Key Questions & Vocabulary

Short Story Unit
Key Questions:
  1. What are the various elements of the short story, and how do they developand enhance meaning?
  2. When my vocabulary understanding breaks down, what steps should I go through to increase my overall understanding of the words/text?
  3. What are some specific strategies for understanding what I am reading?
  4. Am I able to use the elements I have learned to correctly write a short story of my own?
  5. Am I able to listen and make relevant questions to contribute to a class discussion?
Key Vocabulary:
  • Narrative Elements: Plot, Character, Theme, Setting, & Point of View
  • TP-CASTT: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Structure, Title, & Theme
  • Hero Cycle
  • ACE: Answer, Cite, & Explain

Novel Unit

Key Questions:
  1. Can I identify the major elements (such as theme or symbols) and explain what observations the author is making about life and human nature?
  2. Am I able to use concrete details from the story to support and develop my ideas?
  3. What are some specific steps I need to use in order to produce a finished written product?

Key Vocabulary:

  • Narrative Elements: Plot, Character, Theme, Setting, & Point of View
  • Situational Irony
  • TP-CASTT: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Structure, Title, & Theme
  • Hero Cycle
  • ACE: Answer, Cite, & Explain

Nonfiction Unit

Key Questions:
  1. What are the various types of Nonfiction writing and when are they used?
  2. How does the audience or purpose affect what is written?
  3. Based on Night, what are the characteristics of the Holocaust?
  4. Can I identify characteristics of several cultures written about in the book Night?
  5. Can I write about connections between my life and what I have read about in Night?
  6. Can I use information I view in various media and in Night to produce an appropriate written work?
  7. Can I use collected information to create graphs and charts related to the time period of the Holocaust?

Key Vocabulary:

  • Narrative Elements: Plot, Character, Theme, Setting, & Point of View
  • Situational Irony
  • TP-CASTT: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Structure, Title, & Theme
  • Hero Cycle
  • ACE: Answer, Cite, & Explain

Research Unit

Key Questions:

  1. Where do I locate appropriate and credible research sources, and how do I use them effectively?
  2. How do I correctly document primary and secondary sources?
  3. Can I construct a properly formatted Works Cited page?
  4. How do I avoid plagiarism?
  5. What are the steps I need to follow in writing a research paper?
  6. How do I use technology in creating, revising, editing, and completing a research paper?

Key Vocabulary:

  • The Research Process
  • Plagiarism
  • Documentation
  • Works Cited
  • Thesis Statement
  • Persuasive Writing

Propaganda Unit

Key Questions:

 

  1. What are the purposes for allegory, satire, and propaganda?
  2. Can I identify the various forms of propaganda and explain how media uses these to manipulate behavior?
  3. Can I create a presentation that effectively uses propaganda techniques?
  4. How can I distinguish between what is fact and what is opinion?
  5. Can I create effective verbal and nonverbal strategies for purpose, audience and occasion?
  6. Am I able to evaluate peer presentations for effective use of language, purpose, audience, and occasion?

Key Vocabulary:

  •  Narrative Elements: Plot, Character, Theme, Setting, & Point of View
  • Literary Devices: tone, irony, foreshadowing, & allegory
  • Propaganda & Persuasive Techniques
  • TP-CASTT: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Structure, Title, & Theme
  • ACE: Answer, Cite, & Explain

 

Shakespearean Drama Unit

 

Key Questions:

  • Do I know what the elements of drama are, and can I explain how they contribute meaning to the story?
  • Can I explain how visual and sound techniques change my impression of a play that I read?
  • Am I able to compare and contrast a written work with its visual interpretation?
  • Can I explain the importance of Shakespeare’s plays in today’s society?
  • Optional: Am I able to create a media product to represent an aspect of Shakespeare or his works or life and times?

Key Vocabulary:

 

  •  Narrative Elements: Plot, Character, Theme, Setting, & Point of View
  • Literary Devices: simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron, foreshadowing, pun, allusion, dramatic irony, light vs. dark imagery, rhyme scheme, couplets, & Shakespearean sonnet
  • TP-CASTT: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Structure, Title, & Theme
  • ACE: Answer, Cite, & Explain

 

Poetry Unit

 

Key Questions:

  • Can I identify the elements of a poem and explain how they contribute to meaning?
  • Am I able to interpret and explain a poem?
  • Can I create an original poem based on a given model?
  • Am I able to make connections between poems I have read and my own life or society today?

Key Vocabulary:

  • TP-CASTT: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Structure, Title, & Theme
  • Figurative Language: Simile, Metaphor (direct, implied, & extended), Personification
  • Rhyme Scheme, Exact Rhyme, Approximate Rhyme, End Rhyme, Internal Rhyme
  • Stanza, Couplets, & Quatrain