Grade 10 ELA

Grade 10 English Language Arts includes a variety of rich texts that engage students in analysis of literary and journalistic nonfiction as well as poetry, drama, and fiction. Classic and contemporary authors represented include Christopher Marlowe, Amy Tan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Alice Walker, Malala Yousafzai, E.B. White, William Shakespeare, and Niccolò Machiavelli. Working with these texts, students build knowledge, analyze ideas, delineate arguments and develop writing, collaboration, and communication skills.

1 - Reading Closely and Writing to Analyze

How Do Authors Develop Complex Characters and Ideas?

In Module 10.1, students engage with literature and nonfiction texts and explore how complex characters develop through their interactions with each other, and how these interactions develop central ideas such as identity and expectations. Module 10.1 introduces foundational protocols and routines for reading, writing, and discussion that students will continue to build upon and strengthen throughout the year. Module 10.1 is comprised of three units:

Unit 1: “We cannot go to the country / for the country will bring us / no peace”
- Texts: “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh, and “Raleigh Was Right” by William Carlos Williams
Unit 2: “For one does not alter history without conviction.”
- Text: The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin
Unit 3: “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.”
- Texts: “Rules of the Game” and “Two Kinds” from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
  
  Text: “Dreaming of Heroes” from Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger

2 - Rhetoric and Word Choice

“These are strange times, my dear”
to Develop Ideas and Claims?

In this module, students read, discuss, and analyze poems and informational texts focusing on how authors use rhetoric and word choice to develop ideas or claims about human rights. Students also explore how nonfiction authors develop arguments with claims, evidence, and reasoning Module 10.3 is comprised of three units:

Unit 1: “[T]he cup of endurance runs over”
- Texts: “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr.; “In This Blind Alley,” Ahmad Shamlu; “Freedom,” Rabindranath Tagore; “Women,” Alice Walker
Unit 2: “No flies fly into a closed mouth”
- Texts: “A Genetics of Justice,” Julia Alvarez; “Remembering To Never Forget: Dominican Republic’s ‘Parsley Massacre,’” Mark Memmott
Unit 3: “...to lift men everywhere to a higher standard of life and to a greater enjoyment of freedom.”
- Texts: The Universal Declaration on Human Rights; “On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Eleanor Roosevelt; “Address to the United Nations Youth Assembly,” Malala Yousafzai

Module 3 - Researching Multiple Perspectives
to Develop a Position

In Module 10.3, students engage in an inquiry-based, iterative process for research. Building on work with evidence-based analysis in Modules 10.1 and 10.2, students explore topics that have multiple positions and perspectives by gathering and analyzing research based on vetted sources to establish a position of their own. Students first generate a written evidence-based perspective, which will serve as the early foundation of what will ultimately become a written research-based argument paper that synthesizes and articulates several claims with valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Module 10.3 is comprised of three units:

Unit 1: Using Seed Texts as Springboards to Research
- Text: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Unit 2: “Engaging in an Inquiry-Based, Iterative Research Process to Write Arguments”
Unit 3: Synthesizing Research and Argument Through the Writing Process

Module 4 - Analyzing craft and structure

How do authors use craft and structure to develop characters and ideas?

In this module, students read, discuss, and analyze nonfiction and dramatic texts, focusing on how the authors convey and develop central ideas concerning imbalance, disorder, tragedy, mortality, and fate. Students also explore how texts are interpreted visually, both on screen and on canvas. Module 10.4 builds upon the key protocols and routines for reading, writing, and discussion that were established in Module 10.1 and developed throughout Modules 10.2 and 10.3. Module 10.4 is comprised of three units:

Unit 1: “Once in a while, something slips—”
- Text: Death of a Pig by E. B. White
Unit 2: “Once in a while, something slips—”
- Text: Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Unit 3: “… to know the nature of the people well one must be a prince, and to know the nature of princes well one must be of the people.”
- Text: The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

Online Writing Lab

This page contains resources for writing a research paper and other academic writing, including comprehensive details about MLA, APA and Chicago Manual of Style citation and format styles. This page also contains sample papers, slide presentations, and posters.

ELA Resources

Additional resouices for the study of English Language Arts include:

CCSS Appendix A - Research Supporting Key Elements of the ELA Standards

Questions, Comments and Concerns

Please free to contact Alyve with any corrections or suggestions.

Also, please contact Alyve if you feel that any of the content is derived from copyrighted material.

Contact Alyve

Unit 1: “We cannot go to the country / for the country will bring us / no peace”

Texts: “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh, and “Raleigh Was Right” by William Carlos Williams

Unit 2: “For one does not alter history without conviction.”

Text: The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin

Unit 3: “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.”

Texts: “Rules of the Game” and “Two Kinds” from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Text: “Dreaming of Heroes” from Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger

Unit 1: “[T]he cup of endurance runs over”

Texts: “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr.; “In This Blind Alley,” Ahmad Shamlu; “Freedom,” Rabindranath Tagore; “Women,” Alice Walker

Unit 2: “No flies fly into a closed mouth”

Texts: “A Genetics of Justice,” Julia Alvarez; “Remembering To Never Forget: Dominican Republic’s ‘Parsley Massacre,’” Mark Memmott

Unit 3: “...to lift men everywhere to a higher standard of life and to a greater enjoyment of freedom.”

Texts: The Universal Declaration on Human Rights; “On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Eleanor Roosevelt; “Address to the United Nations Youth Assembly,” Malala Yousafzai

Unit 1: Using Seed Texts as Springboards to Research

Text: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Unit 2: “Engaging in an Inquiry-Based, Iterative Research Process to Write Arguments”

Unit 3: Synthesizing Research and Argument Through the Writing Process

Unit 1: “Once in a while, something slips—”

Text: Death of a Pig by E. B. White

Unit 2: “Once in a while, something slips—”

Text: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Unit 3: “… to know the nature of the people well one must be a prince, and to know the nature of princes well one must be of the people.”

Text: The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli