Grade11, Quarter 2, 3-5 Weeks

ELA Unit Overview

Unit Title: Achieving the Dream Deferred: Poetry and Drama in the 20th Century
Unifying Concept: Resilience Despite Adversity
Overview: This unit provides students with an opportunity to read twentieth-century American poetry and drama specifically, “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” or “Montage of a Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughesand A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Next, students will compare them to contemporary, or 21st century interpretations of both pieces. Throughout this unit, the class will focus on the various approaches to reading drama: aloud, cooperatively, independently, and acting it out, as well as critically viewing the movie version of the play. Students will focus on exploring themes related to family dynamics, the American Dream, civil rights issues, and overcoming adversity.
Purpose:
To determine the use of figurative language in poetry and drama
To analyze the impact of culture and race on family dynamics
To make connections among about race and identity as presented in a poem, drama, and essay
To write an argumentative essay using claim, warrant, reason, evidence, and counterclaim
To critique the difference between the original text and a movie
Enduring Understandings:
1. American Literature explores the conflicts that have shaped our nation.
2. Writers’ choice of words reflects their membership in various social, regional, and cultural groups. / Essential Questions:

In the face of adversity, what causes some individuals to prevail while others fail?
How does culture and/or society shape an individual’s understanding or concept of happiness?
How are people transformed through their relationships with others?
How has moral conflict shaped our country?

Target Standards are emphasized during the quarter and used in a formal assessment to evaluate student mastery.
Highly-Leveraged1 arethe most essential for students to learn because they have endurance (knowledge and skills are relevant throughout a student's lifetime); leverage (knowledge and skills are used across multiple content areas); and essentiality (knowledge and skills are necessary for success in future courses or grade levels).
11.RL.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
11.RL.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry); evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
11.W.1Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.
Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.

e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
11.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in context and analyze their role in the text.

b. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
Supportingare related standards that support the highly-leveraged standards in and across grade levels.
11.RL.1 Analyze and evaluate strong and thorough textual evidence to support a deep analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain and how they could be clarified.
11.RL.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.
11. RI.2 Determine two or more 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 provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
11.RI.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
11.W.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Apply grades 11–12 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics").

Apply grades 11–12 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning [e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court Case majority opinions and dissents] and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy [e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses]").
11.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
11.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech (e.g., conceive, conception, conceivable).
Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, its etymology, or its standard usage.

d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).
Constant Standards are addressed routinely every quarter.
11.RL.10
11.RI.1,10
11.W.4,5,6,10
11.SL.1,2,6
11.L.1,2,6
Selected Readings of Complex Texts
Extended/Short Texts:
“Harlem: A Dream Deferred” or “Montage of a Dream Deferred,” Langston Hughes
A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
Additional Instructional Resources
Electronic Resources and Alternative Media:
“Harlem: A Dream Deferred” or “Montage of a Dream Deferred” Langston Hughes

Nike ad for “Harlem: A Dream Deferred”

Teaching Tolerance: Lessons We Can Learn

“Reflections on a Dream Deferred”, Representative John Lewis

Trailer for the 2008 movie version of A Raisin in the Sun

MLA format:

AZ Merit Argumentative rubric

A Raisin in the Sun 2008 movie
Performance Assessments
Formative Assessments:
1. Application of TPS-FASTT analysis of “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” or “Montage of a Dream Deferred” Langston Hughes
2. Short argument: Does Nike accurately embrace the theme of “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” or “Montage of a Dream Deferred,” Langston Hughes
3. Timeline of the life of Representative John Lewis
4. Analysis of “Reflections on a Dream Deferred,” Representative John Lewis
5. Pre-Reading for A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry group presentation on exploring family dynamics and decision making
6. Writing about Larraine Hansberry’s history and motivation for writing this play
7. Performance of Act III.
8. Movie notes / Summative Assessments:
1. Response to “Reflections on a Dream Deferred” prompt from Teaching Tolerance: Lessons We Can Learn
2. Response to bonus question from pre-reading activity
3. Written responses to Make Your Own Study Guide.
4. Argumentative essay in MLA format
5. AKO School City Assessment
6. Movie critique

ELA Unit Overview

Grade11, Quarter 2, 3-5 Weeks

1This definition for highly-leveraged standards was adapted from the “power standard” definition on the website of Millis Public Schools, K-12, in Massachusetts, USA.