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What does it mean to be good?
Key Reading Standards
Key Reading Standards
Use Key Ideas and Details to:
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. (CCSS: RL.11-12.1)
Use Craft and Structure to:
Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. (CCSS: RI.11-12.5)
Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (for example: satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). (CCSS: RL.11-12.6)
Key Writing Standards
Key Writing Standards
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. (CCSS W.11-12.1)
Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. (CCSS W.11-12.1a)
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. (CCSS W.11-12.1b)
Use words, phrases, clauses, as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, to create cohesion, and to clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. (adapted from CCSS W.11-12.1c)
Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. (CCSS W.11-12.1d)
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. (CCSS W.11-12.1e)
Unit Texts & Tasks
Unit Texts & Tasks
Routine Writing
Routine Writing
On Demand Task
On Demand Task
Summative Task
Summative Task
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT - Argument/Text Analysis: What does it mean to be "good”? Your task is to explore a “good” from our readings and discussions that have been controversial. Describe the good, the controversy, and make a claim for whether or not the good is, well, good. You will describe the good in question, summarize the controversy around it, and argue, with evidence, the goodness of the idea you have identified. (doc) (Writable)
Extended Texts
Extended Texts
at least 1
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn Series, Book 2 by Mark Twain (DMS & Overdrive)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (DMS)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (DMS & Overdrive)
Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi (DMS)
Sophie’s World by Josten Gaarder
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (DMS & Overdrive)
Short Literary Texts
Short Literary Texts
at least 2-3
“Excerpt from 'Civil Disobedience'” by Henry David Thoreau (CommonLit)
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor (CommonLit) *Must login to CommonLit to view text.
“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston (CommonLit)
“Testimonial” by Edwidge Danticat (CommonLit) *Must login to CommonLit to view text.
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez (CommonLit) *Must login to CommonLit to view text.
Short Informational Texts
Short Informational Texts
at least 1-2
“Can Machines Learn Morality?” by Randy Rieland (CommonLit) *Must login to CommonLit to view text.
“Manifest Destiny” by Mike Kubic (CommonLit)
“Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature” by David Hume (CommonLit)
“Universal Declaration of Human Rights” by United Nations General Assembly (CommonLit)
“What Makes Good People Do Bad Things?” by Melissa Dittman (CommonLit)
Analytical Writing Tasks
Analytical Writing Tasks
at least 4-6
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT - Argument/Text Analysis: What does it mean to be "good”? Your task is to explore a “good” from our readings and discussions that have been controversial. Describe the good, the controversy, and make a claim for whether or not the good is, well, good. You will describe the good in question, summarize the controversy around it, and argue, with evidence, the goodness of the idea you have identified. (doc) (Writable)
Argument Essay: What does it mean to be good? Consider the questions “What does it mean to be good?” and “Who decides what is good?” alongside the extended text and a selection of the short informational and literary texts explored during this unit. Then, write an argumentative essay that answers those questions in your view and supports the answers using elements from the unit’s reading selections.(doc) (Writable)
Text Analysis: "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Read "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and make an argument as to which character best aligns with your definition of what it means to be good. (doc) (Writable)
Text Analysis: Analyzing "Good" in a Children's Story. Examine a popular children’s story and analyze the text for messages of what it means to be good. (doc) (Writable)
Comparison Essay: Compare two works of the philosophers we have read and argue which of their ways of thinking is most necessary in a modern world. (doc) (Writable)
Narrative Writing Tasks
Narrative Writing Tasks
Planning
Planning
Each unit’s tasks will be a general week-by-week outline of the flow of learning tasks for students. Realizing the cultures and schedules at each site will vary and place unique demands on class time, these outlines are to be seen as generally flexible. Also in recognition of school and classroom cultures, expectations, and practices, unit plans will offer templates for tasks, but will not list daily lessons. This is to allow enough certainty of district alignment while allowing for features such as co-teaching, integrated ELA and social studies, and other unique programmatic designs.
Reflection & Feedback
Reflection & Feedback
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