English Language Arts Grade 11-12 [2011]

• American Dream and The Great Gatsby
  This lesson extends over several class periods. Students analyze the claim, grounds, warrants, qualifiers and counterclaims in three articles about the American Dream. Students conduct research and find two additional articles about the American Dream. Students then analyze the argument in those articles. Finally, students write their own argument essay about the current state of the American Dream.

• Cultural Change
  Students will examine some of the arguments used to win the vote for American women and explore the cultural dimension of these arguments as reflected in their characterization of men and women. In addition, students will weigh the rhetorical impact these arguments had in their time by writing counter-arguments from several standpoints, and think critically about the relationship between political ideas and cultural attitudes.
• Families in Bondage
  This two-part lesson plan draws on letters written by African Americans in slavery and by free blacks to loved ones still in bondage, singling out a few among the many slave experiences to offer students a glimpse into slavery and its effects on African American family life. Through these letters, students explore some of the ways African Americans sought to overcome this anguish.
• Holocaust and Resistance
  In this lesson from EDSITEment, students reflect on the Holocaust from the point of view of those who actively resisted Nazi persecution. Students will learn how the Holocaust happened and understand the devastation suffered by its victims; examine the evidence of resistance to the Holocaust that has been preserved in official documents and by oral tradition; reflect on the responsibilities of individuals when confronted with social policies that violate human rights; consider the significance of the Holocaust in society today.
• Perspective on the Slave Narrative
  This lesson plan introduces students to one of the most widely-read genres of 19th-century American literature and an important influence within the African American literary tradition even today. The lesson focuses on the Narrative of William W. Brown, An American Slave (1847), which, along with the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), set the pattern for this genre and its combination of varied literary traditions and devices. To help students recognize the complex nature of the slave narrative, the lesson explores Brown's work from a variety of perspectives.