Unit 6.2: Adventures

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1 Unit 6.2: Adventures Unit Two helps students understand how adventures help expand one s perspective. Students reflect on the word choices authors make to establish tone and focus on deliberate strategies authors use in narrative writing to craft adventure stories. As students examine author s craft in the texts they read and discuss, they begin to consider the qualities that make their own writing unique. They learn how to develop voice in their writing to connect with the audience. Enduring Understandings Effective writers develop a specific voice to match their audience and purpose. Adventure stories expand our perspectives by offering experiences that are different from our own. Essential Questions How do authors use language purposely to create tone? How do we join our voices with the thoughts and opinions of others? What is an adventure and how do we capture its essence in writing? They study and apply analytical, argumentative, and creative approaches to writing. Discussion techniques and performance provide additional opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of the unit theme. Grammar, usage, and vocabulary study draw from the texts read, thus providing a context for understanding and then implementing effective writing practices. Common Tasks Write an explanation of how two different texts create the same tone Write and present an argument defending or challenging a quotation Examine the relationship between the realistic and fantastic elements of an adventure story Perform or film a scene from an original adventure story that includes a shift in setting.

2 Language Conventions Teachers are expected to teach grammar concepts and other language conventions in the context of writing. A balanced approach to grammar instruction is required; separated instruction alone does not work. The goal is for students to think clearly about ways to improve their own writing, not for them to memorize terms. Exercises in sentence combining, expansion, and imitation offer ways students can compose more sophisticated and effective sentences. Separated and simulated instruction may be used to introduce concepts, especially those listed as focus skills below; include integrated instruction to ensure that students apply these and other skills to authentic tasks and in their writing. Common Core State Standards L.6.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. L.6.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. L.6.3. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. Focus Skill (to be addressed explicitly during the unit) L.6.1d. Recognize and correct vague pronouns (i.e., ones with unclear or ambiguous antecedents). L.6.1e. Recognize variations from standard English in their own and others writing and speaking, and identify and use strategies to improve expression in conventional language. L.6.3a. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style. L.6.3b. Maintain consistency in style and tone. Progressive Skills (to be taught based on students needs) L.4.1f. Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons. L.4.1g. Correctly use frequently confused words (e.g., accept/except; affect/effect; than/then). L.4.3a. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely. L.4.3b. Choose punctuation for effect. L.5.2a. Use punctuation to separate items in a series.

3 Vocabulary Acquisition Vocabulary acquisition continues to be a necessary and vital part of the English curriculum. Vocabulary instruction occurs before, during, and after reading. It not only enhances understanding of the writer s craft how word choice creates character, defines mood, and sets tone but also is the key to a richer reading of all texts. Determining meaning and understanding word structure give students the tools to become independent, strategic readers of challenging texts. As students learn about the variety and richness of English, they should be encouraged to use language that is both precise and expressive. Common Core State Standards L.6.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. L.6.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. L.6.6. Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. Focus Skills (to be addressed explicitly during the unit) L.6.4a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. L.6.4b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots* as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible). L.6.5a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., personification) in context. L.6.5c. Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations definitions) (e.g., stingy, scrimping, economical, unwasteful, thrifty). Additional Skills (to be taught based on students needs) L.6.4c. Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech. L.6.4d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary). L.6.5b. Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., cause/effect, part/whole, item/category) to better understand each of the words. *Structure Term Definition Example Prefixes un- not; opposite of unable; unreliable de- reduce; remove depart; decrease Roots ced yield; go recede; precede Suffixes dict say; speak dictate; predict -ion, -tion act or state; action or process opinion; narration -ful full of useful; careful

4 Alliteration Allusion Annotate Author s purpose Character trait Characterization Connotation Contemporary Denotation Dialogue Figurative language Flashback Foreshadowing Humor Hyperbole Imagery Inference Interpretation Irony Main Idea Metaphor Monologue Montage Mood Motivation Personal narrative Perspective Course Terms Plot structure o Exposition o Inciting incident o Rising action o Conflict External Internal o Climax o Falling action o Resolution Point of view o First person o Third person Portfolio Reading strategies o Before o During o After Refrain Repetition Research question Rhetoric o logos o pathos o ethos Rhetorical devices Rhyme Rhythm Self reflection Sensory details Sentence structure Setting Simile 6 Traits of Writing o Ideas & Development o Organization o Voice o Word Choice o Sentence Fluency o Conventions Stanza Subplot Summarization Suspense Symbol Theme Tone Topic Voice Works cited Writing Purposes o Argument o Creative-Reflective o Textual Analysis o Research-Synthesis Methods of development o Cause-Effect o Comparison-Contrast o Exemplification o Problem-Solution Process o Prewriting o Drafting o Revising o Editing o Publishing

5 Advanced English 6 Texts Unit 2: Adventures Throughout the year, students should read and discuss a combination of classic literature and contemporary works from a diverse group of writers. Students need to read a variety of nonprint texts and print texts from different genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and short stories. Employ Literature Circles to provide students with a structured choice of texts. Critical reading coupled with inquiry based discussion leads to effective writing. Since advanced readers use multiple strategies to create meaning, understand the nuances of language, and connect reading to their own lives, seek content that is provocative, ambiguous, complex, and emotionally challenging. To become college and career ready, students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries. Such works offer profound insights into the human condition and serve as models for students own thinking and writing. Common Core State Standards Fiction Around the World in Eighty Days Mr. Tucket Peter Pan The Scarlet Pimpernel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle Voyage of the Dawn Treader The Wanderer When You Reach Me The Witch of Blackbird Pond Jules Verne J. M. Barrie Baroness Orczy Avi C. S. Lewis Sharon Creech Rebecca Stead Elizabeth Speare Nonfiction Animals to the Rescue National Geographic World A Backwoods Boy Russell Freedman Daring to Dream American Girl from The Fun of It Amelia Earhart Home on an Icy Planet Time for Kids Matthew Henson at the Jim Haskins Top of the World Older Run Tutankhamen, from Lost Worlds Anne Terry White from Woodsong

6 Poetry Ancestors February Twilight Night Journey Questioning Faces Something Told the Wild Geese Western Wagons Wind and Water and Stone Dudley Randall Sara Teasdale Theodore Roethke Robert Frost Rachel Field Stephen Vincent Benet Octavio Paz All Summer in a Day The Fun They Had Ghost of the Lagoon The Last Great Snake Nadia the Willful The Sand Castle Stay Through the Tunnel Short Stories Ray Bradbury Isaac Asimov Armstrong Sperry Mary Q. Steele Sue Alexander Alma Luz Villanueva Cynthia Rylant Doris Lessing The Phantom Tollbooth Talking Service: Readings for Civic Reflection Drama Booklet Norton Juster, dramatized by Susan Nanus Great Books Foundation

7 On-level English 6 Texts Unit 2: Adventures Throughout the year, students should read and discuss a combination of classic literature and contemporary works from a diverse group of writers. Students need to read a variety of nonprint texts and print texts from different genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and short stories. Employ Literature Circles to provide students with a structured choice of texts. Critical reading coupled with inquiry based discussion leads to effective writing. Since advanced readers use multiple strategies to create meaning, understand the nuances of language, and connect reading to their own lives, seek content that is provocative, ambiguous, complex, and emotionally challenging. To become college and career ready, students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries. Such works offer profound insights into the human condition and serve as models for students own thinking and writing. Common Core State Standards Fiction Around the World in Eighty Days The Black Cauldron The Forgotten Door Into the Land of Unicorns Mr. Tucket Peter Pan The Scarlet Pimpernel Search for the Shadowman The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle Voyage of the Dawn Treader The Wanderer When You Reach Me Where the Read Fern Grows The Witch of Blackbird Pond A Wrinkle in Time Jules Verne Lloyd Alexander Alexander Key Bruce Coville J. M. Barrie Baroness Orczy Joan Lowery Nixon Avi C. S. Lewis Sharon Creech Rebecca Stead Wilson Rawls Elizabeth Speare Madeleine L Engle Nonfiction Animals to the Rescue National Geographic World A Backwoods Boy Russell Freedman Daring to Dream American Girl from The Fun of It Amelia Earhart Home on an Icy Planet Time for Kids Matthew Henson at the Jim Haskins Top of the World Older Run Tutankhamen, from Lost Worlds Anne Terry White from Woodsong

8 Poetry Ancestors February Twilight Night Journey Questioning Faces Something Told the Wild Geese Western Wagons Wind and Water and Stone Dudley Randall Sara Teasdale Theodore Roethke Robert Frost Rachel Field Stephen Vincent Benet Octavio Paz All Summer in a Day The Fun They Had Ghost of the Lagoon The Last Great Snake Nadia the Willful The Sand Castle Stay Through the Tunnel Short Stories Ray Bradbury Isaac Asimov Armstrong Sperry Mary Q. Steele Sue Alexander Alma Luz Villanueva Cynthia Rylant Doris Lessing The Phantom Tollbooth Drama Norton Juster, dramatized by Susan Nanus Talking Service: Readings for Civic Reflection Booklet Great Books Foundation

Unit 6.2: Adventures

Unit 6.2: Adventures Unit Two helps students understand how adventures help expand one s perspective. Students reflect on the word choices authors make to establish mood and focus on deliberate strategies