Ninth Grade - ELA
• Literacy
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Early Civilizations and Migration (600 BCE)
Lesson 1
Preshistory
Students are assigned to read pp. 40-43 of the National Geographic Almanac, which describe human evolution, Paleolithic life, and migration, and then answer targeted reading questions (Questions #1-3) that ask them to identify physical differences, environmental changes made by hominids, and Ice Age effects. Students complete a map activity in which they trace and shade migration routes and time periods from Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, directly tracing the process of human migration over time. Students also complete synthesis tasks ("A Day in the Life" and "Your Own Environment") that require them to use the text to describe how early humans met needs, applying and summarizing information from the reading.
Lesson 2
Early Agriculture
The Parent Plan explicitly states students will "summarize the impact of the development of farming (Neolithic Revolution)" and "understands the Neolithic Revolution," which requires identifying central ideas. Reading questions ask students to explain relationships and causes (e.g., how irrigation influenced early civilizations; relationship between agriculture and specialization), prompting tracing of explanations. Multiple student tasks require synthesis and summary: writing a dialogue that demonstrates advantages/disadvantages of lifestyles, completing a Venn diagram comparing pastoral and agricultural systems, and mapping early farming civilizations in chronological order.
Lesson 3
Early Civilizations
Students are assigned a focused reading (National Geographic Almanac, pp. 44-49) and specific comprehension questions that require identifying causes and consequences (e.g., why irrigation led to organizational structures; how iron-working changed political power). The Urbanization Flowchart homework and Option 2 require students to trace and diagram the process from farming to villages to towns to cities to civilizations, explicitly mapping causes, problems, and solutions. The Elements of Civilization chart and the Social Organization pyramid ask students to summarize and compare how key social elements functioned in small villages versus complex civilizations and to write descriptive summaries of social roles.
Lesson 4
Mesopotamia
Students are assigned a specific reading (pp. 44-49) and asked focused questions that require identifying central ideas (e.g., the role of priests and temples, the form and importance of cuneiform, Hammurapi's legacy, and effects of the Iron Age). Students must synthesize information across six defined areas (Geography & Natural Resources; Economic, Political, Social, Cultural, and Religious characteristics) when creating a mini-project booklet or a time-travel journalist report. The Political Development page asks students to read laws from Hammurabi's Code and list four inferences about Babylonian society, which requires extracting key conclusions from a primary/textual source.
Lesson 5
Egypt
Students read pages 50–55 of the National Geographic Almanac and answer focused comprehension questions (e.g., how hieroglyphs were used; how growth of Egypt and pharaoh power tied to the Nile and agriculture; what the First Intermediate Period reveals about limits on pharaonic power). Students must produce a mini-project (booklet or WebQuest) that requires them to state one important understanding for six topic areas (Geography, Economic Development, Political Development, Social Distinctions, Cultural Characteristics, Religious Beliefs) and to explain or summarize those points. The booklet pages and answer key require students to describe causes and consequences (for example, Nile flooding → agricultural bounty → pharaonic authority) and to summarize roles of gods, governmental structure, and cultural achievements.
Lesson 6
Trade and Empire Building
Students read assigned pages (pp. 56-59) and answer targeted comprehension questions such as how seasonal flooding helped and hurt the Harappan civilization, which requires identifying causes and effects from the text. Students complete the "Expansion of Empires" activity using readings and a video to list reasons civilizations expanded and to explain how military and infrastructural developments influenced civilian life, which traces a complex process. In the "Early Trade Systems" activity students fill a chart of imports/exports and explain how specific technologies (wheel, animals, writing, boats, roads) facilitated the growth of trade from local to regional to transregional systems.
Lesson 7
New Beliefs and Technologies
Students answer focused reading questions (pp. 60–62) that ask them to explain causes and key conclusions (e.g., why China was isolated, how cities protected themselves, burial practices, and the fall of the Shang). Students fill a comparative chart or write a 6-minute voice-over script that requires them to identify origins, gods, scriptures/key beliefs, and practices of early religions—tasks that ask for synthesis and condensation of informational texts. Students complete an inventions chart that asks them to trace how specific technological innovations could have had political, economic, military, and social/cultural effects.
Lesson 8
Historical Essay
Students are asked to write an essay that "tracks" specific changes caused by the Neolithic Revolution, requiring them to trace how agriculture led to surplus, population growth, specialization, social classes, and complex civilizations. Students are instructed to go back to earlier readings to locate specific evidence and to include parenthetical citations, and to summarize the main point of each paragraph during revision. The Option 2 prompt explicitly asks students to describe similarities and differences in how two civilizations changed, which requires tracing a complex process across texts.
Final Project
Flow Chart
Students create a flowchart (Options 1 and 2) that requires an image, an approximate date, and a 2-3 sentence description for each element, and the flowchart must "clearly show the progression of societies" and relationships between hunter-gatherers, pastoralism, agriculture, migration, and the three civilizations. The rubric and template require students to represent Food Production, Government, Technology and Invention, Specialization, and Religion for each civilization, which asks students to trace how elements of civilization developed. The unit test asks students to define "civilization," list characteristics that differentiate civilizations from smaller communities, list three changes from the Neolithic Revolution, and write summary paragraphs describing what they learned, all requiring summarizing and extracting central ideas from unit readings.
Unit 1: Lord of the Flies
Lesson 1
The Call
The 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 (Option 1) students record dystopian titles, identify common settings, plot ideas, and central struggles, and predict which elements they expect in Lord of the Flies. The Reading and Questions require students to read Chapter 1 and answer targeted comprehension questions that ask for summary-level information (e.g., what Ralph and Piggy find, how the leader is chosen). The homework prompt asks students to consider how the island may at first seem like a utopia and what will turn it into a dystopia, prompting students to think about change over time.
Lesson 2
Life on the Island
Students are directed to create and continually update STEAL character pages for Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger, and Sam 'n Eric, recording Speech, Thoughts, Actions, Effect on Others, and Looks to note how characters change over time. Students respond to targeted comprehension questions (e.g., use of the conch, what happens to the fire, why Ralph is frustrated) and read a "Wrapping Up" summary that states the chapter's main conclusion about survival and adaptation. Students also write original sentences about events in the novel in the clauses activity, which requires them to summarize events when composing their own examples.
Lesson 3
Paths in the Jungle
Students are asked to read an article and identify the author's thesis and supporting points (Activity 1). The Student Activity Page includes a labeled space for the "Author's main argument/thesis" and columns for "Key points that support the thesis" and "Your reaction to the thesis," which students fill in after annotating the article. The Introducing the Lesson section instructs students to review the concept of a thesis and practice locating it, and the Parent Plan explicitly states students will identify the thesis and supporting points and record reactions.
Lesson 5
Not Hunting, But Hunted
The text explicitly teaches narrative pacing ("Narrative pacing refers to the rate at which the plot unfolds in a story") and directs students to analyze author choices through Activity 1, where they examine underlined passages from Lord of the Flies to notice how interruptions and minute details slow the scene. The Student Activity Page asks students to watch a video and then "use slow motion narrative pacing to recreate an important moment from your life," requiring practice tracing how pacing breaks a moment into components. The Wrapping Up section reiterates that students learned how authors structure, order events, and manipulate time to create effects such as tension or surprise.
Lesson 6
Symbolism, Part 1
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly state that students will "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." Activity 1 directs students to choose interpretations for key symbols (e.g., Piggy's glasses, the conch) and to "back up [their] explanation with support from the text," requiring students to identify ideas and cite textual evidence. The Journal Entry and the Chapter 7 reading questions ask students to record actions, quotes, and the environment's impact on the boys, which requires students to synthesize details about character development and thematic effects across scenes.
Lesson 7
Bowed and Bowed Again
The Parent Plan lists as a skill that students should "determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development...; provide an objective summary of the text." Students complete STEAL character pages and answer targeted chapter questions (e.g., cause of Jack's raid; identity of the "Lord of the Flies") that require comprehension of plot and thematic elements. Activities ask students to compare characters' knowledge with the reader's knowledge and to respond to discussion prompts about fear, group behavior, and societal order, which engages students in thinking about central ideas.
Lesson 8
Defects of Human Nature
Students are taught that a theme is the main idea and are asked to identify Golding's central theme ("the defects of society back to the defects of human nature") in Things to Know and Getting Started. In Activity 1 students choose three supporting themes from a list, cite details from the novel to support those choices, and write a 3–4 sentence explanation of how a chosen minor theme supports the major theme. The Parent Plan Skills explicitly instruct students to determine a theme or central idea, analyze its development over the course of the text, and provide an objective summary of the text.
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...; provide an objective summary of the text." Activity 2 (Allegory Analysis) asks students to describe abstract ideas that characters and the setting could represent, requiring students to identify central ideas. Activity 1 (Recognizing Archetypes) asks students to map characters to archetypal roles and cite characteristics, which has students locate and explain key elements that support theme interpretations.
Lesson 10
Which Is Better?
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly instruct 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 Journal Entry activity asks students to analyze Jack's leadership and contrast it with Ralph's and pre-island civilization, requiring tracing of thematic development and character-driven conclusions. The Developing Civilizations activity and Student Activity Page ask students to compare the boys' situation with early civilizations, which requires students to trace the depiction of the civilization-to-savagery phenomenon across the text.
Lesson 11
The Film
Students are asked to complete a "Movie vs. Book" chart with categories for characters, setting, theme, and plot, which requires them to identify central ideas and summarize major events. Students answer journal questions about whether omitted scenes were critical to the novel's major theme and provide examples of visuals that differ from their mental images, prompting them to state conclusions about theme and depiction. The provided answer key explicitly identifies themes (fear as source of problems, struggle for order, symbolism of the conch) and notes how these develop similarly or differently in the film, which students are asked to observe and record.
Final Project
Now You Have the Conch
Students are instructed to locate and note passages related to prompts (Brainstorming pages and the Chapter 7 sample) and to paraphrase questions and develop thesis statements based on patterns they notice, which supports determining central ideas and conclusions. Prompts ask students to analyze how characters change and how symbols (the conch, fire, glasses) are used throughout the novel, requiring students to trace development of themes and concepts across the text. The Parent Plan Skills list explicitly requires students to determine a theme or central idea, analyze its development over the course of the text, and provide an objective summary, and the Unit Test asks students to identify themes/symbols and explain their significance.
Unit 2: World Religions (600 BCE - 600 CE)
Lesson 1
Rise of Religions
Students answer a direct comprehension question asking "What is religion?" based on the assigned reading, using the reading's definition and supporting details (Reading and Questions, Q1). In Activity 1 students free-write about experiences and then write a 3–4 sentence paragraph explaining how religious beliefs might have benefited ancient people, which requires summarizing a concept from the text. Activity 3 asks students to find a modern news article and fill out a summary and reflection, requiring students to provide an accurate summary of an external text. The homework "Religion and Government" chart directs students to skim multiple textbook sections and record at least two examples from each civilization of how religion overlapped with politics, which asks students to collect and synthesize evidence across texts.
Lesson 2
Shamanism, Animism, Ancestor Veneration
Students read specified pages (pp. 12-14) and answer directed comprehension questions that require them to identify core ideas (e.g., define animism, explain a shaman's relationship to the supernatural, and describe how nonliterate societies share beliefs). In the activities, students must compare folktales for evidence of animist beliefs or research Día de los Muertos and Chinese New Year and complete charts that ask for brief descriptions and the role of ancestor veneration, which requires tracing how these beliefs are depicted and persist. The homework asks students to summarize how the seven dimensions function in each religion and to fill in the Shamanism/Animism/Ancestor Veneration section of their booklet, an explicit summarization task tied to the reading and activities.
Lesson 3
Hinduism
Students answer focused reading questions that require defining and summarizing key ideas (e.g., Q1 asks what an avatar is; Q3 asks about the origins of Sruti vs Smriti; Q4 asks students to explain karma in their own words). In Activity Option 1 students must summarize the plot of a portion of the Ramayana and connect the story to Hindu beliefs. The homework and ongoing project ask students to summarize how the seven dimensions function for Hinduism in a Dimensions of World Religions booklet.
Lesson 4
Buddhism
Students read assigned pages and answer specific questions that require identifying central ideas (QUESTION #2 asks them to list the Four Noble Truths and "Things to Know" lists core beliefs). Students are asked to explain the Heart Sutra in their own words (QUESTION #3) and to explain why Buddhism became global (QUESTION #1), which requires tracing causes in the text. Students must produce summaries in the homework options: a short reaction paper summarizing the Buddha's life and teachings or an illustrated/narrative timeline that explains key events and their importance.
Lesson 5
Daoism and Confucianism
Students read pages 54–65 and answer focused comprehension questions that ask them to identify core ideas (e.g., "What is the Dao?"), compare traditions ("How might Daoism and Confucianism be described as opposites?"), and summarize features of practices (e.g., how Confucian rites differ from prayer). Students complete the "Dimensions of World Religions" booklet, filling in central ideas and dimensions for Daoism and Confucianism, and they review their answers and reflections. Homework tasks ask students to choose a Confucian saying and explain its meaning or relate it to other quotations, requiring concise synthesis of ideas.
Lesson 6
Judaism
Students read specified pages and answer focused comprehension questions: Question 1 asks them to "Describe the origins of Judaism," Question 2 asks how Jews show love for God, and Question 3 asks how being "God's chosen people" influences Judaism—tasks that require identifying central ideas and summarizing. Activity 2 directs students to research the "Jewish Diaspora," label key locations, and draw arrows showing disbursement, which requires tracing a complex historical phenomenon. The homework gives students a choice to write a short narrative or create a slideshow that explains a Jewish holiday, requiring students to produce an accurate summary of researched text and sources.
Lesson 7
Christianity
Students read multiple source texts (One-Stop Guide, Almanac, Matthew 5-7, and assigned articles) and answer specific comprehension questions (Questions #1-#4) that require extracting central ideas and conclusions. In Activity 1 students are instructed to write summaries for two historical/archaeological articles or to summarize key points of the Sermon on the Mount, explicitly asking for summary and interpretation. Question #2 asks students to identify five shifts/periods in the history of Christianity and the homework asks students to explain factors accounting for the spread of Christianity, prompting students to trace historical development over time.
Lesson 8
Islam
Students answer focused reading questions asking them to describe Ramadan, define jihad, explain how the Qur'an is organized, and list the Five Pillars, which requires identifying central ideas from assigned texts. Students create a timeline of Muhammad's life with 5+ significant events and write a clear paragraph for each date explaining the event and its significance, which requires tracing a sequence of events and their meaning. Students complete a Venn-diagram comparison of a story from the Bible and the Qur'an with instructions to summarize key parts that appear in both texts and to describe differences in tone, omissions, and portrayal, which requires producing accurate summaries of texts.
Final Project
Dimensions of World Religions
Students are asked to write a 5–7 paragraph essay that requires them to describe origins, deities, basic tenets, and core practices of two faiths and then explain similarities, which requires identifying central ideas and tracing how one faith emerged from another. The Part I identification questions ask students to identify terms and briefly state their significance, requiring concise summaries of key concepts. Students complete a Dimensions of World Religions booklet and are instructed to review headings and major sections of readings and brainstorm important topics, which prompts them to extract and summarize main ideas from unit texts.
Unit 2: Short Stories
Lesson 1
The Gift of the Magi
Students are asked directly to identify the story's central theme (Question #1) and to explain the theme on the Student Activity Page. Students are instructed to summarize the plot by recording the conflict, climax, and resolution in Activity 1. The lesson also asks students to cite textual evidence (Skills section) and to annotate the text, which supports producing a summary grounded in the text.
Lesson 2
The Necklace
Students identify a narrative's central theme by annotating the text, noting repetitive literary elements, and filling out a theme web that asks how the theme is developed and which textual evidence reflects it. Students practice citing strong textual evidence and constructing an objective summary: they are instructed to include the title and author, setting, major plot points, and the main idea, use the narrative present, and avoid personal opinion. The lesson includes an objective-summary example and prompts (who, what, where/when, why, how) to help students produce an accurate, abbreviated account of the story.
Lesson 3
Literary Response
Students are prompted to identify themes and moral lessons (e.g., "How the stories communicate a moral lesson," "How the stories deal with the ideas of pride, love, or sacrifice") and to support claims with specific examples and quotations using the APE method. The activities require students to create a thesis about two similarities, provide evidence and explanations in two body paragraphs, and restate the thesis in a conclusion, while the rubric explicitly requires citing strong textual evidence and explaining how evidence supports points.
Lesson 5
Edgar Allan Poe
Students read "The Tell-Tale Heart" and answer targeted questions (e.g., why the narrator wants to kill the old man; why the narrator hears the heartbeat) that ask them to explain motivations and causes. Students are asked to locate 3–4 examples of foreshadowing and record what each instance refers to, tracing repeated images and clues through the text. Students complete the "Crazy Like a Fox?" two-column chart listing textual evidence for and against the narrator's reliability and then state whether the narrator is reliable. Students create a 6–8 panel storyboard of a specific scene and quote the corresponding sections beneath each panel, producing a visual/textual summary of that portion of the story.
Lesson 6
The Lottery
Students are asked to analyze the black wooden box by recording its physical descriptions, how others react to it, and connections between the box and the town's history on a structured activity page. The answer key and activities direct students to cite textual details (worn condition of the box, use of paper slips, villagers' wary behavior, hazy memories) and to explain how the symbol contributes to the overall plot or theme. The skills section explicitly asks students to cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly and through inference.
Lesson 7
Everyday Use
Students identify the narrator and point of view (Question #1) and are asked to explain the significance of the story's title and its connection to characters and themes (Question #5). Students complete a Symbolism activity that requires them to describe how characters' appearances and actions symbolize cultural heritage and to connect those symbols to theme. The Parent Plan lists the skill to "read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences...cite specific textual evidence," which frames student practice in determining central ideas and supporting conclusions.
Lesson 8
Harrison Bergeron
Students read and answer a direct question about what created Harrison's society and are prompted to cite George's line about returning to the "dark ages," which asks them to trace a causal explanation. Students compare and contrast the written story and two film adaptations by listing added/altered/deleted scenes and noting which concepts (e.g., freedom, equality, use of force) are emphasized more in the film. Students analyze narrative techniques (point of view, voice-over) and explain how those choices affect meaning, which requires identifying central ideas and how they are depicted across mediums.
Final Project
Writing a Short Story
Students are described as having "practiced identifying short story themes" and complete activities (brainstorming, plot diagram, reader review) that ask them to identify plot, theme, and resolution. The reader-review pages prompt students to answer whether the plot line and theme are clear and to record suggestions, which engages students in identifying central ideas. The lesson also explains the stages of the writing process (invention, planning, drafting, revising), which students map and follow while composing their stories.
Unit 3: Rise of the Empires (600 BCE - 600 CE)
Lesson 1
Persian Empire
Students read assigned pages and answer focused comprehension questions that ask them to describe Persia's beginnings, describe Zoroastrianism, summarize the Persian form of government instituted by Cyrus the Great, and explain how the Persian empire ended. Activity 2 directs students to analyze facts and interpret them into a coherent narrative about politics, religion, and culture, and to record those summaries for later comparison. The timeline and map activities require students to trace chronology by drawing lines showing the beginning and end of empires and marking significant dates.
Lesson 2
Greek Empire
Students read assigned pages in two reference texts and answer specific comprehension questions (e.g., differences between Sparta and Athens, women's roles, reasons for colonies, purposes of theater) that require extracting main ideas and summarizing key points. Students complete Activity 2 by filling in a chart about politics, religion, and culture and color-coding items for Greece, Athens, and Sparta, which has them identify and organize central information from the readings. Students respond to discussion prompts comparing Greeks to Persians and evaluating leaders, which asks them to draw conclusions from their notes and readings.
Lesson 3
Qin and Han Empires
Students are assigned specific reading (pp. 90-93 and pp. 98-105) and must answer targeted questions that require identifying central ideas (e.g., QUESTION #1 asks them to describe the government under Qin Shi Huangdi). QUESTION #2 asks students to trace causes that led to the civil war, and QUESTION #3 asks them to explain how Confucianism factored into Han government, which requires following an institutional change. Activity 2 directs students to synthesize and record politics, religion, and culture for Qin and Han—organizing and summarizing information across the text.
Lesson 4
Roman Empire
Students are asked to read pp. 80–85 and answer focused comprehension questions that require drawing conclusions (e.g., "Was the Roman republic a democracy? Explain") and describing complex features (the Roman army, slavery, and the Pax Romana). Students complete Activity 2 by synthesizing politics, religion, and culture for both the Republic and the Empire, and they add Rome to a timeline and map, which requires extracting and organizing central information. The Parent Plan skills explicitly ask students to identify causes and describe effects of events and to describe major political and cultural influences, prompting causal tracing.
Unit 3: Grammar, Part I
Lesson 3
Pronoun Problems
Activity 2 requires students to read pages 90–94 and then explain the chosen topic (vague pronoun references or shifts in point of view) in their own words via a poster or slideshow, including two example sentences and strategies for fixing them. Discussion prompts ask students to explain pronoun-reference problems and correct ambiguous sentences. The student activities and answer keys require students to identify and correct pronoun errors, which involves extracting and applying the main rules from the reading.
Lesson 4
Commas
Students read explanatory sections in the book and linked websites and are asked to extract and record comma rules by creating a comma guide that includes a rule name, a short description, an explanation, and examples. Students perform focused comprehension tasks (e.g., identify tests for coordinate adjectives, insert commas in series and compound sentences) and justify punctuation choices for selected sentences. Students write journal responses explaining what the Oxford (serial) comma is and defend their position, which requires summarizing the concept.
Lesson 6
Colons and Semicolons
Students read explanatory sections on colon and semicolon use (pp. 124–126 and homework readings) and complete directed practice that requires applying those rules. Students are asked to "review the evidence," synthesize listed claims, and write formal opening statements for the semicolon and colon that must include examples illustrating rules. Students also present and defend their statements orally, answering judge questions that probe rule explanations and require citing examples and formulas (e.g., independent clause + semicolon + conjunctive adverb + comma + independent clause).
Unit 4: Poetry
Lesson 1
Introduction to Poetry
Students generate and revise their own definition of poetry after reading multiple poets' quotations, practicing identification of central ideas about what poetry is. Students read and mark multiple poems (including "Richard Cory," an Emily Dickinson excerpt, and Billy Collins's "Introduction to Poetry") and answer targeted comprehension questions such as who "them" refers to and what confession "they" want from the poem. Students analyze denotation and connotation by underlining words, recording dictionary meanings, and explaining how specific word choices contribute to meaning and tone.
Lesson 2
Sound and Rhythm
Students are asked to identify and mark sound devices (alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia) in poems and to write short responses explaining why a particular repetition is effective (Activity 1). Students follow step-by-step scansion instructions—marking stressed/unstressed syllables, dividing feet, and counting feet—and use an interactive tool to practice scansion (Activity 4). Students also write journal reflections about how rhyme and rhythm affect a poem and answer targeted questions about poem content (e.g., "What is being counted in the poem?" and rhyme-scheme questions in Activity 2).
Lesson 4
Voice and Tone
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," indicating students are expected to work on identifying central ideas. The Discussion prompts ask students to "Explain how voice is used in 'Richard Cory'" and to compare tones of paired poems, which requires students to analyze how elements contribute to a poem's meaning. Several activities have students record words/phrases that convey tone and list characteristics of speakers, which supports identifying key supporting details that shape meaning.
Lesson 5
What Does It Mean?
Students are directed to "write a brief summary of the poem in your own words" and to "summarize each stanza" for longer poems, providing explicit practice in producing accurate summaries. Students are asked to identify themes/central ideas (e.g., "Does the poem seem to have a theme?" and activities that list possible themes such as mourning, loss, patriotism). The lesson prompts students to trace development and progression (e.g., re-read stanzas, note the poem's progression in "The Fish," and answer questions about how feelings change), which guides students to trace a text's depiction of events or phenomena across the poem.
Lesson 7
Analyzing Poetry
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.' The Poetry Map student page requires students to 'Summarize in your own words' and identify 'Theme,' and the Parent Plan gives an example paraphrase of 'Blackberry-Picking.' Activity 1 directs students to annotate and 'Write a short summary at the end' and to draw conclusions while reading, prompting identification of main ideas and development (e.g., noting where tone changes).
Lesson 8
Types of Poems
Students are asked to summarize and analyze poems (e.g., write a short synopsis of Paul Laurence Dunbar's "The Spellin'-Bee" and answer "What point does Collins keep making?" about Billy Collins's poem). The Sonnet Identification activity requires students to mark rhyme schemes and follow iambic pentameter, then identify whether sonnets are Petrarchan or Shakespearean and answer comparative questions about form. Homework and reading questions for The Crossover ask students to locate key details and summarize plot points from the text's sections.
Lesson 9
The Crossover
The Parent Plan lists a skill 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," and journal options ask students to reflect on how the title word "crossover" changes meaning across specific poems (pp. 227-228 and pp. 234-237). Discussion prompts ask students to explain how Jordan's relationship with Alexis affects Josh and how basketball is used to cope with grief, which requires identifying central ideas. Vocabulary and comprehension questions require students to extract and cite specific details from the text.
Lesson 10
Poems and Poets
Students are asked to "Summarize in your own words" on the Poetry Map and to identify the poem's "Theme," which requires determining central ideas. The Parent Plan explicitly states students will "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development... provide an objective summary of the text." Students also must write a journal response that summarizes what is happening in a poem and explains how cultural references enrich it.
Lesson 11
Reciting Poetry
Students are asked to determine who the speaker is and what the poem's tone is and to consider the poem's meaning as part of preparing for recitation. Students are instructed to read aloud, mark unfamiliar words and look up their meanings and pronunciations, and to analyze images and word choices (e.g., the Housman example) to understand meaning. Students watch and analyze recorded recitations and are asked to note what makes each performance effective, encouraging close reading and attention to how ideas are communicated orally. The Parent Plan explicitly tells students to "read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences" and to cite textual evidence when speaking or writing.
Final Project
Poetry
Students are asked to perform a poetry explication (Choice 5) that requires identifying a poem's literal meaning, theme, and layers of meaning and to demonstrate these aspects in a presentation. The parent-plan skills explicitly state that students should "determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." Several project choices (explication, ekphrastic poem, artwork) require close reading and noting imagery, word choice, and supporting details that build meaning.
Unit 5: Nonfiction
Lesson 1
Types of Nonfiction
Students are asked to use the "All About a Person" activity to examine catalog records, front matter, and back matter and to give specific evidence for why a title is classified as a biography, autobiography, or memoir. Students are prompted to consider the major theme of the book and to add notes on how characters, setting, and plot events contribute to that theme. Students read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of I Am Malala and answer questions about circumstances, relationships, and the author's situation, providing text-based details.
Lesson 2
Pakistan
Students read Chapters 2–4 of I Am Malala and answer targeted questions that require comparing life in a mountain village with city life (Question #1). Students explain how Taliban rule made life for women in nearby Afghanistan worse (Question #2) and identify actions conservative groups took after the earthquake that helped them gain influence (Question #3). In the Pakistan activity, students synthesize information from the book and web sources to answer questions about Pakistan's history, geography, languages, and reasons for war.
Lesson 3
The Taliban
Students read specific chapters of I Am Malala and answer targeted comprehension questions (Questions #1-#4) that require identifying main ideas about family dynamics, the destruction of a school, and the Taliban's motives. The Parent Plan skills list explicitly includes "Determine central ideas or themes of a text...; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." In Activity 1 students must read an external article and then write an informational paragraph or create slides that summarize who the Taliban are, where they are located, what they believe, and how their leadership affected people in the late 1990s, with explicit instructions to use their own words and include an introductory and concluding sentence.
Lesson 4
Dear Diary
The lesson defines summarizing and paraphrasing in multiple places (Things to Know and Getting Started) and explicitly tells students that summarizing means stating main points in your own words. Students read Chapters 11–13 and answer comprehension questions (Q1–Q4) that require extracting key details about Malala's actions and experiences. The Paraphrasing activity and Student Activity Page give students practice analyzing and producing paraphrases, and the Things to Review includes a prompt to review differences between summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting.
Lesson 5
Displacement
The Parent Plan skills section explicitly lists "Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas," which directly names the targeted skill. Students are asked to read Chapters 16-17 (and later 18-19) and answer targeted comprehension questions about main events and outcomes, requiring them to identify and restate key details. Homework prompts ask students to report on problems, threats, and honors in the chapters, which asks students to produce concise accounts of chapter content.
Lesson 7
Life in England
Students read Chapters 33–34 and respond to specific comprehension questions (e.g., differences in the new school, family reactions, Malala's feelings), which asks them to identify central ideas and conclusions in the text. Students watch an 11-minute documentary segment and take notes comparing how the filmmaker's focus differs from Malala's account, including explicit prompts about the father's role, the filmmaker's focus, and portrayals of the mother. Students prepare to discuss and synthesize differences in emphasis and impact between the memoir and the film, practicing integration of ideas across media.
Lesson 8
Civil Rights
Students read both halves of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and answer targeted comprehension questions that identify central ideas (e.g., the "tragic misconception of time" and the connection between America's destiny and the black community). Students explicitly trace a process by listing the four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign and by arranging timeline excerpts chronologically to show the progression and setbacks of the civil rights movement. Students summarize author contributions by writing sentences about Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou and complete double-entry diary entries that require restating and responding to King's claims.
Lesson 9
Civil Disobedience
Students analyze excerpts from Thoreau and King in Activity 1 by highlighting parallel phrases and filling an "Overlapping Ideas" column, which requires identifying central claims such as what makes a law just or unjust and when it is acceptable to break the law. In Activity 2 students read opposing quotes on America, the role of government, and voting and write which author they agree with and why, requiring them to state and support main ideas. Homework and the excerpt questions ask students to answer targeted comprehension prompts (e.g., Why does Thoreau lack confidence in government?) that require extracting and citing central ideas from the text.
Lesson 10
Learning from the Past
Students read and annotate Elie Wiesel's speech "Hope, Despair, and Memory," complete matching and short-answer items about key ideas, and locate quotes that support claims (e.g., finding a quote that shows Wiesel would tell students to pay attention in history class). Students are asked to rewrite a key quote in their own words, describe Wiesel's depiction of Jewish tradition relative to war, and identify a universal-truth statement and then draft a paragraph connecting that statement to other human-rights advocates using quoted evidence. Students also create a museum-wall product with formal explanatory captions that requires summarizing and synthesizing the activists' contributions.
Lesson 11
A Boy's Story
Students are directed to read the Chronology (pp. 222-224) to learn who was involved in the war and how it began and progressed, which asks them to trace the conflict's development. Students answer targeted questions (Q1–Q3) that require identifying the RUF's initial goal and reasoning about why fighting continued and why the civil war lasted, prompting analysis of causes and explanations. Students respond to Q4 about what the author says the book tries to explain (how violence affected culture and moral change), which asks them to determine a central idea or conclusion from the text and interview.
Lesson 12
Running from War
Students answer focused comprehension questions about chapters and read teacher-provided summaries of skipped chapters, which requires them to identify key events and meanings in the text. In the homework APE task, students must choose whether the author's dreams or memories are more traumatic, support their Answer with a quotation from the text (Prove), and then Extend by explaining how the quotation supports their claim, which asks them to determine a central idea and use textual evidence. In Activity 2 students evaluate the author's explanation for his memory (the grandfather's medicine) and discuss its believability, engaging with the text's depiction of the phenomenon of memory.
Lesson 13
Child Soldier
Students answer focused text-dependent questions (e.g., why the lieutenant shows bodies, why commanders repeat propaganda, why boys are overworked) that require identifying motivations and central ideas. In the "Different Accounts" activity students fill "Book" and "Video" columns with examples and quotes, tracing how the book and author's interview depict recruitment, drugging, and conditioning of child soldiers. The "Child Soldiers" chart and Role of Rap activity ask students to synthesize advantages/disadvantages and the symbolic role of music, requiring students to summarize and integrate explanations of the complex phenomenon.
Lesson 14
Rehabilitation
The Parent Plan lists skills that ask students to delineate and evaluate arguments, draw evidence from texts, and analyze how the author unfolds events, which directly supports identifying central ideas and tracing development. Activity 1 asks students to compare RUF and government soldiers across multiple pages and to record specific examples or quotations, requiring students to trace evidence of behavior across the text. Option 2 and the Wiesel's Words activity require students to state a conclusion about the book and support it with examples or quotations, prompting synthesis of central ideas and use of textual evidence.
Lesson 15
A New Life
Students are given explicit summarizing instruction (read, annotate, identify main idea, select key points, write 1–2 paragraph summaries) in Activity 1 and are assigned to summarize Chapter 20 in their journals. The Skills section lists the ability to "determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development...; provide an objective summary," and students answer directed comprehension questions about chapters (e.g., reasons for actions, sequence of events). The Comparing Memoirs activity asks students to identify themes (e.g., education) and consider how authors' choices support purpose, which relates to identifying central ideas across texts.
Final Project
Expository Essay
Students are guided to read their sources, turn research notes into a working thesis that answers a research question, and to express an "emergent main idea" in the K-N-S organizer. The lesson requires students to choose three key facts from sources and use a Quoting/Summarizing/Paraphrasing activity to restate those facts in their own words. The instructions explicitly ask students to produce step-by-step accounts (e.g., the "superfolk" example) and give the synthetic-diamonds example, which asks students to explain how synthetic diamonds are made and why people purchase them. The rubric and paragraph development (APE) activities require students to present accurate supporting facts and to summarize/paraphrase source material with citations.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students are asked to learn the differences between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and to practice paraphrasing a Wordsworth passage (Part V), giving direct practice in condensing and restating informational language. Students must explain central ideas in nonfiction discussion prompts (e.g., explain civil disobedience, what Thoreau meant, and how King defined it) and are asked to explain relationships among nonfiction authors (e.g., how Thoreau influenced Martin Luther King, Jr.), which requires tracing ideas across texts. The Nonfiction review instructions explicitly tell students they may be asked to explain relationships among texts and authors (Malala and Beah, Thoreau and King, Wiesel and Beah), which prompts students to identify central ideas and follow authors' arguments or experiences across works.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: Ender's Game
Lesson 1
Born to Genius
Students are prompted to consider and discuss the novel's central themes (for example, the role of authority figures and the tension between success and happiness) in the Getting Started section. Activity 2 asks students to rate their views on issues before and after reading and to be prepared to discuss whether the novel influenced those views, which asks students to trace changes in ideas over the course of reading. The homework requires students to read Chapters 1-2 and answer questions that ask them to describe relationships and explain reasons, which requires short summaries of text details.
Lesson 2
We're People, Not Thirds
Students read Chapters 3–4 and answer directed comprehension questions that ask about plot and character motivations (e.g., why the I.F. officer came, whether Graff was truthful, how Ender differed from other boys, and how Graff influenced the other boys). Option 2 asks students to research eugenics and to complete a Planned Procreation chart that has them list religious, environmental/ethical, personal/financial, and governmental/legal reasons for family-planning decisions. Discussion prompts ask students to interpret lines and motives (e.g., Why would Stilson say, "We're people, not Thirds?" and why Peter spoke only when he thought Ender was asleep), which requires interpretive reading of ideas in the text.
Lesson 3
Science Fiction
Students read an article on the genre and are instructed to use that article plus the introduction to fill out a graphic organizer about science fiction, requiring them to identify definition, common themes, historical origins, and notable authors. The Student Activity pages and Quiz Prep ask students to produce a definition, list themes, distinguish science fiction from fantasy, classify examples as hard or soft science fiction, and answer comprehension questions about plot events in Ender's Game. Homework questions ask students to summarize specific events or character descriptions (e.g., how Ender defeats the giant, describing Dap).
Lesson 4
Divergence
Students answer focused comprehension questions about Chapter 7 (e.g., what is unique about Petra; what Ender imagines for a future level; interpreting the quote about anger; how Ender is improving in the Battle Room), which requires identifying key ideas and conclusions. In Activity 2 students are asked to explain and model how Ender moves from convergent to divergent thinking—reconsidering the problem and attacking the root cause—which asks them to trace a character's problem-solving process. The wrap-up statements ask students to recognize and review the difference between convergent and divergent thinking, reinforcing an understanding of central concepts.
Lesson 6
Performance Is Personal
Students are asked to complete a Text Structure activity in which they review opening conversations, identify foreshadowing of struggles, explain how the conversations create tension, and discuss the roles of the authority figures introduced in Chapter 8. The Parent Plan lists skills that students will practice, including analyzing how an author's choices concerning structure create effects and analyzing how complex characters develop and interact. The Competing Commanders activity requires students to choose evaluation criteria, score commanders, and compare their leadership styles, which has students analyze and support judgments about characters.
Lesson 7
Leaders Motivate
Students read a focused explanatory passage that defines and contrasts power, authority, and leadership (Things to Know / Getting Started), giving them direct material to identify central ideas about those concepts. In Activity 1 students read background on John Locke and Demosthenes and write a journal entry describing links between the historical figures and the characters, which requires extracting and explaining central ideas and conclusions. In Activity 2 students match and complete famous quotes about leadership and then choose three characters and explain why a quote applies, which asks students to summarize character evidence and interpret thematic conclusions.
Lesson 8
Flies and Self-Loathing
Students are asked to evaluate Ender's actions versus his self-perception in the Introducing the Lesson and Questions to Discuss sections, which directs them to identify and judge central ideas about character and theme. Activity 2 (Lord of the Flies vs. Ender's Game) provides a graphic organizer that prompts students to compare settings, leadership, and themes and to describe responsibilities, fears, and consequences, supporting identification and summary of central ideas. The Parent Plan 'Skills' statement explicitly names analyzing text structure (how sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions relate to the whole), which supports tracing how parts of the text develop ideas.
Lesson 9
Conflict Within and Without
Students are asked to use a chart to identify examples of internal and external conflict from Ender's Game and to consider how each conflict fits into the story's theme and plot. They are instructed to write a paragraph addressing how a given conflict impacts relationships, advances the plot, and contributes to character change. Students circle the 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. The Veni, Vidi, Vici activity asks students to explain how a title foreshadows plot development, prompting tracing of significance across chapters.
Lesson 10
View from Valentine
Students are asked to read Chapter 13 and answer targeted comprehension questions that require extracting character motivations and themes (e.g., why Ender tells Valentine he hates himself; why Valentine is brought to visit Ender). The lesson text summarizes Chapter 13's focus (the narrator follows Valentine rather than Ender) and defines third-person omniscient point of view, which helps students identify a central structural element of the chapter. Questions also ask for Graff's description of the buggers and Mazer's theory, which directs students to locate and report the text's depiction of a phenomenon.
Lesson 11
Thud, Whump, Huut
Students answer targeted comprehension questions for Chapters 14 and 15 that require identifying key ideas and conclusions (e.g., Graff's "damaged merchandise," why authorities lie, what Ender learns about the buggers). Students compare a book scene to a movie scene or comic pages and note omitted or changed narration and whether the adaptation communicates the same ideas, which requires summarizing and evaluating central elements. The skills and activities ask students to analyze what is emphasized or absent across media, prompting them to produce summaries of specific scenes and explain how meaning changes.
Lesson 12
Campbell's Comparisons
Students watch a video that lists the 12 steps of Campbell's hero's journey and record those steps in their journals. Students choose six steps and use a graphic organizer to describe specific parallels between those steps and events in Ender's Game, with example mappings (e.g., Call to Adventure = Graff recruits Ender; Trials = battle school tests). Students retake an issues survey and are prompted to compare and discuss how the novel changed their views, citing examples from the text.
Lesson 13
The Enemy's Gate Is Down
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly state students will "Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." Students complete the "Discovering Subplots" activity by identifying Graff, Ender, and Peter/Valentine subplots and answering discussion questions about what themes or ideas would be missing without each subplot. In Activity 2 students write one- to two-sentence summaries of four leadership lessons from a Forbes article and connect one lesson to their own life, practicing concise summary of key ideas.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly instructs students to "determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas." Students write two- to three-paragraph comparisons of military versus civilian leadership (Box 5) and create a six-step Hero's Journey storyboard linking steps to the novel (Box 6), which requires identifying theme development. The Historical References activity asks students to list similarities and differences between the real Warsaw Pact and the fictional Second Warsaw Pact, prompting students to trace a geopolitical phenomenon as depicted in the text.
Unit 2: Grammar, Part II
Lesson 7
Verb Voice and Mood
Students read definitions and explanations of verb voice and verb mood and are directed to read linked webpages (e.g., OWL Purdue) for more examples. Students must create a creative project that "explains the subjunctive mood" to a younger audience and are told to "explain briefly what mood is." The project rubric requires that students "clearly show what the subjunctive mood is using definitions, examples, and/or context," which asks students to present a concise summary of the concept.
Lesson 8
Parallelism
Students are directed to read an online explanation of parallelism and information from the book and to use the Parallelism activity page to take notes from the sources. The activity page asks students to list coordinating conjunctions, typical comparison words, correlative conjunction sets, and to provide descriptions and examples of parallelism problems. Students complete targeted exercises (e.g., identifying gerunds vs. infinitives) that require extracting and recording key points from the explanatory texts.
Unit 3: Informational Texts
Lesson 1
What Are Informational Texts?
Students answer targeted comprehension questions about the Roseto excerpt that ask them to explain how thousands of townspeople migrated to Pennsylvania (tracing a process), to state why a researcher studied Roseto (identifying purpose), to list initial hypotheses, and to state the researchers' conclusion that the community's social cohesion explained the health outcome. In Activity 2 students watch Gladwell's TED talk, journal prior knowledge, and discuss questions that require them to trace Gladwell's re-examination of David and Goliath and to identify the argument and conclusion he draws about advantage and weakness. Multiple discussion prompts and homework questions require students to explain causes, sequence of events, and the central conclusions of the texts they read or view.
Lesson 2
Outliers
Students are asked in Activity 1 to analyze the Introduction by identifying how Gladwell defines "outlier" (dictionary definitions, contextual definition on p. 7) and to explain how the Roseto study functions as an analogy that supports his argument. The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill of analyzing how an author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas, and students must reread the last two paragraphs to connect the analogy to Gladwell's approach. The homework reading and questions require students to identify the central conclusion of the chapter (the "Matthew Effect"), trace the causal chain (how birth-date cutoff produces selection advantages), and explain how that principle applies to education.
Lesson 3
The Matthew Effect
The Parent Plan skills explicitly state that students will "determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text." Homework questions ask students to "Explain the 10,000 rule" and "How does the author relate the 10,000 hour rule back to the sports examples," requiring students to state central conclusions and trace the author's argument. Activity 1 Option 2 and the TIMSS sketch task require students to read a descriptive paragraph and translate its findings into a visual summary, showing they must comprehend and summarize complex explanatory information.
Lesson 4
The 10,000 Hour Rule
Students are asked to write brief summaries for Sections 1–3 on the "Looking Closely" page and to answer analysis questions about how Gladwell develops and organizes his points, which asks them to determine and trace development of ideas. The Parent Plan explicitly lists skills including determining a central idea, analyzing its development, and providing an objective summary. Activity 2 and the homework require students to track key opportunities in examples (The Beatles or Bill Gates) and then translate those traced elements into a visual that connects the example to the chapter's bigger ideas.
Lesson 5
Harlan, Kentucky
Students read Chapter 6 (pp. 162-176) and answer four focused questions that ask them to identify the pattern of nineteenth-century Appalachian violence and define the "culture of honor." Students explain why a jury acted as it did in a specific episode and describe the University of Michigan experiment and its findings, which asks them to trace how the text tests and supports the culture-of-honor concept. The homework/journal asks students to research local settlers and reflect on cultural legacies, connecting the chapter's central idea to personal and regional examples.
Lesson 6
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes: "Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, ... provide an objective summary of the text." Activity 2 and the Day 1 homework ask students to read specified sections, identify details that indicate causes or purposes, and explain how descriptions contribute to overall understanding (e.g., questions about what clues the author includes, the purpose of specific sections, and predictions about how sections relate). Day 2 and Day 3 activities require students to explain key concepts Gladwell uses (mitigated speech, Power Distance Index, uncertainty avoidance) and to trace how those concepts connect to the crashes, and Activity 5 asks students to summarize the blog author's objections and analyze Gladwell's responses.
Lesson 7
Rice Paddies and Math Tests
The Parent Plan skills explicitly list: "Determine a central idea of a text and analyze 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." Students read specified sections of the chapter and answer targeted comprehension questions about main ideas (for example, why rice farming is different and how rice farming relates to work ethic and math achievement). The homework and mini-project require students to create a diagram or infographic that summarizes a concept from the text (choices include tracing the complex steps required for successful rice farming or explaining why Asian students learn counting/fractions faster), which asks students to translate and summarize the text's explanations of complex phenomena.
Lesson 8
With Malice Toward None
The Parent Plan explicitly lists "Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development...; provide an objective summary of the text" and "Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas...". Students read Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and answer questions that require restating the speech's purpose and cause of the war. The homework asks students to choose three sentences that represent background, main message, and a forward-looking statement, and activities ask students to trace organization and identify how ideas are introduced and developed.
Lesson 9
Writing about History
The lesson's Skills list explicitly asks students to "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 read three secondary summaries and answer questions that require them to list facts all three sources agree upon and identify which source addresses aftermath, tasks that require synthesis and summarizing. Students complete a graphic organizer linking secondary-source claims to supporting primary-source excerpts and complete activities (Primary Falsehoods, editorial writing, and ordering subtitles in a research article) that ask them to trace how information and events are organized and to produce summaries or persuasive syntheses based on that tracing.
Lesson 10
Science Writing
Students are assigned to read specific sections of a science booklet (pp. 3-5 and 15-17) and answer targeted comprehension questions defining equilibrium, differentiating centrifugal and centripetal force, and explaining why centrifugal force is called fictitious. The student activity page asks students to explain how the author supports two specific claims and to identify the methods the author uses to explain terms (e.g., highlighting, explanation, example, illustration). The Parent Plan explicitly lists skills students will practice, including citing textual evidence and determining how an author explains or clarifies a scientific phenomenon and tracing supporting details.
Lesson 11
Technical Writing
Students are directed to annotate a passage about hydroponics and coco coir to "discover the purpose(s) of the information," identify main topics, underline key terms, and mark areas for lists or images (Activity 1). The passage explicitly describes steps in processing coco coir and advantages/disadvantages, which students must break into paragraphs, headings, and bulleted/numbered lists, requiring them to identify and sequence procedural information. Activity 6 asks students to "go through the steps you've provided exactly as they are written" and to ensure steps are in chronological order, reinforcing tracing of a process.
Lesson 12
Logical Fallacies
Students read Lou Gehrig's speech and answer direct questions identifying the main point (thesis) and the specific examples that support it. Students complete activities that define and identify premises and non-sequiturs (e.g., fill-in for 'premise' and 'non-sequitur') and match examples to named fallacies. In Option 2 students read Andrew Jackson's speech, highlight weak arguments, and label the fallacies, which requires tracing how particular claims lead to questionable conclusions.
Final Project
Argumentative Research Essay
Students are instructed to locate and take notes from at least five high-quality sources (Part 3) and to record source titles and important quotes/ideas on the "Present the Evidence" activity sheet, including a "My Thoughts" column to reflect on how each piece of evidence influences their thinking (Part 6). The lesson asks students to collect facts, statistics, and specific examples and to note when sources contradict one another so they can identify arguments and counterarguments (Part 4). The rubric and activities require students to state a clear thesis and to state the opposing viewpoint concisely as the counterargument (Present the Evidence, Essay Rubric, Classical Argument activity).
Unit 4: Drama
Lesson 1
What Is Drama?
The Parent Plan lists the skill to "Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole," and it specifies reading and comprehending drama. In activities, students watch clips and identify genres and stages, and the homework asks students to write a paragraph recalling a play that notes the type, setting, characters, and experience — which requires condensing information about a production.
Lesson 2
How to Read Drama
Students are prompted to identify the play's theme and moral in the 'Thought or Unifying Theme' block and to explain the significance of the title and the motive for murder, which requires deriving central ideas or conclusions. The Applying Aristotle's Six Elements activity asks students to state whether the plot centers on discovery or reversal, describe unity in time/place/action, and to name the protagonist and character traits, prompting concise one-sentence summaries. Journal questions (e.g., How is Mrs. Wright like the bird?) and the requirement to answer blocks in one sentence ask students to condense and summarize key points of the play.
Lesson 3
Life and Times
The Parent Plan explicitly lists as a 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 are asked to read the Introduction, cast, and setting information and to watch a Civil Rights Act video and "jot down some major points" in their journal. Discussion prompts ask students to consider why Hansberry's play was "so revolutionary," which invites identification of the play's significance.
Lesson 4
A Raisin in the Sun
Students are asked to write a one-paragraph summary of Act I that includes setting, main characters, and the plot of each scene, which practices providing an accurate summary. Students complete a "Characters and Their Dreams" chart and answer guided questions about themes (e.g., dreams for the future) and character motives, which supports determining central ideas or conclusions. Students also analyze dialect and the causes of migration/unemployment through background text and multimedia prompts, giving some exposure to explanation of social phenomena related to the play.
Lesson 5
Act II
Students read Act II scenes and answer specific comprehension questions about events (e.g., Mama's use of the money, Karl Lindner's visit, Walter's actions), showing recall of plot details. Students write a Reader Response paragraph using the APE method that requires them to answer a question about the play and provide textual evidence and explanation. Students analyze Hansberry excerpts and connect them to characters and themes (e.g., ghetto, American Dream), which asks them to interpret thematic material across passages.
Lesson 6
Act III
Students finish reading Act III and answer specific comprehension questions that require them to identify characters' motivations and plot outcomes (e.g., why Beneatha abandons medicine; what Walter plans to do). Students analyze Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," define "defer," identify five similes, and compare the poem's imagery to events and characters in the play (choosing which simile best describes a character's "dream deferred"). Students are asked to review the basic structure of the play and its characters in preparation for a quiz, reinforcing synthesis of key ideas across the text and poem.
Lesson 7
Fences
Students watch the movie Fences and are asked to note similarities and differences with A Raisin in the Sun, then fill out a Comparison chart that includes a Theme section where they compare central ideas. Students must write at least two sentences about how the works are alike and different and complete character, plot, and setting comparisons, practicing summarizing key elements. Students write a paragraph reflecting on insights from an interview and a homework paragraph describing what they learned from reading the play and watching the movie, which practices concise summary of ideas.
Lesson 8
Shakespeare
Students read introductory material and a selected passage from Romeo and Juliet and use the provided activity sheet to analyze dialogue in Act 1 Scene 2. The activity sheet directs students to identify the speaker, interpret meaning (including hidden meanings), determine actions and desires, visualize the scene, and then "Summarize: Rewrite the passage in your own words." The reading questions also require students to explain why readers struggle with Shakespearean language and to interpret editorial notes that aid comprehension.
Lesson 9
Romeo and Juliet
Students are asked to read Act I scenes and then "summarize what you think is the most important event" in their journals for each scene, and multiple comprehension questions require identifying main events and character motivations. The Parent Plan Skills explicitly lists: "Determine a theme or central idea of a text... provide an objective summary of the text." Students also watch and note key elements of the performance, which supports comprehension of the text's events.
Lesson 10
Figurative Language
Students are repeatedly asked to read specified scenes (Act II, Scenes 1–6) and then "in your journal, summarize what you think is the most important event that occurred in the scene," which directs them to determine central events and produce summaries. Comprehension questions after each reading require students to identify key conclusions (e.g., why Friar Lawrence is concerned, what message Romeo gives the nurse). The sonnet activity asks students to mark the rhyme scheme and "Explain what major conflict in the play Shakespeare summarizes in the sonnet," which asks for identification of central ideas conveyed by a poetic passage.
Lesson 11
Nuanced Meaning
Students read Act 3, Scenes 1–5 and are asked to "summarize what you think is the most important event" in each scene, prompting them to identify and restate key events. Students answer detailed comprehension questions about events and character actions (e.g., who tried to stop the fight, why Romeo fights, what punishment the Prince gives). Students complete the "Nuances in Meaning" activity, identifying meanings of bolded words in context and choosing synonyms with positive and negative connotations, which engages them in tracing how word meanings differ across contexts and time.
Lesson 12
Time and Tension
Students read Act IV of Romeo and Juliet and are directed to "summarize what you think is the most important event" in their journals, providing an explicit summarization task. Students complete the "Time and Tension" activity in which they search the play for time-related words, count occurrences, and analyze Scene 1 (Friar Lawrence's monologue), Scene 2 (Capulet's repetition), Scene 3 (Juliet's waiting), and Scene 5 (the Nurse's monologue) to explain how time language creates tension and foreshadowing. The answer key and activity questions require students to list ways time is mentioned and to explain how those mentions build suspense, which has students trace the play's depiction of the concept of time creating tension.
Lesson 13
Tragic Hero
Students are asked to read Act V and "summarize what you think is the most important event that occurred in the scene," which asks them to provide an accurate summary of a portion of the text. Students complete a "Timeline and Character Development" activity where they record actions across acts and decide whether characters are static or dynamic, which requires tracing a character-development process across the text. Students compare Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe with Romeo and Juliet and answer questions about tragic-hero criteria from a video, which asks them to determine conclusions about character types and themes.
Lesson 14
Modern Retelling
Students watch the Luhrmann film and take guided notes using the "Two Versions" chart that asks them to record how characters are portrayed, major changes from the original play, use of setting, and use of color. Students use those notes to write an informal three-paragraph analysis with a thesis that names three specific areas of difference and then Answer/Prove/Extend (APE) for each area, requiring specific examples from both productions and an explanation of the significance or effect of those differences.
Final Project
Drama
The lesson's Skills list explicitly states students will "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." Multiple student tasks require summarizing and analysis: the comic-strip/storyboard asks students to label panels with act/scene and provide a brief summary for each panel, the news project asks students to write 4–5 sentences that give the gist (who, what, when, where) of play events, and the unit test includes comprehension and short-answer questions about plot events and character roles.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students are asked to explain key ideas from Outliers (e.g., the 10,000-hour rule and how birth date affects success) and to explain why the residents of Roseto were considered outliers and what researchers concluded, requiring them to trace the text's explanation of that phenomenon. Multiple short-answer and discussion prompts (including a question asking whether Outliers is primarily informational or persuasive) require students to identify the author's claims, summarize evidence, and articulate conclusions. Several questions ask students to state themes or main ideas from plays and novels (e.g., social messages in Ender's Game or A Raisin in the Sun) and to provide paragraph-length answers, which requires producing accurate summaries of texts.