ENGLISH 5, 6 CULTURALLY RELEVANT AFRICAN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT: GRADE 11

CURRICULUM NOT ADOPTED

Course Scope & Sequence: In this course, students will explore a wide range of African American literature, beginning with oral traditions and ending with contemporary works. Students will read from a variety of genres and formats, responding thoughtfully through discussion as well as in writing. Literature exploration in this course will entail a careful study of each text, its literary merit and form and its place in the canon. Along with considering the content of each work, students will examine the cultural, historical, and political contexts of the literature, as well as how issues of race, class and gender affect the production and meaning of these works. Students will articulate their thoughts and analysis through the writing of expository, analytical and creative essays. Additionally, students will become conversant with the language of literary analysis and rhetoric, including figurative language, diction, style, syntax, tone, etc. Further, students will keep a dialectic journal and engage in Socratic Seminars and Literature Circle Discussion groups. [Note: The two African American literature courses described in this TUSD document encompass ideas originally developed by various other institutions, including but not limited to the University of Arizona, University of Maryland, Boston University, the University of Notre Dame, and the states of Maryland and New Jersey.] 1600-1863: ORAL TRADITIONS Enduring Understanding: The strength of African American literature comes from its incorporation of traditional oral forms: folktales, riddles, idiom, jazz rhythms, spirituals, and blues. Sample Lesson Objectives: Beginning with the overarching theme of "Roots and Traditions," students will 1. Trace the origins of African American literature and the ways in which African American writers have drawn from oral traditions to develop unique literary forms. 2. Assess the importance of oral traditions and storytelling in the documentation of African American history and culture. 3. Analyze "Negro" spirituals and folktales to determine what they reveal about African American culture and community. 4. Describe the ways in which oral traditions evolved into written forms before the Civil War as well as how oral traditions continue to influence African American, writing, art and culture today. 5. Analyze the ways in which the works of various African American writers have redefined Western literary tradition (i.e., Charles Waddell Chesnutts and Zora Neale Hurstons depiction of black folk culture, Langston Hughess poetic use of blues, Amiri Barakas recreation of the short story as a jazz piece). 6. Make text-to-text and text-to-world connections by comparing early African American literature with the works of today's hip-hop and spoken word artists who also demonstrate the move from surface use of dialect to the articulation of a contemporary black voice. Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 1112 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domainspecific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. 1|Page

ENGLISH 5, 6 CULTURALLY RELEVANT AFRICAN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT: GRADE 11

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1600-1853: SLAVE NARRATIVES Enduring Understanding: The hardships and struggles that African Americans have faced throughout history have had a significant impact on the development of black identity and by extension, African American literature. The slave narrative is the first, first hand account of black feelings and identity under slavery. Sample Lesson Objectives: Starting with the overarching theme of "Voice, students will 1. Discuss how black people have confronted racial stereotypes that helped legitimize the existence of slavery from the time they were first brought to America in chains; and how the identity of African Americans has been influenced both by the way others perceive African Americans and by how they perceive themselves. 2. Explore the idea of self-definition. Students will discuss their knowledge of and opinions toward slavery and laws against teaching black slaves to read and write. 3. Discuss specific theories of race that contributed to the enslavement of African Americans; and will connect these theories with common themes in the slave narrative. 4. Read and connect excerpts from various African American authors (i.e., Narrative Life of Frederick Douglas, by Douglas; Incidence in the Life of a Slave Girl by Jacobs, Confessions of Nat Turner by T.R. Gray, We Wear the Mask by Dunbar and Minstrel Man by Hughes) to excerpts from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (satire) by Twain. 5. Interpret the role of race in the autobiographical works of African American authors (focusing on the slave narrative). 6. Identify important themes, characters and writing styles in each of the assigned texts, and then analyze the ways in which race limited the writing style, diction, and themes in the early works of African American literature. 7. Evaluate the ways in which African American authors were mindful of their audience when deciding which slavery experiences to write about as well as the benefits that came from choosing to write about slavery from an autobiographical standpoint. 8. Orally express their opinion about certain themes within slavery and their relationship to African American literature. 9. Write selectively about an experience from students own lives and relate it to its broader social significance, explaining how this social significance has cross-cultural intersections. Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6 Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and wellstructured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

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ENGLISH 5, 6 CULTURALLY RELEVANT AFRICAN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT: GRADE 11

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1864-1916: Literature of Reconstruction and the Great Migration Enduring Understanding: The hardships and struggles of slavery did not disappear after abolition in 1865. Harsh stereotypes of African Americans were created to justify domination and the assertion of power through new laws after abolition. These stereotypes persisted over decades and altered the perceptions of African Americans in the broader society as well as their self-perceptions. Responses to this climate of fear and hatred are reflected in literature written by both African American and Caucasian authors of the time period. Bridge to history in final Sample Lesson Objectives: Under the overarching theme of Realities and Myths, students will 1. Survey the textual representation of racial progress and uplift in post-Civil War black fiction and political writing, and how the traditions in black writing during the era of Reconstruction anticipated concerns raised in W.E. B. DuBois seminal work, Souls of Black Folk (1903). 2. Examine how the specter of slavery haunted a new and radical vision for racial uplift in the uncertain decades leading up to the early twentieth century. 3. Determine how late nineteenth-century African-American women writers handled issues related to this time (focus on Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper). 4. Explore how ideologies of racial progress and uplift exposed certain class-and-caste-related difficulties in the production of a post-emancipation black identity. 5. Describe how works written by African Americans (especially works from Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Dubois) started to alter the accepted view of black people and the treatment they received in America. 6. Clarify and expound upon works, as an inquiry project, through critical written interpretations of the readings, and write an essay or speech either proposing a feasible solution to a modern day race or class struggle similar to the situations depicted in The Marrow of Tradition by Chesnutt or The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois. 7. Use, in Literature Circle groups, response strategies to analyze and discuss one or more of the following authors: David Walker, Maria Stewart, Martin Delany [Selections]. Charles Chesnutt [Selections], Paul Laurence Dunbar [Selections] Anna J. Cooper, Pauline Hopkins [Selections]. Frederick Douglass [Fifth of July Oration]; Ida Wells Barnett. Booker T. Washington or W.E.B. Dubois [Selections]. Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.8 Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenthcentury foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincolns Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speakers point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.

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1937-1933: The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance Enduring Understanding: African American intellectual and creative expression was visible through works from the Harlem Renaissancein a compilation of literature and entertainment, including music, dramatic performances, and art. African Americans used the arts to prove their humanity, demand equality, and demonstrate the struggles that helped to shape their identities. The Harlem Renaissance fostered an expression of racial pride and tension, thus allowing writers, artists, and intellectuals to assert the humanity of the race while altering other racial groups perceptions of them. Common Core State Standards Sample Lesson Objectives: Starting with the overarching theme CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and of Representation, students will 1. Read works that illustrate how, in the midst of legalized analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build segregation and heightened anti-black violence, one way on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. African Americans responded to oppression was by CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem asserting the right to represent themselves in a wide (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each range of artistic media. version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by 2. Identify the major events before and during the years of an American dramatist.) the Harlem Renaissance (c. 1919-1940) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and 3. Identify major figures of the Harlem Renaissance early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or 4. Analyze the literature of the Harlem Renaissance using more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics. the tools of literary analysis CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, 5. Explain how art is affected by society, and how art, in including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11CCR text complexity band turn, influences society. proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. 6. Identify the struggles that are revealed in the plays, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to novels, short stories, poetry, essays, music, and art by answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or canonical and non-canonical Harlem Renaissance broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, figures including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Nella Larsen, Richard CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print Nugent, Alain Locke, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations Johnson, Gwendolyn Bennett and Anne Spencer. of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text 7. Consider and analyze the works of several recently selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one recovered female writers, and uncover literature with source and following a standard format for citation. gay and lesbian themes, an important but often ignored CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to aspect of the Harlem Renaissance. support analysis, reflection, and research 8. Examine the cultural and historical conditions that CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5 Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an produced this cultural revolution, the effects of which author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes were felt around the world and have since left a rich points clear, convincing, and engaging. cultural legacy that continues to shape American CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6 Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in literature today. which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the 9. Write journal entries including free writing activities, power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. reflections to music and art, and connections between CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7 the Harlem Renaissance and other literary movements. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or 10. Write their own poetry, participate in response groups, formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or and share their poetry as part of a class Poetry Slam. solve a problem. 4|Page

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1936-1950: The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement/Pursuit of the American Dream Enduring Understanding: Literature highlights the flaws and strengths of a given society and relationships between its cultural and racial groups. The inherited circumstance of slavery limited the pursuit of the American dream for African Americans. Hansberrys play, A Raisin in the Sun transcends time, highlights the pursuit of the American dream and connects to African American literature. Performing a play versus reading a play allows for actor and director interpretations. Sample Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Discuss the concept of the American dream, identifying specific kinds of inherited circumstances that limited African Americans ability to attain the American dream, and connecting these ideas with the current level of attainability of the American dream for African Americans 2. Evaluate how historical context affects the way in which African Americans understand, define, and consequently write about the American dream. 3. Identify literary terms relating to theatrical plays (i.e., puns, allusion, blank verse, aside, soliloquy, monologue, act and scene). 4. View the 2008 film version of A Raisin in the Sun and re-read selected scenes from the play before critiquing the works merit and discussing overarching themes. 5. Work in small groups to perform key scenes from A Raisin in the Sun, covering the plays major themes (assimilation, resistance, power, isolation, etc.). 6. Participate in large class discussions about the play and the struggles of an African American family in their pursuit of the American Dream. 7. Create a well-developed thesis statement analyzing the connections between the plays ironic theme and characters lives, and support the thesis with specific details from a specific passage. 8. Discuss the terms prejudice, discrimination and racism in connection with other texts leading up to this time period (i.e., Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Hoose, and A Dream Deffered and Mother to Son by Hughes. 9. Write an analysis of I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman as it contrasts with I too Sing America by Langston Hughes. 10. Write a song lyric, a poem, or a reflection that expresses their belief about the attainability of the American dream today. Common Core State Standards CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenthand early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research

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1950-1960s: Civil Rights and Social Change Enduring Understanding: African American culture has its distinct characteristics; segregation prohibited similarities between it and other cultures from being evident. Many significant historical figures arose in response to the hardships and struggles that African Americans faced throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Differing opinions about segregation still exist in contemporary mediums. Common Core State Standards: Sample Lesson Objectives: Under the overarching theme of CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are Change, students will 1. Discuss the role of literature as a form of social change, used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of communal healing, historical memory and revolution; specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or and indicate verbally when they recognize these themes language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as in assigned texts and films. other authors.) 2. Read exemplar texts conceptualizing the Civil Rights CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an authors choices concerning how to Movement. structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice 3. Research and use scholarly and nonfiction texts to to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as compose a speech relating to civil rights. well as its aesthetic impact. 4. Develop peer-editing skills using student speeches and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and essays. analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build 5. Compose in class reflections based on their viewing of on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. the film Eyes on the Prize. (volume) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are 6. Participate in class discussion comparing similar events used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an in the texts and film. author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., 7. Practice their persuasive writing skills. how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10). 8. Analyze and compare characters across multiple texts. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.8 Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, 9. Read A Wreath for Emmett Till, parts of To Kill a including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Mockingbird and news clips of the Trayvon Martin Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in shooting and/or current day issues related to works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses). race/discrimination and violence, and make text-to-text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century and text-to-world connections. foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The 10. Keep an on-going journal to reflect on the connections Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and and tensions they experience in response to each text Lincolns Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features. that they read. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey 11. Participate in class discussions to share reactions to complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective various texts. selection, organization, and analysis of content. 12. Engage in productive community service to promote CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, increased awareness of issues relevant to civil rights. and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including 13. Share the skills and knowledge learned in the classroom new arguments or information. with others (i.e., combine computer research, life CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speakers point of view, reasoning, and use of experience and response journals to compose their own evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points I Have A Dream (See someone else) speech based on of emphasis, and tone used. the idea of separation and what it leads to, and use it to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard speak out about an issue pertinent to their lives. English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 6|Page

ENGLISH 5, 6 CULTURALLY RELEVANT AFRICAN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT: GRADE 11

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1970s-1980s: Black Power, Literary Criticism Enduring Understanding: Historical context influences power dynamics. During the 1970s, African American literature began to enter the mainstream of publishing and be read by black and white audiences. Black writers and their works began to find a place in college, university and grade school classrooms, in black bookstores and with mainstream booksellers. African American literature began to be defined and analyzed. Black women began to achieve success as novelists, poets, writers and artists. Sample Lesson Objectives: Beginning with the overarching theme of Power, students will 1. Analyze the methods (persuasion/shock) that African American writers used to gain power through their writing 2. Examine the type of power these writers hoped to gain through their writing 3. Trace the way these methods changed over time. 4. Discuss and identify literary techniques (i.e. symbolism, motif, tone, metaphor) used by these authors, and how these techniques helped them achieve power. 5. Research and discuss the historical contexts of such works and how African American writers influenced their time period and vice versa. 6. Evaluate the ways in which writers portray power imbalances in literaturethey types of power they depict and how these authors advocate change. 7. Compose a writing that relates an event (either imagined, personal or some combination of the two) in first person narrative, prefaced with an explanatory note detailing the writers goals, intended audience, and the specific techniques used to achieve those ends. 8. Use a technique demonstrated by one of the authors studied in this course to construct a well-reasoned argument set in this time period to balance power structure. 9. Complete several short writing assignments including writing a haiku to accompany the reading of Haiku by Sonya Sanchez. 10. Discuss Toni Morrisons Rootedness, in which she details what she feels black literature should do, and then describe what they believe literature in general, black literature, their own personal writing, or any form of literature should do, will do, or is doing (i.e., how poetry makes them feel or if Black literature should be revolutionary or can it simply be beautiful as Toni Morrison states. Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenthand early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5 Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 1112 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speakers point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

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1990s-Present: Contemporary issues in African American Culture Enduring Understanding: Literature helps us to understand the human condition and to apply these situations and issues to our own lives in order to deepen our understanding of the complexities of ethical decisions and changing societal mores. African American writers have entered the mainstream of American readership and published in many genres: romance, mystery, science fiction and literary fiction. While issues of identity and race are still prominent, the range of human issues are also topics of contemporary African American literature. Sample Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Read and discuss forms of literature considered less frequently associated with black culture, such as science fiction and fantasy. 2. Recognize standard course themes in prevalent African American writing. 3. Create their own creative form of expression about their own lives. 4. Distinguish notable elements of African American culture and its placement in contemporary literature. 5. Incorporate modern events into their interpretations of the material. 6. Discuss their feelings and opinions on various topics and sources in journal format. 7. Discuss their initial knowledge and potential stereotypes towards present day African American culture. 8. Read and discuss Laura Millers If Tolkien were black, in which she addresses how African-American writers can take on a literary genre dominated by nostalgia for Medieval England. 9. Read excerpts from Octavia Butler or Samuel Delaneys work and participate in class discussion about their thoughts and reflections, including how these works contribute to the larger body of African American Literature. 10. Identify important themes, characters, and writing styles in each of the assigned texts. 11. Engage in pre-writing, peer editing, and an extensive revision process when writing the creative piece. 12. Argue their opinion about recurring themes from past units and their relation to how those themes are depicted today. Common Core CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domainspecific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

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