ANCHOR TEXTS
THEMATIC CONNECTION
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Unit 1/Term 1 and 3 (9, 11, 12)
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RL3, RL7
RIT3
W1, W3
SL6
L5
Unit 2/Term 1 and 3 (9, 11, 12)
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RL5
RIT8
W2
SL3
L3
Unit 3/Term 2 and 4 (9, 11, 12)
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RL6
RIT7, RIT5
W7, W8
SL2, SL4
Unit 4/Term 2 and 4 (9, 11, 12)
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RL9
RIT9
W6
SL5
Power Standards*: RL1, RL2, RL4, RL8.A, RL10; RIT1, RIT2, RIT4, RIT6, RIT10; W4, W5, W9, W10; SL1; L1, L2, L4, L6
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Individuality
Civil Disobedience
Man’s Connection to
Nature
TRANSCENDENTALIST
READER
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Coming of Age
Personal vs. Societal Morals
Slavery / Racism
THE ADVENTURES OF
HUCKLEBERRY FINN
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The American Dream
Morality
Class
Corruption of Wealth
THE GREAT GATSBY
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Disillusionment
Racial Discrimination
Importance of Family
Hopes and Dreams
A RAISIN IN THE SUN
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
FURTHER TEACHER MATERIALS
How can nature help a person to
understand himself or herself?
What role does society play in
shaping who we are?
Can a person remain an individual
and still live in society?
What does freedom mean to you?
What can one individual do when
confronted by moral conflict in
society?
How do you go about making
important decisions?
Synthesis Essay on Impact of
Technological Advances on One’s
Happiness
What potential problems can arise
from equating monetary success
with happiness?
What effect can materialism have
on human relationships?
Huck Finn Abridged Reading Guide
created by M. E. Dakin
Does the American Dream still exist?
How do dreams help to pull us from
the struggles of everyday life?
What role does cultural identity play in
your life?
How much can we control our
destiny?
Synthesis essay on prohibition and
legalization of marijuana
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the
Sun: A Curriculum Guide 2007
Creators: Barbara Brown, Jim
Peerenboom, Virginia Warfield
STORIES
POETRY
Down the River by Mark Twain
“We Wear the Mask” by Paul
Lawrence Dunbar
Mr. Icky - The Quintessence of
Quaintness in one-act by F. Scott
Fitzgerald
DRAMA
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by
Langston Hughes
STORIES
“A Boy’s Ambition” by Twain
The Beautiful and the Damned
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
POETRY
“War Prayer” by Twain
DRAMA
STORIES
POETRY
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
by Robert Edwin Lee and
Jerome Lawrence
DRAMA
STORIES
POETRY
“Much Madness is Divinest
Sense” by Emily Dickinson
DRAMA
LITERARY TEXTS
“Henry Books” by D.B. Johnson
“Oh The Places You’ll Go” by Seuss
“A Dream Deferred” and
“Madam and The Rent Man”
by Langston Hughes
Death of a Salesman (excerpts)
by Arthur Miller
NON-FICTION
SPEECHES
Mark Twain: A Life
by Mark Powers
Speech on Prohibition Delivered
at Odeon, Oct. 22,1910
By Frederick William Lehmann
Excerpts from “A More Perfect
Union” March 18, 2008. Obama’s
speech on race in America
Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The
Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald
By Matthew Joseph Bruccoli
BIOGRAPHIES
“Gettysburg Address” by Lincoln
NON-FICTION
Malcolm X quotes
Gender in Lorraine Hansberry’s A
Raisin in the Sun by Gary Weiner
SPEECHES
NON-FICTION
SPEECHES
“The Meaning of July Fourth for
the Negro” by Frederick Douglas
BIOGRAPHIES
Emerson: A Mind on Fire by
Robert D. Richardson Jr. and
Barry Moser
BIOGRAPHIES
NON-FICTION
SPEECHES
“Transcendentalism” by
Theodore Parker published
April 25, 1840 in The Christian
Register
BIOGRAPHIES
INFORMATIONAL TEXTS
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”
by MLK Jr.
Young, Black, and Determined: A
Biography of Lorraine Hansberry
By Patricia C. McKissack and
Fredrick L. McKissack
Last Call
The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
By Daniel Okrent
MUSIC
Map of Huck and Jim’s travels on
gradesaver .com
ART
Mapping the Escape Plan
ART
ART
Photography from Civil Rights
Marches and Sit-in
“I Am Not My Hair”
lyrics by India Arie
Various editions of book cover art
for comparison and interpretation
1920s Jazz
Various Nature scenes
Student produced art showing
visual symbols in The Great
Gatsby
“The World of Fitzgerald’s
Gatsby Map”
Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
Fitzgerald A&E Bio
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Prohibition - a documentary
by Ken Burns
FILM
Dead Poet’s Society (1989)
FILM
Into the Wild (2007)
FILM
The Roaring 20’s (1939)
FILM
MEDIA CONNECTIONS
Transcendentalism in Music
Project
“Working Class Hero” by John
Lennon (pair with Nick’s
comments on peasantry Ch. 5)
ART
“Death Letter Blues”
by Son House (for dialect)
MUSIC
“Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell
(James Taylor’s acoustic
version)
MUSIC
MUSIC
“Society” by Eddie Vedder
Good Hair - a documentary
by Chris Rock
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
A Raisin in the Sun (2008)