Unit 1 (10 Weeks)
The Individual, Influence, and American Society :
The Colonial Period (17/18th C.) and Today
Essential Questions:
What is the relationship between the individual and society?
What is our responsibility to others?
What is our responsibility to ourselves?
How do persuasion and propaganda influence our actions and decisions?
What is hypocrisy and how does it impact individuals?
Does alienation lead to self-discovery?
Intro Clip: Seinfeld
Poems – 17/18 th Centuries
“On Being Brought from Aftrica to America” Wheatley
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Bradstreet
“Upon the Burning of Our House” Bradstreet
Sermon – 18 th Century
“Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God”
Major Works
The Scarlet Letter (Puritanism and Romanticism)
Film
The Crucible
Comparative Analysis Essay/Critical Lens
Personal Essays
“Flavio’s Home” Parks
“Salvation” Hughes
Informational Essays
“The Singer Solution to Poverty” (Ethos, Pathos, Logos)
“Why People Don’t Help in a Crisis”
Argumentative/Synthesis Writing
Unit 2 (10 Weeks)
Government and the Individual:
18th-19th Century America and Today
Essential Questions:
What does it mean to be an American?
What is the American Government’s responsibility to the individual?
What is civil law? What is moral law? What is more important?
What happens when the government ignores moral law?
Intro Film:
Iron Jawed Angels
Poems - 19th Century
“I Hear America Singing” Whitman
“O Captain, My Captain!” Whitman
Personal Essays
“What is an American” (1793) Crevecoeur
“What is an American” (1993) Hudgins
“Civil Disobedience” Thoreau (Transcendentalism)
Letters
Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Informational Texts
Declaration of Independence (Quick Recap)
Speeches
Declaration of Sentiments
“Ain’t I a Woman?” Truth
Gettysburg Address, Lincoln
Major Works
Frederick Douglass Selections
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Satire)
Thematic Paragraphs
Critical Lens/Analysis Essay
Unit 3 (8 Weeks)
The American Dream Research Project: Research and Synthesis/Visual Literacy
Essential Questions Socratic Seminar
What is the American Dream? What elements are required?
Where are its roots? Where does the idea come from?
What has been achieved if someone is said to be living the American Dream?
Does the American Dream exist in theory and reality in history? Be specific.
Does the American Dream exist in theory and reality today? Be specific.
This unit is intended to increase each student’s ability to research and synthesize various sources to argue an original thesis. Each topic will be based around the concept of the America Dream and whether or not it exists today.
The synthesis paper is the foundation and most necessary element of the culminating documentary that students will create using MovieMaker. The paper will become a script, and then a storyboard, and then a documentary for presentation.
·Identify a topic that demonstrates either an inequality/shortcoming in the realization of the American Dream or a topic that demonstrates the strength and validity of the American Dream.
·Provide scholarly evidence that this inequality in or validation of the American Dream exists and to what extent, where it comes from, etc.
·Provide suggestions to overcome the shortcoming or inequality. If the inequality is justifiable (understandable, acceptable) then explain why it is so and why it should remain intact; or provide an explanation of why your topic validates the idea of the American Dream.
Unit 4 (8 Weeks)
The American Dream in the Major Movements of the 20th Century: Group Projects
Essential Questions:
What is the American Dream? Where are its roots?
Does the American Dream exist in theory and reality?
What is Modernism? Naturalism? Realism? The Harlem Renaissance?
How do these movements portray the American Dream in literature?
Poems
“The Hollow Men” T.S. Eliot
“I, too, Sing America” Langston Hughes
"As I Grew Older"Langston Hughes
"Incident" Countee Cullen
"Strange Fruit" Lewis Allen
"Out -Out!" Robert Frost
Personal Essays
“Indian Education” Alexie
“Fish Cheeks” Tan
"Champion of the World" Angelou
Major Works (Choices)
The Awakening, Chopin
The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald
Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
Informational Texts
“Text of Proposition 187”
“No Speak English”
Unit 5 (4 Weeks)
Personal Growth Projects: Who do you want to be?: An Individual Thematic Unit
The Individual, Influence, and American Society :
The Colonial Period (17/18th C.) and Today
Essential Questions:
What is the relationship between the individual and society?
What is our responsibility to others?
What is our responsibility to ourselves?
How do persuasion and propaganda influence our actions and decisions?
What is hypocrisy and how does it impact individuals?
Does alienation lead to self-discovery?
Intro Clip: Seinfeld
Poems – 17/18 th Centuries
“On Being Brought from Aftrica to America” Wheatley
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Bradstreet
“Upon the Burning of Our House” Bradstreet
Sermon – 18 th Century
“Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God”
Major Works
The Scarlet Letter (Puritanism and Romanticism)
Film
The Crucible
Comparative Analysis Essay/Critical Lens
Personal Essays
“Flavio’s Home” Parks
“Salvation” Hughes
Informational Essays
“The Singer Solution to Poverty” (Ethos, Pathos, Logos)
“Why People Don’t Help in a Crisis”
Argumentative/Synthesis Writing
Unit 2 (10 Weeks)
Government and the Individual:
18th-19th Century America and Today
Essential Questions:
What does it mean to be an American?
What is the American Government’s responsibility to the individual?
What is civil law? What is moral law? What is more important?
What happens when the government ignores moral law?
Intro Film:
Iron Jawed Angels
Poems - 19th Century
“I Hear America Singing” Whitman
“O Captain, My Captain!” Whitman
Personal Essays
“What is an American” (1793) Crevecoeur
“What is an American” (1993) Hudgins
“Civil Disobedience” Thoreau (Transcendentalism)
Letters
Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Informational Texts
Declaration of Independence (Quick Recap)
Speeches
Declaration of Sentiments
“Ain’t I a Woman?” Truth
Gettysburg Address, Lincoln
Major Works
Frederick Douglass Selections
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Satire)
Thematic Paragraphs
Critical Lens/Analysis Essay
Unit 3 (8 Weeks)
The American Dream Research Project: Research and Synthesis/Visual Literacy
Essential Questions Socratic Seminar
What is the American Dream? What elements are required?
Where are its roots? Where does the idea come from?
What has been achieved if someone is said to be living the American Dream?
Does the American Dream exist in theory and reality in history? Be specific.
Does the American Dream exist in theory and reality today? Be specific.
This unit is intended to increase each student’s ability to research and synthesize various sources to argue an original thesis. Each topic will be based around the concept of the America Dream and whether or not it exists today.
The synthesis paper is the foundation and most necessary element of the culminating documentary that students will create using MovieMaker. The paper will become a script, and then a storyboard, and then a documentary for presentation.
·Identify a topic that demonstrates either an inequality/shortcoming in the realization of the American Dream or a topic that demonstrates the strength and validity of the American Dream.
·Provide scholarly evidence that this inequality in or validation of the American Dream exists and to what extent, where it comes from, etc.
·Provide suggestions to overcome the shortcoming or inequality. If the inequality is justifiable (understandable, acceptable) then explain why it is so and why it should remain intact; or provide an explanation of why your topic validates the idea of the American Dream.
Unit 4 (8 Weeks)
The American Dream in the Major Movements of the 20th Century: Group Projects
Essential Questions:
What is the American Dream? Where are its roots?
Does the American Dream exist in theory and reality?
What is Modernism? Naturalism? Realism? The Harlem Renaissance?
How do these movements portray the American Dream in literature?
Poems
“The Hollow Men” T.S. Eliot
“I, too, Sing America” Langston Hughes
"As I Grew Older"Langston Hughes
"Incident" Countee Cullen
"Strange Fruit" Lewis Allen
"Out -Out!" Robert Frost
Personal Essays
“Indian Education” Alexie
“Fish Cheeks” Tan
"Champion of the World" Angelou
Major Works (Choices)
The Awakening, Chopin
The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald
Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
Informational Texts
“Text of Proposition 187”
“No Speak English”
Unit 5 (4 Weeks)
Personal Growth Projects: Who do you want to be?: An Individual Thematic Unit