Highlights of Unit 3: Turning Points
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
As a class, in small groups, and independently, students will work to answer the question What can cause a sudden change in someone’s life? Give your student the opportunity to continue the discussion at home.
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TALK DISCUSS
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• What are some of the ways you could answer the question What can cause a sudden change in someone’s life?
• What do these texts say about life-altering changes? What kinds of reactions or situations would cause people or a
or a per. person to make a changes to his or her life?
• Why do you think turning points are so popular in the media and in books and film?
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UNIT 3 SELECTION TITLES, AUTHORS, GENRES
WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING
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“Thank You, M’am”
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Langston Hughes
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short story
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from An American
Childhood
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Annie Dillard
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memoir
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“Little Things Are Big”
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Jesús Colón
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reflective essay
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“Profile: Malala Yousafzai”
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BBC
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news article
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“A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley,” Act 1
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Israel Horovitz
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drama
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“A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley,” Act 2
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Israel Horovitz
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drama
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INDEPENDENT LEARNING
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“Noor Inayat Khan”
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Kathryn J. Atwood
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biography
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“A Retrieved Reformation”
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O. Henry
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short story
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“Urban Farming Is
Growing a Greener
Future”
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Hillary Schwei
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media: photo gallery
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PERFORMANCE TASKS AND PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT
End-of-Unit Performance-Based Summative Assessment 45%
After completing the Whole-Class section of the unit, students will learn how to put together a cause-and-effect, character analysis essay. He or she will be writing to answer the question How does a character from one of our texts transform and grow?
Performance Task Presentation (45%)
After completing the Whole-Class section of the unit, the student will work independently to create a multimedia presentation that examines an article or short story (non-fiction or fiction) that conveys personal growth in the character and relates to growth experienced in their own life. The student will draw on personal comparisons and experiences of reflection and growth.
Activities and assignments in Unit 3 will help your student meet the following Common Core State Standards for reading literature and informational texts, writing, and speaking and listening. Here are some key standards students will work toward mastering in this unit.
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Reading
• Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
• Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
• Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
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Writing
• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
• Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
Speaking and Listening
• Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
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Thank you for your continuing support!