Vocabulary/Grammar #5:

Essential Questions:

• How does diction affect meaning?

Learning Targets:

• I can strengthen vocabulary.
• I can understand connotation and denotation.
• I can choose words that are appropriate and use varied sentence structure.

Standards:

• L.11-12.1 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
  • a. Apply the understanding that usage is a matter of convention, can change over time, and is sometimes contested.
  • b. Resolve issues of complex or contested usage, consulting references (e.g., Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Garner’s Modern American Usage) as needed.
• L.11-12.3 - Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
  • a. Vary syntax for effect, consulting references (e.g., Tufte’s Artful Sentences) for guidance as needed; apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts when reading.

Assessments:

• Vocabulary/Grammar Quizzes

The American Dream

Essential Questions:

• What are the consequences of the characters' actions?
• How does the concept of the American Dream appear in The Great Gatsby?

Learning Targets:

• I can read complex texts.
• I can integrate and evaluate evidence.
• I can analyze the use of literary devices.
• I can analyze the development of the American Dream theme throughout the text.
• I can compare and contrast the symbols of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby and Seabiscuit.

Standards:

• RL.11-12.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• RL.11-12.2 - Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
• RL.11-12.3 - Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
• RL.11-12.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
• RL.11-12.6 - Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
• RL.11-12.7 - Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
• RL.11-12.9 - Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.

Core Texts:

• "The Great Gatsby" - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• "Seabiscuit" Film

Assessments:

• Quizzes/Test
• Gatsby Choice Project
• Gatsby/Seabiscuit Comparison