A close reading of the beginnings of the Declaration of Independence to identify ideas of natural rights, social contract, limited government and popular sovereignty in the text.

On Monday, you scanned Steve Jobs' commencement speech from Stanford and on Tuesday in class we close-read paragraphs 6 through 8. In this discussion, you will post one detail from the speech and provide your thinking about the detail.

During this unit, students will extend their understanding of opinion texts by using them as a basis to form an
opinion and write about it. Students closely read texts for literal comprehension and to connect ideas within and across texts to help them become informed readers. Students will decipher authors’ stance toward a topic and use their research to form their own opinion about the topic. With this informed point of view as readers and writers, students will be able to engage in persuasive literacy, discussions, and opinion writing. Throughout the unit, scaffolds and structures are embedded to support English Language learners. This unit is recommended to be taught after students have had experience with 3 rd grade Narrative and Informational writing.

A high-impact writing assignment will target difficult concepts, sometimes called “sticky” concepts or, in technical terms, threshold concepts. Think about an especially important element of your course that is typically difficult for students to learn—but that they generally must learn in order to succeed in the course and move forward in the discipline. For example, economists might talk about opportunity cost; biologists might talk about drivers of evolution; literary critics might talk about close reading; and historians might talk about constructed historical narratives.

This task is designed as a follow-up to the task F-LE Do Two Points Always Determine a Linear Function? Linear equations and linear functions are closely related, and there advantages and disadvantages to viewing a given problem through each of these points of view. This task is intended to show the depth of the standard F-LE.2 and its relationship to other important concepts of the middle school and high school curriculum, including ratio, algebra, and geometry.

Students gain a basic understanding of the properties of media soil, sand, compost, gravel and how these materials affect the movement of water (infiltration/percolation) into and below the surface of the ground. They learn about permeability, porosity, particle size, surface area, capillary action, storage capacity and field capacity, and how the characteristics of the materials that compose the media layer ultimately affect the recharging of groundwater tables. They test each type of material, determining storage capacity, field capacity and infiltration rates, seeing the effect of media size on infiltration rate and storage. Then teams apply the testing results to the design their own material mixes that best meet the design requirements. To conclude, they talk about how engineers apply what students learned in the activity about the infiltration rates of different soil materials to the design of stormwater management systems.

Students will learn the potential costs and benefits of social media, digital consumption, and our relationship with technology as a society in the three-week lesson. This inquiry based unit of study will answer the following questions:

Essential Question: How can we use science fiction’s ability to predict the future to help humanity?

Supportive Questions 1: What predictions of future development has science fiction accurately made in the past? This can include technology, privacy, medicine, social justice, political, environmental, education, and economic.

Supportive Question 2: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are positive for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to make these predictions reality?

Supportive Question 3: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are negative for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to stop these negative outcomes?

By closely reading historical documents and attempting to interpret them, students consider how Arthur Miller interpreted the facts of the Salem witch trials and how he successfully dramatized them in his play, "The Crucible." As they explore historical materials, such as the biographies of key players (the accused and the accusers) and transcripts of the Salem Witch trials themselves, students will be guided by aesthetic and dramatic concerns: In what ways do historical events lend themselves (or not) to dramatization? What makes a particular dramatization of history effective and memorable?

After review of these activities learners will understand where the importance of close reading exists within the Common Core.

Lesson OverviewThis lesson, which will require multiple class periods to complete, involves a close reading of selected portions of The Declaration of Independence.  The lesson will begin by establishing students’ background knowledge regarding the American Revolution and the subsequent writing of The Declaration of Independence.  Vocabulary pertinent to the Declaration will be taught via a vocabulary board and periodically reviewed. The teacher will guide students through a PowerPoint presentation of the essential elements of a close reading of a text.  Students will work on developing reading strategies to manage a complex text such as the Declaration of Independence.  Students will analyze the tone, style, and organization of The Declaration of Independence as well as engage in a variety of small- and large-group discussions and routine writing activities.  Finally, they will compose an argument, asserting the rights of people with disabilities, connecting to The Declaration of Independence and as a source of evidence.Teacher Planning, Examples of Response Methods and MaterialsSee Full Lesson Plan AttachedEssential Question and NCSC Essential UnderstandingIs independence better described as a goal or a journey?Modified: “What does independence look like in my life goal and journey?”

Lesson OverviewThis lesson introduces students to the theme, Earth-A Fine Balance, by exploring the multiple meanings of the word “balance” in an effort to develop an understanding of the unit title and the essential question.  Students will set up a Field Journal for their routine writing experiences, including but not limited to, learned information and reflections of how the readings relate to the unit theme.  Students will participate in learning centers once they have set up their field journals.  Students will participate in reading an adapted article from The National Geographic Almanac, 2013.  Students will participate in a vocabulary learning center as well as have an opportunity to explore the natural environment outside.Teacher Planning, Examples of Response Methods and MaterialsSee Full Lesson Plan AttachedEssential Question and NCSC Essential UnderstandingWhen nature interacts, what happens to the harmony, or balance, among animals, plants, and people? 

This lesson uses the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky" to help students approach difficult, unknown vocabulary. The poem uses nonsense words, but with strong structural and context clues. By using multiple close-reading strategies, students gain confidence reading difficult text.

English 151 builds on English 111 to develop
students’ critical reading, analytical writing, and academic research skills. The course emphasizes close, critical reading of a variety of texts and analytical writing about these texts. Significant attention is given to the development of academic research methods and skills.

In this interactive lesson, discover how literary techniques like figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the overall meaning of a poem. Explore how a poet establishes and builds on a theme. Learn how to tell the difference between tone and mood. Through a close reading of Maya Angelou’s famous poem “Caged Bird” (1983), practice unpacking the language of poetry while learning about some of the various tools a writer can utilize when writing a poem.

This student-directed lesson can be completed online. Students will require a login if the instructor desires that they save their work to the platform. You will find detailed instructions on how to set up and manage accounts, class rosters, and assignments in the Help section of the interactive lesson plan.

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In this unit, students will take a look at the historical vision of the American Dream as put together by our Founding Fathers. They will be asked: How, if at all, has this dream changed? Is this dream your dream? First students will participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing for his or her vision of the American Dream, and then they will write an argument laying out and defending their personal view of what the American Dream should be.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and annotate closely one of the documents that they feel expresses the American Dream.
Students participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing his or her vision of the American Dream.
Students write a paper, taking into consideration the different points of view in the documents read, answering the question “What is the American Dream now?”
Students write their own argument describing and defending their vision of what the American Dream should be.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

What has been the historical vision of the American Dream?
What should the American Dream be? (What should we as individuals and as a nation aspire to?)
How would women, former slaves, and other disenfranchised groups living during the time these documents were written respond to them?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

In this lesson, students will share their work with their classmates and celebrate their accomplishments.

In this lesson, students will begin to work in groups to read their document closely, discovering what the main message is.

In this lesson, students will closely analyze the structure of their document, identifying claims, reasons, evidence, and implied or explicit counterarguments. They'll also evaluate the argument made.

In this lesson, students will go back to the documents they've read, looking through them closely to figure out what the Founders might have said was the “American Dream.”