The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In our lives, we are constantly telling stories to ourselves and to others in an attempt to both understand our experiences and present our best selves to others.  But how do we tell a story about ourselves that is both true and positive? How do we hold ourselves up in the best possible light, while still being honest about our struggles and our flaws? Students will explore ways of interpreting and portraying personal experiences.  They'll read Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart , analyzing the text through the eyes of one character. They'll get to know that character's flaws and strengths, and they'll tell part of the story from that character's perspective, doing their best to tell an honest tale that presents their character's best side. Then they'll explore their own stories, crafting a personal narrative about an important moment of learning in his or her life.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , viewing the events and conflicts of the novel through the eyes of one of the central characters.
Students write a two-part narrative project: one narrative told through their character’s perspective and one personal narrative about an incident in their own life.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

How do our conflicts shape and show our character?
How can we tell a story about ourselves that’s both honest and positive?
How do definitions of justice change depending on the culture you live in?
What are ways individuals can react to a changing world? To a community that doesn’t accept us?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

Do other people’s perceptions of us teach us anything about ourselves? What do we hide from those around us? In this lesson, students will think about how their character’s self-image differs from what others see about him or her. Then, students will begin planning their Things Fall Apart narrative.

What has “fallen apart” in this novel, and who’s to blame for this destruction? Could Okonkwo’s fate have been avoided? Could Umuofian society have held together better? How? In this lesson, students will participate in a discussion to reflect on and attempt to answer these questions and others.

Contains plans for two lessons that use the book "Anna's Art Adventure" by Bjorn Sortland to teach students to write about art descriptively. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

Module 2 explores two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.  Students learn about flat and solid shapes independently as well as how they are related to each other and to shapes in their environment.  Students begin to use position words when referring to and moving shapes.  Students learn to use their words to distinguish between examples and non-examples of flat and solid shapes.

Find the rest of the EngageNY Mathematics resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-mathematics.

Canadian Wildlife site features the Great Horned Owl. Highlights its habitats and habits, range, feeding and breeding characteristics.

This site shows how to repair run-on sentences. Students and teachers will find this interactive resource helpful.

This resource explains six ways authors use context clues that might help readers understand unfamiliar words. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4, 8.2.B

This Artcyclopedia site is great information about Charles Demuth's life and one of his great works of art. The information in this site will help to develop a great report on Charles Demuth.

(Nota: Esta es una traducción de un recurso educativo abierto creado por el Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York (NYSED) como parte del proyecto "EngageNY" en 2013. Aunque el recurso real fue traducido por personas, la siguiente descripción se tradujo del inglés original usando Google Translate para ayudar a los usuarios potenciales a decidir si se adapta a sus necesidades y puede contener errores gramaticales o lingüísticos. La descripción original en inglés también se proporciona a continuación.)

El módulo 2 explora formas bidimensionales y tridimensionales. Los estudiantes aprenden sobre formas planas y sólidas de forma independiente, así como cómo están relacionadas entre sí y con formas en su entorno. Los estudiantes comienzan a usar palabras de posición cuando se refieren y se mueven formas. Los estudiantes aprenden a usar sus palabras para distinguir entre ejemplos y no exámenes de formas planas y sólidas.

Encuentre el resto de los recursos matemáticos de Engageny en https://archive.org/details/engageny-mathematics.

English Description:
Module 2 explores two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.  Students learn about flat and solid shapes independently as well as how they are related to each other and to shapes in their environment.  Students begin to use position words when referring to and moving shapes.  Students learn to use their words to distinguish between examples and non-examples of flat and solid shapes.

Find the rest of the EngageNY Mathematics resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-mathematics.

Learn why scientists have been observing glaciers since before global warming came into the forefront. Learn about the different types of glaciers and the ways to monitor them. Some of the information may be dated. (April 14, 1999)

PBS Nature features, Orangutans. Learn how orangutans are similar to humans, how they communicate and how you can help save this endangered creature.

Watch a video [2:06] about the many talents of Macaws and listen to the narrator describe features of these beautiful birds.

This article on phenylketonuria is organized into several sections including, "Clinical Description," "Molecular Geneticsm" amedicalnd "Population Genetics." Read about how this genetic disease affects the human body and how doctors diagnose and treat patients through brief summaries of various medical research studies.

Learn all the basic facts about black widow spider including description, habitat, diet, life cycle, adaptations, and social structure.

Create a digital agenda by adding events, tasks, and reminders in Google Calendar. Time to complete: 45-90 minutes

Canadian Wildlife site features the Osprey. Highlights its habitats and habits, range, feeding and breeding characteristics.

WebElements offers a nice set of basic data and information on the physical and chemical properties of actinium.

WebElements offers a nice thorough summary of information on americium and its properties.