grade pre-ap and academic tuesdays with morrie 9 novel rationales.pdf · rationale (used for novels...
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Rationale (used for novels only)
Unit 1 Book Title: Tuesdays with Morrie
Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:
9th grade Pre-AP and Academic
Plot Summary:
Tuesdays with Morrie is the final lesson between a college
professor, Morrie, and one of his long lost students and the author
of the book, Mitch Albom. After seeing his professor in an interview
on the show "Nightline," the author is reminded of a promise he
made sixteen years ago to keep in touch with him.
Literary Merit:
Illustrates for students how literature can help the reader deal with
real-life issues.
Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:
Mature emotional themes surrounding Morrie’s death.
(www.commonsensemedia.org)
How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in
Class:
Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often
deal with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned
about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:
read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel
will be taught in the class (phone or in person)
If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the
novel, the students will read an alternative text. Although the
teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work,
the student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful
classroom discussion and collaboration. Students working with
alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will
miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole
class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of the whole class
novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful
consideration
Learning Goals:
1. Understanding the role Morrie plays in helping Mitch define who he is.
2. Recognize aphorisms and the manner in which Albom uses them throughout the text.
3. Analyze how, according to Morrie, the individual has the ability to shape society.
Alternative Texts Must:
Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher. Age appropriate autobiography / memoir of approx. 150-200
pages Represents an exchange of life lessons.
Address the following thematic ideas:
Friendship The Bonds between us Relationship
Rationale (used for novels only)
Unit 2 Book Title: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Current ISBN: 978-0-06-207348-8
Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:
9th grade Pre-AP and Academic English.
Plot Summary:
Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an
island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen.
Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host
accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former
reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of
cyanide. The tension escalates as the survivors realize the killer is not
only among them but is preparing to strike again… and again...
(www.agathachristie.com)
Literary Merit:
Although the book was written for adults, teens can learn a lot about
the mystery genre from this master. (www.commonsensemedia.org)
Also, mysteries get reluctant readers and writers enthusiastic about
reading, thinking, and writing. They contain intriguing characters and
hold a student's interest with their suspenseful and dynamic plots.
Mysteries are a wonderful vehicle for teaching critical thinking and
deductive reasoning skills in an exciting and enjoyable way.
(www.scholastic.com)
Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:
Violence
Drinking, Drugs, Smoking
How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in
Class:
Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often
deal with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned
about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:
read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel
will be taught in the class (phone or in person)
If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the
novel, the students will read an alternative text. Although the
teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work,
the student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful
classroom discussion and collaboration. Students working with
alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will
miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole
class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of the whole class
novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful
consideration.
Learning Goals:
1. Based upon reading students will develop and support an opinion as to who or what decides what is just. 2. Determine how mysteries, as well as, And Then There Were None, helps readers to understand the human condition. 3. Identify and explain how structural elements are used in order to create suspense and develop a mystery.
Alternative Texts Must:
Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher. Age appropriate mystery (1930’s) of at least 300 pages. Represents a well-written mystery. Address the following thematic ideas: relationships, aging,
popular cultural vs. traditional values
Rationale (used for novels only)
Unit 5 Book Title: The Glass Castle (Selections)
Current ISBN: 978-0-7432-4754-2
Grade Level and Audience /
Age Appropriateness:
9th grade Pre-AP and Academic
English.
Age Appropriateness: 13 years
old and above
THIS WILL ONLY BE TAUGHT IN
SELECTED EXCERPTS
Plot Summary: The Glass Castle, a New York Times Bestseller, is an autobiography written by Jeannette
Walls about her childhood. After seeing her homeless mother digging through the trash, Jeannette takes
her readers on a flashback to her childhood. It begins with Jeannette at a young age burning herself while
cooking. After landing in the hospital, her father sneaks Jeannette out of the hospital without paying her
medical bills. Much of Jeannette's childhood is reminiscent her family performing "the skedaddle",
consisting of living nowhere more than a few months. After countless moves the family lands in Welch,
West Virginia. Jeannette's grandmother, Erma, lives here. Welch turns out to be worse than any other place
they have lived, due to their grandmother and terrible new house. Erma turns out to be severely abusive
towards Jeanette, and even forces the family to stay in the basement. The town is extremely segregated
and dislikes the newcomers. Girls at Jeannette's school physically and verbally harass her constantly. After
graduating high school Jeannette moves to New York with her sister Lori. Jeannette becomes a successful
writer at The Phoenix despite her dysfunctional family. Jeannette Walls proves to be a great role model that
shows anyone can rise above their childhood.
THIS WILL ONLY BE TAUGHT IN SELECTED EXCERPTS
Literary Merit:
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and
uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology,
and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea
of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.
The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New
York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing--a memoir
permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.
Sensitive Subject in the
Text/Possible Objections:
rape, sexual assault, bullying,
physical abuse, drug and
alcohol addiction, and
homelessness
THIS WILL ONLY BE TAUGHT IN
SELECTED EXCERPTS
How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:
Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal with sensitive subject matter. If a
parent/guardian is concerned about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:
read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be taught in the class (phone or in
person)
If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the students will read an
alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the
student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and collaboration.
Students working with alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will miss group
instruction around the novel being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of
the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful consideration.
Learning Goals:
Alternative Texts Must:
Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher.
include vigorous, Tier 3 vocabulary
be a memoir of at least 200 pages in length
Address the following thematic ideas: resiliency, poverty, and family relationships
Rationale (used for novels only)
Unit 7 Book Title: Night
Current ISBN: 978-0-374-50001-6 OR 0-03-055462-4
Grade Level and Audience / Age Appropriateness:
9th grade Pre-AP and Academic English
Plot Summary:
Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply
poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the
Nazi death camps.
Literary Merit:
Pulitzer Price 1986
Literary Elements: Motif, Theme, Foreshadowing
Sensitive Subject in the Text/Possible Objections:
Graphic descriptions of crimes against humanity
Extreme brutality
Temporary Insanity
Emotional Unbalance
(Holt, Rinehart and Winston Teachers Guide)
How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in
Class:
Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often
deal with sensitive subject matter. If a parent/guardian is concerned
about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:
read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel
will be taught in the class (phone or in person)
If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the
novel, the students will read an alternative text. Although the teacher
will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the
student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful
classroom discussion and collaboration. Students working with
alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will
miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole
class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out of the whole class
novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful
consideration.
Learning Goals:
1. Recognize the lessons Wiesel provides focusing on and analyzing
the primary lesson.
2. Develop and support an opinion on the importance of
remembering.
Alternative Texts Must:
Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher. Age appropriate Holocaust memoir of at least 120 pages. Represents a grade-level true account. Address some of the following thematic ideas: violence,
mortality, family, lies and deceit, freedom and confinement, religion, and identity.
Rationale (used for novels only)
Unit 8 Book Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
978-0-446-31078-9
Grade Level and Audience / Age
Appropriateness:
9th grade Pre-AP and Academic
English
Plot Summary:
The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird is driven forward by the conflict that the main characters experience as their beliefs about justice and morality come into conflict with the mores of the society they inhabit. The novel interweaves two primary plots: Atticus Finch’s effort to follow his conscience and break the unwritten rules of the Jim Crow criminal justice system, and the socialization of Atticus’s children—Scout and Jem—as they negotiate the spoken and unspoken rules of their community. Throughout the novel we observe these three individuals seeking to define their identities both within and in opposition to their society’s moral universe.
Literary Merit:
This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another. Jem and Scout see the heart of their town laid bare -- divided not just between black and white, but also between the prevailing racism and "the handful of people in this town who say that fair play is not marked White Only." Their father is a hero, willing to stand up against an entire town on behalf of justice. They see the evil born of ignorance and squalor. And they see their father, under whose quiet righteousness and gentle civility lives an undemonstrative love that will always be there. With unmatched power of loving wisdom about the human heart, this book is one that no one should miss.
Sensitive Subject in the
Text/Possible Objections:
Death
Rape
Racism
Drug Use
Mild Profanity
How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:
Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal with sensitive subject matter. If
a parent/guardian is concerned about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:
read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be taught in the class (phone or
in person)
If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the students will read an
alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the
student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and collaboration.
Students working with alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they will miss group
instruction around the novel being taught to the whole class. Due to missed instructional time, opting out
of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without careful consideration.
Learning Goals:
Alternative Texts Must:
Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher.
include vigorous, Tier 3 vocabulary
be historical fiction of at least 200 pages
Address the following thematic ideas: racism, morality, and justice
Rationale (used for novels only)
Unit 10 Book Title: Fahrenheit 451
Current ISBN: 0-345-34296-8
Grade Level and Audience / Age
Appropriateness:
9th grade Pre-AP and Academic
English
Plot Summary:
Fahrenheit 451 is a classic example of dystopian fiction, written by one of the most acclaimed authors of American science fiction and fantasy. It depicts a near-future America where books are prohibited and the populace is placated with cheap, shallow entertainment. Guy Montag, the protagonist, is a fireman. However, the firemen in Fahrenheit 451 have little in common with the men in yellow suits, driving red trucks that we picture today. Instead, these firemen are in charge of burning books, which are seen as a threat to society because they cause people think too much. Instead, people are expected to relinquish their individuality and be content with vapid radio and television shows. Thinking is dangerous. The title of the novel is the temperature at which paper burns-a fitting title considering so much of the plot revolves around the burning of books.
Literary Merit:
FAHRENHEIT 451 is a classic science fiction novel and a powerful commentary on humankind's urge to suppress what it doesn't understand.
The shadow of the Cold War looms over the plot, but the truths Ray Bradbury unearths are timeless. The novel won the National Book Award
and has been adapted for film, radio, stage, and graphic novel, and it's likely to be read widely for a long time to come.
Sensitive Subject in the
Text/Possible Objections:
Death
Suicide
Violence
Drug Use
How Sensitive Subjects and Possible Objections Will be Handled in Class:
Novels that contain ideas worthy of rich discussion and writing often deal with sensitive subject matter.
If a parent/guardian is concerned about the subject matter in any novel, we encourage the following:
read the novel in its entirety meet with the teacher to discuss the how and why the novel will be taught in the class (phone
or in person)
If the parent, guardian, or student still objects to the content of the novel, the students will read an
alternative text. Although the teacher will provide the student with rigorous and high quality work, the
student will miss opportunities to engage in rich and meaningful classroom discussion and
collaboration. Students working with alternative texts will be working independently; therefore, they
will miss group instruction around the novel being taught to the whole class. Due to missed
instructional time, opting out of the whole class novel is not a decision that should be taken without
careful consideration.
Learning Goals:
Alternative Texts Must:
Selected by parent and child and be approved by teacher.
include vigorous, Tier 3 vocabulary
be dystopian literature of at least 200 pages
address the following thematic ideas: conformity, rebellion, censorship, identity, power, youth, fear, and morality