Digital Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: Narrative Writing Content Area: English and Language Arts CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):

Name: Billie Jaso Grade Level: 11 and 12

Reading Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text 3.2 Analyze the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim. 3.3 Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, the authors style, and the sound of language achieve specific rhetorical or aesthetic purposes or both. 3.7 Analyze recognized works of world literature from a variety of authors: a. Contrast the major literary forms, techniques, and characteristics of the major literary periods (e.g., Homeric Greece, medieval, romantic, neoclassic, modern) b. Relate literary works and authors to the major themes and issues of their eras. c. Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots, and settings. Writing 2.1 Write fictional, autobiographical, or biographical narratives: a. Narrate a sequence of events and communicate their significance to the audience. b. Locate scenes and incidents in specific places. c. Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters feelings. d. Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate temporal, spatial, and dramatic mood changes. e. Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.

Big Ideas: Essential Questions What are the themes of a narrative? What decisions were made in this narrative? What sequence of events are described that show Morrie's impact on the narrator? What are some societal influences of the period on Pip's message that he is putting across? How can I write a narrative that will impact my audience? Unit Goals and Objectives: After completion of this unit, the student will... 1. Know what the different kinds of narrative are and how to write a narrative essay. 2. Know what irony, tone, mood, and the importance of a voice are. 3. Be able to identify the underlying message or theme of a narrative. 4. Be able to analyze a character through a narrative essay. 5. Be able to support their claim (or thesis) with textual evidence. 6. Be able to write a narrative essay, be it fictional, biographical, or autobiographical, on assigned topics. Unit Summary: Before we can write our own narratives, we must study how narratives are written and why. A narrative has a purpose or a message that it is sending beyond the sequence of events that are its building blocks. We will be reading and analyzing a number of biographical narratives to better understand the use of theme, tone, and outside influences on the author's story. There will be short essays to read, but two notable novels that will be assigned for analysis are Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Then, we will create our own narratives written in first person point of view, taking into account structure, sensory details, and most importantly a strong theme or thesis to build the narrative upon. We will write biographical, autobiographical, and fictional narratives. Assessment Plan:

Entry-Level: Discussion There will be an overview of important terms, including narrative, theme, motif, point of view, setting, characters, and plot. Brainstorm Students will be given suggestions and time to freely brainstorm ideas for their autobiographical and fictional narratives.

Formative: Journal Students will keep a journal, where they will analyze quotes from Great Expectations that are deemed significant to the central themes of the novel. Quickwrites

Summative: Essay There will be an autobiographical narrative essay due on a topic of the student's choosing, which should have a clear message the student is showing the audience. Presentation

There will be a number of creative quickwrites, such as those in the first lecture presentation (those include quickwrites on characters, setting, descriptions, point of view, and plot.) Discussion As we read through Great Expectations, we will discuss the novel in class, so that everybody has a clear understanding of the story and its central themes and characters. We will also discuss how to write narratives of different kinds from different points of view. Quiz There will be a quiz on important terms relative to narrative writing to assess student progression.

There will be a fictional narrative presentation due using powerpoint, slideshow, or prezi. The student can choose a character from their favorite TV show, movie, book, or videogame to do their presentation on, but it should still tell the audience an important lesson the character has learned through the story the student will tell. This presentation requires students not only to be creative in their narrative but analytical about something they enjoy

Lesson 1 Student Learning Objective: Learn the components that contribute to a strong narrative. Learn how to write each individual aspect before putting them all together. Lesson 2 Student Learning Objective: Learn how to use the internet to find information. Be able to analyze characters and themes. Think critically and apply to real life. Lesson 3 Student Learning Objective: Use organizational strategies to outline a fictional narrative.

Acceptable Evidence: Quickwrites outlined in the prezi presentation.

Instructional Strategies: X Communication Collection Collaboration X Presentation Organization X Interaction Instructional Strategies: X Communication Collection Collaboration X Presentation X Organization Interaction

Lesson Activities: Quick write for Descriptive writing. Quick write for character development. Quick write for Setting. Brainstorming for autobiographical narrative theme. Discussion of topics and terms.

Acceptable Evidence: Quotation analysis and journals. Creative drawing and application to narrative writing.

Lesson Activities: Webercise. Memorization. Quotation analysis. Critical analysis of passages.

Acceptable Evidence: Create flow chart that meets grading criteria and displays significance to thesis statement.

Instructional Strategies: Communication Collection Collaboration X Presentation X Organization Interaction

Lesson Activities: Create flow chart for fictional character.

Unit Resources: Basics on Writing a Narrative Essay How to Start a Narrative Essay Purdue OWL Narrative Essays Narrative Examples 50 Narrative Essay Topic Suggestions 50 MORE Narrative Essay Topic Suggestions Narrative Templates SparkNotes Great Expectations SparkNotes Tuesdays with Morrie About Tuesdays with Morrie

Useful Websites: Five criteria for evaluating web pages Purdue OWL Citation Machine Dictionary and Thesaurus