8-week Culturally Responsive Curriculum Map
Time Big Ideas/Essential
frame Questions
Wk 1- What is a narrative, and
4 how do you engage the
reader by establishing
point of view, conflict, and
plot.
How do published writers
use a variety of techniques
to develop their stories.
Students should be able to
articulate the importance
of human expression
within writing, and what
different authors are
trying to get across in their
writing. They should
understand the reason
why authors use different
metaphors, themes, and
motifs in their writing and
what their purpose is in
writing the piece. They
should also understand
the importance of
literature in today’s
society and what roll it
plays.
Idaho Content Standards Abilities/Skills/Concepts to be
and Common Core State targeted (what will students be
Standards able to do during or at the end
of the lessons?)
R1.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough
textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as well as
inferences drawn from the
text, including determining
where the text leaves matters
uncertain
R1.11-12.2 Determine two or more central
ideas of a text and analyze
their development over the
course of the text, including
how they interact and build on
one another to provide a
complex analysis; provide an
objective summary of the text
R1.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas
or sequence of events and
explain how specific
individuals, ideas, or events
interact and develop over the
course of the text.
R1.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of
words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and
technical meanings; analyze
how an author uses and refines
Instructional Strategies and
Activities (pedagogical
approaches you will take so
students can access the
knowledge)
Week 1: start every day with a
creative writing prompt and
allow students to write in
journals for 10 minutes. Pass
out “A Good Man is Hard to
Find” and let students read in
small groups. After they finish
reading they can quietly
discuss main plot events, and
characters. Throughout the
week they will talk in a large
class discussion about what
events in the story fit in a plot
sequence (I.E. exposition,
conflict, rising action, climax,
denumeux, falling action, and
resolution.
Week 2: keeping creative
writing prompts at the
beginning of every day to get
the student’s brains working
and thinking about things in a
creative and literary fashion.
This week we will be working
through a couple of the
chapters in “The Things They
Carried.” This is a historical
book about the Vietnam war,
and the chapters have their
own individual stories. We will
be reading a couple of the
Formative and
Summative
Assessments (how will
you know students have
achieved the learning
goals?)
Journal entries of
creative writing
prompts I have given
them the start of every
class. These should
address the prompt and
have the date. Their
entry should be a
substantial length
seeing as how I gave
them 10 minutes to
write on the prompt.
Their stories have
absolutely no limit and
can take any route as
long as they 1. Address
the prompt clearly, and
2. Are school
appropriate.
One book
report/portfolio that
analyzes one of the
stories we read by
diagraming plot,
illustrating characters,
and popular motifs or
themes depicted in the
story. This portfolio
will have five separate
sections. The first will
be a summary of the
 the meaning of a key term or
terms over the course of a text
R1.11-12.6 Determine an author’s point of
view or purpose in a text in
which the rhetoric is
particularly effective, analyzing
how style and content
contribute to the power,
persuasiveness, or beauty of
the text.
chapters in no particular order.
These stories have incredible
character development, so that
is going to be the focus of this
week’s activities. Students will
be able to choose to work in
partners and collaborate, or
work independently to valuate
a set of characters. They will be
detailing their appearance,
personalities, idiolect, if they
are flat or round, etc. This
work also brings to life societal
norms, military life, and
historical references that will
help students differentiate
these characters In unique
ways.
Week 3: This will be the last
week of creative writing
prompts in their journals, and
the last week of short stories.
This week’s short story is “The
Thing in the Forest.” This story
is also more historical (1940s)
but is slightly more fantasy
related. This story has many
allusions, metaphors, themes,
and motifs, which will be the
main focus for this week’s
curriculum. Students will take
class time to read this story,
then do a thorough class
discussion analysis of the
metaphors and what they
could mean or symbolize in
this story. The goal of the in
class discussion is to have
everyone professionally
story they have chosen.
This is not an analysis,
simply a summary,
detailing the events,
and characters in a
chronological order.
Second is a plot
diagram that I will print
out for each of them.
They will write the
events of the plot onto
their diagram. These
don’t need to be
incredibly detailed like
the summary, however,
I should know what
event they are talking
about and it needs to
be in the right spot on
the plot diagram. This
should be neat and
professional, and the
writing needs to be
legible. The third
portion of this portfolio
is the character
analysis. They can be as
creative as they want,
but they need to
choose one of the
characters from their
story and do a deep
analysis of them. They
can type a rhetorical
analysis, make a
diagram, a table, or
draw their character.
The analysis should
have the character’s
physical appearance,
participate and bounce ideas different symbols in the
off of each other. They can story that relate to
agree and disagree, and them (and what they
hopefully come to new insights mean) their idiolect,
and conclusions about the text. and five different
They are also allowed to bring quotes that are iconic
in the two previous stories to and important to the
compare, contrast, and refresh character. They can
memories. choose whatever
quotes they want, as
Week 4: Rather than writing an long as they explain
essay, I am having students why they are relevant.
pick one of the short stories we Next is the literary
have read in the past 4 weeks devises that are used in
and create a portfolio that the story. They will
analyzes the story’s plot, have a list of different
characters, and literary divices
symbolism/rhetoric. They will (metaphor, anaphora,
have the entire to work on this conceit, alliteration,
project and it should be allusion, etc) Students
completed and turned in by should find as many
that Friday. examples as possible
from the story as
possible and explain
what the importance of
the literary device is to
the story. Lastly,
students are to write a
one page paper that
reflects on the story,
and why it is important
to the literary world
and how their opinions
have changed about
the subject, or what
their new knowledge is
on the story; whether it
be historical, cultural,
metaphorical, or to

Wk 5- What are strategic ways to
8 come up with different
plot ideas, characters,
conflicts, and resolutions.
How do syntax and diction
help readers/facilitate the
climate of the story.
By the end of this term,
students should have a
universal understanding of
why writing and
contributing to literature is
important. They should
also have an appreciation
for writers and their prose.
Hopefully they will have
more of a cultural
understanding in how
literature can help
encompass one’s creativity
and imagination as well as
confront different
W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop
real or imagines experiences or
events using effective
technique, well-chosen details,
and well-structured event
sequences.
Develop and strengthen writing
as needed by planning,
revising, editing, rewriting or
trying a new approach. Engage
and orient the reader by
setting out a problem,
situation, or observation and
its significance, establishing
one or multiple point(s) of
view, and introducing a
narrator and/or characters, use
narrative techniques, such as
dialogue, pacing, description,
reflection, and multiple plot
lines to develop experiences,
events, and or characters.
Week 5: (These next four
weeks will be in pairs) Have
students come up with a topic
of interest to them. I will guide
them in the fact that it needs
to be a dystopian society style,
but it is up to them to choose
the setting (time and place) of
their story. I will give examples
of several dystopian novels,
such as Fahrenheit 451, The
Hunger Games, the Giver, The
Maze Runner, etc. throughout
the week they will work in class
to perfect their setting
whether it be real or fake, and
whether the time be present,
in the past and in the future.
This will be the start of their
second portfolio of the
quarter. They can write this
out however they best see fit.
Ex: an outline, a drawn map, a
paragraph.
writing and literature in
general.
A plan for a story where
students have created
their own characters,
set of conflicts and
problems, and a
resolution. A short
synopsis of the story’s
setting and plot. Also
contains a few of the
story’s major events or
sequences. This section
of their portfolio should
be carefully thought
out, and have a sense
of professionalism
about it. I am not
asking for a full story.
Along with their
combined portfolio
(only one from each set
of pairs) I am having
them do a presentation
in front of the class.
problems with societal W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent
norms and bring up writing in qhich the
knowledge with historical development, organization,
events and places. and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience
W.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing
as needed by planning,
revising, editing, rewriting, or
trying a new approach,
focusing on addressing what is
most significant for a specific
purpose.
W.11-12.6 Use technology, including the
internet, to produce, publish,
and update individual or
shared writing products in
response to ongoing feedback,
including new arguments or
information
Week 6: Students will start
focusing on their set of
characters. They will first figure
out names, and their position
in the story, such as
protagonist, antagonist, foil,
flat/round, etc. They can
choose to write on as little, or
as many characters as they
want (as long as they don’t
have so many that it
convolutes the story. (make
sure all students know that
characters have a meaning and
place, and they shouldn’t just
be created to be there.) By the
end of the week I am looking
for a character analysis of their
main characters that describes
their appearances, background
history, where they’re from,
their place in the story, and
interesting facts, quirks, or
beliefs.
Week 7: Begin working on
specific events in the story.
What is going to be the
exposition/call to action?
Students will not be required
to come up with a climax, or
resolution because it is
unreasonable with the time
frame I have given them. This
week will start bleeding into
next week because they will
start putting portfolios and
presentations together.
The only requirements
for this portion are 1.
Each person in the
group must talk
equally. 2. They must
clearly go over
everything in the rubric
that we have covered in
the past week. 3. Their
presentation can be no
shorter than five
minutes, and no longer
that eight.
Students will also be
required to critique and
give feed back on
groups. I will only
require them to fill out
three rubrics so they
don’t have to evaluate
the entire class. But
they must give a list of
prositives, and a list of
constructive criticisms.
Each student will turn
in three rubrics to me,
then I will give them
back to their respective
groups so the students
know how their peers
evaluated them.
(students are not to
judge another group on
their ideas, but rather
their professionalism,
and content of what we
had gone over in each
week’s lessons.)
Week 8: This week will be used
for presentations and class
feedback. Over the course of
the week students will present
their story outlines, characters,
and settings to the class. The
way they do this is to the limits
of their imagination. They can
do a speech and read it off
note cards, present it on a
poster and have everything
drawn out, create a
powerpoint or prezi, or even
do a rap.