Alexander T. K. Elnabli
New Haven Public Schools adopts the Common Core State Standards for all grades. This unit has been planned backward starting with the specific reading, writing, speaking, and language standards that the unit aims to teach. The core standard that animates the entire unit is CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.9, which states, “Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare). Meeting this standard requires students to practice a set of others, which were selected in turn. These include the ability for students to cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly as well as draw inferences from the text. Students should be able to do this in writing and speaking about fiction and informational texts. In order to meet this standard given essential humanistic questions organizing the unit, further relevant standards to the unit are those that concern students’ ability to identify themes in texts and build to this complex skill by first determining the meaning of unfamiliar words in context using a variety of strategies. Demonstrating knowledge of key terms and concepts in the unit also requires students to be able to precise language and domain-specific vocabulary, such as “allusion” and “myth” in order to explain their thinking. Finally, the Key Performance Task requires students to practice the writing standards related to generating a formal piece of writing using a style guide, such as MLA, and also to polish spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Teachers should modify instructional activities, design reteaches, and revise the unit timeline as needed in order to support student growth in mastering Common Core standards.
