Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:

In this unit, students will explore how the author’s organization of the piece, and use of narrative elements, words, sentences, and paragraphs contribute to the meaning of the whole text. Students will analyze how structure can convey an author’s purpose. Students will explore figurative language to understand a text on a deeper level and how the author’s choice of words can impact the meaning and tone of the work. Students will experiment with using punctuation to affect meaning. 

Teachers might choose to use a core text with corresponding text sets to focus the content of the unit.  Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and Animal Farm by George Orwell are mentor texts that could meet the criteria of the standards for this unit.   

Unit Duration:

19 days (15 instructional days and 4 re-teach/enrichment days); Five periods per week based on a traditional bell schedule