1984 (Unit 1)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will understand the political spectrum and underlying philosophies
  • Students will understand and recognize hegemonic power structures
  • Students will be able to connect the text with both its historical context and contemporary issues

Subjects Covered: /
  • Marxism with an emphasis on hegemony
  • North Korea and Stalinist Russia
  • Review basic literary concepts (symbolism, objective correlative, dystopia, etc)

Activities: /
  • Matrix Dystopia/Utopia activity
  • Hegemony Paper

Assessments: /
  • Reading quizzes (multiple choice, reading comprehension)
  • Test (short answer and essay)
  • Paper (Hegemony in 1984 and V for Vendetta)

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.11-12 3,4,5 and 6
  • RI.11-12 2 and 10
  • W.11-12.2, W.11-12.4, W.11-12.7, W.11-12.8

Anglo-Saxon Lit (Unit 2)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will understand the archetypal heroes quest and be able to apply patterns like Campbell’s monomyth to a variety of tales
  • Students will understand the basic history of British isles and the formation of the English identity
  • Students will be exposed to and understand what separates old English from modern English

Subjects Covered: /
  • Growth and structure of the English language
  • Early history of the British Isles (Celts, Roman occupation, Anglo-Saxon invasion, unification, Christianization)
  • The Dream of the Rood, The Seafarer, The Wanderer and The Wife’s lament
  • Elegiac poetry
  • Epic Poetry
  • Beowulf (modern prose translation)
  • Anglo-Saxon riddles
  • Nonfiction article on Sutton Hoo

Activities: /
  • Anglo-Saxon Dream Poems

Assessments: /
  • Reading Questions and Quizzes
  • Test

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.10-11.2, 8-10
  • RI.10-11.2, 8-10
  • W.10-11.1-2

Middle English (Unit 3)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will understand the development of English from its Anglo-Saxon roots through to its middle English period
  • Students will have a basic understanding of the history of the dark ages
  • Students will understand the historical forces which lead to the birth of the middle class
  • Students will have a basic understanding of the Arthur Mythos, it’s development, evolution, and its cultural purpose

Subjects Covered: /
  • Arthur mythos
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Le Mort de Arthur
  • The Norman Conquest
  • The emergence of the middle class
  • The Canterbury Tales, their associated genre and how those modes are still with us

Activities: /
  • Original frame narrative and short stories

Assessments: /
  • Reading Questions
  • Exam

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.11-12.2-6
  • W.11-12.3

Renaissance Literature (Unit 3b)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will understand the emergence of modern English and the forces that ensured that it is virtually unchanged to this day
  • Students will understand the cultural importance of the renaissance
  • Students will be able to identify various kinds of sonnets and their features

Subjects Covered: /
  • Various sonnets by Petrarch, Spenser and Shakespeare
  • Marlowe’s Passionate Shepherd and Raleigh’s Nymph’s Reply
  • Marlowe’s Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and possible excerpts from Hero and Leander
  • Donne’s Elegy to My Mistress Getting Undressed

Activities: /
  • Response poems

Assessments: /
  • Reading questions
  • Exam

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.11-12.2-6
  • W.11-12.3

Titus Andonicus (Unit 4)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will understand the key features of classical tragedy
  • Students will study Titus with an eye to what the text has to say about the following topics
  • The nature of violence
  • The role of decadence in the decline of empire
  • Feminist issues (Rape, honor killings)
  • Race

Subjects Covered: /
  • Overview of Oedipus Rex
  • Feminist Critical Theory
  • Post Colonial Theory
  • Craft and structure

Activities: /
  • Shakespeare Presentations
  • Students will memorize and be able to explain a soliloquy

Assessments: /
  • Reading Questions
  • Reading Quizzes
  • Exam

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.2, RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.6, RL.11-12.7
  • RI.11-12.1, RI.11-12.2, RI.11-12.3, RI.11-12.4, RI.11-12.5, RI.11-12.6, RI.11-12.7.
  • SL.11-12.1, SL.11-12.2, SL.11-12.4, SL.11-12.5

Shakespeare Blitz (Unit 5)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will be able to make arguments about Othello and Macbeth informed by feminist, post-colonialist and new historicisist approaches
  • Students will be able to use textual evidence to support their interpretations of a text

Subjects Covered: /
  • Feminist, New Historicist and Post-Colonialist interpretations
  • Cinthio’s The Moore of Venice
  • “O”
  • Non-fiction excerpts from Alexander Niccholes' A discourse, of marriage and wiving: and of the greatest Mystery therin contained
  • Excerpts from The History and Description of Africa by Leo Africanus
  • Collegiate Texts on Macbeth

Activities and Assesments: /
  • Focus Groups
  • Presentations
  • Essay Exam

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.11-12.1, RL.11-12.2, RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.6, RL.11-12.7
  • RI.11-12.1, RI.11-12.2, RI.11-12.3, RI.11-12.4, RI.11-12.5, RI.11-12.6, RI.11-12.7.
  • SL.11-12.1, SL.11-12.2, SL.11-12.4, SL.11-12.5

Brave New World (Unit 6)

Overall Objectives: /
  • Students will understand and recognize hegemonic power structures
  • Students will be able to connect the text with both its historical context and contemporary issues
  • Students will be able to use this historical context to explain the stark differences between Orwell’s and Huxley’s visions of the future
  • Students will explore the growing role of consumerism in America and cyclical patterns in socio-sexual values
  • Students will be able to formulate arguments based on Freudian analysis and post colonial concerns.

Subjects Covered: /
  • Satire
  • Nonfictional excerpts from Brave New World Revisited
  • Sci-fi and speculative fiction
  • Sexuality
  • Consumerism

Activities: /
  • Propaganda Projects
  • Historical Context group presentations

Assessments: /
  • Reading quizzes (multiple choice, reading comprehension)
  • Test (short answer and essay)
  • Propaganda Projects

Common Core Standards Covered: /
  • RL.11-12 3,6,9 and 10
  • RI.11-12 2 and 10
  • SL.11-12.2, SL.11-12.4, SL.11-12.5, SL.11-12.6