Ninth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Lord of the Flies
Lesson 1
The Call
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly lists determining a theme or central idea and analyzing its development, matching the wording of the standard. Activity 1 (Option 1 and Option 2) asks students to identify common elements of dystopian works and to anticipate which elements they might see in Lord of the Flies, and the homework directs students to consider how the island may shift from utopia to dystopia. The Reading and Questions section has students recount Chapter 1 events (e.g., conch, leadership choices) that provide concrete details students can reference.
Lesson 3
Paths in the Jungle
Students are instructed to read an article and identify the author's thesis and supporting points (Activity 1). Students annotate the text, underline topic sentences, and mark key terms and evidence as they read, and then fill a graphic organizer with a space for the "Author's main argument/thesis" and a column for "Key points that support the thesis." The Parent Plan explicitly directs students to locate the thesis (noting it appears in a specific sentence) and to record supporting points and reactions on the Student Activity Page.
Lesson 4
Images from Paradise
Students are asked to find and label examples of imagery from the book and mark each as "paradise" or "dystopia," which prompts them to link specific details to thematic tone. Discussion questions (e.g., "Do groups control individuals…?" and "How does a society maintain order?") require students to consider underlying ideas about society and order. Students keep STEAL character pages and answer questions about why "things are breaking up," which has them track character behavior and emerging problems across chapters.
Lesson 6
Symbolism, Part 1
Students are explicitly assigned the skill in the Parent Plan: "Determine a theme or central idea...and provide an objective summary," showing the goal is stated for learners. Students complete the "Conch and the Glasses" activity in which they circle interpretations of symbols and write explanations supported by the text, requiring them to use specific details as evidence. Students are prompted in discussion questions to consider how the conch's importance changes from the beginning to later chapters, which asks them to analyze development over time. Students write a one-page journal that requires recording actions and quotes from other characters, promoting synthesis of textual details about character effects and shifts.
Lesson 7
Bowed and Bowed Again
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly lists the standard: students should "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text." The lesson asks students to continue recording characters' actions and thoughts on STEAL character pages across chapters (homework and reading questions), and the 'Ideas to Think About' and 'Questions to Discuss' prompt analysis of themes such as fear, group dynamics, and societal order. The activity 'The Beast' has students compare characters' knowledge with the reader's knowledge, which requires analyzing how specific details (the parachutist, reactions) shape interpretation.
Lesson 8
Defects of Human Nature
Students are asked to identify the major (central) theme and supporting minor themes using Golding's own statement about the novel's central idea. In the "Determine the Theme" activities (Options 1 and 2) students choose themes from a list, cite details from Lord of the Flies to support their selections, and write 3–4 sentence explanations linking evidence to theme. The parent-plan skills section explicitly lists determining a theme and analyzing its development, and discussion prompts ask students to review how themes relate to characters and plot.
Lesson 9
Symbolism, Part 2
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly tells students to "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text." The Allegory Analysis activity asks students to describe abstract ideas that characters and the island might represent, prompting interpretation of theme-related elements. The Recognizing Archetypes activity and the STEAL character pages ask students to identify character types and collect character evidence as they read, supporting analysis of character-driven meaning.
Lesson 10
Which Is Better?
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly tells students to "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text." In Activity 1 students compare the boys' descent into savagery with characteristics of early civilizations and respond to Piggy's quoted question about rules versus violence, prompting thematic analysis. Activity 2 requires students to write a one-page journal entry analyzing Jack's leadership and contrasting it with Ralph's and pre-island civilized life, engaging students in analysis of themes and character development.
Lesson 11
The Film
Students are asked to complete a "Movie vs. Book" chart with a specific row for Theme where they record similarities and differences between the novel and the film. Journal questions ask students to identify scenes omitted from the film that were "too critical to the major theme" and to explain why. The provided answer key highlights theme development observations (e.g., the struggle between Ralph and Jack, the source of the boys' problems, and the symbolic power of the conch) that students can use to compare how theme is presented in both formats.
Final Project
Now You Have the Conch
The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill: "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text." Student-facing tasks require students to choose a prompt, develop a thesis, locate passages (Brainstorming step 2), and record specific examples and page numbers to support claims. The Outline / Essay Organizer and Guided Outline direct students to include specific examples/quotes and explain how those examples support each topic sentence. The Unit Test and essay prompts ask students to identify themes, analyze symbols and character change across the novel and to explain their significance.
Unit 2: Short Stories
Lesson 1
The Gift of the Magi
Students are asked directly, in QUESTION #1, to identify the central theme of "The Gift of the Magi," with model answers that articulate themes (e.g., love more valuable than material wealth). The Student Activity Page includes a dedicated Theme section where students write an explanation of the story's theme. Annotation and homework instructions require students to mark important words/phrases, key events, character traits, and repetitions of thematic opposites to help them discover the story's main theme, and the Parent Plan lists citing textual evidence as a skill to develop.
Lesson 2
The Necklace
Students identify and record the central theme on a theme web by reviewing their annotations and noting repetitive literary elements (imagery, symbolism, characterization) that point to a main idea. Students re-read annotated sections and compare contexts where repetitions occur to show how the theme emerges and is shaped by specific details. Students write a one-paragraph objective summary that must include the title, author, setting, major plot points, and the story's central idea while using the narrative present and avoiding personal opinion.
Lesson 4
Characterization
Students are asked to identify and label direct and indirect characterization of Mrs. Jones and Roger using quotes and descriptions from Langston Hughes's "Thank You, Ma'am," recording examples in the Characterization activity sheet. Students answer text-dependent questions that require them to cite evidence about Roger's change and Mrs. Jones's actions and motivations. Students are prompted to consider how the author's characterizations advance the plot or develop the theme and to discuss lessons Mrs. Jones tries to teach Roger.
Lesson 5
Edgar Allan Poe
Students read "The Tell-Tale Heart" and complete targeted tasks that require citing text details (e.g., Gothic Characteristics activity where they provide specific examples from the story, and the Foreshadowing activity where they locate 3–4 instances and explain what they refer to). Students analyze narrator reliability by listing textual evidence for and against the narrator's sanity and then answering whether the narrator is trustworthy (Crazy Like a Fox? worksheet). Students create a storyboard with 6–8 panels and must quote corresponding sections of the story beneath each panel, requiring them to link specific details to parts of the narrative.
Lesson 6
The Lottery
Students are directed to perform close readings of all passages that mention the black wooden box and to record physical descriptions, townspeople reactions, and historical connections on a three-part worksheet. Students are asked to use those textual notes to explain what the black box represents and how the symbol contributes to the plot or themes (e.g., links to the village's violent tradition). The answer key and discussion prompts require students to cite textual evidence about the box's worn condition, townspeople's wary behavior, and vague historical memory to support symbolic interpretations.
Lesson 7
Everyday Use
Students are asked to identify the narrator's point of view (Question #1) and to explain the significance of the story's title (Question #5), connecting it to Maggie's inheritance and use of the quilts. Discussion prompts ask students to explain why Dee changes and how Maggie and Dee's differing experiences shape their understanding of heritage, which asks them to link character actions and changes to thematic meaning. Activities require students to analyze symbolism (linking physical details and actions to cultural themes) and to rewrite a scene from another character's point of view and reflect on how that shift changes meaning.
Lesson 8
Harrison Bergeron
Students read the complete short story "Harrison Bergeron" and answer guided questions that focus on the story's main issues (e.g., what created the society, whether excellence and equality conflict, and what point of view is used). Students analyze theme-related ideas through journal prompts and discussion (freedom, equality, individual excellence) and complete an activity page that asks them to compare and contrast theme and content between the text and its film adaptation. The activity page and parent notes require students to identify specific scenes, character changes, and elements that were added, altered, or deleted, which directs them to use textual and cinematic details to support their analyses.
Final Project
Writing a Short Story
Students are prompted to brainstorm and record 'Theme(s)' as a distinct story element and to 'establish a theme' in the Writing Tips checklist. Students are directed during revision to strengthen a vague theme by using dialogue, symbolism, or adding scenes, and reader-review pages ask reviewers to comment on clarity of plot, characterization, and related big-picture elements. The introduction and parent notes also state students practiced identifying short story themes earlier in the unit.
Unit 4: Poetry
Lesson 1
Introduction to Poetry
Students read and mark whole poems (e.g., "Introduction to Poetry" and "Richard Cory") and answer guided questions about who characters/references refer to and what the poem says. Students identify specific words and phrases with notable denotations and connotations, underline them, and explain how those word choices communicate ideas (e.g., noting "sole to crown," "imperially slim," or Dickinson's "frigate" example). Students complete worksheets that require writing denotations, connotations, similar words, and evaluating the effectiveness of particular word choices.
Lesson 4
Voice and Tone
Students are asked to "determine central ideas or themes" in the Parent Plan Skills list, indicating an intended learning target about central ideas. Students identify speakers and list three things they know about each speaker in Activity 1, and they identify tone words and cite specific words or phrases that convey tone in Activity 2. In the Frost activities, students analyze line-by-line tone changes and record sensory images and interruptions, demonstrating practice analyzing how an element (tone) develops across a poem.
Lesson 5
What Does It Mean?
Students are prompted to "write a brief summary of the poem in your own words" and to "summarize each stanza" for longer poems, giving explicit practice in summarizing. Multiple activity questions ask students to identify a poem's theme or central idea (e.g., "Does the poem seem to have a theme? If so, what is it?" and Activity question #9 about theme). The Fish homework asks students to "Notice the progression of the poem" and to describe how the speaker's feelings change from beginning to middle to end, which practices analyzing how ideas develop across a poem.
Lesson 7
Analyzing Poetry
Students are asked to fill a Poetry Map that includes boxes for 'Summarize in your own words' and 'Theme,' and to paraphrase and summarize 'Blackberry-Picking.' The lesson prompts students to analyze word choice, imagery, symbols/allusions (including looking up Bluebeard), and to note where and how the tone changes in the poem. Annotation and the Poetry Puzzle activities require students to mark specific words and details and to explain how repetition and selected words contribute to the poem's topic and tone.
Lesson 8
Types of Poems
Students analyze sonnet structure: they mark rhyme schemes and iambic pentameter, identify Petrarchan octaves that introduce a problem and sestets that present a solution (Milton example), and note Shakespearean quatrains that establish a problem with a resolving couplet. Students read and write short synopses of narrative poems (e.g., "The Spellin'-Bee" and "The Mistletoe Bough") and answer directed questions about speaker, tone, and plot. In the ekphrasis activity students fill a chart explaining what each poem says about its artwork and how the poet changes or adds meaning, which asks them to analyze development of idea relative to the artwork.
Lesson 9
The Crossover
The homework Option 1 directs students to compare meaning of the word "crossover" in two specific sections ("Where Do We Go from Here" pp. 227-228 and "Free Throws" pp. 234-237) and to explain how its meaning changes over the course of the book. The Skills section explicitly asks students to "analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot." The reading tasks require students to finish the book and answer comprehension questions about plot and character events.
Lesson 10
Poems and Poets
The Parent Plan explicitly instructs students to "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text." The Poetry Map student page asks students to "Summarize in your own words" and to identify the poem's "Theme," and guides students to analyze word choice, imagery, symbols, tone, sound devices, and stanza/speaker. Activity 4 directs students to write a journal response that both summarizes a poem and explains how cultural references enrich or shape its meaning.
Lesson 11
Reciting Poetry
Students are instructed to "consider the poem's meaning," to "determine who the speaker is and what the poem's tone is," and to look up unfamiliar words and pronunciations, which supports close reading and interpretation. The Parent Plan lists skills including: "Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences... cite specific textual evidence" and "Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text." Students also analyze the cumulative impact of word choices and practice marking pauses and images to convey meaning.
Final Project
Poetry
The Skills section explicitly directs students to "Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." Choice 5 (Poetry Explication) requires students to examine literal meaning, the poem's theme, and layers of meaning and to analyze structure, sound devices, word choice, figurative language, symbols, and imagery. The explication task asks students to put poem sections on individual slides and demonstrate the aspects they are discussing, which has students analyze parts of the text and how details contribute to meaning.
Unit 5: Nonfiction
Lesson 1
Types of Nonfiction
Students are asked to use the "All About a Person" activity to identify whether a book is a biography, autobiography, or memoir and to cite specific front- and back-matter (map, table of contents, glossary, timeline, photos) as evidence that the work is nonfiction. Students are directed to note the major theme of the book so far and to add notes on how characters, setting, and plot events contribute to that theme. Students compare themes, viewpoints, and evidence across books and are prompted to support comparisons with specific examples from the texts and catalog/front matter.
Lesson 3
The Taliban
The Parent Plan Skills list explicitly includes "Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." Students are directed to read Chapters 7, 8, and 10 of I Am Malala and answer comprehension questions that require identifying key details. In Activity Option 1 and Option 2, students must synthesize information from a PBS article into an informational paragraph or slide(s), which requires summarizing and paraphrasing source material in their own words.
Lesson 5
Displacement
The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill "Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas," which indicates the lesson targets that competence. Students are asked to read Chapters 16–17 (and 18–19 for homework) and answer specific comprehension questions about events and details in the text. Activities ask students to compare schools and consider why education and literacy are important, which can connect to identifying thematic elements about education.
Lesson 6
A Day Like Any Other
The Parent Plan lists the skill "Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text," and students are asked to read chapters and answer comprehension questions about events (e.g., the bus shooting, online death threat). Activity 1 requires students to choose a decision by Malala or her father and use the APE strategy to "Answer, Prove, Extend," which asks students to restate a claim, provide textual quotations or examples as evidence, and explain how the evidence supports their claim. The wrapping-up discussion prompts ask students to identify foreshadowing and consider how events and nightmares anticipate later outcomes, which engages them in tracing development across chapters.
Lesson 8
Civil Rights
Students read both halves of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and answer targeted questions about its claims (e.g., listing the four steps to a nonviolent campaign and identifying the most persuasive argument). Students analyze excerpts by underlining portions, stating agreement or disagreement, and identifying historical figures and allusions King uses (People of the Past activity). Students also respond to comprehension questions about specific ideas in the letter (e.g., the "misconception of time" and how the destiny of the black community ties to America's destiny).
Lesson 9
Civil Disobedience
Students analyze paired excerpts from Thoreau and King by highlighting similar phrases and filling an "Overlapping Ideas" column, practicing identification of central claims and supporting details across passages. Students read multiple excerpts from "Civil Disobedience" and answer guided questions, engaging directly with text details to explain authors' views. Students compare opposing quotes on topics such as America, government, and voting and write explanations of which author's view they align with, synthesizing ideas across texts.
Lesson 10
Learning from the Past
Students read both halves of Elie Wiesel's speech and complete close-reading tasks (annotating, vocabulary, and short-answer questions) that ask them to notice style, tone, and key assertions. Activity 3 asks students to skim the speech to find a statement that is a universal truth and to draft a paragraph using quotations from Wiesel and other figures to support their claim. Other items ask students to paraphrase specific quotes and find textual evidence that supports particular ideas (e.g., that memory prevents repeating disasters).
Lesson 11
A Boy's Story
Students read the book's chronology (pp. 222-224) and track who was involved and how the war began and progressed, which requires them to identify major events and causes. Students watch an author interview and answer a question asking what the author says the book tries to explain, prompting them to state an authorial purpose or central idea. Students answer comprehension questions about the RUF's goals, why the war continued, and why it lasted so long, using specific details from the text and video to support those answers.
Lesson 12
Running from War
Students read multiple chapters and answer targeted comprehension questions and brief chapter summaries, which requires them to identify and restate important events and details. Students use the APE strategy for homework, requiring them to Answer a prompt, Prove their answer with a quotation from the text (integrating quotations using methods taught in Activity 1), and Extend by explaining how the quotation supports their answer. Students complete activities that require selecting correctly punctuated quotations and writing introductions to quotations in context, which practices drawing and citing textual evidence to support claims.
Lesson 13
Child Soldier
Students answer targeted comprehension and analysis questions about specific chapters (e.g., why the lieutenant shows bodies, why commanders repeat certain lines, why pills are given) that require them to trace how details shape characters' motivations. The "Role of Rap" activity asks students to explain what role music plays in story and character development and to consider music as a symbol, which asks them to analyze how a recurring detail contributes to meaning. The "Different Accounts" activity asks students to fill in book and video columns with quotes or examples and to compare how the two sources present topics, requiring students to track how ideas are presented and supported by specific details.
Lesson 14
Rehabilitation
The Parent Plan lists skills that ask students to "draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis" and to "analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made," which directs students to track development across chapters. Activity 1 and Option 2 require students to form a conclusion about whether the government army committed war crimes and to provide examples or quotations from the text, asking students to locate specific details that shape an argument about the book's themes. The "Wiesel's Words" activity asks students to choose a quotation that applies to Beah's memoir and explain, using specific examples from the book or video, which supports theme identification and textual evidence use.
Lesson 15
A New Life
Students are taught how to write summaries with explicit steps (read, annotate, identify main point, write 1-2 paragraph summaries) and are assigned to read Chapter 20 and summarize it in their journals. The lesson includes chapter-specific questions that ask students to identify key events and main concerns (e.g., why the author worried about living with a family, what happens in May 1997). The Parent Plan explicitly lists the target standard (determine a central idea and provide an objective summary) as a skill students will practice.
Final Project
Expository Essay
Students are asked to develop a clear thesis that "answers" a research question and the rubric explicitly rates a thesis that "expresses the main idea with clear and specific language." The curriculum requires students to use quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing (with an activity sheet) and to select three key facts from sources to support their thesis. The K‑N‑S graphic organizer and the "Emergent main idea" prompt ask students to articulate an emergent main idea early in their planning. The APE (Answer, Prove, Extend) method and instruction to connect supporting facts to the thesis guide students to link details to their central claim.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students are asked to explain what theme is and identify a theme in a short story (Part IV, Question 8) and to answer discussion prompts that require explaining authors' ideas (e.g., civil disobedience, Thoreau and King; the memoir controversy; Wiesel on remembering war). The exam includes short-answer and discussion tasks that ask students to analyze symbols, point of view, and how authors use dialogue and rhetoric, which requires students to interpret central ideas and elements that support them. The Nonfiction unit review explicitly asks students to understand differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, and students must paraphrase and correctly integrate quotations in Part V.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: Ender's Game
Lesson 4
Divergence
The Parent Plan lists the skill: "Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme," which directs students to analyze development across a text. Discussion questions ask students to describe Bernard and to interpret Ender's strategic choices, prompting students to examine character motivations and interactions. Homework questions on Chapter 7 require students to explain character traits, interpret a passage about anger, and explain how Ender is improving, which engages students with specific textual details.
Lesson 5
Movement and Time
The Skills section asks students to "analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise." Activity 2 and the Student Activity Page require students to find a specific flashback in Chapter 5, explain its definition and functions, describe what insights it gives about Ender, and explain how it increases tension. Activity 1 asks students to perform a close reading of an action sequence and attend to the specific details the author uses to convey motion.
Lesson 6
Performance Is Personal
The Text Structure activity asks students to review opening conversations, identify foreshadowing, explain how those conversations create tension, and discuss the roles of the two authority figures introduced in Chapter 8, requiring students to cite specific textual details. The Parent Plan lists skills to "analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text" and to "analyze how complex characters... develop over the course of a text," which students practice in the Competing Commanders and Text Structure activities. The Competing Commanders task has students select evaluative criteria, score commanders, and justify rankings, prompting students to analyze character behavior and development across multiple episodes.
Lesson 8
Flies and Self-Loathing
Students are asked to identify and compare themes in Activity 2 (Lord of the Flies vs. Ender's Game) with prompts such as "What are the themes of the two novels?" and related questions about setting, leadership, and consequences. The Parent Plan lists the skill to "Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole." The lesson also directs students to "review Ender's perception of his own actions" and to evaluate Ender's actions rather than simply accept his self-view.
Lesson 9
Conflict Within and Without
Students identify and categorize examples of internal and external conflict from Ender's Game using a chart, and they are instructed to consider how each conflict fits into the story's theme and plot. Students circle which theme they feel is most central to the novel and write a journal paragraph describing the development of that conflict over the course of the text. Activity prompts (e.g., analyzing the chapter title "Veni, vidi, vici") ask students to explain how an element of the text foreshadows plot development and to write short analytical paragraphs.
Lesson 11
Thud, Whump, Huut
Students answer targeted comprehension questions for Chapters 14 and 15 that require summarizing events (e.g., why Ender can't return to Earth, what he learns about the buggers). Students compare a chosen book scene to its movie version by re-reading and re-watching, taking notes on information or dialogue omitted or changed. In the comic-book option, students use a provided activity page to identify narration or dialogue omitted, judge whether pictures convey the same message, and note how omissions affect meaning.
Lesson 12
Campbell's Comparisons
Students watch a video summarizing Campbell's 12-step hero's journey and record the steps in their journals. They choose six steps and use a graphic organizer to describe parallels between those steps and specific episodes in Ender's Game, with suggested mappings (e.g., Call to Adventure = Graff recruits Ender; Trials = battle school tests). Students retake an issues survey and are asked to discuss whether and how examples from the novel changed their views.
Lesson 13
The Enemy's Gate Is Down
The Parent Plan lists as a skill: "Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas," and Activities ask students to analyze how the Graff and Peter/Valentine subplots enhance the main plot and themes. Students complete the "Discovering Subplots" page where they identify mysteries, unanswered questions, and how subplots relate to Ender's story, and they write one- to two-sentence summaries of four leadership lessons from a Forbes article. Discussion questions ask students to explain what themes or ideas would be missing if a subplot were removed.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly tells students to "determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." Multiple activities require thematic analysis across the novel: Box 5 asks students to write 2–3 paragraphs comparing and contrasting military and civilian leadership as portrayed in Ender's Game, and Box 6 asks students to map six hero's-journey steps to events across the novel and create a storyboard showing those developments. The wrapping-up reflection directs students to consider key themes (leadership, empathy, ethical use of power) and how problem-solving and decision-making are influenced by understanding perspectives.
Unit 3: Informational Texts
Lesson 1
What Are Informational Texts?
Students answer focused comprehension questions about the assigned Outliers excerpt (e.g., explain how Rosetans migrated to Pennsylvania; identify why Stewart Wolf studied them; state the researchers' determination that a close-knit community explained their health). After watching Gladwell's TED talk, students write/journal what they know about David and Goliath and discuss questions that ask them to analyze Gladwell's reinterpretation and the specific reasons he gives for his claim. Activity prompts also ask students to locate and interpret informational text features and to infer vocabulary meaning from context (e.g., "egalitarian ethos").
Lesson 2
Outliers
Students reread the Introduction to locate where Gladwell defines "outlier" (pages cited) and identify how he uses the Roseto study as an analogy to shape his argument. Students answer guided questions about how Gladwell introduces and develops ideas (e.g., finding dictionary definitions on p. 3, the definition on p. 7, and re-reading pp. 10–11 to see the Roseto analogy). Students read "The Matthew Effect" (pp. 15–34) and answer comprehension questions that require explaining how the birthday cutoff and other details produce and reinforce the chapter's main idea.
Lesson 3
The Matthew Effect
The Parent Plan skills list explicitly names the standard, indicating students should determine central ideas and analyze their development. Homework questions (Q2–Q4) ask students to explain the claim "Achievement is talent plus preparation," explain the 10,000-hour rule, and describe how the author relates that rule back to the sports examples, which requires identifying key ideas and connecting them across sections. The Wrap-Up paragraph gives a concise summary of "The Matthew Effect" chapter and class discussion questions prompt students to state and defend the chapter's main point about older players gaining practice advantages.
Lesson 4
The 10,000 Hour Rule
Students are asked to briefly summarize the focus of Sections 1–3 and answer guided Analysis Questions about how Gladwell introduces Bill Joy, why he pauses the story to include scientific studies, and how Section 3 adds to understanding of the 10,000-hour idea. Activity 2 directs students to mark key opportunities in the Beatles or Bill Gates examples as they read and then transform those details into a visual that connects the example to the rest of the chapter. Discussion/wrapping-up prompts ask students to evaluate Gladwell's view on talent versus opportunity, requiring synthesis of details across sections.
Lesson 5
Harlan, Kentucky
Students read Chapter 6 (pp. 162–176) and answer focused comprehension questions that ask them to identify the pattern of violence in nineteenth-century Appalachia and to define and explain a "culture of honor." Students explain the University of Michigan experiment and connect chapter content to cultural legacies in the Homework and Wrapping Up sections by reflecting on how early settlers influenced contemporary behaviors and stereotypes.
Lesson 6
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
The Parent Plan skills list explicitly includes the standard language about determining a central idea and analyzing its development. Activity 2 (Read and Predict) asks students to read specified sections and answer questions about which details provide clues, the purpose of descriptive sections, and how sections connect to the rest of the chapter. Activity 4 and Activity 5 require students to identify the blog author's primary objections, summarize those objections (Option 1 oral summary), and analyze Gladwell's responses, which asks students to trace how Gladwell develops and supports his conclusions with specific details.
Lesson 7
Rice Paddies and Math Tests
The lesson's skills list explicitly names the target standard and asks students to "determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development" and to "draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis." Students read Sections 1–7 of the chapter and answer specific comprehension questions that target main claims (e.g., why Asian students learn counting/fractions faster, how rice farming differs from other farming, and how hard work relates to math success). The homework/mini-project asks students to create an infographic that clearly communicates a chosen concept from the chapter, which requires condensing information and using textual details to explain that concept.
Lesson 8
With Malice Toward None
The Parent Plan explicitly lists the standard and states that students will "read and analyze President Lincoln's 'Second Inaugural Address'" and identify rhetorical strategies, tone, and organization to communicate a message. The Homework asks students to choose three sentences that represent background, main message, and a forward-looking statement, requiring students to locate and mark the speech's organizing structure and main idea across the text. The Lincoln's Literary Devices activity and student chart require students to identify specific quotes, name literary devices (parallelism, antithesis, allusion), and explain the devices' intended effects on the audience, tying details to the speech's message.
Lesson 9
Writing about History
The Parent Plan skills explicitly state that students will "determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text." Students complete tasks that require summarizing across sources (e.g., listing facts all three summaries agree upon) and selecting indispensable excerpts of Chivington's testimony to include in a summary. The Student Activity Page directs students to "Compare a firsthand account to a secondary source of the same event," and the homework asks students to identify how an author organizes facts (listing subtitles) and to explain that organizational choice.
Lesson 10
Science Writing
The Parent Plan lists skills that ask students to "cite specific textual evidence" and to "determine how an author explains or clarifies a scientific phenomenon and trace how supporting details are incorporated in the author's explanation." The Investigating Claims activity asks students to explain how the author supports two specific claims and to identify the methods the author uses to explain terms like "centripetal force." The discussion prompts and answer key ask students to evaluate whether the booklet provides enough detail and to support that evaluation with specific examples from the text.
Lesson 11
Technical Writing
In Activity 1, students are instructed to ‘discover the purpose(s) of the information in the paragraph' by annotating the passage to identify main topics, underline terms, and mark areas for paragraph breaks, headings, or lists. The Student Activity and Parent Plan show an expected reorganization into labeled sections (e.g., Hydroponics; Coco Coir Processing; Advantages; Disadvantages), which requires students to identify the central topics/purpose of the text. In multiple places (homework and Activity 6) students write an introduction and a conclusion for their own how-to guide and are asked to include supporting information from an outside source and a concluding statement that follows from the information presented.
Lesson 12
Logical Fallacies
Students are asked to identify the main point (thesis) of Lou Gehrig's speech and explain how he supports it (Activity Option 1 asks: "What is the main point, or thesis, of Gehrig's talk (logos)?" and "How does he support his thesis?"). In Option 2 students read Andrew Jackson's speech, highlight weak arguments, and associate passages with specific fallacies, showing they analyze how particular details function in the text. The Parent Plan lists skills including determining an author's point of view or purpose and delineating and evaluating arguments and specific claims, which aligns with identifying central claims and evidence.
Final Project
Argumentative Research Essay
Students are asked to record source titles and quotes/ideas on the "Present the Evidence" activity page and to write responses about how each piece of evidence influences their thinking, which supports extracting main ideas from source texts. The Classical Argument and Narration sections ask students to provide background information and to state positions clearly, which requires identifying central claims and relevant supporting details. The Use of Sources rubric and instructions on paraphrase/summary/quotation require students to summarize or paraphrase source material when integrating evidence into their essays.
Unit 4: Drama
Lesson 2
How to Read Drama
Students are asked to identify the play's Thought or Unifying Theme on the Applying Aristotle's Six Elements of Tragedy activity page and to answer whether the play has a moral or point. Journal questions ask students to explain the significance of the title and to connect Mrs. Wright to the bird, requiring students to link symbolic details to larger meaning. The activity also prompts students to list specific clues the women find and to answer focused plot and character questions, which requires citing textual details.
Lesson 3
Life and Times
The Parent Plan lists the exact skill: "Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text...; provide an objective summary of the text." Students read Robert Nemiroff's Introduction and the cast/setting pages and answer comprehension questions about setting and time period. Students watch a Civil Rights Act video and answer guided questions and discuss why Hansberry's play was revolutionary, which prompts identification of major themes and historical context.
Lesson 4
A Raisin in the Sun
Students are asked to note the major theme (dreams for the future) for each family member using a "Characters and Their Dreams" chart and to record strong adjectives Hansberry uses to describe characters, which requires citing specific details from Act I. Students must write a one-paragraph objective summary of Act I that includes setting, main characters, and plot of each scene. Discussion prompts and questions ask students to analyze characters' motives, goals, and how dialect and dialogue reveal character, and an activity asks students to consider how action and dialogue on stage affect an audience.
Lesson 5
Act II
Students answer targeted comprehension questions for Act II scenes that require locating specific events and character actions. Students analyze Hansberry quotes and connect them to characters and themes, and they must write a reader-response paragraph using the APE method that asks them to provide textual evidence and explanation. Students complete a character analysis and may write a monologue that requires synthesizing details about a character's biography, motivations, and development.
Lesson 6
Act III
Students finish reading Act III and answer targeted questions about characters' motives and decisions (e.g., why Beneatha no longer wants to be a doctor; how Walter plans to recoup money). Students analyze Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," identify similes and imagery, and connect the poem's images to characters' deferred dreams by choosing a character and explaining which comparison fits. The parent/skills notes explicitly list analyzing how individuals, events, or ideas develop and how an author transforms source material, indicating tasks aimed at analyzing development and thematic relationships.
Lesson 7
Fences
Students are asked to compare and contrast Fences with A Raisin in the Sun using a structured Comparison activity page that explicitly includes a Theme section and a Plot section. The activities direct students to jot down similarities and differences while watching the movie, to write at least two sentences about how the works are alike and different, and to write a journal paragraph about insights gained from an interview and what they learned from the play and movie. The Parent Plan supplies example theme statements and plot-development notes (e.g., that Fences covers several years and characters change), which students are asked to reflect on in their comparisons and journal entries.
Lesson 8
Shakespeare
Students read selected introductory material and an Act 1 Scene 2 passage and complete an activity sheet that directs them to identify the speaker, interpret meaning (including hidden meanings), determine actions, and identify each speaker's desires. Students are asked to visualize the scene and to "Summarize: Rewrite the passage in your own words," and to reflect on how the passage relates to the play's theme and its impact on the storyline. The lesson explicitly directs students to analyze dialogue in Act 1 Scene 2 and to use the activity sheet to think through characters and scenes and how they relate.
Lesson 9
Romeo and Juliet
Students are prompted to read Act I scenes and then "summarize what you think is the most important event that occurred in the scene" in their journals, and similar per-scene summary prompts appear for subsequent scenes. The lesson includes explicit comprehension questions about character actions and scene events that require students to identify key events and causal details. The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly lists the standard of determining a theme/central idea and analyzing its development as a target skill.
Lesson 10
Figurative Language
Students are asked after each reading (Act II scenes) to answer comprehension questions and then "in your journal, summarize what you think is the most important event that occurred in the scene," providing practice in condensing scene content. The Prologue Sonnet activity asks students to reorder lines, mark rhyme scheme, and "Explain what major conflict in the play Shakespeare summarizes in the sonnet," which asks students to identify and summarize a central conflict captured by that sonnet. Several journal prompts ask students to relate play events to their own experience and to respond as a character, which involves restating plot elements and motivations.
Lesson 12
Time and Tension
Students read Act IV and complete a "Time and Tension" activity that has them locate and count time-related words across the play and analyze specific lines and scenes (e.g., Friar Lawrence's monologue, Capulet's repetition, Scene 3 waiting, Nurse's monologue) to show how time references create suspense. Students are asked in a journal to "summarize what you think is the most important event that occurred in the scene," and they answer targeted comprehension questions about plot details that relate to the act's tension.
Final Project
Drama
The Parent Plan skills list explicitly includes: "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text." Student tasks such as the Comic Strip require students to label panels with acts/scenes and write brief summaries, and the News project requires students to write four to five sentences that give the gist (who, what, when, where) of play events. The rubric's "Content" category asks for understanding and knowledge of the play, indicating students must show comprehension in their projects.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students are asked multiple specific questions about Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers (e.g., explain why Roseto residents were considered "outliers," give an example of birthdate effects on success, and identify the cultural factor Gladwell cites for plane crashes). The curriculum includes a discussion prompt (Part IV, F) that asks students to evaluate whether Outliers is primarily informational or persuasive and to analyze Gladwell's rhetorical methods, evidence, and criticisms. The Informational Texts review and tasks asking students to evaluate source credibility and distinguish primary vs. secondary sources also engage students with identifying and explaining central ideas and supporting details in informational texts.