English 8th May

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English 8th Grade

May and June

In this unit, students will begin by studying the universal appeal of Shakespeare’s works along with the intriguing question of the authorship of Shakespeare. Students will read informational texts and analyze them for the author’s craft of forming and supporting an argument, as well as how the author structured the text. For the mid-unit assessment, students will read and analyze a complex informational text about the authorship controversy. Students will then begin reading the central text of the module, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As they dive into the text, they will begin to build background knowledge about Shakespeare’s craft and unique use of language. As they read Acts 1, 2, and some of 3 of the play, students will begin to address this module’s overarching thematic concept of “control” by exploring various characters’ motives for trying to manipulate others. In addition, students will support and enhance their reading of the play by analyzing several film clips of the play. For the end of unit assessment, students will analyze differences between a film version of the play and the play itself.

Continue with To Kill A Mockingbird

If time begin:

Why do Shakespeare’s works hold a universal appeal?

What motivates people to try to control one another’s actions?
Is it possible for people to control one another’s actions?

(1)	RI.8.2	Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
(1)	RI.8.5	Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept.
(1)	RI.8.6	Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
(1)	RL.8.1	Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
(1)	RL.8.6	Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
(1)	RL.8.7	Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.

Continue with To Kill a Mockingbird 31 chapters.

Next unit if there is time: is designed to address English Language Arts standards as students read literature and informational texts about the universal appeal of Shakespeare’s works and the question surrounding the authorship of Shakespeare. However, the unit also touches on Social Studies Practices and Themes to support potential interdisciplinary connections to this compelling content.

These intentional connections are:

Time, Continuity, and Change

Considering competing interpretations of events

Notice/Wonder note-catcher

Advantages/Disadvantage T-Chart

“The Shakespeare Shakedown”: Text-Dependent Questions

Highlighting in student copies of “The Shakespeare Shakedown”

To Kill a Mockingbird

https://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-8-ela-module-2a-unit-1

https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/39854#view=notes

A Midsummer Night's Dream . Folgewr Shakespeare Library (ISBN: 978-0743477116).

"Top Ten Reasons Shakespeare Did Not Write Shakespeare" from the ebook, "The Shakespeare Authorship Question" by Keir Cutlewr, Ph.D.

Simon Schama, "The Shakespeare Shakedown," in Newsweek (Vol. 158, Issue 17), Oct. 24, 2011, 24.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, film directed by Michael Hoffman, 1999.