Unit 2: Mastering the Craft

English 8

Mastering the Craft

In this writer’s craft unit, students will explore the impact theme, metaphor, plot structure, character motivations, and setting have on the tone and mood of a text. By studying the work of published authors, students will gain understandings of how writers are able to craft themes in various genres. This unit includes the study of short story, poetry, film, and art images, as well as a book club experience where students will self-select and self-direct inquiries into verse and graphic novels. Students will demonstrate their learning by crafting original poetry, correspondence, and interpretive response.

Enduring Understandings

The best writers intentionally choose their words to evoke a specific feeling.
Character behaviors and motivations influence plot and theme in text.
Setting impacts tone, mood, plot, and the characters’ values & beliefs.

Essential Questions

How does word choice influence the feelings of others?
How do characters and stories impact my personal behaviors and perspectives?
What impact does environment have on my life?

Key Unit Experiences

Self-Selected Reading & Library Visits

We visit the library every 3 weeks in class and read in class daily. Be sure to bring your books!

Language Study

Language Study skills of focus for this unit include ways to combine sentences, semicolons, capitalization, and spelling.

Writing Territories

Students will expand on their topics for writing, which will be utilized with their Quick-Writes and the Culminating Assessment Project. Students can also develop ideas from this list during the application phase of Language Study.

The Artist’s Atmosphere

This introductory lesson establishes the language of tone and mood and the use of text evidence using two contrasting movie trailers, art prints, and photographs, and the “The Spider and the Fly” poem, as well as a letter to a character.

Poetry Quick-Writes

The quick writes for this unit have students responding to broadly worded prompts/ideas periodically throughout the unit. The Culminating Assessment Project relies on these quick-writes as practice for developing author’s craft through poetry.

Book Club: Author’s Craft

In this book club experience, students will read a graphic novel or novel in verse while meeting in small groups to discuss the text structure/author’s purpose, and the theme. The components of this work include student novel self-selection, a group meeting to determine the reading schedule, in-class reading opportunities, several in-class book club meeting days, and World Cafe.

Scared of Poetry

The purpose of this lesson is to further develop students’ understandings of tone, mood, plot development, theme, metaphorical language, and setting within the genre of narrative poetry. Extending upon the concepts introduced with “The Spider and the Fly,” students will read and analyze Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee.” The elements explored in this lesson will prepare students for crafting their own narrative poem in the Culminating Assessment Project.

The Master of Macabre

The purpose of this lesson is to transfer the concepts of tone, mood, plot development, setting, character motivations and theme from narrative poetry to short story in this study of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart.”

Culminating Assessment Project (CAP) - Narrative Poetry

At the end of this unit of study, you will be asked to create a piece of fan fiction. The prompt is as follows:

The Poe Society has invited you to contribute to their upcoming literary magazine. Their readership is comprised of people who enjoy mystery and macabre, so they would like for you to craft a narrative poem that evokes a dark and ominous tone.

To be successful on this assignment, you will need to be able to do the following things well:

listen, speak, and discuss using appropriate grade-level skills (8.1 B)
analyze and apply author's craft (8.9 B, C, D, E, F)
use the writing process to compose and revise/edit for appropriate conventions (8.10 D, E)
use genre characteristics and craft to compose texts (8.11 A)

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