English 12 Module 1 focuses on both text analysis and narrative writing. Students explore two types of personal narrative writing: an autobiography and a personal narrative essay. As students prepare to draft, revise, and edit their own narrative essays in the third unit of this module, these rich texts provide students with opportunities to analyze how the authors effectively incorporate elements of narrative writing.
Lessons
Unit 1 - The Autobiography of Malcolm X
“"All of our experiences fuse into our personality..."”
Lesson 1 - In this lesson, students begin an exploration of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess.” After listening to a masterful reading of the poem, which is written in the form of a dramatic monologue, students analyze the first 8 lines of the poem.
- Classwork 1a - listen to a masterful reading of of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess.” Play video at right.
- Classwork 1b - read and annotate the text of “My Last Duchess” from lines 1–8 (from “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall” to “The depth and passion of its earnest glance”), in which Browning introduces the speaker and main character, the Duke.
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: Identify two specific word choices in the first 8 lines of the poem and explain how they impact the meaning and tone.
- Use the Short Response Rubric and Checklist - to help improve your Quick Write and reflective writing responses
- Homework - Read lines 5–21 of “My Last Duchess” (from “I said / ‘Frà Pandolf’ by design, for never read” to “For calling up that spot of joy”). Box any unfamiliar words and look up their definitions. Choose the definition that makes the most sense in the context and write a brief definition above or near the word in the text.
Lesson 2: Lines 5-21 - In this lesson, students explore lines 5–21, in which the Duke further describes the Duchess. Students also begin to practice the important skill of text annotation.
- Classwork 2a - annotation is an important skill for reading and gathering textual evidence. Good readers use shorthand ways of marking text so as not to take time away from their reading.
- Classwork 2b - read and annotate lines 5–21 of “My Last Duchess” from (from “I said / ‘Frà Pandolf’ by design, for never read” to “For calling up that spot of joy”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: What does the reader learn about the Duke through his description of the Duchess in lines 1–21 of the poem? (refer to the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to help improve your writing response.
- Homework - reread lines 9–10 of “My Last Duchess” (“But to myself they turned (since none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)”) and respond in writing to the following prompt: What does the reader learn about the portrait? How does this information develop the Duke’s character? Use this lesson’s vocabulary wherever possible in your written responses. Also remember to use the Short Response Checklist and Rubric to guide your written responses.
Lesson 3: Lines 21-34 - In this lesson, students explore lines 21-34, in which the Duke further describes the Duchess.
- Classwork - read and annotate lines 21-34 of “My Last Duchess” (from “She had / A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad” to “My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name / With anybody’s gift”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: What is the impact of Browning’s choice of speaker on the development of the Duchess?
- Homework - respond in writing to the following prompt: What does the reader learn about the characters of the Duke and the Duchess in lines 29–34? (Refer to the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to help improve your writing responses.)
Lesson 4: Lines 31-43 - In this lesson, students read and analyze lines 31–43 from “My Last Duchess,” in which the Duke states that he never “stooped” to blame his wife for her actions.
- Classwork - read and annotate lines 31-43 of “My Last Duchess” (from “She thanked men,—good! but thanked / Somehow—I know not how” to “E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose / Never to stoop”).
- Homework - respond in writing to the following prompt: How does Browning further develop the character of the Duke in lines 34–43? (Refer to the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to help improve your writing responses.)
Lesson 5: Lines 43-56 - In this lesson, students read the final 14 lines of "My Last Duchess," in which the Duke explains why the Duchess is no longer with him and suggests that he will soon take the Count’s daughter as his new wife.
- Classwork - read and annotate lines 43-56 of “My Last Duchess” (from “Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, / Whene’er I passed her” to “Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: What is the impact of Browning’s choice of speaker on the development of the Duchess?
- Homework - respond in writing to the following prompt: Why is the bronze statue described in lines 54–56 important to the Duke? (Refer to the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to help improve your writing responses.)
Lesson 6 - End-of-Unit Assessment - In this lesson, the End‐of‐Unit Assessment, students engage in an evidencebased discussion of Browning’s choices in introducing and developing the Duke in “My Last Duchess.” Students use speaking, listening, and textual analysis skills to participate in a collaborative discussion. This discussion prepares students to draft a one‐paragraph analysis of how the revelation at the end of the poem impacts the development of the Duke’s character over the course of the poem. This assessment builds upon students’ understanding of Browning’s choices to develop the Duke’s character over the course of the text, and requires them to put into practice the writing standards introduced in the earlier lessons of the module.
- Disussion - use the “My Last Duchess” Discussion Tool to discuss the following prompt: Reread the poem to determine what the text says explicitly and what the text leaves uncertain about the Duke’s character.
- Essay: Write a one-paragraph response to the following prompt: How does the revelation in lines 45–47 impact the development of the Duke’s character over the course of the poem? Use the 11.1.1 End-of-Unit Text Analysis Rubric to guide their written responses. Ask students to use this unit’s vocabulary wherever possible in their written responses. Remind students to refer to the notes, tools, and annotated text from the previous lessons.
Unit 3 - A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
“Anonymity runs in their blood.”
Lesson 1 - In this lesson, students are introduced to the chapter 3 excerpt from Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own in which Woolf introduces the character of Shakespeare’s sister and imagines what youth would have been like for William Shakespeare and his sister.
- Classwork - read and annotate the text of A Room of One’s Own (from “Be that as it may, I could not help thinking” to “his extraordinarily gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home”).
- Use the Central Ideas Tracking Tool to record evidence of central idea of "Gender Roles" in the text.
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: Write an objective summary of page 48 of A Room of One’s Own and determine a central idea introduced in the text. Cite text evidence from the text to support the central idea you identify. (Refer to the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to help improve your writing responses.
- Homework - Use the notes you made to list and classify the opportunities that Shakespeare had at home and in London according to the following categories: Work, Family, Education, Relationships, and Entertainment.
Lesson 2 - In this lesson, students read pages 48–50 of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. in which Judith Shakespeare’s opportunities are contrasted with her brother’s, as she was forced to stay at home while he went to London.
- Classwork - read and annotate pages 48–50 of A Room of One’s Own (from “She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world” to “if a woman in Shakespeare’s day had had Shakespeare's genius”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How does Woolf’s comparison of Shakespeare to his sister further develop and build upon a central idea in the text?
- Homework - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How do Woolf’s word choices impact the meaning and tone of the text? (Refer to the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to help improve your writing responses.
Lesson 3 - In this lesson, students read pages 50-51 of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, in which Woolf develops her point of view about why it would have been “impossible” (p. 48) for a woman to write Shakespeare’s works during his time.
- Classwork - read and annotate pages 50-51 of A Room of One’s Own (from “But for my part, I agree with the deceased bishop” to “or the length of the winter’s night”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How does Woolf use rhetoric to convey her point of view?
- Homework - respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: Write an objective summary of pages 48–51 of A Room of One’s Own (from “Be that as it may, I could not help thinking” to “or the length of a winter’s night”).
Lesson 4 - In this lesson, students read pages 51-52 of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, , in which Woolf writes about the stress of society’s expectations on female writers throughout history.
- Classwork - read and annotate pages 51-52 of A Room of One’s Own (from “This may be true or it may be false” to “publicity in women is detestable. Anonymity runs in their blood”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: How does the experience of a “gifted girl” (p. 51) in London interact with and develop a central idea in the text?
- Homework - Review, organize, and expand your notes and annotations in preparation for the Mid-Unit Assessment. Review your annotations and tools for central ideas and note where these ideas are introduced, developed, and refined. Then return to your objective summary from Lesson 3 and expand it to include a central idea and supporting evidence.
Lesson 5 - Mid-Unit Assessment - In this lesson, the 11.1.3 Mid-Unit Assessment, students use textual evidence from pages 48–52 of A Room of One’s Own (from “Be that as it may, I could not help thinking” to “publicity in women is detestable. Anonymity runs in their blood”) to write a multi-paragraph response to the following prompt: Analyze how two central ideas interact and develop over the course of pages 48–52 of A Room of One’s Own. The Mid-Unit Assessment is assessed using the 11.1.3 Mid-Unit Text Analysis Rubric.
Lesson 6 - In this lesson, students consider the relationship between events and central ideas in pages 48–50 of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.
- Classwork - reread pages 48-50 of A Room of One’s Own (from “Be that as it may, I could not help thinking” to “where the omnibuses now stop outside the Elephant and Castle”)..
- Homework - Read the quotes from “My Last Duchess,” Hamlet, and A Room of One’s Own on the Text Comparison Homework Tool. Explain how 3 of these quotes support a single central idea.
Lesson 7 - In this lesson, students review the central ideas identified in pages 48–52 of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and analyze how similar ideas are developed in Act 4.5, lines 148–224 of Hamlet. In this excerpt, Laertes returns to Denmark demanding revenge for the death of his father, Polonius, and finds that Ophelia has gone mad with grief.
- Classwork - Read Act 4.5, lines 148–224 of Hamlet (from “How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with” to “And of all Christians’ souls, I pray God. God be wi’ you”).
- Discussion/Study Questions - individual or groups
- QuickWrite - respond briefly in writing to the following question: Analyze the relationship between Woolf’s text and the character of Ophelia.
- Homework - Review Hamlet and the excerpt from A Room of One’s Own, as well as your notes, tools, and annotations. Use the evidence you collect to draft a claim about the relationship between Woolf’s text and Shakespeare’s character of Ophelia.
Lesson 8 - End-of-Unit Assessment - In this final lesson of 11.1.3, the End‐of‐Unit Assessment, students craft a multi‐paragraph response analyzing the relationship between Virginia Woolf’s text and the character of Ophelia. Students return to the scenes they analyzed in Hamlet to look again at Ophelia, this time in conversation with the excerpt of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. To compose their End‐of‐Unit Assessment, students use textual details from both texts to support a claim in response to the following prompt: Analyze the relationship between Woolf’s text and the character of Ophelia. As they write, students consult both texts and their notes, annotations, and Cross‐Text Evidence Collection Tools from 11.1.3 Lesson 7.