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Sophomore Literature & Composition

Course Description

Sophomore Literature and Composition explores how students’ reading and writing can empower them to make positive contributions to society and create change in the world.  Centered on the themes of power and change, Sophomore Literature and Composition builds on the reading and writing skills of Freshman Literature and Composition.  Students will read, analyze, and discuss texts as a whole class, and in small groups, as well as sustain their independent reading. Students will read, analyze, and write critically about a variety of genres of literature, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama.  They will also compose and revise creative pieces of nonfiction, fiction and poetry throughout the year. Unique to Sophomore Literature and Composition is the blended research paper where students will engage in a long-term research and writing project.  Throughout the reading, writing and research, Sophomore Literature and Composition encourages students to examine how writers use language to create, construct, and change society.

Honors Sophomore Literature and Composition will use the same curricular structure and assessments as Sophomore Literature and Composition; however, the mastery of skills, the quality of final drafts, and the quantity of work within the units will be at a faster pace and more in depth.  On analytical reading and writing assignments, the primary difference is that SLC students will focus on analysis and Honors SLC students will analyze and synthesize.  With creative assignments, SLC will focus on the writing skills/craft and honors SLC will focus on both writing craft and layers of meaning.  As the year unfolds, all SLC 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, both regular and honors students will practice literary analysis and write analytical pieces (paragraphs, essays, etc.) SLC students will practice textual analysis on literature provided by the teacher.  The written product will be an analysis of a text or texts.  Honors students will be asked to not only analyze the text but to synthesize their analysis with other perspectives found by the students (independent research). Honors students will be asked to do the literary analysis work with less support and in a quicker timeframe than other SLC students.

Grade Level(s): 10th Grade

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

Essential Questions

  • How do I evolve as a reader, writer and thinker?
  • Do ethics change? If so, when?
  • Do morals change? If so, when?
  • How do I use logic to question?
  • How do I navigate conflict with integrity?
  • How can stories change me, my community and the world?
  • How do I use power to create change?

Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas

Power & Change

  • 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:  Literary Analysis & Nonfiction Writing

Students will find evidence in a text to form an argument and cite sources while avoiding plagiarism. Students will articulate the relationship between their evidence and their claim. Students will use direct and indirect characterization to capture and develop a character of their own while creating a strong controlling idea that directs their piece of writing. 

  • Draw conclusions, infer, and analyze by citing relevant and thorough textual evidence.
  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases
  • Analyze how an author's choices 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 in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
  • Self-select and blend (when appropriate) previously learned narrative, expository, and argumentative writing techniques
  • Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience.

Quarter 2: Poetry & Textual Analysis

Students will read for pleasure, for self-discovery, and for personal growth while carefully selecting appropriate books to motivate and challenge themselves. Students will make connections between what they are reading with other texts, theirself, and the world. Students will generate a topic, theme, and message they are invested in while using mentor texts for inspiration about style, content, and organization.

  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text
  • Determine two or more themes in a text, analyze their development throughout the text
  • Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices and syntax
  • Read and comprehend literature 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
  • 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
  • Draw conclusions, infer, and analyze by citing relevant and thorough textual evidence
  • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
  • Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience.

Quarter 3: Blended Research Project

Students will search for answers to a self-generated question and gather multiple sources to answer their questions. Students will share what they learn from conducting their research and construct an appropriate organizational structure for their product. Students will synthesize ideas and sources to support their argument.

  • Draw conclusions, infer, and analyze by citing relevant and thorough textual evidence
  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text
  • Analyze how an author's choices 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
  • Evaluate how effectively two or more texts develop similar ideas/topics
  • Read and comprehend informational text independently and proficiently
  • Read and comprehend literature independently and proficiently
  • Analyze how an author’s choices impact the reader
  • Analyze how complex characters develop over the course of a text
  • Review, revise and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose and audience
  • Speak audibly and to the point
  • Make consistent eye contact with a range of listeners when speaking
  • Conduct research to answer a question or solve a problem

Quarter 4: Literacy Sets & Fiction Writing

Students will notice details and techniques of a writer while reading. Students will reflect on themselves as readers and set goals for continued growth and improvement. Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose, and intended audience.

  • 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
  • Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
  • Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience.

Course Resources & Materials

Whole-Class Reads (Teacher Choice)

  • Kindred (Butler) or
  • Betsey Brown (Shange)
  • Romeo & Juliet or
  • Julius Caesar  or
  • Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)
  • 1984 (Orwell) or
  • The Road (McCarthy)

Literature Set Reads (Student Choice)

Issues in Nonfiction

    • Just Mercy, Stevenson
    • Brain on Fire, Cahalan
    • Thinking in Pictures: My Life With Autism, Grandin
    • Stamped: Racism, Anti Racism & You (YA edition), Reynolds & Kendi
    • Far From the Tree (YA edition), Solomon
    • The Coddling of the American Mind, Lukianoff
      Into the Thin Air, Krakauer

Make a Contribution

    • Circe, Miller 
    • On the Come Up, Thomas
    • Sadie, Summers
    • Like a Love Story, Nazemian
    • Parkland, Cullen
    • The Round House, Erdrich
    • Tuesdays With Morrie,  Albom
    • Heart is a Lonely Hunter, McCullers

SciFi/Fantasy/Dystopian

    • The Wizard of Earthsea, LeGuin
    • Pet, Emezi
    • The Marrow Thieves, Dimaline
    • Station Eleven, St. John Mandel
    • The Memory Police, Ogawa
    • Children of Blood & Bone, Adeyemi
    • Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury

Families

    • The Color Purple, Walker
    • Purple Hibiscus, Adichie
    • Picture Us in the Light, Gilbert
    • The Serpent King, Zentner
    • The Book of Unknown Americans, Henriquez
    • Cannery Row, Steinbeck
    • Ellen Foster, Gibbons

Date Last Revised/Approved: 2020