The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In our lives, we are constantly telling stories to ourselves and to others in an attempt to both understand our experiences and present our best selves to others.  But how do we tell a story about ourselves that is both true and positive? How do we hold ourselves up in the best possible light, while still being honest about our struggles and our flaws? Students will explore ways of interpreting and portraying personal experiences.  They'll read Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart , analyzing the text through the eyes of one character. They'll get to know that character's flaws and strengths, and they'll tell part of the story from that character's perspective, doing their best to tell an honest tale that presents their character's best side. Then they'll explore their own stories, crafting a personal narrative about an important moment of learning in his or her life.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , viewing the events and conflicts of the novel through the eyes of one of the central characters.
Students write a two-part narrative project: one narrative told through their character’s perspective and one personal narrative about an incident in their own life.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

How do our conflicts shape and show our character?
How can we tell a story about ourselves that’s both honest and positive?
How do definitions of justice change depending on the culture you live in?
What are ways individuals can react to a changing world? To a community that doesn’t accept us?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

What has “fallen apart” in this novel, and who’s to blame for this destruction? Could Okonkwo’s fate have been avoided? Could Umuofian society have held together better? How? In this lesson, students will participate in a discussion to reflect on and attempt to answer these questions and others.

Students read a passage about different types of patterns and answer questions based on the passage. An answer key is included.

Students read a paragraph about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and write the main idea and supporting details. An answer key is included.

Students read a paragraph about the Meerkat and write the main idea and two supporting details. An answer key is included.

Students read each sentence and write the cause on the first line and the effect on the second line. An answer key is included.

Students read each sentence, add the correct punctuation, and label it-imperative, declarative, interrogative, or exclamatory.

This cross-curricular lesson combines Social Studies and Language Arts to demonstrate how the study of an historical topic can be developed to make learning nonfiction more exciting, and also improve fluency and comprehension. This project about Benjamin Franklin includes a series of lessons in which the students: 1) read for information from multiple texts, 2) write a script for a Readers Theater play, 3) read for expression and fluency by using their script, 4) enhance their reading with visual arts, and 5) demonstrate dramatic interpretation through role-play. This approach engages students throughout in active participation and collaboration. Included are many supporting resources, such as a read-aloud rubric, an audition sheet, and ideas for student assessment and reflection.

Students write which version of (there, their, they're) that best completes each sentence.

Students write which version of (to, too, two) that best completes each sentence.

This resource accompanies our Rethink Kindergarten ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.  

For this activity, students complete tasks where they determine the order words based upon their meaning.

This grammar unit students will explore the way speech dictates how others see you and treat you. Students will explore specific diction, word choice, vernacular and various sentence structures in order to observe how language can be both inclusive and exclusive.

Students match the root word and the prefix from two banks to make a new word.

Students match the root word and the suffix from two banks to make new words.

This lesson teaches students to select personalized vocabulary words based on their interests and aspects of their everyday lives. Students work in groups to discuss and create their own vocabulary word lists and research their meanings. They create a "My World of Words Journal" with definitions and proper usage information and participate in an interactive journal share to receive feedback from their classmates.

This resource is a short video from TED ed, which details the linguistic origins of the word 'bewilder.' Accompanying short answer questions in the 'Discuss' section of the video's sidebar ask students to think about the changes in language over time and how prefixes alter the meaning and intent of language.

Students follow the rule for changing words ending in 'y' to write the past tense form for the verbs given.

For this activity, students identify variant correspondences in words. Reproducible materials are included in the PDF.