In Unit 2, students transfer the knowledge about how scientists think about and investigate medical epidemics to the study of social epidemics. Students are introduced to the topic of social epidemics through various articles that describe the basic terms and theories behind social and emotional contagion. They practice summarizing the central ideas of the articles as well as delineating and evaluating their claims. In small groups, students engage in discussions in preparation for the mid-unit assessment, a text-based discussion in which students evaluate whether the authors of an article have provided sufficient evidence and reasoning for their claims connecting social and disease epidemics.

In the second half of the unit, students learn and practice the skills necessary for completing their end of unit assessment, an informative essay that answers the question: How do social scientists use ideas from the study of epidemics to understand and explain human behavior? Students engage in the full writing process, from planning to drafting to peer critique to revision. By the end of the unit, students will be able to think critically about the latest research about how emotions, ideas, and behaviors spread. This will prepare them for further investigation of the topic in Unit 3, as they engage in their own research and develop a podcast script related to a social or disease epidemic.

In this unit, students continue to read nonfiction texts at their level as they choose independent research reading texts. Students should complete 20 minutes of independent research reading for homework when they are not reading a chapter from the anchor text. Students should also continue independent research reading over weekends.

Develop work that is clear and coherent and appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

In addition to overviewing Compton's (1892-1962 CE) studies in x-rays, this article includes information on Compton's published works, his education, and personal life.

Tutorial on newspapers. Looks at types of newspapers, the language of newspapers, news sources, what has news value, marketing, distribution, circulation, readership, online newspapers, editorial stance, ownership of newspapers, and regulation of them. Includes a glossary and a multiple-choice test.

As part of a revision and writing section of BBC Bitesize, this site goes over several tips involved in writing a play, including information on the specific layout of the script.

Part of a project that culminated in 2006, this site contains great supports for those who are attempting to write about their own lives. Getting started, writing drafts, revising and other topics are all addressed.

This screencast offers several methods to help readers spot and fix redundancy in their writing. She discusses why concise writing is important, and specific ways to edit for a more expressive, concise text. Includes short quiz. [3:32]

This lesson goes over how to reduce wordiness in writing. It is 2 of 3 in the series titled "Concise Language: Wordiness." Includes short quiz. [3:00]

[Free Registration/Login Required] A site with links to 5 worksheets that can be downloaded and printed for student use while building skills with standard W.4.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or day or two) for a range of discipline specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

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.

In this unit, students will take a look at the historical vision of the American Dream as put together by our Founding Fathers. They will be asked: How, if at all, has this dream changed? Is this dream your dream? First students will participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing for his or her vision of the American Dream, and then they will write an argument laying out and defending their personal view of what the American Dream should be.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and annotate closely one of the documents that they feel expresses the American Dream.
Students participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing his or her vision of the American Dream.
Students write a paper, taking into consideration the different points of view in the documents read, answering the question “What is the American Dream now?”
Students write their own argument describing and defending their vision of what the American Dream should be.

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 has been the historical vision of the American Dream?
What should the American Dream be? (What should we as individuals and as a nation aspire to?)
How would women, former slaves, and other disenfranchised groups living during the time these documents were written respond to them?

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.

This lesson introduces the importance of revision in the writing process. [6:46] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.5; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.5 Develop and strengthen writing

Great site! Offers student tons of confusables! Also offers quizzes and a pull-down menu for one "confusable" at a time. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.2, L.11-12.2b Spelling, L.11-12.4 Word Meanings

This site from the Capital Community College defines the term and gives many examples of faulty parallelism and the corrected version of sentences. Includes links to a couple of quizzes at the bottom of the page. "Most of the descriptions and examples in this section are taken from William Strunk's venerable Elements of Style." L.9-10.1a Parallelism

This site examines all aspects of the rewriting process. Includes advice on how to use computers during the process, comments on peer editing, links to related topics, and an editing checklist.

This lesson introduces the concept of proofreading. It is 1 of 2 in the series titled "Proofreading." [3:22]

Defines the term and gives a number of detailed examples of its use. Also includes proofreading strategies to try. L.9-10.1a Parallelism