English Language Arts Grades 11-12 (2023)
Lesson Plans

Reading (11-12.R)

Students will learn to proficiently read and comprehend grade level literature and informational text, including seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band, with scaffolding as needed. *Standard R.4 includes an asterisk to refer educators back to the Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Lexile Ranges in the introduction of the standards.

Standard 11-12.R.11:

Analyze how an author's geographic location, identity or background, culture, and time period affect the perspective, point of view, purpose, and implicit/explicit messages of a collective body of work. (RL & RI)

• "Their Eyes Were Watching God": Folk Speech and Figurative Language
  This lesson provides students with an opportunity to observe how Hurston creates a unique literary voice by combining folklore, folk language, and traditional literary techniques. Students will examine the role that folk groups play in their own lives and in the novel. They will undertake a close reading of passages in Their Eyes Were Watching God that reveal Hurston?s literary techniques and determine their impact on the novel.
• Create a Guide to an Area
  Students learn to create an interactive guide of an area using Sheets and Maps.
• Discovering a Passion for Poetry With Langston Hughes
  Poetry is written to convey the essence of a greater meaning, and it can bundle a great deal of passion in a small package. In this lesson, students begin by discussing the impact of social context on one's goals and choices. Students analyze examples of contemporary youth poetry and the poetry of Langston Hughes to determine how a writer's environment influences his or her writing. Students then work in groups to conduct research on how events in the world shaped Hughes's work. In a group presentation to the class, students cite specific examples that link their interpretation of the poem to the sociohistorical context in which it was written. The lesson culminates with each student creating an original poem that communicates a personal view on a current world issue.
• Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Biographers
  We are naturally curious about the lives (and deaths) of authors, especially those, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce, who have left us with so many intriguing mysteries. But does biographical knowledge add to our understanding of their works? And if so, how do we distinguish between the accurate detail and the rumor; between truth and exaggeration? In this lesson, students become literary sleuths, attempting to separate biographical reality from myth. They also become careful critics, taking a stand on whether extra-literary materials such as biographies and letters should influence the way readers understand a writer's texts.
• Frederick Douglass |Orator, Editor, and Abolitionist
  Students explore what it means to speak out for your beliefs, or to right a wrong. After watching a short video, they will reflect on Douglass?s courage and the importance of literacy in his activism. They will read excerpts from Douglass?s autobiographies and examine an 1850 etching of Douglass being pulled away from a stage prior to giving a speech. Finally, they will reflect on Douglass?s importance as both a historical figure and as a role model for their own lives.
• Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History, Lesson 7. Debating the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
  Students will watch clips from CNN's Soundtracks to identify historic details of NASA's Apollo program. Students will then identify poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron's critical view of the Apollo program through his song, "Whitey On The Moon" and participate in a structured academic controversy activity to debate the controversy of the program.
• The Music That Shaped America, Lesson 2: The Banjo, Slavery, and the Abolition Debate
  In this lesson, created in partnership with the Association for Cultural Equity, students discover how the banjo and music making more generally among slaves contributed to debates on the ethics of slavery. They listen to slave narratives, examine statistics, and read primary sources to better understand how slavery was conceptualized and lived through in the 18th and 19th centuries. Throughout the lesson, students return to videos created by Alan Lomax of pre-blues banjo player Dink Roberts as a way to imagine what music among slaves in the United States may have sounded like.

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http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Naomi  Watkins and see the Language Arts - Secondary website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - Todd  Call.

These materials have been produced by and for the teachers of the State of Utah. Copies of these materials may be freely reproduced for teacher and classroom use. When distributing these materials, credit should be given to Utah State Board of Education. These materials may not be published, in whole or part, or in any other format, without the written permission of the Utah State Board of Education, 250 East 500 South, PO Box 144200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4200.