Third Quarter Unit Plan
Ms. Spence - English I Pre-AP
Major Readings: Romeo and Juliet
Our Town
Assorted poetry
Short stories
Summative Grades: Romeo and Juliet test
Expository essay test
Our Town test
Cold read test
Skills we will be working on:
 Identification/purpose of foils, irony, foreshadowing, and other drama conventions in Romeo and Juliet.
 Development of an expository essay with a focus on organization, evidence, analysis, and conventions.
 Examination of Our Town for theme, dramatic structure, characterization, and author’s purpose.
 Analysis of expository texts for organization, evidence, rhetorical devices, and structure.
 Revising and editing in context with a focus on sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization.
 Short story analysis with a focus on character development, author’s purpose, plot structure, and theme.
Date
1/2
1/9
1/16
Weekly Agenda
Objectives
Monday – No school
Tuesday – No school (teacher work day)
Block Day: Shakespeare / Romeo and Juliet
introduction, Read prologue and Act I, scenes 1
and 2
Friday –Read Act I, Scene 5; HW: short
answer over Romeo’s characterization in Act I.
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Monday – Act II, scene 2; HW: read Act II,
scenes 3-5
Tuesday – Act III, Scene 1; HW: expository
essay due Friday
Block Day – Act III, Scene 2 and 3, HW:
Finish Act III (Scenes 4 and 5)
Friday – Essay due; discuss the rest of Act III;
Read Act IV, scene 1; clips from the rest of Act
IV; HW: Read Act 5, scenes 1 and 2.
Monday – “I have a dream” of no school!!
Tuesday – Act V scene 3, test review
Block Day – Romeo and Juliet test,
fishbowl prep. Finish for HW, if needed.
Friday – R&J fishbowl
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Dramatic irony
Drama conventions
Character foils
Foreshadowing
Climax
Rhetorical strategies
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Dramatic irony
Drama conventions
Character foils
Author’s purpose
Foreshadowing
Rhyme scheme
Historical context
Drama conventions
Personification
Character foils
Foreshadowing
 Author’s purpose
Assessments

Short answer
Expository essay
Reading quiz
Romeo and
Juliet test
R&J fishbowl
1/23
1/30
2/6
2/13
2/20
2/27
3/7
Monday – Checkpoint #3 - essay
Tuesday - Checkpoint #3 - revising and
editing
Block Day - Checkpoint #3 - reading
Friday – Checkpoint #3 - finish the test
Thesis development
Supporting evidence
Organization
Grammar
conventions
Monday – Student commentary with
expository essay rubric; HW: revising and
editing practice
Tuesday – “May the fours be with you!”
Block Day - Essay revisions and peer edit
activity; start individual writing conferences
Friday – Cold expository prompt practice;
finish individual writing conferences
Monday – Expository essay test
Tuesday – Our Town/ Thornton Wilder intro;
begin Act 1
Block Day – Act 1, analysis of characters and
stage directions, short answer practice
Friday – Our Town - finish Act I
Thesis development
Supporting evidence
Organization
Grammar
conventions
Vocabulary
Monday – teacher work day (no school!)
Tuesday - Our Town Act II, HW: Revising
and editing due Friday
Block Day – Our Town Act II and crossover
practice
Friday – Our Town Act II wrap-up, revising
and editing due
Monday – Our Town Act III, thematic analysis
and author’s purpose
Tuesday –Our Town Act III analysis, test
review
Block Day – Our Town Test; death poetry
Friday – Death poetry continued + crossover
SAR
Monday –Read “Sound of Thunder” and
analyze characterization, plot, and theme; HW:
expository essay due Friday
Tuesday – “Sound of Thunder” continued
analysis and single selection SAR
Block Day – “Sound of Thunder” crossover
and scoring activity
Friday - Revising and editing practice
Monday – Cold read independent practice
Tuesday – Short answer scoring activity
Block Day – Cold read cross-genre test
Friday – Independent R&E practice
Thesis development
Supporting evidence
Dramatic conventions
Characterization
Theme
Setting
Allegory
Dramatic conventions
Characterization
Theme
Allegory
Sentence structure
Grammatical
conventions
Dramatic conventions
Cross-genre
connections
Tone
Poetic devices
Theme
Characterization
Theme
Author’s purpose
Cross-genre
connections
Revising and editing
Expository analysis
Characterization
Theme
Author’s purpose
Revising and editing
Checkpoint #3
Essay revisions
Revising and
editing practice
Expository essay
test
Our Town short
answer
R&E practice
Our Town analysis
Our Town test
“Sound of
Thunder”
crossover
Scoring activity
Revising and
editing
Cold read test
This syllabus is subject to change based on unforeseen events and a
variance in pacing at the discretion of the teacher. Students will be
informed well in advance if there is a change in any assessment dates.