Module 3:

Narrating the Unknown

How do the settlers respond to the challenges of their journey to the unknown?

Who has the greatest impact on Samuel’s development during his time in Jamestown?

How do the settlers’ and the Powhatans’ responses to the challenges of Jamestown impact its development and decline?

How does the art and science of observation contribute to a more complete narrative of Jamestown’s development and decline?

How did the social and environmental factors in the unknown world of Jamestown shape its development and decline?

Reading

Module 3: Narrating the Unknown

In this module, Narrating the Unknown, students work across multiple texts and genres to construct a complex picture of life and struggle in Jamestown, assessing the forces—both internal and external—that brought the near demise of the colony. We will ask the question: How did the social and environmental challenges in the unknown world of Jamestown shape its development and decline?

Core Texts:

Historical Fiction Novel (Literary)
Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607, Elisa Carbone
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland, Sally Walker
“Rethinking Jamestown,” Jeffery Sheler

Class Art, Videos & Other Media:

Nighthawks, Edward Hopper
The Lighthouse at Two Lights, Edward Hopper
Lighthouse Hill, Edward Hopper
“Address to Captain John Smith,” Chief Powhatan
“Innovation in Plain Sight,” Amy Herman

Books to Extend Learning at Home:

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart, Candace Fleming
The Tree of Life, Peter Sís
The Lost Colony of Roanoke, Jean Fritz ▪ Emperor’s Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China, Jane O’Connor
Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates, Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw
1607: A New Look at Jamestown, Karen Lange
The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare

Writing

Focus: Expository Nonfiction (Weeks 4-6) Personal Narrative Weeks (1-3)

*End Expository Unit with Informative/Explanatory Writing Performance Task before moving on to Personal Narrative

Expository Nonfiction skills from 2nd Quarter plus:
Write about significant personal experiences that resulted in learning or change
Use sensory and descriptive details
Cultivate the writer's individual voice
Explore strong, engaging openings and endings that draw a story's events to a close
Explore ways to organize a personal narrative
Identify and correct commonly misused words

Teacher Mentor Texts

Crown Point

Rattlesnake Mesa

Feast

No Place I'd Rather Be

My Mother's Hands

I Am Malala

The Stray