Fall Units

Overarching Concept: Understanding Narrative Perspective

Unit 1: Welcome Week: Building a Classroom Perspective (Community of Learners)
Our welcome week allows students to discover the classroom and their classmates without the pressure
of new material. Students will learn the classroom expectations and guidelines as well as routines we
will utilize on a regular basis. Students will participate in peer interviews, icebreaker activities, individual
inventories, and create collages for hanging around the room. (1 weeks, 6 class days)

Unit 2: Non-Traditional Historical Voice (WWII from Multiple Perspectives)

Our second unit includes an in-depth look at historical voices from non-traditional perspectives. We will
uncover World War II experiences from different sources, including Anne Frank, Japanese American
internment camp survivors, and German soldiers. Students will explore how these unique perspectives
provide alternate details and glimpses of historic events and relay pertinent information from varying
perspectives. Students will create a collection of entries and letters mimicking the time period, compose
a compare/contrast essay, critically analyze the various representations of history, and delve into
character development. (5 weeks, 18 class days)

Unit 3: Discovering Diverse Perspectives (Gender, Identity, and Social Perspectives)

During unit three, students will participate in book clubs and create a culminating project entitled Book
Club Chronicles. Throughout the unit, students will write pieces to be included in the journalistic-style
paper where their contributions add to the discussion of different diverse perspectives. Each book club
will read a different book surrounding gender, identity, and/or social perspectives. Submitting an
argumentative essay regarding how the perspectives differ based on identity and cultural influences will
allow students to discover how their reading is relevant in the real world. Students will uncover
mythological allusions, study themes, characterization, metaphor and other rhetorical devices, as well as
setting. (5 weeks, 18 class days)

Unit 4: Personal Narrative and Genealogy (History of Me: How Perspectives Develop)
In our fourth and final unit on understanding narrative perspective, students will discover both how
their personal perspectives are formed and how their experiences have changed, shaped, or altered
their perspective on a variety of topics. Through a genealogy project, students will uncover their
personal histories and determine whether or not their perspectives have been influenced by their past
or present. In creating personal narratives, students will discover themselves and an instance when their
perspective was developed or altered. (6 weeks, 21 class days)

Spring Units
Overarching Concept: Understanding Multi-Genres and Multi-Literacies through Creative
Expression
Unit 5: Creativity through a Poetic Lens
In unit five, students will learn different styles of poetry and how creativity and imagination are
extended through poetic expression. By analyzing music, poetry examples, and creative exercises,

students will be able to create their own poetry in a variety of forms. Students will uncover allusions,
tone, imagery, rhyme, and rhythm through their poetic exploration. Students will also study elements of
dialogue and performance art by creating their own raps/songs and performing as collaborative groups.
(4 weeks, 13 class days)

Unit 6: Creative Expression: Writing with Purpose

Students will, in unit six, explore the varying types of writing. By identifying different elements of writing
styles, including: argumentative, informational, epistolary, compare and contrast, and cause and effect,
students will have a better understanding of how to write for different audiences and for different
purposes. We will explore speeches, letters, create how-to guides, and read different articles, essays,
journals, and media texts to deepen our understanding of creative expression with purpose. (3 weeks,
11 class days)

Unit 7: Visual Storytelling

Unit seven is technology driven and allows students to interact and engage with common forms of
media and varying genres of visual storytelling. We will discover how storytelling has evolved for todays
society and the expanse of interactive, video game storytelling. Students will utilize video games to
uncover how settings and environments are used in storytelling and will have the opportunity to create
their own video gamesfocusing on story, setting, and creative expression with purpose. During the
unit, we will also spend time deconstruction character motivations and character development while
observing the appearance of several recurring themes. (6 weeks, 22 class days)

Unit 8: Creative Writing and Collaboration

In our eighth and final unit, students will explore creative writing through collaborative processes. We
will read short stories, graphic novels, and further explore visual storytelling. Students will then work
collaboratively to create a creative writing project. These projects will be a significant part of our
creative portfolio for the end of the semester and will allow students to create a project of their choice,
whether its a short story, photo-essay, documentary, graphic novel, poetry collection, piece of fanfiction, or magazine.
Students will then create an end of semester/year portfolio which will include work samples and
reflections of each assignmentconcepts they have learned and how their project reflects their
understanding of materials, concepts, and objectives. This allows for students to demonstrate progress,
document self-assessment, and relay further inquiry questions on explored concepts. Students will also
include completed reading logs and finalized reading wish list for summer reading. (7 weeks, 23 class
days)