Unit 1: Breaking Away
Welcome to English 11 Unit 1! Below is our objective for this unit
Inspired by the "Constitution of the Iroquois Nations," the founding fathers established the United States on the principles of equality and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. From the first days of the United States through present day, the American spirit continues to be independent and sovereign. This unit offers a wide variety of literature that will allow students to explore the following essential questions:
How did independence drive the American spirit throughout history?
What moments in history contradict this spirit?
How has the scope of independence evolved in American society?
Students will begin this unit as readers, and they will finish as writers, as they apply what they have learned about story elements to their own narrative writing projects.
Click on the links below to access each lesson within this unit
Objective: Students will be able to annotate the text in order to ask questions, make inferences, and better understand the story. Additionally, students will be able to identify literary elements, such as character, setting, and theme, in order to see how these aspects of story telling shape plot.
Text: "Story of an Hour"
Objective: Students will be able to identify connotation of words, understand compare and contrast techniques, and use collaborative methods to form a claim and use textual evidence to support their arguments.
Text: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and "An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley"
Objective: Students will be able to use founded research techniques in order to gather textual evidence that they can then use to defend an argumentative position.
Text: "Life After High School"
Objective: After rereading and discussing a model of close reading, students will be able to prepare and write a personal response that describes a personal connection to a seminal US text. Additionally, after an initial reading and rereading and discussion of the historical texts, students will be able to identify and describe the purpose and key ideas in the documents and make connections to society.
Text: "Constitution of the Iroquois Nations" and "The Declaration of Independence"
Objective: After reading the text, students will demonstrate in a group discussion their understanding of how the author uses rhetorical appeals and devices and description to build an argument.
Text: "The Interesting Narrative of the LIfe of Olaudah Equiano"
Objective: After reading, students will make a deeper connection with the theme of resilience in the text by writing a narrative or personal narrative and will be able to explain how a text from the unit reflects the literary period of early American Literature.
Text: "Verses Upon the Burning of our House"
Objective: After reading the excerpt, students will demonstrate their understanding of how plot is developed through characterization and details about the historical and social settings of this society with a short written response.
Text: The Scarlet Letter
Objective: After reading the text, students will demonstrate their understanding of how place influences identity by writing a narrative focused on setting.
Text: "Indian Boarding School: The Runaways"
Objective: After reading, students will defend or challenge statements within the text using textual evidence as well as reasoning in a short written project.
Text: "Bartleby the Schivener"
Objective: The Namesake tells the story of an Indian couple who have immigrated to the United States and struggle with cultural differences. Students will learn further about how individuals strike out and survive on their own.
Text: "The Namesake"
Unit 1 Suggested Pacing Guide:
Also available on Google Classroom
