Curriculum Rationale: Grade 10: Honors World Literature
Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (1996)
The English Department has carefully evaluated Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir as a whole and deemed it worthy for the 10th grade World Literature curriculum.
I. PLOT SUMMARY
Frank McCourt’s, Angela’s Ashes, is a poignant retelling of life during the Depression, specifically for Irish immigrants. McCourt is faced with varying challenges involving poverty, discrimination in America and Ireland, and his father’s alcoholism. McCourt’s memoir allows the reader to critically evaluate the form of memoir and the concept of memory. The student will study the narrative voice and analyze its role in the craft of memoir.
II. RATIONALE AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
We begin our exploration of this text by examining the historical and cultural contexts in which the story is situated. Angela’s Ashes, a coming of age story,anchors the memoir unit, where students study the genre and craft of memoirand finallydraft memoirs of their own. We will consider the roles of memory, truth, and fact in autobiographical writing, as well as the literary techniques writers employ to shape their own stories. Students will closely read excerpts of Angela’s Ashes to analyze narrative voice, especially perspective, tone, and mood. We will also examine McCourt’s development of themes including but not limited to poverty/hunger, alcoholism, discrimination, and faith/spirituality.
III. COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Reading Standards for Literature
Key Ideas and Details / Grades 9-101. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. / 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. / 2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. / 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Craft and Structure / Grades 9-10
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. / 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. / 5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. / 6. Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / Grades 9-10
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. / 9. Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Grades 9-10
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. / 10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
IV. ADDRESSING SENSITIVE SUBJECTS
Possible sensitive topics contained in Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir: references to sexuality and profanity.
In the classroom, sensitive topics will be dealt with in a mature fashion, toward an understanding of why this material is included in the memoir. The English department feels that the literary merit of the memoir more than compensates for the inclusion of this sensitive subject matter. The student is encouraged to feel comfortable in expressing his/her beliefs and views openly within the classroom environment. If the student is uncomfortable at any time, the student should meet with the teacher to discuss his/her concerns.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2001)
AND
Film Adaptation.Vincent Paronnaud,Marjane Satrapi, 2007.
The English Department has carefully evaluated both the text and film Persepolisa whole and deemed them worthy for the 10th grade World Literature curriculum.
I. PLOT SUMMARY
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel,Persepolis, is an autobiographical account of life in Iran during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Satrapi recounts her life between the ages of nine and fourteen. Marji struggles with what she is being taught at home and what the government is imposing on her society and school. The student will examine the components of the graphic novel genre and analyze how Satrapi uses it to present historical fact within literature, specifically examining the Iranian and Islamic revolutions. The student will also compare and contrast the written text with the film.
II. RATIONALE AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This unit is grounded in a study of the text’s cultural and historical contexts. Students conduct guided research about Iran and its Islamic revolution that occurred in the late 1970s as they begin reading Satrapi’s memoir. This text drives the graphic novel unit in which students examine of the overlap/adaptation of conventional literary techniques in graphic novels—a non-conventional genre which hasreceivedcritical acclaim in academic/literarycommunities. Furthermore, students make connections between the graphic novel form and storyboarding as an important part of filmmaking when they view the film adaptation of the text.
As Persepolis is a memoir, students draw on their knowledge from the previous unit (Angela’s Ashes) to consider how memoir writers use theme, symbolism, voice, and plot structure in different forms to generate meaning and influence interpretation. Finally, students create their own graphic story to demonstrate comprehension of the learning objectives in this unit.
III. COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Reading Standards for Literature
Key Ideas and Details / Grades 9-101. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. / 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. / 2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. / 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Craft and Structure / Grades 9-10
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. / 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. / 5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. / 6. Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / Grades 9-10
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. / 7. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. / 9. Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Grades 9-10
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. / 10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
IV. ADDRESSING SENSITIVE SUBJECTS
Possible sensitive topics contained in Persepolis: profanity, violence, and brief sexual references.
In the classroom, sensitive topics will be dealt with in a mature fashion, toward an understanding of why this material is included in the graphic novel and its film adaptation. The English department feels that the literary merit of the graphic novel and its film adaptation more than compensates for the inclusion of this sensitive subject matter. The student is encouraged to feel comfortable in expressing his/her beliefs and views openly within the classroom environment. If the student is uncomfortable at any time, the student should meet with the teacher to discuss his/her concerns.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)
The English Department has carefully evaluated The Joy Luck Club as a whole and deemed it worthy for the 10th grade World Literature curriculum.
I. PLOT SUMMARY
Amy Tan’sThe Joy Luck Club is a multi-generational story that follows the lives of four Chinese women and their daughters. The women gather to share stories about their childhoods, relationships, marriages, and immigration to America. Tan’s novel challenges the reader to evaluate the differences in culture, religion, and societal and generational beliefs of differing time periods.
II. RATIONALE AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This unit is grounded in a study of the text’s cultural and historical contexts. Specifically, students examine the nature of the immigration experience for Asian migrants entering the U.S., especially during the late 1800s and early 1900s (particularly those affected by the Chinese Exclusion Act).Students focus their analysis onTan’s development of thematic tension in the four fable sections and sixteen interlocking vignettes that make up the book. Students are asked to consider whether or not the themes of ignorance v. knowledge, loss v. gain, rebellion v. obedience, and bad luck v. good intentions are resolved in the text, and what factors promote or prevent resolution of this thematic tension. In addition, students will critically analyze the text’s complex structure and characterization, as well as identify how the author uses literary techniques including point of view and symbolism to illustrate thematic tension.
III. COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Reading Standards for Literature
Key Ideas and Details / Grades 9-101. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. / 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. / 2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. / 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Craft and Structure / Grades 9-10
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. / 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. / 5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. / 6. Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / Grades 9-10
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. / 7. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Grades 9-10
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. / 10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
IV.ADDRESSING SENSITIVE SUBJECTS
Possible sensitive topics contained in The Joy Luck Club: violence, brief references to sex, and profanity.
In the classroom, sensitive topics will be dealt with in a mature fashion, toward an understanding of why this material is included in the novel. The English department feels that the literary merit of the novel more than compensates for the inclusion of this sensitive subject matter. The student is encouraged to feel comfortable in expressing his/her beliefs and views openly within the classroom environment. If the student is uncomfortable at any time, the student should meet with the teacher to discuss his/her concerns.