Unit 3 ELA 8GT

ELA 8 GT Unit 3: Stories and Community

DURATION:

This unit has been designed to last approximately 1 quarter.

UNIT OVERVIEW:

The unit "Stories and Community" allows students to explore how common characters, plots, and themes in storytelling have weaved their way throughout history and have helped to build the communities in which we live. During this unit students will read A Midsummer Night's Dream in its entirety, and the reading of the play should be done during class time. As such, the teacher should structure time during class to read accordingly. Each lesson includes in the Instructional Notes the scene to be read and the page length of that scene. Teachers can choose to do this reading in whatever way they choose (independent reading, small group, as a whole class); reading out loud (and even acting it out) is highly encouraged to help students understand Shakespeare's language. As students read this play, they will also analyze how character's decisions are provoked by dialogue or events and what these decisions reveal about the characters, examine the role that point of view affects the audience, and compare the text to a film version; they will also examine language choices, including Elizabethan language differences and malapropisms. In the Performance Based Assessment, students will be analyzing a fairy tale and writing a narrative in which the old tale is rendered new.

This unit also focuses on the Critical Approaches and five of the approaches are written directly into the lessons (archetypal, feminist, psychological, philosophical, and sociological). A Student Facing Resource has been created that covers all of the approaches (including those not directly used in this unit - historical, formalistic, and biographical) and students should refer to this page as needed throughout the unit. See the Literary Criticism folder for more resources. Analysis of a text using a selected approach is also assessed on the PBA.

The brief research for this unit begins in Lesson 2 with a Slam Dunk in which groups are researching a mythological allusion they will encounter in the play. Each group will create a skit or interview that will be presented to the class at various points throughout the unit, depending on where the allusion is presented in the most interesting way in the play. This also serves as a Speaking and Listening score. See the Slam Dunk Index page for links.

Lastly, students will also select a novel that is a modern retelling of a classic tale or that draws upon themes, events, or characters from classic tales. It will be crucial that the teacher plans with the Library Media Specialist in advance to gather novels that fall into this category. A list of possible novels can be found in the Unit 3 Whole Novels folder. Three literature circle discussions should be planned throughout the unit, and each of these discussions should reinforce the critical approaches. Resources for these discussions can also be found in the Unit 3 Whole Novels folder. These discussions can be scored using the SL.8.1 standard using the SL Scoring Tool.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

• How do stories create community?
• How do authors make the old new?

TARGET STANDARDS:

For further clarification, teachers may consult the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for Clarifications.

RL.8.3: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character of provoke a decision.

RL.8.9: Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.

W.8.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

W.8.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.