Curriculum Overview

Curriculum Title of Project: Connecting with Text Through Reading and Writing

Key Words: Personal Connections, Self-Discovery, Text-life connections,

autoethnography, diverse literature, reader response

Curricular Context Summary: This curriculum was developed to help 9th grade
students who are below grade level in reading make personal connections with
literature and writing. Students will read and understand various pieces of
literature by making personal connections and using reader response journals. By
reading literature written in and about diverse social contexts, students will
appreciate others’ as well as their own struggles and experiences in life. Students
will write their own autoethnographies based on these understandings.

Common Cores State Standards/State Standards Addressed:

 RI9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 RI9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of the text.
 RI9-10.3: Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events,
including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and
developed, and the connections that are drawn between them
 RI9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone
 RI9-10.5: Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and
refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text
 RI9-10.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how
an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose
 RI9-10.9: Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance
 RI9-10.10: By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the
grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high
end of the range.
 W9-10.1d: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Establish and
maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and
conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
 W9-10.10: 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.
 SL9-10.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and
 persuasively.
 L9-10.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking.
 L9-10.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
 L9-10.3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking,
reading, or listening.
 L9-10.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and
domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a
word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Big Idea/Concept: Making Text to Life Connections

Enduring Understanding(s):
 Everyone has life experiences that shape them
 Despite how hard something may seem, you can get through it
 Writing about personal experiences can be therapeutic
 By making personal connections with texts, you can understand the plot,
characters, and infer authors’ meanings
 Figurative language aids authors in describing
 Citing evidence from text helps to support your argument

What Essential Question will be considered?

 What does it mean to be human?
 How can we connect reading and writing to our personal experiences?

Appropriate Technologies and Tools: access to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou and House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros, computer
access

What key knowledge, skills, and dispositions will students acquire as a result of this
curriculum?
KNOWLEDGE = Content
 Figurative language
 Academic vocabulary
 Plessy vs Ferguson (1896-1954)
 Brown vs Board of Education 1954)
 Scottsboro Case (1931)
 Montgomery Alabama Bus Boycott
(1955)
 Little Rock Nine (1957)
 Freedom Riders (1961)
 Sixteenth St. Baptist Church (1963)
 Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1964)
  Jim Crow Laws (1889-1954)
 Formal style of writing
 Writing process
 Standard English grammar and conventions
SKILLS = Power verbs
 Citing strong and thorough evidence from text
 Analyzing text elements
 Summarizing text
 Using context to determine the meaning of new vocabulary
 Collaborative discussions to improve writing

DISPOSITIONS = attitude
Students will appreciate the personal experience of others and understand that
life is a shared event and many personal struggles are universal. Students will
respect the personal experiences of others and create a greater sense of
community within the classroom as a result of shared experience. They will also
appreciate reading and writing as a method to share these experiences with
others.

Assessment: What evidence is used to show that students understand?

Formative: lesson assignments, writing conference discussions, teacher
conversations

Summative: final writing assignment and presentation

Objectives from 6 Facets + Misconceptions:

EXPLAIN: Students will explain different strategies that they can use to make
sense of writing. They will explain what different vocabulary words mean. As a
result of their writing, they will be able to explain who they are and their personal
experiences that molded them.

APPLY: Students will be able to apply different personal connection strategies to

their reading comprehension repertoire. They will be able to take what they have
learned from reading different author’s experiences and apply it to their own
writing.

INTERPRET: Students will be interpreting the work of a variety of authors within

the context of society.

EMPATHIZE: As a result of creating personal connections with readings, students

will have a greater empathy for others’ thoughts and authors’ experiences
through the readings. Students will also gain a greater sense of empathy towards
themselves as they reflect and write about their personal experiences and the
experiences of those they interview.
GAIN PERSPECTIVE: Utilizing diverse texts, students will have a larger perspective
of society and personal challenges. Students will also have a larger perspective of
their peers through an interview about personal experiences.

GAIN SELF KNOWLEDGE: Students will use a variety of reading strategies that
connect the readings to their personal lives. They will be challenged to write
about personal experiences and reflect on their lives within the context of their
community.

OVERCOME THE NAÏVE VIEW OF: (Misconceptions) Students will no longer be

passive readers, or see themselves as “bad” readers. Rather they will be able to
find ways to connect with the text. Students will also be able to see writing as an
important reflective practice that can be not only personally beneficial, but also
important to humanity. Through the personal writing, students who may not
know that they have commonalities with others can find shared experiences that
unite them.