English 8 (Period 6)

Intro Unit: School Trip by Jerry Craft
Who are you as a student? What is your story? Where do you belong in our school and world community? Writing tasks: summaries, text-based questions, argumentative cold prompt for Banned Books Week.

Unit 1: What does it mean to be an outsider? How does race/class/gender/citizenship inform our perspectives?Students will examine recurring themes, elements of plot, characters, and point of view in stories; annotate a text, utilize Cornell Notes, the writing process, Step-Up-to-Writing, making inferences, analyzing word choice, close reading strategies, and academic discussions. Establish reading goals.

Reading tasks: The Outsiders, student-selected novels, and  “The Poverty Myth.”

Writing tasks: summaries, Quick Writes, responses to text-based questions, writing responses to literature.  

 Unit 2: Who Calls the US Home?  
How does race/class/gender impact character and place? How do we capture the experiences of people migrating over time and examine shifting attitudes toward immigration?

Reading tasks: A Young People’s History: “Columbus and Immigration,” Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhai Lai, “Home” Warsan Shire, “Let Me Try Again” by Javier Zamora, “Things to Know” by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

Writing tasks: response poems, summaries, Quick Writes, responses to text-based questions, informational writing.

 Unit 3: What is your story? What is the danger of a single story? 
Establish context and point of view to introduce elements of plot to tell your story. Incorporate narrative techniques: dialogue, characterization, and descriptive details.

Reading tasks: student choice model novel, TED Talk “The Danger of the Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, pep talks from Jason Reynolds, Neil Gaiman, and Jenny Han.

Writing tasks: NaNoWriMo novel draft, Quick Writes, summaries, responses to text-based questions, end-of-semester reflection and cold prompt: research-based narrative writing

Spring 2025

 Unit 1: What can we learn from others’ experiences?  What role does compassion play in creating change? Examine how we experience historical change. Analyze complex text features, character development, and systems of privilege and oppression. Continue toward independent reading goals.

 Reading tasks: Literature Circle Selection  MARCH, All American Boys, Just Mercy, On the Come Up, To Kill a Mockingbird

Writing tasks: summaries, Quick Writes, responses to text-based questions, on-demand essay writing: Why do people take a stand?

 Unit 2: How does historical writing capture truth? How does historical literature reveal facts and story-truth throughout different eras?

Reading tasks: Bull Run, “How to Tell A True War Story” by Tim O’Brien, The Glory Field, “O Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman, “Toy Boat” by Ocean Vuong

Writing tasks: summaries, Quick Writes, responses to text-based questions, historical fiction

Unit 3: National Poetry Month?   How is poetry different than prose? How do poetic forms (sonnets, couplets, haiku, rhyme scheme) relate to meaning?

Reading tasks: various classic, modern, and spoken word poetry
Writing tasks: poetry collection, perform classical/original poetry, Get Lit slam performance

 Unit 4: (mini-unit):    Shakespeare Mini Unit. Examine how Shakespeare’s plays and poems continue to impact our language and stories today. Translate between Elizabethan English and modern English.

Reading tasks: Shakespearian sonnets, soliloquies, comedy, and student-selected titles

Writing tasks: summaries, Quick Writes, responses to text-based questions

Culminating Unit:     Where are you headed? 

Research and reflect on where you see yourself in ten years.

Reading tasks: complete individualized reading plan

Writing tasks: ten-year planning, high school/college goal-setting, letter to your future self, culmination speech