 1
the Bill of Rights
26 Project: Tone Analysis Informative
7 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form A
Essay
8 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form B
27 Songs of the United States
9 Understanding Thomas Jefferson and
28 Project: Research Paper: Enduring
the Declaration of Independence
Significance of Early American Writings
29 Understanding Sentences in Older
10 The Declaration of Sentiments
Writing
11 Comparison of The Declaration of
Independence to The Declaration of
Sentiments
30 Quiz 4
12 Project: Essay: Writing and Presenting
a Declaration
31 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form A
13 Quiz 2
32 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form B
14 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form A
33 Special Project
15 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form B
34 Review
16 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom 35 Test
17"What Is an American?"
36 Alternate Test – Form A
18 Philip Freneau's American Poetry
37 Alternate Test – Form B
19 Equiano's Autobiography
38 Glossary and Credits
Unit 3: American Romanticism
Assignments
1 Literary Periods in America
28 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapters 6-10
2 How to Keep a Vocabulary Journal
29 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapters 11-15
3 Washington Irving
30 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapters 16-20
4 Nathaniel Hawthorne
31 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapters 21-25
5 Project: Essay: Text Structure in "Young 32 Uncle Tom's Cabin: Chapters 26-30 –
Goodman Brown"
Theme and Central Ideas
6 American Romanticism and Edgar Allan 33 Uncle Tom's Cabin: Chapters 31-35 –
Poe
Making Inferences and Predictions
7 Project: Gothic Essay
34 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapters 36-40
35 Uncle Tom's Cabin: Chapters 41–45 –
8 Quiz 1
Themes
9 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form A
36 Quiz 4
10 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form B
37 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form A
11 Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Self-Reliance" 38 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form B
12 Margaret Fuller: Summer on the Lakes
in 1843
39 Sojourner Truth: "Ain't I a Woman?"
13 Walt Whitman: "Song of Myself"
40 Frances Harper: "The Two Offers"
41 Project: African American Women in
14 Emily Dickinson: Poet
the Early Nineteenth Century
42 Herman Melville: "Bartleby the
15 Identifying Transcendental Elements
Scrivener" – Theme and Characterization
43 Project: Close Reading and Recorded
16 Quiz 2
Presentation
17 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form A
44 Quiz 5
18 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form B
45 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form A
19 Literature and the Abolitionist
Movement
46 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form B
20 Frederick Douglass and the Author's
Perspective
47 Special Project
21 Henry David Thoreau: "Civil
Disobedience"
48 Review
22 Transcendentalist Authors: Central
Ideas about John Brown
49 Test
23 Quiz 3
50 Alternate Test – Form A
24 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form A
51 Alternate Test – Form B
25 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form B
52 Glossary and Credits
26 An Introduction to Uncle Tom's Cabin
27 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapters 1-5
Unit 4: Semester Review and Exam
1 Review
2 Exam
Assignments
3 Alternate Exam – Form A
Unit 5: Regional Voices
Assignments
1 An Introduction to Regional Voices
2 Rhetorical Devices in Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech
3 Walt Whitman
4 Jane Addams: Reminiscing with Purpose
5 Project: Essay: Abraham Lincoln: Embodiment of an Ideal
6 Quiz 1
7 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form A
8 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form B
9 Realism in American Literature
10 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 1
11 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapters 2 and 3
12 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapters 4 and 5
13 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapters 6-9
14 The Development of Style: Satire and Theme in The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 10-13
15 Quiz 2
16 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form A
17 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form B
18 Friendship and Loyalty in The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, Chapters 14-16
19 Friendship and Loyalty in The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, Chapters 17-19
20 Understanding Themes in The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
21 Humor, Sarcasm, and Irony in The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
22 Moral Awakening in The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, Chapters 26–28
23 Vernacular and Tone in The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn
24 Figures of Speech and the Use of Context to Add
Meaning in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters
32-35
25 Explicit and Implicit Meaning in The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 36–39
26 Analyzing and Understanding Resolution in
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
27 Project: Persuasive Essay: "Defining
Freedom as Found in the Theme(s) of The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
28 Quiz 3
29 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form A
30 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form B
31 Understanding Themes in "Désirée's Baby"
32 Understanding the Essay
33 Narration and Figures of Speech in "The
White Heron"
34 Emerging Women's Voices: "The Revolt of
'Mother'"
35 Quiz 4
36 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form A
37 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form B
38 Analyzing Symbolism in "The Yellow
Wallpaper"
39 Project: Why I Wrote the “The Yellow
Wallpaper”
40 Project: Argumentative Essay: American
Women Writers
41 Narrative Point of View and Local Color in
"Tennessee's Partner"
42 Project: Literary Circle: Discussion of Edith
Wharton's Ethan Frome
43 Quiz 5
44 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form A
45 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form B
46 Special Project
47 Review
48 Test
49 Alternate Test – Form A
50 Alternate Test – Form B
Unit 6: Modernism in America
1 An Introduction to Modernism in America
2 Edwin Arlington Robinson
3 Freedom and Imprisonment in "A Servant to
Servants"
4 Fragmentation in “The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock“
Assignments
25 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form A
26 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form B
5 The Lyric Poetry of Sara Teasdale
6 The Devastation of War in "Grass"
7 Project: Seminar and Essay: Analyzing Themes of
Loss/Isolation in Modernist Poetry
8 Quiz 1
9 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form A
10 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form B
11 Modernism in the 1920s
12 Analysis of "Hills Like White Elephants"
13 Projects: Literary Analysis of "Hills Like White
Elephants."
14 Project: Narrative Essay
15 Project: Revision of a Student Piece: Using
Marianne Moore's revision of "Poetry" as a
Guideline
16 Quiz 2
17 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form A
18 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form B
19 The Development of American Drama
20 Inference and Theme in Our Town
21 Set and Character Development in Our Town Act
II
22 Our Town Act III
23 Project: Our Town: Presenting an Argument
24 Quiz 3
27 Wit and Wisdom of Dorothy Parker
28 Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance
29 Project: Web Quest: The Life and Art of Zora
Neale Hurston
30 Quiz 4
31 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form A
32 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form B
33 Introduction to Their Eyes Were Watching God
34 Setting and Their Eyes Were Watching God
35 Understanding Literary Elements of Their Eyes
Were Watching God
36 Themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God
37 Language and Imagery in Their Eyes Were
Watching God
38 Project: Essay: Searching for Love and Self in
Their Eyes Were Watching God
39 James Baldwin and "If Black English Isn't a
Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?"
40 Project: Their Eyes Were Watching God
PowerPoint
41 Quiz 5
42 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form A
43 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form B
44 Special Project
45 Review
46 Test
47 Alternate Test – Form A
48 Alternate Test – Form B
49 Glossary and Credits
Unit 7: Post-World War II
Assignments
1 The Literary Scene in Post–World War II America
20 Janice Mirikitani: The Universal in the Concrete
2 Eudora Welty and "The Petrified Man"
21 Quiz 4
3 Good and Evil in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
22 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form A
4 Quiz 1
23 Alternate Quiz 4 – Form B
24 Analyzing form and meaning in Elizabeth Bishop's
5 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form A
"Sestina"
25 Examining "The Problem That Has No Name,"
6 Alternate Quiz 1 – Form B
Chapter One of The Feminine Mystique
7 Analyzing President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural
Address
26 Analysis of Sylvia Plath's "Mirror"
8 Poetic Devices in "For the Union Dead", by Robert
27 Project: Bringing Anna Quindlen's A Quilt of a
Lowell
Country to Life
9 Understanding Elements of Literature in "The Man Who
Was Almost a Man," by Richard Wright
28 Project: Research Paper: Develop Your Own Topic
10 Quiz 2
29 Following the Conventions of Standard English
11 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form A
30 Quiz 5
12 Alternate Quiz 2 – Form B
31 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form A
13 The Meaning behind the Lyrics in "The Lonesome
Death of Hattie Carroll," by Bob Dylan
32 Alternate Quiz 5 – Form B
14 War Theme in "Life at War" and "Over S.E. Asia"
33 Special Project
15 Quiz 3
34 Review
16 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form A
35 Test
17 Alternate Quiz 3 – Form B
36 Alternate Test – Form A
18 Interpreting the Message in "Poem"
37 Alternate Test – Form B
19 Analyzing Satire as a Tool for Criticism
38 Glossary and Credits
Unit 8: Semester Review and Exam
1 Review
2 Exam
Assignments
3 Alternate Exam – Form A
Unit 9: Final Exam
1 Exam
Assignments
2 Alternate Exam – Form A