In this lesson, students will gain a fuller understanding of the beauty standards for women in Elizabethan England. This understanding will help them appreciate Sonnets 130 and 18 and how Shakespeare plays with his readers’ expectations.

In this lesson, students will see if humor can transcend time and if their general rules for comedy can still apply to Shakespeare. They will also become familiar with some of Shakespeare’s insults and compliments and investigate the humor in them. Finally, they will study iambic pentameter and read a Shakespearean sonnet.

In this lesson, students will look at five passages from a morality handbook called The Good and the Badde . This book was written during the Elizabethan Era, and it tells us a lot about what people considered proper and improper behavior in English society. The sections they read will help them appreciate both Shakespeare’s sonnets andMuch Ado About Nothing .

In this unit, students will explore great works of American literature and consider how writers reflect the time period in which they write. They will write two literary analysis papers and also work in groups to research and develop anthologies of excellent American stories.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze stories from several 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century American authors. After researching a time period, they select stories from that period to create an anthology. The readings enhance their understanding of the short story, increase their exposure to well-known American authors, and allow them to examine the influence of social, cultural, and political context.
Students examine elements of short stories and have an opportunity for close reading of several American short stories. During these close readings, they examine the ways that short story writers attempt to explore the greater truths of the American experience through their literature.

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.

If you were to write a short story about this decade, what issues might you focus on?
What defines a short story? Just length?
To what extent do these stories reflect the era or decade in which they were written?
To what extent are the themes they address universal?

CLASSROOM FILMS

History.com has short videos on the Vietnam War (“Vietnam” and “A Soldier's Story”).

In this lesson, students will submit their essays and Independent Reading Journals and present their ideas to the class. They will also write about what they have learned.

In this lesson, students will work in small writing groups to improve their literary analysis essay.

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.

Who decides who among us is civilized? What rules should govern immigration into the United States? Whom should we let in? Keep out? What should we do about political refugees or children without papers? What if they would be a drain on our economy?

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and write a short argument about who in the play is truly civilized.
Students participate in a mock trial in which they argue for or against granting asylum to a teenage refugee, and then they write arguments in favor of granting asylum to one refugee and against granting it to another.
Students read an Independent Reading text and write an informational essay about a global issue and how that relates to their book.

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.

What role do national identity, custom, religion, and other locally held beliefs play in a world increasingly characterized by globalization?
How does Shakespeare’s view of human rights compare with that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Who is civilized? Who decides what civilization is or how it’s defined?
How do we behave toward and acknowledge those whose culture is different from our own?

In this lesson, after being introduced to the unit, students will begin reading act 1 of The Tempest with the goal of understanding who the characters are and what happens. They’ll begin to chart the characters and find useful vocabulary.

In this lesson, students will begin by reviewing the play so far and then meet again in groups to read act 4. They’ll do a close reading of Prospero’s lines and take on the perspectives of different characters to comment on his meaning. For homework, students will continue planning their essays.

In this lesson, students will write about and discuss this question: Who is enslaved in The Tempest? They’ll read, annotate, write about, and discuss act 5. Then students will take on the persona of one of the characters and explain their actions.

Who in Shakespeare’s play is guilty of violating human rights as we understand them today? In this lesson, students will continue reading, annotating, and discussing act 2 in small groups. They’ll also focus on Gonzalo’s ideas of an Eden-like civilization.

In this lesson, students will begin with a discussion about their reading of the play so far. In small groups, they’ll speculate about where Shakespeare got some of his ideas. They’ll write about Prospero’s justification for causing the life-threatening storm.

How does Prospero plan to avenge the wrongs done to him? In this lesson, students will discuss responses to the reading. In groups, they will continue to read, annotate, and discuss the play. At the end of the period, students will quiz themselves on vocabulary from the play.

In this lesson, students will discuss human rights. They’ll begin asking who in The Tempest is civilized. Students will research what life was like in Shakespeare’s time. Then they’ll read and annotate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Where did Shakespeare get his ideas? In this lesson, students will read and annotate source materials written by Montaigne and others. They’ll discuss the question of what the materials say about native peoples of the Americas. They’ll also compare the ideas of Gonzalo and Montaigne.

The laws that govern and the social norms that regulate society are not always fair, legal, moral, or ethical. What is a person to do about all this injustice? What are the hazards of righting injustices or changing social norms? And what are the dangers of doing nothing?

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and annotate Antigone, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and Pygmalion.
Students write a literary analysis showing the effect of social class or the law on a character’s 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 social class and legal institutions shape literary characters’ lives (and presumably our lives)?
How does social class affect a person in dealing with the law (protect a person, hurt a person)?
How is social class determined in America and in other places in the world?

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.

In this lesson, students will submit their Character Analysis Essay. They will also discuss the unit’s Guiding Questions, review their writing portfolios, and reflect on the unit.

In this lesson, you will administer a Benchmark Assessment (Cold Write) to determine what students already know about argument writing. Students will respond to a prompt, and then you will assess each student’s argument, using the scoring guide, as a measure of early work. Students will have opportunities to write arguments throughout the year, during which they will have instruction on how to revise and edit their pieces. The information you gain from scoring this benchmark piece of writing will guide you in tailoring your writing instruction to individual student needs.

"Shakespeare has something to say to everyone, and everyone has something to say back to Shakespeare."

The Folger Method is a way of teaching complex texts that enables all students to own—and enjoy—the process of reading closely, interrogating texts, discovering language with peers, and contributing to the ongoing human conversation about words and ideas. It is a radical engine for equity that teachers consistently call “transformative.”