Sample Unit of Study

Unit Overview

• This unit focuses on various facets surrounding the American Dream, and students will explore the above questions through a range of texts from multiple genres.
• The anchor text for this unit is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and students will select a complementary book club book.
• The unit will explore how to synthesize sources with a focus on independent research as well as rhetorical analysis.
• At the end of this unit, students will engage in a Socratic seminar about these questions and write an in-class timed comparative analysis essay pertaining to one of the essential questions for the unit.
• As an extension of the unit’s essential questions, students will explore a Book Club choice memoir that explores the author’s perspective on the American Dream. They will then transition to a focus on narrative journalism and creative nonfiction techniques, culminating in a personal profile piece.