UNIT I: CULTURE

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
How does culture shape who we become?
Where do we come from?
How does culture affect society?
READING:
Where do we come from?
Adam and Eve Story from Bible
World on Turtles Back (Mythology) (yellow book 24)
Compare to balance of good vs evil, light vs dark
Song of the Sky Loom (poetry/mythology) (yellow book 33)
Hunting Song (Song/mythology) (yellow book 33)
Dinni-e Sin (Song/mythology) (yellow book 33)
How does culture affect society?
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Why do we follow some rules blindly?
How does our family play a part in who we become?
Everyday Use by Alice Walker
NOVEL
Two Old Women Velma Wallis
Why should we care for our elders?
WRITING:
Grandparent Interview
Debate: Where do we come from? What do you believe?
Essay Competency(5 paragraph)
Answer the question: How does culture shape who we become as
a society and/or an individual?
WRITETOLEARN
Expository Writing: Analyze one of the characters in The Crucible
A Memorable Person in your life
An Important Relationship
How your community has influenced you
Impact of a significant person
Creative Competency
Share something important to the culture of your family
Present it with a multimedia component

Unit II: Moral Ambiguity

Essential Questions:
What are good and evil?
How do early societal beliefs and practices about good and evil influence
individuals?
How do early Americans view good and evil in their religious experiences?
Where in society does the individual find the greatest conflict between good and
evil?
Are humans essentially good or evil?
Reading:
To My Dear and Loving Husband? Anne Bradstreet - poetry (Yellowbook 138)
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards- Sermon
(Yellowbook 152)
Novel:
How does a collective fear affect the group or individuals?
The Crucible by Arthur Miller - Drama (Yellowbook 163)
Peer Pressure: How can rumors and traditional gossip degrade
culture and destroy our lives?
Writing:
Missing scene:
Act Two of the Crucible originally consisted of two
scenes. The second scene dramatized a meeting between John Proctor
and Abigail Williams. Miller later omitted this scene from the published
version, and it is not usually performed. Write your own scene between
Proctor and Abigail to serve as a bridge between acts two and three.

UNIT III: FREEDOM

Essential Questions:
Why is the power of freedom sought after by all of humanity?
What is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
How does freedom or the lack thereof, change the spirit of individuals and
society?
Reading:
The Right to be Free by Thomas Jefferson (Yellowbook page 256)
Speech in the virginia Convention by Patrick Henry (yellowbook 262)
THe Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson (Yellowbook 270)
Letter to John Adams by Abigail Adams (Yellowbook 285)
Stride Toward Freedom by Martin Luther King Jr (Yellowbook 300)
I have a Dream Speech by Martin Luther King Jr
Novel:
1984 By George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Among the Hidden (6th grade level) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Writing:
What does it mean to be free?
Essay or creative piece on freedom and what it means to you.

UNIT IV : Spirit of Individualism

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
What does it mean to embrace the spirit of Individuality in America?
What does it mean to be an American?
Who am I?
What is my role in society?
What does it mean to dream?
READING:
What is an American?
I hear America Singing by Walt Whitman (Yellowbook 397)
I Sit and Look Out by Walt Whitman (Yellowbook 399)
Song of Myself By Walt Whitman (Yellowbook 400)
What is an American? by Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur
(Yellowbook 289)
A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (yellowbook 344)
Who am I?
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Yellowbook 363)
Walden - Henry David THoreau (Yellowbook 381)
What is my role in society?
Civil Disobedience by Ghandi (Yellowbook 377)
What does it mean to have a dream?
Harlem by Langston Hughes( Poetry)
NOVEL:
Into the Wild by Jon KrauKauer
WRITING:
Poetry or Memoir
Make a bucket list
What is a dream you have?
What makes you who you are?
Who are you?
Writetolearn:
A significant time in your life

Unit V: The Dark Side of Humanism

Essential Questions
How does the individual face and resolve conflict?
How does literature exemplify the conflicts and resolutions between self and
others?
How do I push through adversity to become who God created me to be?
How does our human nature harm or help our path in life?
How do I push through loss to survive and live?
Reading

How does the individual face and resolve conflict?

The Life you Save May be your Own by Flannery OConnor
(Yellowbook 528)
Survival in Auschwitz (Memoir) Primo Levi (Yellowbook 1083)
How does our human nature harm or help people in our life?
Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence
The Black Cat Edgar Allen Poe
The-Tell-Tale-Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
How does our human nature harm or help our path in life?
Mother to Son by Langston Hughes (Poetry)
Teenage Wasteland by Anne Tyler (Yellowbook 1169)
How does literature exemplify the conflicts and resolutions between self and
others?
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner (Yellowbook 516)
How do I push through loss to survive and live?
Annabelle Lee By Edgar Allen Poe
Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (YB 783)
Novel
Night by Elie Wiesel (WWII HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR...most powerful one I have
ever read)
Wonder by R J Palacio (MS Kid with deformities goes to school)
Out of My Mind by Sharon Creech (Girl with no control of body, but super smart )
Writing

Essay over essential questions

What is the darkness inside of you and how do you battle it?
What darkness do you see in your life and how can you combat it?

Unit VI : The Power of Words

Essential Questions:
How do words change people?
How can words shape a world?
Why do we need to persuade others with words?
What makes an argument convincing?
How do I analyze and use appeals to reach a specific purpose?
How do I write an effective, well-researched argument?
Reading:
FDRs Address to the Nation Declaring War on Japan
JFK Inaugural Address
President Bushs 9/11 Address to the Nation
Letters from Birmingham Jail
Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
RESEARCH SONGS THAT HAVE SHAPED THEM AS INDIVIDUALS OR
MOVED A WORLD
National Anthem is one for America
Novels:
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Writing:
Write a persuasive speech
or write a letter to the editor with an argument built on something happening in
the news currently
How can words shape your world?
What impact do words have on society?

Unit VII Poetry

Essential Questions:
How does poetry move people?
What is poetry?
What makes art, music or fine arts poetry?
What emotions do poetry evoke in you?
How does figurative language impact your heart and your head?
Reading:

Life for my Child is Simple by Gwendolyn Brooks (YB 968)

Primer for Blacks by Gwendolyn Brooks (YB 969)
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Selected poems in yellowbook 750-761
Choose poetry of their own or music to analyze and discuss
A Road Not Taken by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write your own poetry anthology

10 pieces of original work

Writing:

Unit VIII Choice

Essential Questions:
How is literature like life?
What is literature supposed to do?
What influences a writer to create?
How do our choices affect the way we live and see the world?
What is beauty and/ or beautiful?
In a culture where we are bombarded with other people trying to define us, how do we
make decisions for ourselves?
What turning points determine our individual pathways to adulthood?

Reading: (These are suggestions of high interest teen novels)

Novels:
Speak
Living Dead Girl
Divergent Series
Twilight Series
Monster
Snitch
City of Ashes series
Maze Runner series
Maximum Ride series
Writing:
English Competency
Creative Competency
Let them do a project that represents the choices in their life and
how they have affected their journey.