Language Arts
Language Arts Grade Replacement Projects:
1. Continue Charlie's Journey- Flowers for Algernon ends quite suddenly. Through five journal entries, continue Charlie's journey.
2. Flowers for Algernon Symbolism Journey- Flowers for Algernon has many symbols and a strong central theme. Through a series of images, capture the spirit of the story. You will create a poster or book with images that follow the theme of the story.
3. Flowers for Algernon Soundtrack- Find the musical inspiration behind Flowers for Algernon. Develop a soundtrack based on the story. You will collect songs that connect the story and explain the relationship between the songs and the story.
4. Flowers for Algernon Newspaper Articles- you will write 3 newspaper articles about what happened to Charlie; one from one of the factory worker's point of view, one from one of the doctor's point of view and an opinion article in which you review the experiment, taking into consideration the two extreme views on it.
Grading:
Major Assignments: (about 2 per quarter; tests, big projects): 25%
Minor Assignments: (about 3 per quarter; quizzes, smaller projects): 10%
Other Assignments: (about 5 per quarter; handouts, classwork, etc.) 4%
Unit Overviews:
Quarter 1: Journeys
Texts: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (poem)
Synopsis: “Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a well-known poem about the journey of life. The poem describes someone standing at a fork or a turning point in the road trying to decide which path he will take. The two roads symbolize the uncertainty we sometimes feel when faced with decisions and not knowing how those decisions will affect the future. In this poem, Frost captures the inner journey that we often experience.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (short story)
Synopsis: Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man who lives with an intellectual disability. He strives to achieve happiness through the world of knowledge, so when presented with an opportunity to undergo an experimental surgery for increased intelligence--- he takes it without hesitation. The reader is immersed in Charlie’s journey through the use of journal entries, which beg the thematic question: when has science gone too far?
Raymond's Run by Toni Cade Bambara (short story)
Synopsis: The story “Raymond’s Run” is told through the eyes of Hazel ‘Squeaky” Parker, an extremely outspoken girl who is the fastest runner in her Harlem neighborhood. She spends the majority of her time practicing for upcoming races and taking care of her brother, Raymond, who is mentally challenged and to whom she is very devoted. Through her experiences in this story a key understanding emerges: as we come to respect someone, our opinion of them can change drastically and even surprise us. This text is a tool for students to define, understand, and interpret the elements of literature (character traits, setting, conflict, plot, climax, resolution and theme) and how they interact with one another.
Retrieved Reformation by O. Henry (short story)
Synopsis: Jimmy Valentine is a convicted conman, who specializes in the breaking and entering of bank vaults. After serving his prison sentence, he sets out into the world with his eye on his next mark, but he never expected that mark to be a woman. Quickly Jimmy takes on a new identity and begins to face an internal dilemma: should he remain true to his old self or become the new man everyone thinks he is?
Quarter 2: Rights & Responsibilities
Texts: Preamble to the United States Constitution
The Pearl by John Steinbeck (novel)
Synopsis: It is the story of a pearl diver, Kino, and explores man's nature as well as greed, defiance of societal norms, and evil. Steinbeck's inspiration was a Mexican folk tale from La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, which he had heard in a visit to the formerly pearl-rich region in 1940.
Quarter 3: Risking It All
Texts: Mother to Son by Langston Hughes (poem)
Synopsis: The mother says to her son that life has not been a “crystal stair” – it has had tacks and splinters and torn boards on it, as well as places without carpet. The stair is bare. However, she still climbs on, reaching landings, turning corners, and persevering in the dark when there is no light. She commands him, “So boy, don’t you turn back.” She instructs him not to go back down the stairs even if he thinks climbing is hard. He should try not to fall because his mother is still going, still climbing, and her life “ain’t been no crystal stair.”
Monster by Walter Dean Myers (novel)
Synopsis: Walter Dean Myers creates the story of sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon, from Steve's point of view, as he struggles with the fact that he is being tried for felony murder. It is a trial that, if the jury finds him guilty, could result in the death penalty at worst, and at best, over twenty years in prison.
Quarter 4: The Power of Language
Texts: Sonnet #18 by William Shakespeare
Synopsis: One of the best known of Shakespeare's sonnets, Sonnet 18 is memorable for the skillful and varied presentation of subject matter, in which the poet's feelings reach a level of rapture unseen in the previous sonnets. The poet here abandons his quest for the youth to have a child, and instead glories in the youth's beauty.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Synopsis: A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.
1. Continue Charlie's Journey- Flowers for Algernon ends quite suddenly. Through five journal entries, continue Charlie's journey.
2. Flowers for Algernon Symbolism Journey- Flowers for Algernon has many symbols and a strong central theme. Through a series of images, capture the spirit of the story. You will create a poster or book with images that follow the theme of the story.
3. Flowers for Algernon Soundtrack- Find the musical inspiration behind Flowers for Algernon. Develop a soundtrack based on the story. You will collect songs that connect the story and explain the relationship between the songs and the story.
4. Flowers for Algernon Newspaper Articles- you will write 3 newspaper articles about what happened to Charlie; one from one of the factory worker's point of view, one from one of the doctor's point of view and an opinion article in which you review the experiment, taking into consideration the two extreme views on it.
Grading:
Major Assignments: (about 2 per quarter; tests, big projects): 25%
Minor Assignments: (about 3 per quarter; quizzes, smaller projects): 10%
Other Assignments: (about 5 per quarter; handouts, classwork, etc.) 4%
Unit Overviews:
Quarter 1: Journeys
Texts: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (poem)
Synopsis: “Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a well-known poem about the journey of life. The poem describes someone standing at a fork or a turning point in the road trying to decide which path he will take. The two roads symbolize the uncertainty we sometimes feel when faced with decisions and not knowing how those decisions will affect the future. In this poem, Frost captures the inner journey that we often experience.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (short story)
Synopsis: Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man who lives with an intellectual disability. He strives to achieve happiness through the world of knowledge, so when presented with an opportunity to undergo an experimental surgery for increased intelligence--- he takes it without hesitation. The reader is immersed in Charlie’s journey through the use of journal entries, which beg the thematic question: when has science gone too far?
Raymond's Run by Toni Cade Bambara (short story)
Synopsis: The story “Raymond’s Run” is told through the eyes of Hazel ‘Squeaky” Parker, an extremely outspoken girl who is the fastest runner in her Harlem neighborhood. She spends the majority of her time practicing for upcoming races and taking care of her brother, Raymond, who is mentally challenged and to whom she is very devoted. Through her experiences in this story a key understanding emerges: as we come to respect someone, our opinion of them can change drastically and even surprise us. This text is a tool for students to define, understand, and interpret the elements of literature (character traits, setting, conflict, plot, climax, resolution and theme) and how they interact with one another.
Retrieved Reformation by O. Henry (short story)
Synopsis: Jimmy Valentine is a convicted conman, who specializes in the breaking and entering of bank vaults. After serving his prison sentence, he sets out into the world with his eye on his next mark, but he never expected that mark to be a woman. Quickly Jimmy takes on a new identity and begins to face an internal dilemma: should he remain true to his old self or become the new man everyone thinks he is?
Quarter 2: Rights & Responsibilities
Texts: Preamble to the United States Constitution
The Pearl by John Steinbeck (novel)
Synopsis: It is the story of a pearl diver, Kino, and explores man's nature as well as greed, defiance of societal norms, and evil. Steinbeck's inspiration was a Mexican folk tale from La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, which he had heard in a visit to the formerly pearl-rich region in 1940.
Quarter 3: Risking It All
Texts: Mother to Son by Langston Hughes (poem)
Synopsis: The mother says to her son that life has not been a “crystal stair” – it has had tacks and splinters and torn boards on it, as well as places without carpet. The stair is bare. However, she still climbs on, reaching landings, turning corners, and persevering in the dark when there is no light. She commands him, “So boy, don’t you turn back.” She instructs him not to go back down the stairs even if he thinks climbing is hard. He should try not to fall because his mother is still going, still climbing, and her life “ain’t been no crystal stair.”
Monster by Walter Dean Myers (novel)
Synopsis: Walter Dean Myers creates the story of sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon, from Steve's point of view, as he struggles with the fact that he is being tried for felony murder. It is a trial that, if the jury finds him guilty, could result in the death penalty at worst, and at best, over twenty years in prison.
Quarter 4: The Power of Language
Texts: Sonnet #18 by William Shakespeare
Synopsis: One of the best known of Shakespeare's sonnets, Sonnet 18 is memorable for the skillful and varied presentation of subject matter, in which the poet's feelings reach a level of rapture unseen in the previous sonnets. The poet here abandons his quest for the youth to have a child, and instead glories in the youth's beauty.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Synopsis: A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.