Vocabulary/Grammar #3:

Essential Questions:

• How do elements of language affect our understanding of information?

Learning Targets:

• I can show adequate use of language by employing many of the conventions of grammar, usage, and mechanics.
• 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

Choice Reading: Non-Fiction Autobiographies/Memoirs

Essential Questions:

• How is a character developed within a literary text?
• Why do humans want to tell their own stories?

Learning Targets:

• I can support arguments with evidence.
• I can practice time-management by logging reading over time.
• I can present books using visual aids and proper presentation skills.

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.
• RI.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.
• RI.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.
• RI.11-12.6 - Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.
• SL.11-12.5 - Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
• SL.11-12.6 - Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Core Texts:

• Non-Fiction Autobiography/Memoir of Student Choice

Assessments:

• Book Talks

The American Gothic - Short Stories

Essential Questions:

• What elements of Gothic Literature engage us?
• How does an author effectively use literary devices to achieve a desired affect?

Learning Targets:

• I can read and annotate complex texts.
• I can identify and interpret strong textual evidence.
• I can analyze the qualities of Gothic literature and the development of theme over the course of a text.
• I can identify literary devices and their meaning.
• I can gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

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.11-12.9 - 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.
• W.11-12.1 - Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• W.11-12.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• W.11-12.5 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
• W.11-12.6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
• W.11-12.9 - Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
  • a. Apply grades 11-12 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "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").
• W.11-12.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Core Texts:

• "The Story of an Hour" - Kate Chopin
• "The Minister's Black Veil" - Nathaniel Hawthorne
• "A Rose for Emily" - William Faulkner
• "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" - Ambrose Bierce
• "The Cask of Amontillado" - Edgar Allan Poe

Assessments:

• Reading Comprehension Quizzes
• Literary Analysis Essay