The 11th 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 11th 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. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

This unit uses William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing as a vehicle to help students consider how a person is powerless in the face of rumor and how reputations can alter lives, both for good and for ill. They will consider comedy and what makes us laugh. They will see how the standards of beauty and societal views toward women have changed since the Elizabethan Age and reflect on reasons for those changes. As students consider the play, they will write on the passages that inspire and plague them and on topics relating to one of the themes in the play. Finally, they will bring Shakespeare’s words to life in individual performances and in group scene presentations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing .
Students read two Shakespearean sonnets and excerpts from an Elizabethan morality handbook dealing with types of women, and they respond to them from several different perspectives.
For each work of literature, students do some writing. They learn to write a sonnet; create a Prompt Book; complete a Dialectical Journal; and write an analytical essay about a topic relating to a theme in the play.
Students see Shakespeare’s play as it was intended to be seen: in a performance. They memorize 15 or more lines from the play and perform them for the class. Students take part in a short scene as either a director or an actor.

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 are society’s expectations with regard to gender roles?
Does humor transcend time? Do we share the same sense of humor as our ancestors?
How do we judge people?
How important is reputation?

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.

CLASSROOM FILMS

The Branagh version of Much Ado About Nothing is available on DVD through Netflix and for streaming through Amazon. Other versions are also available on both sites.

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.

"Dooley Takes the Fall", a mystery novel by Canadian author Norah McClintock for grade nine and up, is about a boy who has made some mistakes in the past. He becomes a suspect after he witnesses a boy jumping off a bridge and has to prove his innocence to clear his name. This extensive teacher's guide includes chapter summaries with accompanying discussion questions and novel activities, and cross-curricular connections. Also included are blackline masters and an interview with the author.

Students investigate the iconic and much-beloved character of Sherlock Holmes, as well as the mystery genre, in this excerpt from Masterpiece's 2002 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. As students are introduced to Holmes, they use their own analytical skills to understand the methods and characteristics of the famous detective, the history of the mystery genre, and why Sherlock Holmes, in particular, has continued to fascinate and engage audiences. See Teaching Tips for how to use the video in the classroom. This resource is part of the Masterpiece Collection. [1:47]

Students examine the importance of setting in this excerpt about the moors, from Masterpiece's 2002 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. The legend of the hound that haunts the mysterious landscape of Dartmoor captured Arthur Conan Doyle's imagination. As students study the setting, they are also introduced to the cunning villain of the story, Stapleton, and what happens when the civilized Sherlock Holmes must solve a mystery set against such a wild and turbulent backdrop. See Teaching Tips for how to use the video in the classroom. This resource is part of the Masterpiece Collection. [2:05]

This is a collection of three media galleries from MASTERPIECE: "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle. It introduces the famous character of Sherlock Holmes and the mystery/horror genre.

Dinosaurs were not the only life to go extinct and leave a trail to their history. This webcast presents a paleobotanist who has studied extinction at a site in North Dakota. He discusses mass extinction. [29:16]

Join a group of middle-school students on a visit to a laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they experiment with "mystery mud" and learn about the relationships between magnetism, particle motion, and changes in the state of matter.

In this five-part audio slide show Russell Potter talks about what has been found from the ill-fated Franklin expedition. He also puts the expedition in historical context with drawings and newspaper articles from the time.

Explore the mysterious Easter Island as a team of archaeologists attempts to recreate the process used to construct the monolithic Moai statues.

This site provides an exploration of what may have happened to the "Lost tribes of Israel," including a modern scholar's study of a southern African tribe with possible ties to the lost tribes.

When the power goes out, it's time for action in our brand new game. Venture into the dark, explore different locations and meet new characters - creating your own unique adventure as you play! Use your science skills to get the power back on and see if you can discover the real reason behind the sudden darkness covering the whole town. This game puts you in control, it's your choices and decisions that will guide you through the story to discover the cause. Will you solve the mystery before it's too late?

Wild Kratts joins the adventures of Chris and Martin Kratt as they encounter incredible wild animals, combining science education with fun and adventure as the duo travels to animal habitats around the globe. Each adventure explores an age-appropriate science concept central to an animal's life and showcases a rarely seen wildlife moment, all wrapped up in engaging stories of adventure, mystery, rescue, and the Kratt brothers' brand of laugh-out-loud-comedy that kids love.

Using four popular children's books, "Corduroy", "Franklin in the Dark", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", and "Chrysanthemum", the Word Wizard interactive game builds vocabulary with related words. Each 30-minute lesson looks for patterns in words to create new words. "Between the Lions: Alphabet Soup" is a great extension for this lesson. A student assessment and reflection are also included.

An excellent resource for anyone looking to write in the literary genre of mystery, especially for children. Includes helpful information and tips for writers on topics such as publishing and content.