Curriculum: 9th Grade English: Unit Title: Short Story Unit - DRAFT Content Standards: Standard 1: Reading and Responding Essential Understanding: Students read, comprehend and respond in individual, literal, critical and evaluative ways to literacy, informational and persuasive texts in both print and multimedia formats. Essential Question: How do we understand what we read? Standard 2: Exploring and Responding to Literature Essential Understanding: Students read and respond to classical and contemporary texts in both print and multimedia formats. Essential Question: How does literature enrich our lives? Performance Expectations: Standard 3: Communicating with Others Essential Understanding: Students produce written, oral and visual texts to express, develop and substantiate ideas and experiences. Essential Question: How do we write, speak and present effectively? Performance Expectations: Standard 4: English Language Conventions Essential Understanding: Students apply the conventions of Standard English in oral and written communication. Essential Question: How do we use the English language appropriately to speak and write?
Unit Description: Reading short stories provides an ideal platform for teaching the mechanisms by which students engage more thoroughly with literature. Writing short fiction empowers students to explore their own present and imagine new realities, an exercise that encourages complex thinking, supports strong narrative writing, and leads them to imagine new realities for their own futures.
Unit Essential Questions: • • • • •
Why do we read literature? How do we interpret literature? How do I build my own interpretation of a text? What is the common language (elements of the short story and key literary devices) that we use to discuss and interpret literature? Why and how do we use this language? How do I express my own curiosity and gain a deeper understanding of text through questions? How can I be an active reader? What strategies can I employ? How do I develop and support my own interpretation of a story? What writing structures and literary terminology can I use?
Performance Grade Level Expectations: 1a(1-6), 1b(1-6), 1c(1, 3, 4, 5), 1d(1, 2), 2a(1, 2, 3, 4), 2b(1, 2), 2c(1-3), 2d(1-6), 3a(1), 3b(3), 4a(1, 2), 4b(1, 2), 4c(1-3)
Assessments:
• Formative: literary terminology pre-test, reader response (active reading, questioning, interpreting through writing), class discussions, writing formal paragraphs(incorporating literary terminology) Use reader response and active reading work to build to formal reader-response paragraphs and final CAPT-like assessment. • Summative: formal reader response to literature (that builds on active reading and reader response), final CAPT-like assessment, unit portfolio, reader response, reading/thinking checks, short creative writing assignments, notes on class discussion (group worksheets)
Instructional Background Information: • Definitions:
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Interpretation: an active process of understanding the author’s intent and ultimate meaning of a story based on the decisions the author made in constructing the story and the reader’s prior knowledge and background; it is also the process of understanding why the characters in a story act in the way that they do within the context of the setting, plot, conflict, and theme. Short story: A work of fiction that can be read in one sitting. It usually tells about one or two major characters and one major conflict. The four elements of a short story are character, plot, setting, and theme. Levels of questioning: Great Books (factual, interpretive, and evaluative) Literary devices: Four main are character, plot, setting, and theme. Others include conflict, characterization, point of view, foreshadowing, tone and mood, narrator, dialogue, possibly figurative language and imagery. Active reading strategies: To understand how thinking and reading work together. The strategies used by readers to not only understand sentences but to make constant mental connections, comments, inferences, and predictions about the text. Strategies will include questioning, visualizing, connecting, inferring, predicting, clarifying, and evaluating. Reader response: Recognizing and using the structures, styles, and techniques of text in order to convey a unique understanding of a piece of literature through discussion and writing. Five paragraph essay: A thesis-driven with supporting evidence from the text. Thesis: an individual’s interpretation of a piece of literature, stated as the main argument of an essay. A first step toward taking a critical stance in later years. Purpose: Students will learn to immerse themselves in a short story in order to analyze and later evaluate the characters, conflicts, themes, and events of the text. They will learn to apply literary terminology to analyze stories and understand writers’ craft. They will learn to develop and support their own interpretations of stories through writing and discussion. Structure: Reading and Writing Workshop, Collaborative Group Work Craft Techniques: Developing and stating questions, writing a thesis statement/topic sentence, organizing a well-developed paragraph, blending and formatting quotes. Unit Content Focus: Short stories that are relevant to students and focus on writer’s craft
• Instructional Processes: Use the reading/writing workshop to create a common language for analyzing and writing about literature. Begin by modeling and guiding instruction through reading exemplar text and through analyzing and naming the craft authors use within short stories. The ultimate goal of this unit is to lead the students to become independent learners and writers by discussing, creating and analyzing short stories.
Guiding/Focus Questions: The Purpose of Reading Literature Why do we read literature? How do I build my own interpretation of a text? Using literature to gain a deeper understanding of my own life and the world around me. Using literature in this way requires developing a deep and nuanced understanding of texts. Therefore, students will learn to apply the skills and tools needed to analyze and interpret literary texts. The Structure of the Short Stories What is a short story? What are its defining characteristics? What is the purpose of this type of writing? Why would someone choose to use this style? Students will understand and apply the main characteristics unique to the short story as a genre. Relating: Text to Self Connections
Tentative Activities (related reading & written/oral response) Asking questions and developing initial responses to literature; using students’ questions and responses to promote an appropriate discussion about literature; making connections between the text and one’s own life and/or other texts. This will be accomplished by completing active reading assignments, reader response assignments, and small group discussion assignments. CAPT “Initial Understanding” Question: What are your thoughts and questions about the story? You might reflect upon characters, their problems, the title, or other ideas in the story. Define short story and the elements/structure of a short story (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). Define character, plot, and setting. Apply structure to a couple of models of short stories; have students generate a graphic organizer where they recall and apply the elements of short story Diagnostic/ pre-assessment • KWL (brainstorm on board) Through RTL and literary discussion (to clarify meaning & understanding of the experience shared in the text, compare peers ideas/connections to the experience, use notations-text evidence to support connections) CAPT “connection” question--What does this story say about people in general? In what ways does it remind you of people you have known or experiences you have had? You may also write about stories you have read or movies, works of art, or television shows you have seen. Use
examples from the stories to explain you thinking. Comparing Texts (a variety of RTL and independent lit circles to develop an short stories): Text to Text interpretation and clarify meaning of a selected text; Connections compare partners’ ideas/connections to the experience (use notations-text evidence to support connections) Developing Interpretations Based • Journaling, Posters, etc: One page journal entry for on Essential Literary Devices each story (with summary of plot, characterization, conflict, and theme). How do authors use writing • Active Reading: Consider events and experience, style/craft to breathe life into and use post-its, margins or underline text to notate stories (How is perspective understanding of the author’s experience shown? How are characters • RTL (Reader Response) revealed? What tone or voice is 1) Develop an interpretive question and answer it. used?) 2) Choose a significant quote and explain its How do I use literary terminology significance. to develop my own interpretations 3) Choose a literary device that enhances the story of stories? and explain how/why (theme, characterization, conflict, or others) *Characterization: What do the • Literary discussion: share individual understanding characters say and do that reveal of & connections to the narrative as a class and in who they are? How and why do collaborative groups (model lit circles, characters change throughout the review/reinforce questioning strategies, lift from story? How do the characters and text to support individual understandings of their experiences relate to and literature). shape my understanding of the text? CAPT “interpretation” question—One of the following is given: Choose one of the following quotations from the *Conflict: What does the main story (three are given). Explain what you think the character struggle with? quotation means as it relates to elements of the story such Specifically, what is the central as characters or theme, or How does the main character conflict or conflicts? How does change from the beginning of the story to the end? What this conflict influence the actions do you think causes the change? of the characters and lead to the climax? How is this conflict resolved, and how is the life of the character changed? *Theme: What do the experiences of the characters teach me about my own life? Based on the text, what did the author intend for me to learn? *Other Devices: How do these other stylistic devices enhance my understanding of a story? • Tone and Mood
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Point of View Foreshadowing Narrator Dialogue Possibly figurative language and imagery. Agreeing or Disagreeing (Evaluating) Is this a good piece of literature? Why or why not?
Major Writing Project: Formal Responses to Literature CAPT-like Assessment Have I mastered the skills learned in class? How will I use these skills in years to come? Revising Initial Reading Responses: Craft Lessons What three reading responses reflect deep and meaningful interpretations of stories?
Through RTL and literary discussion clarify and evaluate the author’s conclusions about life, culture, and identity (theme, etc) based on your own experiences and prior knowledge. CAPT “critical stance” question—How successful was the author in creating a good piece of literature? Use examples from the story to explain your thinking. Summative writing project in which students analyze several of the short stories we’ve read. Based on initial reader responses (revise and publish initial responses as a formal collection of literary interpretations; writing formal paragraphs, topic sentences, supporting an argument/interpretation with evidence, blending quotes). Read story and answer 4 CAPT questions. All teachers use same story. Drafting & Revising: 1st: Choose three reading responses to revise for publication. Include one of each of the following: 1) Develop an interpretive question and answer it. 2) Choose a significant quote and explain its significance. 3) Choose a literary device that enhances the story and explain how/why (theme, characterization, conflict, or others) 2nd Revise, using craft lessons (thesis statement, topic sentence, the structure of a paragraph, blending quotes). 3rd: Peer editing, discussion, and revising; groups discuss/share with each other common themes & threads in their writings; clarify any confusion. …
Editing & Reflection What are the strengths of this writing? What changes would enhance your piece? (Eg. Adding dialogue, quotation marks, capitalization, dialogue tags, punctuation at end of spoken
Editing & Reflection: 1st: Self-editing activity that asks for writers’ opinions of strengths and areas of focus to improve writing; apply formatting from model text and revise/edit own writing accordingly 2nd: Small group and individual conferences to assess student understanding and to provide
parts- comma, periods, questions marks, punctuation of dialogue tags) Final Revision and Publishing Did this piece fulfill your intended purpose? What did you learn about your writing? What did you learn about yourself from writing this? What did you learn about your peers? Supplemental: Writing Your Own Short Story What techniques do authors use to show instead of tell? What is happening in the narration? (lead, character actions, character dialogue, character thoughts, comparisons, descriptive language, sensory images) NOTE: This is intended to be a one- or two-day creative writing assignment that supplements the analytical work for the unit.
individual/differentiated instruction. Review & Revision: 1st: Compile and present work for intended audience 2nd: Use the rubric to self-assess 3rd: Present work to class 4th: Choose one formal response to present to class; explain what you learned about your own life and the world around you from this story. Homework or single class day; one or two-page fictionalized autobiography (see “Tree”) The Day I Was Born What’s in a Name Hidden Self Poem Best and Worst Experiences Show and Tell
Resources: School-wide writing rubric, contextualized for unit Literature and Language (Anthology) “Button, Button” (elements of fiction, predictions) “Say It with Flowers” (point of view, cause and effect) “Thank You Ma’am” (internal and external conflict) “The Scarlet Ibis” (foreshadowing, symbolism) “Li Chang’s Million” (mood and tone) “The Scholarship Jacket” (realistic fiction, making decisions) “Everybody Knows Toby” (connotation/denotation, setting) “Aunt Zurletha” (characterization, symbolism, making inferences) “The Cub” (coming of age) “Fool’s Paradise” (autobiography)
American Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories Selected titles Sydnye’s Recs “Priscilla and the Wimps” in Sixteen “The Fuller Brush Man” in Visions “On the Bridge” in Visions Others: The World’s Shortest Stories
Technology Resources: • • •
Basic word processing and internet skills Website evaluation Works cited