Saunders BritLit Unit Plan: Unit One
Unit of Study: Unit One:The Legacy of 1066 / Grade Level: 12th / Date: August-September, 2013
Extended Text:
Beowulf, tr. Seamus Heaney
Geo. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (General Prologue), tr. Coghill / Short Texts:
“The Anchor”
Geoffrey Chaucer, “Merciles Beaute” / Informational Texts:
SørenKierkegaard, Sickness…Death Jaron Lanier, You Are Not A Gadget
John Gardner, Moral Fiction
Aristotle, Poetics
Bede/Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Magna Carta
Common Core Georgia Performance Standards:
Reading Literary CCGPS:
ELACC12RL1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 / Reading Informational CCGPS:
ELACC12RI 1, 4, 6, 7, 9
Writing CCGPS:
ELACC12W1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Speaking & Listening CCGPS:
ELACC12SL1, 3, 4, 6 / Language CCGPS:
ELACC12L1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Essential Questions, Key Concepts or Enduring Understandings:
Overarching EQs for 2013-2014
- Can you write to a standard appropriate for college and professional work?
- Can you read difficult material and gather sense from it, then dig further until you “have” it?
- Who are you?
- What is“British”“Literature”?
- What makes a story “true”?
- What are the important features of “Old English” language and culture?
- What is a “person” (as opposed to beast, god, thing; gender, theology, ontology)?
- How do “people” differ? (sociology)?
- Where did the English Language come from – and why does that matter today?
- What is the purpose of power?
- What characterizes leaders, heroes, and monsters – and how do they interact?
- How does gender operate in literature and culture?
- What are MLA requirements for document and quotation format?
- What is “Standard Academic English”?
Student Objectives & Outcome(s): By Unit’s end students will master MLA requirements for document and quotation format, will demonstrate understanding of the origins and peculiar qualities of English language and culture (and why this matters), and will understand more deeply what makes clearly fictional stories “true.”
Assessment Strategies:
Diagnostic Assessment Data used to develop learning goals: Daily “freewrites”, Diagnostic Essay
Summative Assessments or Performance Tasks aligned with standards:
Unit Test; Analytical Essay; Group Presentations
Formative Assessments to measure ongoing progress (Summarizing Procedures, Self-Reflections, or Self-Assessments):
Unit Notebook; Unit Reading Journal; Freewrites; CLOZEs; Discussions; Reading Guides
Assessment Strategies:
Materials/Preparation/Technology:
SmartBoard-based lectures and presentations
BYOT activities (bonus searches for information and vocabulary)
Worksheets to guide reading
Textbooks
Handouts of supplemental texts
Computer room use for Diagnostic and Analytical Essays
Introduction/Sponge Activities/Activating Strategies:
Linking Prior Knowledge; Socratic Discussion; freewriting to prompts keying ideas of lecture/reading/classwork
Instructional Activities and Lessons:
Freewriting and other practice writing
individual and group reading
lectures with open-notes CLOZE
Individual and Group projects/presentations involving writing and analysis
Ongoing discussion of all ideas and activities
Differentiated Instruction:
Adapting lessons in content, process, and product to meet the needs of individual students:
All Students
Wide latitude for choice in writing assignments
Linking prior knowledge
Visual aids
Computer, including BYOT
Assignments written on SmartBoard and given orally
Worksheets to guide reading/study and for review
Collaborative pairs
Study guides/guided reading
Use of study sheet to prepare a sheet of notes to use on Test day
Summarizing – freewrites, CLOZEs
Problem solving
Rubrics
Word wall/splash
Reflection log
Ticket to Leave
Compare/contrast
Writing prompts
Socratic Seminar
Guided lecture
Based on IEP
Modified texts
Peer, Individual and Resource Assistance
Grading partly based on effort, cooperation
Extra Time
Class participation consideration