• Course Description

    Freshman Literature and Composition focuses on the concepts of inquiry and expression, illustrating how authors write creatively and in depth about their own lives. The texts cover experiences relevant to our world and students’ personal lives, balancing contemporary offerings with canonical texts to assure a comprehensive reading experience. Students will read texts as a class, in small groups, and independently analyze fiction, drama, poetry and nonfiction throughout the year. They will have the opportunity in a reading/writing workshop to analyze and discuss the author's craft, closely read and annotate excerpted passages and/or companion texts, apply reading skills and strategies, and engage in thematic discussions on essential questions. Students will compose and revise both analytical and creative pieces of writing. Analytical essays provide students with an opportunity to examine both literary and visual texts and construct arguments. Students will also craft pieces of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry working with models read in class. Throughout the year, teachers encourage students to use inquiry as a tool to express their unique identity and ideas.

    Honors Freshman Literature and Composition will use the same curricular structure and assessments as Freshman Literature and Composition; however, the mastery of skills, the quality of final drafts, and the quantity of work within the units will be faster paced and more in depth. Honors FLC students are expected to move between the concrete and abstract with respect to their reading/analysis as well as demonstrate this ability in their writing. As the year unfolds, all FLC students will be introduced to more advanced skills; however, honors students will be expected to show evidence of more advanced skills at the start of the year.

    For example, with creative assignments regular FLC will focus on writing skills/craft, while honors FLC will focus on both writing craft and layers of meaning. On analytical reading and writing assignments the primary difference is FLC students will focus on comprehension and work toward analysis and Honors FLC students will start with analysis and work toward synthesis.

    Grade Level(s): 9th Grade

    Related Priority Standards (State &/or National): DESE Priority Standards, Grades 9-10

    Essential Questions

    • Who am I as a reader, writer and thinker?
    • What is ethical?
    • What is moral?
    • What do I wonder?
    • How do I express my opinion?
    • How do I draw upon my knowledge and experiences to make a contribution?
    • How can I use reading and writing to live an examined life?

    Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas

    • Analyze & discuss author’s craft
    • Closely read and annotate excerpted passages and/or companion texts
    • Apply reading skills and strategies
    • Engage in thematic discussions on essential questions

    Course-Level Scope & Sequence (Units &/or Skills)

    Quarter 1:  Fiction & Expressive Writing

    Students will explore narrative ideas and consider questions to expand on their own. Students will use texts to stretch their storytelling skills and connect introduced topics to their own life experiences. Students will annotate and maintain notes on a text to keep track of their critical thinking.

    • Draw conclusions, infer, and analyze
    • Determine the meaning of words and phrases
    • Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text or sequence information impact the reader
    • Analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance point of view or purpose
    • Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices and syntax
    • Evaluate an author's argument, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient
    • Read and comprehend informational text independently and proficiently
    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing
    • Review, revise, and edit writing
    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing blending techniques
    • Analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance point of view or purpose
    • Explain two or more central/main ideas in a text
    • Conduct research to answer a question or solve a problem
    • Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources

    Quarter 2: Drama & Nonfiction Writing

    Students will read for pleasure, self-discovery, and personal growth while carefully selecting appropriate books that motivate and challenge them as readers. Students will notice details and techniques of a writer to evaluate their effectiveness and make connections between what they are reading, other texts, theirselves, and the world.

    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing blending techniques
    • Interpret visual elements of a text and draw conclusions
    • Analyze how multiple texts reflect historical and/or cultural contexts
    • Draw conclusions, infer and analyze by citing relevant and thorough textual evidence
    • Interpret visual elements of a text including those from different media
    • Analyze how similar ideas or topics are portrayed in different media formats
    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing
    • Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience

    Quarter 3: Poetry & Literary Analysis

    Students will read challenging texts to decipher meaning, understand a writer’s purpose, explore a writer’s style, learn about historical context and how that affects the meaning. Students will use mentor texts for inspiration about style, content, and organization. Students will experiment with language and take risks with how they structure their writing while creating a poem or lyric with a strong, controlling idea. 

    • Determine the meaning of words and phrases
    • Determine two or more themes in a text, analyze their development
    • Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices and syntax
    • Read and comprehend literature independently and proficiently
    • Analyze how an author's choices impact the reader
    • Evaluate an author's argument, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning
    • Read and comprehend informational text independently and proficiently
    • Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussions and decision-making
    • Delineate a speaker’s argument and claims
    • Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives
    • Speak audibly and to the point
    • Make consistent eye contact with a range of listeners
    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing
    • Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience
    • Draw conclusions, infer, and analyze by citing relevant and thorough textual evidence
    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing
    • Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience

    Quarter 4: Literature Sets & Visual Text Analysis

    Students will read a text and form an argument while writing a complex claim, using sources to support their argument and avoiding plagiarism. Students will illustrate the relationship between their evidence and claim and restate the author’s position in their own words. Students will engage in peer discussion, navigate conflict and tension respectfully, and consider new ideas shared by peers.

    • Read and comprehend literature independently and proficiently
    • Analyze how an author's choices impact the reader
    • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing blending techniques

    Course Resources & Materials

    Whole-Class Reads (Teacher Choice)

    • Patron Saints of Nothing, Ribay or
    • Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya or
    • Salt to the Sea, Septys
    • The Piano Lesson, Wilson or
    • Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry
    • The Odyssey, Homer - Wilson translation or
    • The Inferno, Dante - Ciardi translation

    Literature Set Reads (Student Choice)

    Memoir

      • Obsessed, Britz
      • Born a Crime, Noah
      • Death Be Not Proud, Gunther 
      • How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child, Uwiringiyimana
      • I Will Always Write Back, Alifirenka & Ganda
      • October Sky/ Rocket Boys, Hickam
      • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou
      • Black Boy, Wright

    Beyond a Single Story

      • Challenger Deep, Shusterman
      • Heroine, McGinnis
      • Dear Martin, Stone
      • A Very Large Expanse of Sea, Rafi
      • Salvage the Bones, Ward
      • The Kite Runner, Hosseini

    Novels in Verse

      • Blood Water Paint, McCullough
      • The Poet X, Acevedo
      • Realm of Possibility, Levithan
      • Three Things I Know Are True, Culley
      • Ordinary Hazards, Grimes

    Historical Fiction

      • Code Name Verity, Wein
      • True Grit, Portis
      • The Nickel Boys, Whitehead
      • Soldier Boy, Hutton
      • The Samurai’s Garden, Tsukiyama
      • Fallen Angels, Myers
      • To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee
      • Killer Angels, Shaara

    Date Last Revised/Approved: 2020