9th Unit 1 Module 1
Key Themes & Topics:
Community
Compare & Contrast
Sustainability
Essential Questions
What constitutes and sustains a community?
Key Reading Standards
a. Use Key Ideas and Details to:
i. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS: RI.9-10.1)
ii. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. (CCSS. RI.9-10.2)
iii. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them. (CCSS: RI.9-10.3)
b. Use Craft and Structure to:
i. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (for example: how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). (CCSS: RI.9-10.4)
ii. Analyze in detail how an author's ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (for example: a section or chapter). (CCSS: RI.9-10.5)
iii. Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose. (CCSS: RI.9-10.6)
c. Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to:
i. Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (for example: a person's life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account. (CCSS: RI.9-10.7)
ii. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. (CCSS: RI.9-10-8)
iii. By the end of grade 10, analyze seminal U.S. and world documents of historical and literary significance (for example: the Magna Carta, Machiavelli's The Prince, Washington's Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"), including how they influence and address related themes and concepts over the course of time. (adapted from CCSS: RI.9-10.9)
Key Writing Standards:
Make strategic use of digital media (for example: textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. (CCSS: SL.9-10.5)
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. (CCSS:W.9-10.1)
i. Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. (CCSS: W.9-10.1a)
ii. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns. (CCSS: W.9-10.1b)
iii. Use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. (CCSS: W.9-10.1c)
iv. Determine purpose for writing and use rhetorical appeals (i.e., ethos, pathos, logos) to address audience expectations and needs.
v. 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.9-10.1d)
vi. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. (CCSS: W.9-10.1e)
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. (CCSS: W.9-10.2)
i. Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (for example: headings), graphics (for example: figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. (CCSS: W.9-10.2a)
ii. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. (CCSS: W.9-10.2b)
iii. Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts. (CCSS: W.9-10.2c)
iv. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic. (CCSS: W.9-10.2d)
v. 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.9-10.2e)
vi. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (for example, articulating implications or the significance of the topic). (CCSS: W.9-10.2f)
Summative Assessment Task
Phase I ends with an outline of the unit’s summative assessment outlining how students will show their progress of mastery of key standards and showcase their answers to the unit’s essential questions. This provides a goal toward which all weekly and daily learning activities can be designed. Transfer tasks explicitly outline other possible applications of student learning as a result of this unit. In short, these tasks offer an answer to the question, “Why do we have to learn this?”
Transfer Tasks
Collect data and present information in a compelling manner
Recommended Texts & Tasks for Unit
Choose the selection of texts and writing tasks below that will work for the unit. If you would like to provide feedback on this list or recommend a different task or text, please click here.
Extended Texts
Collapse by Jared Diamond
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston (DMS)
Getting Away With Murder : The True Story of the Emmett Till Case by Chris Crowe (DMS & Overdrive)
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (DMS and Overdrive)
Just Like Us: The True Story of 4 Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe (DMS)
Kids of Kabul by Deborah Ellis (Overdrive)
The Wave by Todd Strasser
A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson (Overdrive)
Short Literary Texts
“Alphabet” by Naomi Shihab Nye (CommonLit)
“The Black Man’s Burden” by Reverend H.T. Johnson (CommonLit) (Pair w/ “The White Man’s Burden”) *Must log in to CommonLit to view text.
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonegut (CommonLit) (Pair w/ “The Lottery”)
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (CommonLit) (Pair w/ “Harrison Bergeron”) *Must log in to CommonLit to view text.
“Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need” by CommonLit Staff (CommonLit)
“The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling (CommonLit) (Pair w/ “The Black Man’s Burden”) *Must log in to CommonLit to view text.
Short Informational Texts
“American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality” by Ari Shapiro (CommonLit) (Original story w/ audio from NPR) (Pair w/"...Nation of Suburbs.")
“Aztec Sacrifice” by Mark Cartwright (CommonLit) (Pair w/ “The Lottery”)
“Greening the Ghetto” by Majora Carter (TEDEd)
If the World were 100 People (Visual.ly)
“The Third Wave” by CommonLit Staff (CommonLit)
“The US Has Become a Nation of Suburbs” by Christopher Boone (CommonLit) (Pair w/"American Dream...")
Analytical Writing Tasks
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT -Informative Essay/Infographic: What constitutes and sustains community? Your task is to craft an informative essay with an accompanying infographic about how the high school community is different and/or the same as middle school. (doc) (Writable)
Analysis/Visual: Visual Representation School Community. Create a visual representation of the elements of school community. Include an artists’ statement explaining the visuals reflect. (doc) (Writable)
Analysis/Chart: Community Hierarchy of Needs. Design a hierarchy of needs of your school community. (doc) (Writable)
Analysis/Presentation: The Importance of Leadership. Through a series of slides tell the story of when leadership mattered. (doc) (Writable)
On-Demand: (doc) (Writable)
Narrative Writing Tasks
Letter: Letter to a Character. Write a letter to the main character of your class text explaining how your school community is similar to and different from the community setting they came from, and offer them advice on how to thrive in your high school community. (d0c) (Writable)
Personal Narrative: Contributing to Your Community. Brainstorm a list of things you’ve done or do currently to sustain your local or global community. Pick one of these events or activities and write about it what you did and what impact it had on you or others. (doc) (Writable)
Research Task
Research: “If ___ Were 100 People” This project is inspired by the infographic “If the World Were 100 People.” Students will pick a community that they are a part of and research various demographics about that community. They will present their findings in an infographic. (doc) (Writable)
Phase III: Planning
Each unit’s Phase III 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.
Unit 1 Module 1 Reflection & Feedback
Please leave your feedback, reflections and assignment requests below.
The curriculum design team will meet quarterly to review and respond to your feedback. Please direct immediate questions or concerns to seiler_jenny@svvsd.org.