This course will acquaint the student with some of the ancient Greek contributions to the Western philosophical and scientific tradition. We will examine a broad range of central philosophical themes concerning: nature, law, justice, knowledge, virtue, happiness, and death. There will be a strong emphasis on analyses of arguments found in the texts.

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 short unit, students will spend three lessons exploring the importance of themes and main ideas in fiction and informational texts.  Now would be a good time to have them take an assessment of their reading and writing skills. They'll explore theme through O. Henry's classic short story  "The Gift of the Magi" and consider how this piece compares to the main idea in the article "The Proven Power of Giving, Not Getting."

In this unit, students will explore great works of American literature and consider how writers reflect the time period in which they write. They will write two literary analysis papers and also work in groups to research and develop anthologies of excellent American stories.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze stories from several 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century American authors. After researching a time period, they select stories from that period to create an anthology. The readings enhance their understanding of the short story, increase their exposure to well-known American authors, and allow them to examine the influence of social, cultural, and political context.
Students examine elements of short stories and have an opportunity for close reading of several American short stories. During these close readings, they examine the ways that short story writers attempt to explore the greater truths of the American experience through their literature.

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.

If you were to write a short story about this decade, what issues might you focus on?
What defines a short story? Just length?
To what extent do these stories reflect the era or decade in which they were written?
To what extent are the themes they address universal?

CLASSROOM FILMS

History.com has short videos on the Vietnam War (“Vietnam” and “A Soldier's Story”).

In this lesson, students will begin the short story “The Swimmer.” As an introduction to the story, they will also read the myth “Echo and Narcissus,” considering Narcissus as a way to view the protagonist of “The Swimmer.”

Driving question:What is the most irrelevant theme to today's modern society from The Great Gatsby?Purpose:1. Students to think critically and analytically.2. Students to gain a more in-depth understanding of how to find themes within texts and be able to have a deeper connection with modern society. Standards: 1) 9-10. RL. 2.2: Analyze in detail the development of two or more themes or central ideas over the course of a work of literature, including how they emerge and are shaped and refined by specific details.2) 9-10.RN.4.3: Analyze seminal U.S. and world documents of historical and literacy significance, including how they address related themes and concepts. Grabbers: To show clips from the movie to highlight themes that will be assigned to students. These clips can be used as evidence for the students projects (video clips are in teacher materials tab).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKs6tUxVC7M - Morals and American Dreamhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqA1ISMJJQY - Society and Class or Moralshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZrLD_fDLY - materialism and Gender Roleshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7eRHHVGGA - materialismhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTWumSE8GXM - moralityhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCxbZ8D7N1o - gender rolesLesson Summary:After the class has read the Great Gatsby, Groups of five will be assigned one main theme from the reading and they will have to support why they think their theme is the most relevant in today’s modern society. They will find sub arguments within the text in order to support this claim and present this information through a digital presentation. Students will also be required to use direct references and quotes to defend their answer. Groups should split up the work evenly and work collaboratively. Students will present their digital presentations to the class. Students will then have a debate taking the persuasive stance on why they think their theme is the most relevant and support it through evidence from their research. After the digital presentations are turned in, presented, and each student is informed by other group's theme in detail by the presentation and challanged by debate, students will write an individual reflection on what theme they personally think is the most relevant in today's society.Lesson Narrative:Introduction: Remind students of presentation expecptations and focuses on the central question asked - What is the most irrelevant theme to today’s modern society from The Great Gatsby?Presentations: Students representing groups that support the six themes from the book, (morality, American dream, society, class, materialism, and gender roles) give presentations that are informative, descriptive, and supported with evidence from the book and other outside sources to the class. Instructor: Asks leading questions during presentations to allow students to go more in depth on their theme. Addresses any questions or misinterpretations that occurred during the presentations. Debate: Each group will then be challenged by the other students of different themes and should argue why their theme is the most relevant in today's society. Each group should respectfully address one another and challenge each others ideas and to support their own with their evidence from their presentations. Each group should work together in order to work towards the goal of being the most relevant by collaboration.Instructor: The instructor uses questions to clarify factual claims, ask for supporting evidence, include other members within the class in the debate, and connect the presentations to the discussion to broaden the understanding of each theme/side to the book and it's relevance.Debriefing: The instructor again asks the driving question. Clarifies any confusion, questions, or misinterpretations raised during the debate. Then summarizes what happened during the debate and lets the class think about other group's stance on their themes. Culminating Activity:1. Provide closure for major driving question.2. Gives the opportunity for students to be persuasive and show their understanding of the lesson. Lesson SummaryAfter researching, presenting, and discussing the central driving question mentioned before, students should be able to write an individual essay based off of previous experience with the project. The individual essay will require the students to reflect on their understanding and take from their personal opinion on what they think the most relevant issue in The Great Gatsby to today's modern society. Example of Culminating ActivityA Persuasive EssayAnswer the following question as an individual reflection from the previous lesson: What is your personal opinion on what theme from the Great Gatsby is the most relevant in today's society? Now that you have researched, presented, and discussed extensively the main 6 themes from the Great Gatsby: morality, American dream, society, class, materialism, and gender roles, pick ONE of these themes and have sub-arguments, evidence, and quotes to support your opinion. This paper should be at least 5 paragraphs long, see guidelines below. The paper should be in MLA format and cited correctly. No direct quotes should be longer than three lines. Paragraph 1: Introduction - short summary of the book, thesis Paragraph 2: Sub-argument with evidence from book, movie, class presentations, debate, and other outside sources to support this argument. Paragraph 3: Sub-argument with evidence from book, movie, class presentations, debate, and other outside sources to support this argument.Paragraph 4: Sub-argument with evidence from book, movie, class presentations, debate, and other outside sources to support this argument. Paragraph 5: Conclusion - Wrap up thoughts, restate thesis 

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classic novel that is full of numerous themes. However, there are four main ideas that are highly evident throughout the course of the book: envy is the cause of devastating effects, humanity can be deceiving, pride can be anyone's downfall, and fear changes lives. This presentation will go over each major theme in detail, as well as list specific examples pertaining to each idea.In addition, there are two activities at the end of the presentation to have your students complete while reading this classic novel. Enjoy!

In Lesson 1, students focus on the first stave of the novel as they identify the meanings of words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to them. This activity facilitates close examination of and immersion in the text and leads to an understanding of Scrooge before his ghostly experiences. In Lesson 2, students examine Scrooge’s experiences with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future and discover how Dickens used both direct and indirect characterization to create a protagonist who is more than just a stereotype. In Lesson 3, students focus on stave 5 as they identify and articulate themes that permeate the story.