English 11

2 Semesters 2 Credits

Prerequisite: Successful completion of English 10 OR Teacher Recommendation

Students will encounter authors’ perspectives as they read literature from across time periods and cultures. Students will read classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction texts and view/listen to media selections, all related to an Essential Question. Students will use technology to interact with texts and activities, and their writing will become meaningful.

Students will be expected to take ownership of their learning as instruction will help students develop independent reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in the context of meaningful projects. We will combine whole-class, small-group, and independent learning in addition to performance-based assessment. We will develop close reading and build literacy. Additionally, students will benefit from the power of collaboration since most students learn best by doing things and working with others.

Unit One: Writing Freedom, Words that Shaped a Nation

Essential Question: What is the meaning of freedom?

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING

“Declaration of Independence" - Thomas Jefferson - foundational document
“Preamble to the Constitution” - Gouverneur Morris - foundational document
“Bill of Rights” - James Madison - foundational document
“Speech in the Convention” - Benjamin Franklin - speech
“The American Revolution: Visual Propaganda” - media: image gallery

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

from America’s Constitution: A Biography - Akhil Reed Amar - expository nonfiction
from The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation - Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell - graphic novel
from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano - Olaudah Equiano - autobiography
“Letter to John Adams” - Abigail Adams - letter
from Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters - Diane Jacobs - biography
“The Gettysburg Address” - Abraham Lincoln - speech

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Students will choose one of the following selections to read independently.

from Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport - Author Blaustein with Helen Matatov - essay
“Reflections on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution” - Thurgood Marshall - speech
“Speech to the Young/ speech to the Progress-Toward” - Gwendolyn Brooks - poetry
“The Fish” - Elizabeth Bishop - poetry
“The Pedestrian” - Ray Bradbury - short story
from the “Iroquois Constitution” - Translated by Arthur C. Parker - political document
from “Common Sense” - Thomas Paine - argument

Performance-Based Assessment: Students will create an argument essay and a video commentary based upon the questions: What are the most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom? Which statement do you find most compelling for Americans today: the Preamble to the Constitution or the first sentence of paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence? Do narratives provide strong evidence to support arguments about American freedoms? What are the most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom?

Unit Two: The Individual and Society,

Fitting in, or Standing Out?

Essential Question: What is the meaning of freedom?

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING

The Writing of Walt Whitman - Walt Whitman - essay/poetry
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson - Emily Dickinson - poetry
from “Emily Dickinson (Great Lives)" - BBC Radio 4 - media: radio broadcast

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

from “Nature” - Ralph Waldo Emerson - philosophical writing
from “Self-Reliance” - Ralph Waldo Emerson - philosophical writing
from Walden - Henry David Thoreau - philosophical writing
from “Civil Disobedience” - Henry David Thoreau - philosophical writing
“Innovators and Their Inventions” - public documents
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” - T. S. Eliot - poetry
"A Wagner Matinée" - Willa Cather - short story

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Student will choose one of the following to read independently.

“Sweet Land of . . . Conformity?” - Claude Fischer - news article
“Reckless Genius” - Galway Kinnell - literary criticism
“Hamadi” - Naomi Shihab Nye - short story
"Young Goodman Brown" - Nathaniel Hawthorne - short story

Performance-Based Assessment: Students will write a personal narrative and give a storytelling session answering the questions: How has my personal experience shaped my view of individualism? Do I see it as a guiding principle, something to be avoided, or a combination of both? When is it difficult to march to the beat of a "different drummer" and stand on your own as an individual? What are the risks and rewards of nonconformity? What significant incident helped me realize that I am a unique individual?

Unit Three: Power, Protest, and Change

Essential Question: In what ways does the struggle for freedom change with history?

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING

from “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” - Frederick Douglass - speech
“Second Inaugural Address” - Abraham Lincoln - speech
Perspectives on Lincoln - media: image gallery

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

“Ain’t I a Woman?” - Sojourner Truth - speech
“Declaration of Sentiments” - Elizabeth Cady Stanton - public document
“Giving Women the Vote” - Sandra Sleight-Brennan - media: podcast
“The Story of an Hour” - Kate Chopin - short story
“Brown v. Board of Education: Opinion of the Court” - Earl Warren - legal opinion
“Was 'Brown v. Board' a Failure?” - Sarah Garland - magazine article

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Students will choose one of the following to read independently.

The Poetry of Langston Hughes - Langston Hughes - poetry collection
“Douglass” - Paul Laurence Dunbar - poetry
“The Fifth Fact” - Sarah Browning - poetry
“Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper” - Martín Espada - poetry
from The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson - history
"What a Factory Can Teach a Housewife" - Ida Tarbell - essay
from “Books as Bombs" - Louis Menand - persuasive essay
"A Balance Between Nature and Nurture" - Gloria Steinem - media: podcast

Performance-Based Assessment: Students will write an informative essay and record a podcast answering the questions: What motivates people to struggle for change? Did the nation achieve the goals that Douglass and Lincoln desired?What were the goals of these reformers? Why did they want to achieve those goals? What motivates people to struggle for change?

Unit Four: Grit and Grandeur, The Importance of Place

Essential Question: What is the relationship between literature and place? How does place affect the people who live there, and vice versa? Why do you think stories about place are so popular in the media and in books and film?

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING

from Life on the Mississippi - Mark Twain - memoir
“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” - Mark Twain - short story
"A White Heron" - Sarah Orne Jewett - short story

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

“A Literature of Place” - Barry Lopez - literary criticism
American Regional Art - media: fine art gallery
from Dust Tracks on a Road - Zora Neale Hurston - autobiography
The Poetry of Carl Sandburg - Carl Sandburg - poetry collection
Sandburg's Chicago - media: photo gallery
“In the Longhouse, Oneida Museum" - Roberta Hill - poetry
"Cloudy Day" - Jimmy Santiago Baca - poetry
“Introduction” from The Way to Rainy Mountain - N. Scott Momaday - memoir

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Student will choose one of the following to read independently.

“The Rockpile” - James Baldwin - short story
“The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica” - Judith Ortiz Cofer - poetry
“Untying the Knot” - Annie Dillard - essay
The Poetry of Robert Frost - Robert Frost - poetry collection

Performance-Based Assessment: Students will write an explanatory essay and give an oral presentation answering the questions: How do American authors use regional details to make the events and themes of a narrative come to life for readers? What makes certain places live on in our memory? and address the statement It is my belief that a human imagination is shaped by the architectures it encounters at an early age.

Unit Five: Facing Our Fears, Victims and Victors

Essential Question: How do we respond when challenged by fear?

Essential Literature: 1984 and Othello

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING (not 2016-2017)

The Crucible - Arthur Miller - drama

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

from Farewell to Manzanar - Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston - autobiography
“Interview With George Takei” - Archive of American Television - media: video
“Antojos” - Julia Alvarez - short story

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Students will choose one of the following to read independently.

“What You Don’t Know Can Kill You” - Jason Daley - magazine article
“Runagate, Runagate” - Robert Hayden - poetry
“1-800-FEAR" - Jody Gladding - poetry
"Bears at Raspberry Time" - Hayden Carruth - poetry
"For Black Women Who Are Afraid" - Toi Derricotte - poetry
“What Are You So Afraid Of?” - Akiko Busch - essay

Performance-Based Assessment: Students will write an argumentative essay and give a speech answering the questions: Is fear always a harmful emotion? Could any of the characters in 1984 have done more to end the hysteria in Oceania? Do people usually learn from their fear?

Unit Six: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales

Essential Question: What do stories reveal about the human condition? Are stories important to a person’s development of humanity?

WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING

“Everyday Use” - Alice Walker - short story
“Everything Stuck to Him” - Raymond Carver - short story
"The Leap" - Louise Erdrich - short story

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

“A Brief History of the Short Story” - D. F. McCourt - literary history
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” - Ambrose Bierce - short story
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”- Katherine Anne Porter - short story

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Student will choose one of the following to read independently.

“The Tell-Tale Heart” - Edgar Allan Poe - short story
“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” - Leslie Marmon Silko - short story
“Ambush" - Tim O’Brien - short story
"Housepainting" - Lan Samantha Chang - short story

Performance-Based Assessment: Students will write a narrative (short story) and conduct a storytelling session addressing the questions: How do stressful situations often reveal the best and worst in people? How does a fictional character or characters respond to life-changing news? and responde to the statement: The day felt as if it would never end.

Semester Exams:

Oral Presentation first semester (IOP)

Final Literature Paper second semester

Final Portfolio demonstrating growth and a mastery of standards throughout the year