Ninth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Lord of the Flies
Lesson 1
The Call
The Option 1 "Dystopias" activity asks students who have read two or more dystopian novels and watched two or more dystopian films to record titles and then answer comparative questions about settings, plot ideas, central struggles, and common elements. The Student Activity Page prompts students to list titles from both literature and film and to identify what those works have in common. The lesson also provides a TED-Ed video link about recognizing dystopias, giving an additional multimedia account students could compare with print works.
Lesson 3
Paths in the Jungle
Students read and annotate print articles about dystopian fiction, identify the author's thesis and supporting points, and record reactions on an organizer (Activity 1). Students also write a first-person character journal entry after comparing omniscient and first-person narration, explicitly practicing a shift in perspective and reflecting on what they learn by seeing the story through a character's eyes (Activity 2 and Wrapping Up). The lesson asks students to read other people's impressions of books to gain new insight, encouraging comparison of different written accounts.
Lesson 5
Not Hunting, But Hunted
Students read and analyze underlined passages from Lord of the Flies that show how narrative pacing highlights specific sensory and behavioral details. Students compare Example A and Example B of the same event in print to see how expanded description emphasizes different details and emotions. Students are directed to watch a 5-minute video, "Slowing Down Time in Writing and Film," which provides a multimedia treatment of the same pacing concept.
Lesson 8
Defects of Human Nature
Students read and quote William Golding's interview statement that explicitly names the novel's central theme and also read passages from the novel that illustrate that theme (e.g., "Though he stated a major theme of the book quite directly in the interview, Golding never did so in the novel..."). Students complete activities that identify major and minor themes and cite details from the printed novel to support theme choices (Activity 1, Option 1/2). The wrap-up directs students to use the author's own words alongside novel scenes to evaluate and guide their analysis.
Lesson 10
Which Is Better?
Students are asked to consider a forthcoming movie adaptation and to decide "Which scenes from the book do you believe must be included in an adaptation so that it represents a meaningful interpretation of the story?," which prompts thinking about how a film might represent the novel. The lesson provides multimedia (a linked Crash Course video) and a black-and-white illustration of the Colosseum and an aqueduct alongside text that contrasts what the public and historians/engineers emphasize about Rome. The activity page asks students to compare the boys' lives with early peoples, pairing textual description with images and a video link for review.
Lesson 11
The Film
Students watch the 1963 film adaptation and complete a "Movie vs. Book" chart that asks them to record similarities and differences in characters, setting, theme, and plot. Students answer journal questions asking which omitted scenes were too critical to the novel's major theme and give examples of visuals that differ from their mental images. The answer key and activity prompts require students to identify specific added or omitted details (e.g., Piggy's added comic scene, Simon's silent encounter, the missing officer conversation) and to note which thematic elements are preserved or lost.
Unit 2: Short Stories
Lesson 5
Edgar Allan Poe
Students are asked to read the written text of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and then create a 6–8 panel visual storyboard that recreates a specific scene, with each panel accompanied by a quoted section of the story. The lesson explicitly prompts students to think about how stories change when adapted from written to image-based genres and notes that certain Gothic elements (e.g., gloomy settings) may become more prominent in visual form. The storyboard activity requires students to translate textual details into visual representations, which makes students produce a second, different-medium account of the same subject.
Lesson 6
The Lottery
The Controversy activity directs students to "Choose a book you have read or movie you have seen" and to "compare the two" using the activity page. The activity page asks targeted comparative questions such as "In what ways does it remind you of 'The Lottery'?" and "How are their themes similar?" These items require students to compare Jackson's print story with another work that may be in a different medium (a book or a movie).
Lesson 7
Everyday Use
Students read the print short story "Everyday Use" and are asked to research Alice Walker's biography using provided web links (including biography pages that contain text and short videos) and record findings on an "Author's Biographical Data Sheet." The homework directs students to browse online quilt galleries and complete a "Quilted Heritage" activity page, exposing them to multimedia representations of the cultural artifact central to the story. Activity prompts ask students to identify parallels between Walker's life and elements of the story, which requires comparing biographical accounts with the fictional account.
Lesson 8
Harrison Bergeron
Students read Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" and watch a film adaptation (2081) and a related discussion video. Students complete a titled activity, "Harrison Bergeron: The Printed Word vs. the Movie," that asks them to list scenes the director added/altered/deleted, list character changes, and identify concepts emphasized more in the film than in the written version. Discussion prompts ask students to compare specific moments (Harrison's speech; the execution scene) and explain how and why the film's emphasis differs from the print version.
Unit 4: Poetry
Lesson 2
Sound and Rhythm
Students listen to an audio recording of "Lord Randall" while following the printed poem and are asked whether the two versions are different and what accounts for those differences. Students are prompted to consider what musical qualities the poem has when read or heard and to notice repetitions of sounds, rhythm, and repeated words or phrases. The lesson asks students to compare audio and print delivery and to identify sound devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia) that contribute to those differences.
Lesson 6
Fooling with Words
Students watch a one-hour multimedia video of poets performing and are asked to think about how poets create and which poets they like best. For homework, students research a chosen poet online and complete a Poet Profile that records biographical details, other poems, and a personal reflection on the poet's work and delivery. The Parent Plan skills explicitly include "Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats," and the wrapping-up questions ask students whether listening/watching or reading is more helpful, prompting comparison of modalities.
Lesson 8
Types of Poems
Students compare multiple artistic treatments of the same poems and artworks: they watch three animated/video interpretations of Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider" and answer how each artist interpreted the poem and how interpretations were similar or different. In the Ekphrasis activity students read poems alongside the visual artworks that inspired them and complete a chart asking what the poem says about the artwork, what emotions each evokes, and how the poem adds to or changes the meaning of the artwork. The Parent Plan also explicitly lists analyzing representation of a subject or key scene in two different artistic mediums and what is emphasized or absent in each treatment as a targeted skill.
Lesson 10
Poems and Poets
Students are asked to listen to a multimedia reading of Robert Burns's "To a Mouse" (YouTube link) in addition to reading the printed poems, and students are directed to use web resources (Poetry Foundation, Poets.org) for research. Students create a one-page biographical sketch using presentation software that can include images and other multimedia elements (Activity 3). Activity 4 asks students to use biographical information and external research to analyze how cultural references in a poem enrich meaning.
Lesson 11
Reciting Poetry
Activity 2 instructs students to read each poem and then watch student recitation videos, with an explicit prompt to note in their journals what makes each performance effective. Students are asked to consider how listening to or reciting a poem is different from reading it and to review performances to get ideas for delivery. Homework and preparation tasks direct students to analyze word choice, tone, imagery, pauses, and enjambment, giving them tools to observe which details are highlighted in text versus performance.
Final Project
Poetry
The Skills list explicitly includes: "Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment," which directly parallels the standard. The unit asks students to view multiple animators' interpretations of a poem (referenced in Choice 2) and to create adaptations of poems into other media (director's notebook, visual interpretation, ekphrastic poem, artwork, musical setting), giving students opportunities to work with the same subject across different mediums.
Unit 5: Nonfiction
Lesson 1
Types of Nonfiction
Students read the print memoir I Am Malala (Prologue and Chapter 1) and are directed to read the first five questions and answers of an online interview with Patricia McCormick. Students complete an "All About a Person" activity that asks them to compare the book they selected with others, citing themes, viewpoints, character identity, and evidence about the book's accuracy. Students are explicitly asked to consider McCormick's role in writing the book and whether her involvement changes how they would classify the work (biography, autobiography, or memoir).
Lesson 2
Pakistan
Students are directed to read chapters of the print memoir I Am Malala and to use online sources (Wikipedia and a languages webpage) plus maps and a timeline to answer questions about Pakistan. The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill to "integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words." The Student Activity Page instructs students to use both the book and web links to find answers to specific questions about setting, language, and geography.
Lesson 3
The Taliban
Students read print chapters of I Am Malala and are asked to answer comprehension questions about the Taliban from that first-hand account. Students are directed to read an external webpage ("Who Are the Taliban?") and to use it (and other web sources) to write an informational paragraph or create slides that include text and images. The Parent Plan skills explicitly list integrating and evaluating content presented in diverse media and formats, and homework asks students to compare barriers from a web article to events in I Am Malala.
Lesson 4
Dear Diary
Students read Chapters 11–13 of I Am Malala (a printed narrative) and are directed to read excerpts of Malala's BBC diary via the provided BBC link, so they encounter at least two distinct accounts about Malala. Students practice paraphrasing using lines explicitly identified as coming from Malala's BBC diary and analyze paraphrases of source sentences attributed to other publications (e.g., The New Yorker, GRIN). The homework and activities require students to rewrite and analyze wording from these different sources.
Lesson 5
Displacement
Students examine photographs on The Guardian webpage, choose images to print and paste, and write three assumptions about each school based on the pictures and captions. Students write short first- or third-person statements that reflect what a pictured student likes and dislikes, and they conduct brief research about school conditions in the pictured locations. In Option 2, students look at a photograph of Malala's school vehicle in the book and review an online article about how kids get to school, then create a mini-book profiling different transportation types with images and advantages/disadvantages.
Lesson 7
Life in England
Students are asked to read Chapters 33–34 of I Am Malala and to watch an 11-minute documentary segment titled "The Making of Malala," then take notes comparing the two accounts. The activity provides specific prompts asking students to compare how Malala and the filmmaker portray her father's role, the filmmaker's focus versus Malala's focus, why impressions of her mother differ, and which details each medium emphasizes. The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill: "Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums... determining which details are emphasized in each account."
Lesson 8
Civil Rights
Students watch multiple videos (Freedom Riders; Freedom Riders Create Change; Birmingham and the Children's March) and answer specific comprehension questions in their journals about events shown in those videos. Students read print texts including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and excerpts/works by Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou and respond in writing about persuasive arguments and author contributions. Students complete activities that ask them to consider "what is especially powerful about their writing" and to match authors to descriptions, demonstrating attention to details emphasized in print accounts. The Parent Plan skill list explicitly names integrating and evaluating content presented in diverse media and formats.
Lesson 9
Civil Disobedience
Students read and analyze paired excerpts from Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr., using the "MLK and 'Civil Disobedience'" comparison table that lists Thoreau text, overlapping ideas, and King text for students to fill in. Students complete an "Opposing Quotes" activity in which they read quoted passages from each man on topics (America, role of government, voting) and decide which author they agree with more, explaining points of alignment. Students also read excerpts from "Civil Disobedience" for homework and answer guided questions about Thoreau's views, practicing identification of key ideas and differences.
Lesson 10
Learning from the Past
Students read a printed speech by Elie Wiesel and are directed in Getting Started to watch a short video about Wiesel (Bearing Witness). In Activity 2, students read an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech and then watch a video of him delivering the same excerpt, and they are asked to reflect on what seeing and hearing the speech adds and how voice inflections, pauses, facial expressions, and gestures contribute. The Parent Plan for Activity 2 explicitly expects students to discuss differences between reading the words and watching/listening to the speech.
Lesson 11
A Boy's Story
Students are instructed to read A Long Way Gone (print) and the book chronology and to watch a short author interview video, then answer comprehension questions about the video (e.g., what the author says the book tries to explain). Students are also asked to "note how the book's style of writing differs from that of I Am Malala," and the Parent Plan lists the skill to "integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats." These tasks require students to engage with both print and multimedia versions of material about the same subject.
Lesson 13
Child Soldier
Students complete Activity 2 "Different Accounts," filling in "Book" sections before watching a six-minute video of Ishmael Beah and then completing the "Video" sections. The worksheet asks students to record examples or quotes from the book and then record what Beah says in the video for specific questions (e.g., whether the boys were forced to fight, commanders' roles, why drugs were given, effects of war movies). Directions require students to be prepared to discuss differences between the two accounts, and the parent/answer key explicitly notes contrasts in emphasis between book and video.
Lesson 14
Rehabilitation
Students are asked to re-watch a 1-minute author video and to use both the book text and the video when completing the "Wiesel's Words" activity. The activity page directs students to choose a quotation and "explain how you think it relates to A Long Way Gone," and to "include specific information from the book and/or video that helped you form your opinion." A web link to an author interview (a multimedia account) is provided alongside the print chapters students read.
Lesson 15
A New Life
Students are asked to compare aspects of two memoirs (I Am Malala and A Long Way Gone) and to consider authors' use of rhetoric and writing style. The Comparing Memoirs activity and student activity page prompt students to examine which details each memoir emphasizes (for example, comparing Malala's account of her shooting vs. Beah's account of a rebel attack). Students are directed to look at specific scenes and to evaluate whether the details included were appropriate for each author's purpose and audience.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students are asked to compare and relate nonfiction texts and authors (e.g., explain how Malala Yousafzai and Ishmael Beah used their experiences to improve others' lives, and how Thoreau's writing influenced Martin Luther King, Jr.). Discussion prompts instruct students to use essays, speeches, and other texts from the Nonfiction unit to analyze topics such as the horrors of war and the controversy over the accuracy of A Long Way Gone (memoir). The exam and review materials require students to read speeches and memoir excerpts and to discuss genre, author purpose, and relationships among texts.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: Ender's Game
Lesson 5
Movement and Time
Students are asked to identify and analyze flashbacks in Ender's Game (Student Activity Page Q3–Q5) and to provide an example of a flashback from another book or film (Q6), which brings in another medium. In Activity 1 students transform written action sequences into pipe-cleaner figures and narrate the movements, which has them translate print description into a physical/oral representation. The flashback questions also ask students to explain how a flashback provides insight and increases tension, prompting analysis of content across different examples.
Lesson 7
Leaders Motivate
Students are directed to read multiple web articles about John Locke and Demosthenes and to watch a short presentation on Demosthenes, then write a journal entry reflecting on reasons Peter uses the pen names. The activity asks students to 'reflect' and 'describe the links between the two sets of personalities' based on the print and multimedia sources. The lesson therefore requires students to use information from different mediums (web texts and a video) to form an analysis linking historical figures to characters.
Lesson 11
Thud, Whump, Huut
Students are asked to compare Ender's Game in print with either the 2013 movie (Option 1) or the Marvel comic adaptation (Option 2), re-reading a scene and re-watching or re-reading its adaptation and taking notes on differences. The Comic Adaptation activity page directs students to list narration or dialogue that was omitted or changed and to decide whether the comic's pictures communicated the omitted words. The Parent Plan Skills explicitly state students will "analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment."
Lesson 12
Campbell's Comparisons
Students watch a multimedia video that summarizes the 12 steps of the Hero's Journey and record those steps in their journals. Students choose six steps from that multimedia summary and use a graphic organizer to describe parallels between those steps and events in the print novel Ender's Game. The Activity page directs students to provide examples from the novel that fit each chosen step.
Unit 3: Informational Texts
Lesson 1
What Are Informational Texts?
Students are asked to jot down what they already know about the biblical story of David and Goliath before watching Malcolm Gladwell's TED talk, and then watch the multimedia presentation. After viewing, students respond to discussion questions that ask them to compare the traditional view of David as an underdog with Gladwell's interpretation and to identify ways Gladwell emphasizes different details (e.g., David's advantages, Goliath's vision problems).
Lesson 3
The Matthew Effect
Students are asked to reinterpret the book's charts and the chapter's written play-by-play by creating alternative graphics (Option 1 and Option 2). Prompts ask students to judge whether the charts the author uses are the best way to communicate the birthdate information and to sketch a graphic that would replace or supplement a paragraph (pp. 23–24 and p. 28) to convey the same findings. The parent-plan skills explicitly include translating quantitative or technical information expressed in words into visual form and vice versa.
Lesson 6
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
Students read Malcolm Gladwell's chapter from Outliers and then read a blog post that criticizes that chapter (Activity 4). In Activity 5 students must identify the blog author's primary objections, prepare a summary of those objections, and in Option 2 complete a chart noting each criticism, Gladwell's response, and evaluate the effectiveness of the response. The answer keys and parent notes prompt students to note omissions, misquotations, and which facts each writer emphasizes or leaves out.
Lesson 7
Rice Paddies and Math Tests
Students read Sections 1-7 of the Outliers chapter that discuss Chinese number words, memory, and counting systems and answer comprehension questions about those points. Students are instructed to watch the provided "Counting to 100 in Chinese" and "Learn Numbers 1-10" videos, take notes on how the Chinese counting system works, and practice or present their findings to a parent. The homework/infographic assignment and activity suggestions explicitly invite students to incorporate audio or visual media (e.g., embedding audio files or images) to explain differences between Asian language number words and English.
Lesson 9
Writing about History
Students read three different web summaries of the Sand Creek Massacre and answer a question that asks them to list two facts that all three sources agree upon (Reading and Questions, Q#1). In Activity 1 students complete a graphic organizer that explicitly asks them to match claims from secondary sources to supporting primary-source quotations and to note differences/consistencies between firsthand and secondary accounts (Student Activity Page and Parent Plan answer key). In Activity 3 students either design a split-perspective magazine cover or read pro-Chivington editorials and write an editorial presenting the opposing point of view, requiring students to compare how different accounts treat the same event.
Lesson 10
Science Writing
Students read specific sections of a print science booklet (pp. 3–5 and pp. 15–17) and complete an activity that asks them to identify how the author explains terms (e.g., methods used to explain 'centripetal force'). The student activity page asks students to evaluate how the author supports two claims and to name the methods (highlighting, explanation, example, illustration) used in the written account. For homework, students watch a short video about centrifugal force and are prompted to compare the video and the text and explain which version made the concept more understandable and why.
Unit 4: Drama
Lesson 1
What Is Drama?
Students watch multiple video clips of plays and films and are asked to identify genres and note types of stages used when watching plays live or on film (Activity 1, Activity 2, and the review/ wrapping up sections). The Parent Plan notes that drama includes plays in written form and on film, and the homework asks students to write a paragraph comparing the experience of a live play with watching something on television or in a movie theater.
Lesson 3
Life and Times
Students read multiple print texts: the Introduction by Robert Nemiroff, the cast and setting pages, and a biographical article on Lorraine Hansberry. Students watch a History Channel video on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and are directed to historical images of 1940s–1950s tenement housing. The Parent Plan skills explicitly include integrating and evaluating information presented in diverse media and formats, and students are asked to take notes and answer questions about the video.
Lesson 4
A Raisin in the Sun
Students read the play A Raisin in the Sun in print and complete activities that require them to stage scenes or draw the stage, prompting consideration of how drama as a medium affects audience perception. Students listen to audio dialect samples and view two documentary-style videos about first-generation college students, taking notes and reflecting on what they heard and saw. The lesson also asks students to "think about why the author chose to tell her story on stage rather than in a book," and to consider how action and dialogue on stage would affect an audience.
Lesson 5
Act II
Students listen to multiple songs about the American Dream and answer for each song what it says about the American Dream and why it was written (homework listening activity). Students read excerpts from Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black and answer questions linking those autobiographical excerpts to characters and themes in A Raisin in the Sun (Activity 2). The lesson includes print (play text, Hansberry excerpts), audio (song links), and visual resources (Aso-Oke slideshow) that students engage with.
Lesson 6
Act III
Students read Act III of the play and read Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem" and are asked to "examine the poem more closely and how it relates to the play." The Student Activity Page directs students to identify five similes, analyze the imagery of the poem's last line, and relate a poem comparison to a character's deferred dream. The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill: "Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment."
Lesson 7
Fences
Students watch the 2016 movie Fences and are instructed to compare and contrast it with A Raisin in the Sun, filling out a comparison chart that asks about theme, characters (goals, attitudes, obstacles), plot, and setting. Students watch a short interview in which the actors/director discuss differences between performing the play and the movie and then write a paragraph listing insights about those differences. The Parent Plan explicitly states that students will "analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment."
Lesson 8
Shakespeare
Students read the printed "Shakespeare's Life" section in the Folger Romeo and Juliet edition and are assigned to watch a William Shakespeare mini-biography video. Students are instructed to use the book, the video, and other web resources to create a timeline of Shakespeare's life and to cut and order event boxes on the provided timeline activity pages. The timeline activity requires students to locate and record specific biographical details (birth, marriage, children's births and deaths, theater dates) from multiple sources.
Lesson 9
Romeo and Juliet
Students read Act I of Romeo and Juliet in print and answer comprehension questions and journal summaries about important events. Students also watch a recorded performance of Act I at the Globe Theatre and are instructed to note specific staging and visual details (family costume colors, lack of props/sets, scene movement, use of balcony, chorus, actor positioning). The lesson includes a virtual tour and video of the Globe to provide a multimedia account of the same material.
Lesson 10
Figurative Language
Students read Act II (Scenes 1–6) of Romeo and Juliet and answer comprehension questions about events and language. Students are also assigned to watch Act II on Digital Theatre and are asked to note specific features of the multimedia performance (an unusual entrance by Mercutio and the use of singing). These activities place the same subject matter in two different mediums (print/script and a recorded performance).
Lesson 11
Nuanced Meaning
Students read Act 3 (Scenes 1–5) of Romeo and Juliet in print and are assigned to watch the corresponding Act 3 scenes in a video, providing exposure to the same subject in two different mediums. Students are asked to rewrite a six-line exchange from Act 3 as modern text messages (including use of emojis) and, in the Parent Plan, to show and compare the original scene to their text exchange to demonstrate understanding of relationships, plot, and emotions.
Lesson 13
Tragic Hero
Students read Act V of Romeo and Juliet and answer comprehension questions about the play, and they are assigned to watch Act 5 of a video production as homework. Students watch a TedEd video about hero types and are asked to apply the video's criteria to Romeo and Juliet. Students read excerpts of Ovid's "Pyramus and Thisbe" and fill a comparison activity sheet noting similarities to Romeo and Juliet.
Lesson 14
Modern Retelling
Students watch a modern film adaptation (Luhrmann 1996) and compare it to a Globe Theatre production, taking notes on differences in character portrayals, major changes from the original play, use of setting, and use of color using the provided "Two Versions" activity page. Students are directed to choose three specific areas of difference, write a thesis stating those areas, and produce three supporting paragraphs that answer a focused question, provide specific examples from both productions, and explain the significance or effect of those differences. The assignment checklist requires each paragraph to contain specific information or examples from both productions and an explanation of what the differences mean.
Final Project
Drama
Students are asked to create three mini-projects in different media (examples include a podcast, comic strip/storyboard, news webpage, song, commercial, playlist, set and costume designs) and to present each product to an audience. Project instructions require students to draw on the play (e.g., rewrite or retell scenes, report events, choose songs that reflect characters) and the rubric includes a "Content" category assessing understanding of the play and a "Sources" category requiring citation when outside materials are used. Several project prompts (set design, podcast, news) explicitly ask students to retell or represent scenes from the play in a particular medium.