The more a new vocabulary word is associated with ideas from students' own experience, the more likely the word will become well 'networked' and a permanent part of memory. Making these links involves elaborating definitions of new terms. This article offers teachers several ways to facilitate elaboration.

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.

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 discuss in small groups whether Antigone, Thoreau, or Dr. King was the most courageous in his or her stand of civil disobedience. Then they will write a short argument about it.

Tell me about it in your own words! If students can paraphrase the information they have read, then youÄand theyÄcan be confident that they understand it.

Uses examples to explain the right and wrong way to use reference material. Shows how a rewrite can still be plagiarism. Briefly discusses common knowledge and paraphrasing.

This lesson plan is designed to teach various methods students can use when researching background information on one another in order to introduce each other in written and oral form.

Provides guidance on the ways to quote, paraphrase, and summarize information. Gives various reasons for paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting various sources.

This exercise in reflective listening is designed to be done with a partner. Instructions are tailored to classroom use, complete with assessment sheets. There is also quite a bit of background material for those doing the exercise. SL.9-10.3 Eval Presentation

Contains plans for two lessons about the research process. Students discuss plagiarism, practice paraphrasing, and cite sources. In addition to objectives and standards, these instructional plans contain links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

Contains plans for a lesson on taking notes that is part of a larger unit on researching a state symbol. It works on skills like figuring out what information is relevant and irrelevant, using a variety of sources, and paraphrasing. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

This provides guidelines for creating a paraphrase, sample paraphrases, introducing quotations, punctuating, formatting quotations, and what must be documented.