Ninth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Lord of the Flies
Final Project
Now You Have the Conch
Students are directed to use external Purdue OWL web pages (Introduction to Invention; Writing Task Resource List) as digital resources to support their writing process. Students are prompted in Brainstorming and Outline activity pages to find passages from the novel, record page numbers, include quotes, and explain how examples support their thesis. Students are asked to consult the Essay Rubric and Checklist and to use supporting examples from text in each body paragraph, indicating practice in gathering and integrating textual evidence.
Unit 2: Short Stories
Lesson 1
The Gift of the Magi
Students are asked to go online and research the Magi, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon, and to take notes from the provided web links (BibleGateway passages and a PBS page). Students write a journal entry describing the historical significance of these figures and explain why the author alludes to them and how that knowledge contributes to understanding the story. Students therefore practice locating and extracting information from multiple digital sources and integrating that information into written reflections.
Lesson 2
The Necklace
Students are directed to use annotations and textual evidence from "The Necklace" and to skim another short story ("The Gift of the Magi") to take notes, which involves gathering information from more than one text. The lesson includes a digital link to a "How to Find a Theme" video, and students are told they may use direct quotations, summaries, or paraphrase when pulling evidence from the text. Instructions emphasize presenting information in your own words and writing an objective summary that focuses on plot and main idea, which supports avoidance of copying.
Lesson 3
Literary Response
Students are prompted to locate and record specific examples and direct quotations from the two assigned texts (Activity 1, APE/Details and Support pages). The materials give an explicit parenthetical citation format for quotations ("Quote" (Author's last name).) and show example quotations with author parenthetical citations. Rubric criteria and the APE method require students to prove claims with textual evidence and to explain how that evidence supports their points.
Lesson 7
Everyday Use
Students are directed to read online information about Alice Walker using two specific web links and to record findings on an "Author's Biographical Data Sheet." For homework, students research quilt making using three museum and gallery web links and complete a "Quilted Heritage" activity page describing a specific quilt. Students also write brief reflective paragraphs (e.g., parallels between Walker's life and the story) and complete journal entries rewriting scenes from different points of view, which requires integrating researched biographical or cultural details into their responses.
Unit 3: Grammar, Part I
Lesson 2
Subject-Verb Agreement
Students are directed to read print material from The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need and to use two specific web links (Prepositions and Subject-Verb Agreement), showing use of both print and digital sources. Students record notes on the "Commonly Confused Words" pages and use an online quiz maker to create a quiz, indicating they collect and compile information from these sources. The lesson also asks students to check answers against an Answer Key and to review sections of the book when they miss items, which involves locating and using referenced materials.
Lesson 3
Pronoun Problems
Activity 2 directs students to read specific pages in The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need and optionally consult online sources (two web links are provided). The assignment requires students to explain the topic in their own words, provide original example sentences, and includes a tip to close the book before writing to avoid copying. The poster/slideshow tasks require students to synthesize information and show corrected versions of sentences, demonstrating integration of learned material.
Lesson 4
Commas
Students are asked to use explanations in the textbook (pp. 117–123) and the two provided websites (Purdue OWL and Towson University) to find explanations and examples and then add those rules to a personal comma guide. The Skills section explicitly lists that students will "Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally." Students are directed to collect examples and record rules and explanations from multiple sources into their guide.
Lesson 7
Spelling
Students are directed to read specific print pages in The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need (pp. 9-15 and Appendix A) and to use digital resources such as Merriam-Webster's Spell It, a YouTube video (Compliment or Complement), and the Beyond the Page online spelling program. The lesson instructs students to look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary, use spell-check or search engines to find correct spellings, and to record notes/examples from the book on activity pages. Several activities require students to consult those print and digital sources to complete exercises and check answers against provided answer keys.
Unit 4: Poetry
Lesson 2
Sound and Rhythm
Students are directed to use both print (100 Best-Loved Poems) and multiple digital sources (YouTube recordings, poets.org, allpoetry.com, a prosody interactive tool) to read and listen to poems. Students are asked to find and listen to recordings online, to print or copy poems from online versions if they prefer, and to use the interactive scansion tool to mark meter. Homework and activities require students to consult these different sources when marking, analyzing, and reflecting on poems.
Lesson 3
Figurative Language
Students are directed to read poems in a print anthology (e.g., "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and poems in 100 Best-Loved Poems) and to use provided digital links (poets.org, Poetry Foundation) to locate texts. Activity instructions ask students to record examples of figurative language in their journal and to note stanza and line numbers for evidence. Homework and activities require students to consult multiple specified print and online poem sources to find and record textual examples.
Lesson 5
What Does It Mean?
Students are directed to read background material in the printed book and to follow multiple web links (Poetry Foundation, poets.org, tnellen, literarydevices, writerswrite) to find information about poems and allusions. Students are asked to look up unfamiliar words and to research cultural and historical references (e.g., Old Christmas traditions) to better understand a poem's meaning. The lesson explicitly notes that the ease of internet research helps in finding the meaning of allusions.
Lesson 6
Fooling with Words
Students are asked to research a chosen poet online for homework and to record findings on the Poet Profile worksheet (name, favorite poem, additional poems, biography, publications/awards, and personal reflection). Students are given two authoritative starting digital sources (Poetry Foundation and Poets.org) and a list of poets and time stamps to revisit parts of the video. Students are prompted to find and record titles of other poems by the poet and basic biographical details, which requires gathering information from print or digital sources.
Lesson 9
The Crossover
Students are asked to use online dictionary links from the provided Resource List and to compare the book's vocabulary definitions with dictionary definitions (Vocabulary Activity, Option 1). Students must discuss differences between the book and dictionary definitions and explain how the book's method of defining words aids understanding using one example. The lesson also offers digital resources (YouTube links and an interview with the author) that students may consult for context about the book and author.
Lesson 10
Poems and Poets
Students are asked to research the poet they selected for Activities 1–3 and to record information in the provided "Poet Biography Boxes" (known for, influences, biographical details, interesting facts). The lesson supplies multiple digital links (Poetry Foundation, Poets.org, MyLifeElsewhere, and specific poem pages) and requires students to prepare a one-page biographical presentation and a journal response that uses biographical and cultural information to analyze a poem.
Lesson 11
Reciting Poetry
Students are directed to read at least 10 poems from the Poetry Out Loud website and to choose a poem, which requires locating and selecting digital texts. Students watch multiple model recitation videos (Poetry Out Loud, Poetry Foundation, Poets.org, PBS) and are asked to note in a journal what makes each performance effective, which requires evaluating digital performance sources. The lesson provides several named authoritative web sources for students to consult while preparing their recitation.
Final Project
Poetry
Students are directed to consult multiple digital resources (e.g., a Review Sheet link, Resource List, Sample Director's Notebook, Duke guide on how to explicate a poem, Maier Museum and Getty ekphrastic resources, and articles about Bob Dylan) as part of project research. Choice 7 explicitly tells students to read articles (supporting and opposing) and to give credit if they use other writers' arguments or quotations. Several project choices instruct students to find and use online examples and tools (animation/storyboard makers, costume/set images, audio recordings) to support their work.
Unit 5: Nonfiction
Lesson 1
Types of Nonfiction
Students examine catalog records, front matter, and back matter on the "All About a Person" activity to determine whether a book is a biography, autobiography, or memoir and to find specific evidence that supports that classification. Students read and compare multiple texts and web sources (the Patricia McCormick interview and a Guardian article) and are asked to compare themes, viewpoints, and evidence about a book's accuracy with specific examples. Students are directed to look up definitions in a dictionary or reference source and then write definitions in their own words, which practices paraphrasing information from authoritative references.
Lesson 2
Pakistan
Students are asked to use information from the book (I Am Malala) and two provided web links (Wikipedia: Pakistan and a Languages in Pakistan page) to answer the Pakistan activity questions. The activity directs students to use the book's timeline, maps, and web resources to locate facts about history, geography, and languages. 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," which students practice by using timelines, maps, and web pages.
Lesson 3
The Taliban
Students are asked to read a provided PBS webpage and may "consult any other sites you'd like to consult," indicating they gather information from online sources. The tasks require students to summarize answers in a paragraph or create slides and explicitly instruct them not to "copy and paste information from web sites" and to put "all text in your own words," and the lesson includes a note to "practice paraphrasing." Option 2 directs students to "note the source under each image" when including Internet images.
Lesson 4
Dear Diary
Students practice quoting, summarizing, and especially paraphrasing through guided activities and a linked video on how to paraphrase. Students read excerpts (I Am Malala and BBC diary entries) and are asked to paraphrase provided passages and analyze example paraphrases. The materials explicitly tell students they must cite sources (unless common knowledge) and include source attributions for example texts (e.g., Anderson, The New Yorker; The Taliban, GRIN; BBC link).
Lesson 5
Displacement
Students are directed to consult multiple digital sources (a Guardian photo gallery and a New York Magazine article) and to "use library resources and conduct interviews if possible" when researching a school in another country. The Parent Plan suggests search terms such as "education + [country name]" and asks students to record information and notable statistics about school conditions. Students are asked to gather images and write a photo report or mini-book that incorporates their findings about challenges and transportation.
Lesson 6
A Day Like Any Other
Students are asked to provide evidence to support answers using specific examples and quotations from the text, with directions that quotations should include the page number from the book. The APE organizer explicitly instructs students to "Answer, Prove, Extend," requiring them to restate the question, cite textual evidence, and explain how that evidence supports their answer. Students read multiple chapters of I Am Malala and use those print passages as the basis for their analyses and answers.
Lesson 7
Life in England
Students read print chapters of I Am Malala and watch an 11-minute documentary segment and related videos (multiple print and digital sources). Students are asked to take notes and compare how the book and filmmaker differ, including questions about the filmmaker's focus, the portrayal of Malala's father and mother, and how the media may have affected events. The lesson provides web links to the filmmaker's video, the original documentary, the Nobel Prize site, and an acceptance-speech clip for students to consult.
Lesson 8
Civil Rights
Students are directed to gather information from multiple authoritative digital and print sources (linked PBS and UNCTV videos, the UPenn text of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", poets.org, Poetry Foundation, Biography Online, and primary-source excerpts like Frederick Douglass's oration). Students watch videos, read timelines and primary texts, complete activity pages matching authors to descriptions, and record answers in journals that synthesize information from those sources. The "People of the Past" activity includes an option where students must supply information about historical figures either from prior knowledge or through brief research, indicating practice in collecting information from multiple sources.
Lesson 10
Learning from the Past
Students read primary printed texts (Elie Wiesel's "Hope, Despair, and Memory") and view related digital media (a YouTube video about Wiesel and a link to the Elie Wiesel Foundation). Students are instructed to annotate the speech, locate and quote specific passages, and compose journal paragraphs that compare Wiesel's statements with quotations from other figures (MLK, Thoreau, Malala). Students also create a museum-wall project that asks them to select images and write formal explanatory text, implying use of multiple sources or media.
Lesson 11
A Boy's Story
Students read the book A Long Way Gone and the Chronology pages (pp. 222-224) to learn who was involved in the war and how it progressed. Students watch the linked author interview video and answer questions that require using information from both the print chronology and the video. Students use a map to locate Sierra Leone and look up vocabulary in dictionaries, showing use of print and digital/reference sources.
Lesson 12
Running from War
Students are taught concrete methods for integrating quoted material into their writing (complete introductory sentence + colon, short introductory phrase + comma, or blending part of a quotation) in the "Things to Know" and Activity 1 sections. The Student Activity Page gives practice selecting correctly punctuated sentences with quotations and requires students to introduce a provided quotation using one of the taught methods. The homework APE task requires students to include a quotation from the text to support their answer and to use one of the methods for integrating quotations.
Lesson 13
Child Soldier
Students are asked to gather information from multiple sources by completing the "Different Accounts" activity: they fill in answers based on the book and then watch a six-minute YouTube video of Ishmael Beah and record video-based answers. Students are directed to use the book, the video, and their own ideas on the "Child Soldiers" activity page to list advantages and disadvantages, integrating information from print and digital media. The journal prompt about the memoir controversy requires students to consider conflicting claims and weigh perspectives drawn from the book and external reporting.
Lesson 14
Rehabilitation
Students read chapters of A Long Way Gone (a print source) and are asked to re-watch an author interview on YouTube (a digital source). Students are explicitly asked to provide examples or quotations from the book and/or the video to support conclusions (Option 2, Wiesel's Words activity and journal responses). The RUF vs. Government Soldiers activity asks students to record examples or quotations from the text to support claims about war crimes.
Lesson 15
A New Life
Students are asked to visit and read information from the provided digital links (Human Rights Watch and the Malala Fund) and to use that information to create a flyer or a webpage. The lesson explicitly reviews quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and tells students to put information in their own words, close the text before writing to avoid accidental copying, and that brief quotations must be enclosed in quotation marks. The skills list and activity directions ask students to use technology and the Internet to produce and publish writing products and to write much of the webpage text themselves.
Final Project
Expository Essay
Students are asked to locate at least three credible sources (guidance includes preferring .edu/.gov sites, major newspapers, and checking timeliness) and to record keywords and possible sources using a K-N-S chart. Students list three key supporting facts, note the source for each on the "Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing" sheet, and must use at least two techniques (quote, paraphrase, summarize). Students are required to provide in-text citations and produce a Works Cited page in MLA format (instructions for alphabetical order, hanging indent, and a link to a citation builder are provided).
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
The lesson includes a dedicated Part V: Quoting and Paraphrasing in which students are asked to introduce and correctly integrate a short quotation and to paraphrase specified passages from Wordsworth. The Nonfiction unit review explicitly tells students they need to understand the differences between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. A multiple-choice question (Part I, Q4) asks when credit must be given, prompting students to think about when to cite sources.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: Ender's Game
Lesson 1
Born to Genius
Students are asked to read the book's introduction (pp. xi-xiii) and "use Internet search tools" to fill out the About the Author activity page, locating historical facts from 1957-1963 and details about Orson Scott Card's influences. The activity explicitly directs students to perform Internet research to answer five specific questions about the author's life, inspirations, and other projects. The Parent Plan reiterates that students should look up information online to answer the questions.
Lesson 2
We're People, Not Thirds
Students are asked in Activity 2 (the research option) to "research eugenics and record ten facts you learned," which requires gathering information. The Planned Procreation activity explicitly tells students they can "browse the Internet for ideas" and even suggests search terms such as "procreation" or "childbearing" to begin online searches. The Planned Procreation student page prompts students to gather information across four topical categories (religious, environmental/ethical, personal/financial, governmental/legal), which directs students to collect information from multiple perspectives.
Lesson 7
Leaders Motivate
Activity 1 directs students to "Read about John Locke and Demosthenes (using the following resources or other reference material) and watch the short presentation on Demosthenes," and provides four web links as sources. Students are asked to "reflect" and "write a journal entry describing the links between the two sets of personalities," which requires them to gather information from those sources and incorporate it into their writing. Activity 2 has students work with historical quotations and match them to characters, which asks students to apply sourced ideas to novel characters.
Lesson 8
Flies and Self-Loathing
Students are prompted in Activity 1 to research the symbolism or significance of the animals in cultures around the world to inform their logo designs. The Parent Plan reiterates that students could research animal symbolism as part of their creative work. These notes show students may be asked to gather some external information to support a task.
Lesson 11
Thud, Whump, Huut
Students are asked to compare the novel to a movie or comic-book adaptation by rereading a scene in the book and re-watching or rereading the adaptation, and to take notes on differences, omissions, and changes. The Comic Adaptation activity page directs students to identify specific narration or dialogue that was omitted or changed and to judge whether the adaptation communicated those elements through images. The lesson provides digital/print source options (a streaming link and a comic URL) and prompts students to discuss effectiveness and omissions with a parent.
Lesson 12
Campbell's Comparisons
Students watch a YouTube video that summarizes the 12 steps of the Hero's Journey and record those steps in their journals, providing practice gathering information from a digital source. Students use the video summary together with the novel Ender's Game to choose six steps and describe parallels, showing they integrate information from at least two sources into written responses on the activity sheet. Students are also assigned a Forbes article for homework, adding another print/digital source for later use.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
Students are prompted to "look up NATO and the Warsaw Pact," color and sort countries, and list two similarities and two differences between the historical Warsaw Pact and the fictional Second Warsaw Pact, which requires them to gather factual information. Students also used a video in Lesson 12 to choose six "hero's journey" steps and drew parallels to the novel, indicating they extracted information from a digital source to support a storyboard project. These activities ask students to research specific historical and multimedia sources and to record findings in their journal or project materials.
Unit 2: Grammar, Part II
Lesson 2
Capitalization and Numbers
Students are directed to consult multiple named digital references (OWL Purdue and Grammarbook.com) and an online capitalization quiz to check their answers. Students read print material from the book (common confused words, rules for numbers) and record rules, notes, and examples on activity pages. Students are instructed to use the book and the provided web links as references and to record a preferred style on the "Writing Numbers" page.
Lesson 6
Word Choice
Students are asked to read specific print pages (e.g., Appendix B and pp. 165–166) and to visit named digital resources (GrammarBook quiz; OWL Purdue pages on formality and eliminating words; UNC Writing Center on word choice) and to take notes. Students complete related activity pages and quizzes and check answers against provided answer keys, using those print and web sources as reference material.
Lesson 7
Verb Voice and Mood
Students are directed to consult multiple named digital sources (OWL Purdue, Guide to Grammar passive quiz, Carson-Newman subjunctive page, Grammarly blog) as they develop their subjunctive mood project. Students complete an online exercise and are told they may refer to the listed web links for explanations and examples while creating a poster, slideshow, comic, or card game. The student rubric asks students to ‘clearly show' the subjunctive using definitions and examples, which implies using information from sources to support their explanations.
Lesson 8
Parallelism
Students are instructed to read information from both the book and an online Towson University module on parallel structure and to take notes on a provided "Parallelism" activity page. Students are directed to use the webpage and book to complete numbered note-taking prompts and are encouraged, if they have time, to try linked online exercises to test their knowledge. The activity therefore requires students to gather information from a print source (the book) and a digital source (the Towson webpage).
Final Project
Wrapping Up
Students are explicitly told in the Explanatory Guide mini-project that they may "consult outside sources as needed" and are reminded to "give credit when you quote them." Students are asked to use online tools and provide URLs for any online work, and the Parent Plan lists using technology and the Internet to produce and publish writing. Multiple web links to resource lists and creation tools are provided for students to use when preparing projects.
Unit 3: Informational Texts
Lesson 1
What Are Informational Texts?
Students are asked to locate bibliographic elements (bibliography/endnotes, footnotes) and other informational text features in a print book (Outliers) and to check them off on the Student Activity Page. Students watch a Malcolm Gladwell TED talk (a digital source) and are instructed to jot prior knowledge and discuss details from the talk. The activity also asks students to look up the term "social science" in a dictionary or online if they are unsure, indicating use of an additional reference source.
Lesson 5
Harlan, Kentucky
Students are asked in the homework to "do some brief research" about who originally settled their area, with a suggested Internet search term ("[city] settlers") and directions to take notes and share findings with family. Students are directed in the vocabulary activity to consult a digital reference (Collins Dictionary link) to find pronunciations and definitions. The skills list explicitly mentions drawing evidence for research and consulting general and specialized reference materials, both print and digital.
Lesson 6
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
Students are asked to read and compare multiple sources: the printed chapter from Outliers, a linked blog critique ('Ask a Korean'), and Malcolm Gladwell's linked response (Activities 4 and 5). Students complete tasks that require evaluating those sources: Option 1 asks them to judge the blog author's credibility and whether they trust his information; Option 2 asks students to chart criticisms, Gladwell's responses, and evaluate the effectiveness of those responses. The skills list and activity directions require students to refer to evidence from texts and other research when preparing discussions or written analyses.
Lesson 7
Rice Paddies and Math Tests
Students are instructed they may use outside print or digital sources for their infographic project: "You can use other sources if you'd like." The lesson provides specific web links and a resource list students can consult and tells students to "be sure to give credit to any outside sources you use." The Skills list in the Parent Plan explicitly includes consulting general and specialized reference materials and citing textual evidence.
Lesson 8
With Malice Toward None
Students read Abraham Lincoln's "Second Inaugural Address" via the provided web link and respond to text-based questions, demonstrating direct engagement with an authoritative primary source. The Parent Plan lists as a skill that students must "cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis," so students practice extracting and citing evidence from the primary text for analysis. The lesson also introduces the concept of primary versus secondary sources and notes that students will learn more about primary and secondary sources in a subsequent lesson.
Lesson 9
Writing about History
Students read multiple print and digital sources provided by links (National Geographic, NPS, Arapaho Project, archival articles) and several primary-source testimonies (Smith, Brent, Chivington). Students complete a graphic organizer that requires matching secondary-source claims to supporting primary-source excerpts and answer guided questions comparing facts across the three summaries. Students analyze testimony for truthfulness in the "Primary Falsehoods" activity and produce an editorial or visual product that requires them to use facts from the accounts to support an argument. The Skills list and activities ask students to cite specific textual evidence and to compare point of view, indicating practice in assessing bias and integrating evidence into writing.
Lesson 10
Science Writing
Students read specified pages of an online science booklet (digital) and are assigned a linked video, so they work with both print/digital materials. Students complete an activity page that asks them to explain how the author supports specific claims and to identify the methods the author uses to explain terms. The homework requires students to compare the effectiveness of the written explanation versus the video and justify which was more understandable. The skills list explicitly asks students to cite specific textual evidence and to assess the extent to which reasoning and evidence support the author's analysis.
Lesson 11
Technical Writing
Students are asked in the Day 1 homework to "find information online" to back up their introduction claim, to record where they got the information, and to put quoted information in quotation marks. The Guide Checklist requires that the benefit be supported by an outside source that is "properly credited," and the final product must include a "Works Cited" section. Activity 6 provides an example MLA citation and directs students to add a Works Cited entry for the source used in their introduction.
Lesson 12
Logical Fallacies
Students are asked to look up two fallacies online and record their meanings (Option 1), and multiple web links (videos and a link to Andrew Jackson's speech on archives.gov) are provided for students to access print and digital sources. Students are directed to print or read a primary-source speech and highlight at least three fallacious arguments (Option 2). The activities require students to use these sources to identify and label fallacies on activity pages and to complete fill-in-the-blank and example-matching tasks based on the provided videos and readings.
Final Project
Argumentative Research Essay
Students are instructed to find at least five high-quality sources and to begin research in library research databases (Day 2/Part 3) with specific databases named (CQ Researcher, Credo, ProQuest, SIRS, encyclopedias). The lesson provides explicit criteria for assessing online sources (author, publisher, purpose, bias, accessibility, accuracy, relevance, currency) in Part 5 and directs students to note contradictions among sources and track which source each fact came from (Part 4). The materials require use of MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page, give an in-text citation example (Smith), link to Purdue OWL for MLA formatting, and include a rubric that evaluates accurate citation, use of three or more authoritative sources, and flags plagiarism (Day 4, Part 10, rubric).
Unit 4: Drama
Lesson 1
What Is Drama?
Students are asked to watch multiple provided video clips (web links) and record their genre guesses in a journal, showing that they gather information from several digital sources. Students review and use diagrams and an external image link to learn about stage types and stage-direction vocabulary, indicating use of print/digital reference materials. Students write a paragraph in their journal recalling a play or imagining one, which requires integrating observed details into written text.
Lesson 2
How to Read Drama
Students are directed to read a web article on how to read drama, watch a linked performance video of Trifles, and consult the Project Gutenberg script, using these multiple print and digital sources to answer journal questions. Students are asked to use the video and script to complete the "Applying Aristotle's Six Elements of Tragedy" activity page and to answer guided analysis questions. Students synthesize observations from these sources when responding to plot, character, diction, and spectacle prompts.
Lesson 3
Life and Times
Students read multiple texts (the introduction by Robert Nemiroff, cast and setting pages, and a linked biography of Lorraine Hansberry) and answer comprehension questions. Students watch a History Channel video about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and are asked to take notes and respond to guided questions. Students are provided with web links to historical images and a primary text (the Civil Rights Act) to examine historical context.
Lesson 4
A Raisin in the Sun
The lesson's Skills section instructs students to "consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning." The vocabulary activity directs students to determine meanings from context and, if unclear, to "find the definition in a dictionary." The unit supplies multiple digital sources (five Speech Accent Archive links, two video links, and an infographic link) and asks students to listen, watch, take journal notes, and reflect on what they learned.
Lesson 5
Act II
Students are directed to use multiple digital song links (YouTube) and to record each song's title and year and analyze what each says about the American Dream. Students are instructed to read excerpts from Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black and answer analytic questions about those print excerpts. Students are asked to consult a dictionary to confirm vocabulary definitions, and the Parent Plan lists consulting general and specialized print and digital reference materials and integrating/evaluating information presented in diverse media.
Lesson 7
Fences
Students are asked to use multiple sources: they read the play A Raisin in the Sun, watch the movie Fences, and view an interview with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (links to Amazon and YouTube are provided). Students complete a comparison chart that requires them to identify similarities and differences across theme, characters, plot, and setting drawn from those works. Students write journal paragraphs summarizing insights gained from the interview and reflecting on what they learned from reading and watching the works.
Lesson 8
Shakespeare
Students are asked to use their book (Folger Romeo and Juliet), a provided mini-biography video, and other web resources to create a timeline of Shakespeare's life. The lesson supplies specific web links (Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare-online) and a Student Activity Page timeline with dated slots for students to populate. Students also complete reading and comprehension activities using the Folger edition, demonstrating use of a print authoritative source alongside digital sources.
Lesson 9
Romeo and Juliet
Students are directed to gather information from multiple digital and print sources: they watch a Globe Theatre video, take a virtual tour of Shakespeare's Globe, read an online article about Italian Renaissance weddings and dowries, and are assigned a streamed stage production on Digital Theatre. Students use those sources to answer comprehension questions, summarize scenes in journals, and prepare responses to guided discussion prompts about theater practices and marriage traditions.
Lesson 10
Figurative Language
Students read Act II scenes from Romeo and Juliet and use the printed play text to identify and analyze figurative language, demonstrating use of a print source. Students are asked to "search online for puns they find amusing" (Puns Part III) and to watch Act II on a specified Digital Theatre video, indicating that students gather examples from digital sources. Students also cut out and reorder sonnet lines using the printed book as a reference when needed.
Lesson 13
Tragic Hero
Students use multiple digital and print sources: they read Act V of Romeo and Juliet, read excerpts of Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe, and watch linked videos (TedEd and YouTube) to learn about heroes and character types. Students are instructed to compare the Pyramus and Thisbe excerpt with Romeo and Juliet and to search for and print or photocopy monologues from online sources and view online performances for recitation preparation.
Lesson 14
Modern Retelling
Students watch two different productions (the 1996 Luhrmann film and the 2009 Globe Theatre production) and take notes using the provided "Two Versions" comparison chart. Students record specific differences in character portrayal, major changes from the original play, use of setting, and use of color while watching and pausing as needed. Students are instructed to write a three-paragraph analysis that requires a thesis and paragraphs containing specific examples from both productions and explanations of the significance of those differences, which requires integrating information into their written text.
Final Project
Drama
Students are instructed to use outside information and to cite any images, quotations, or facts they use, including an in-text reference and an attached Works Cited page. The project rubric includes a specific "Sources" category for evaluating use of resources, citing, and research. Multiple project options (costume research, set design, news page, playlist, etc.) explicitly prompt students to consult web links provided in the lesson (e.g., Google Images, Renaissance clothing pages, set design resources) when gathering information.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students are asked to evaluate the credibility of sources in Discussion question B, with guidance to consider site endings (.edu/.gov), author qualifications, sponsor/publisher, purpose, and bias. Students answer an explicit question distinguishing primary and secondary sources in Part III (historical writing question). The skills list and several short-answer prompts require students to draw evidence from texts and to refer to endnotes/sources (Discussion F asks students to note Gladwell's use of endnotes and research), which reinforces assessing source material for research.