Whole Class Readings (Major Works):
"Flowers for Algernon" Short Story by Daniel Keyes
Our first unit is built around this classic short-story about a man named Charlie Gordon who has a surgery to enhance his intelligence. Students read literary and informational texts about knowledge and intelligence to understand what happens when humans try to manipulate the minds of others Students will read this story alongside other classic literature like Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Old Greek Stories by James Baldwin and several informational texts about human intelligence.
Students will write an argumentative essay in which they make and support a claim about Charlie's quality of life before and after the surgery.
Students will write an argumentative essay in which they make and support a claim about Charlie's quality of life before and after the surgery.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe
This famous story is the central text for our Second Nine Weeks unit. Students will read this story alongside other short stories and novels in which the reliability of the narrator is questionable. Students will choose between Monster by Walter Dean Myers and Nothing but the Truth by Avi as their companion novel. Other stories in this unit include Plato's Allegory of the Cave, "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry, and "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien.
From the Learnzillion Website: "Students read literary and informational texts to understand the role of the narrator and point of view. Students also understand how the narrative voice of a text can blur the line between fact and fiction. Students express their understanding through writing in different points of view and examining motives and bias in various media." Students will write narratively by re-writing two stories from a different characters perspective. The culminating task is to write an explanatory essay in which they address the common themes and structures of their novel and one other text from the unit.
From the Learnzillion Website: "Students read literary and informational texts to understand the role of the narrator and point of view. Students also understand how the narrative voice of a text can blur the line between fact and fiction. Students express their understanding through writing in different points of view and examining motives and bias in various media." Students will write narratively by re-writing two stories from a different characters perspective. The culminating task is to write an explanatory essay in which they address the common themes and structures of their novel and one other text from the unit.
Sugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson and Marina Buddhos
In this non-fiction text, students will learn about the history of the sugar industry and the postive and negative ways in which sugar changed the world. In this unit, students will also view artwork, read poetry, analyze short informational text articles, and evaluate media to draw their own conclusions about the sugar industry throughout history. For the culminating task, students will create a group multi-media project, and write an argumentative essay about a topic of their choice related to the sugar industry.