ASPIRE students will grapple with complex texts in multiple genres in order to evaluate the author’s craft and purpose or to determine theme. Students will learn to develop analytical voice and to craft arguments based their understanding of texts from multiple genres. Some essential questions the ASPIRE PAP English II course will address are:

• How is literature a mirror for human experience?

• How do writers utilize rhetoric and language to purposefully develop arguments and influence readers?

This course is designed to help students cultivate critical reading and writing skills and to nurture the creative drive within these highly gifted students and help them think critically about how an author constructs his or her message.  

Unit 1: Humanity and Happiness

(8-9 weeks)

In this unit, students will examine how human beings perceive happiness and what role that abstract, conceptual idea plays in developing a meaningful life. Students will examine various works of literature to determine how the search for happiness influences character development and theme. 

Students will…

• Begin an intensive study of grammar in order to learn to effectively manipulate sentence structure to create meaning and tone. This study of grammar will also assist students in preparing for the ACT and SAT. 

• Begin developing analytical voice using selected poems, short stories, and excerpts.  

• Examine how the individual and collective societal understanding of “happiness” influence our perception of the world.

• Examine how human nature and societal values are reflected in individual works of literature from various genres.

• Articulate how diction, syntax, imagery, point of view, and other literary devices create meaning and tone and how authors of fiction and poetry utilize these literary devices in varied ways to communicate theme. 

• Identify symbolic archetypes and explain author’s purpose in utilizing archetypal patterns.  

• Develop analytical voice and mastery of sentence structure to articulate students’ understanding of complex texts. 

• Critically read, inquire, and discuss various poems, short stories, and excerpts.

• Incorporate advanced vocabulary in writing.

• Participate in the New York Times Student Opinion (weekly)

*Connections to AP World History: 

Since it is difficult to find works from 1200-1450  or works that address the abstract conceptual ideas during this period, this unit will focus primarily on intensive skill building in grammar/writing and close reading of poetry and short stories/excerpts. This literary bootcamp will include instruction and practice in determining how characterization, setting, structure, and figurative language reveal theme. These are the skills that students will be using throughout the year. We will also focus on establishing relationships and trust in an effort to create community in our ASPIRE classroom. 

Texts

• Crafting Expository Argument by Dr. Michael Degen*

• Various poems*

• Various short stories*

• Four Pillars of a Meaningful Life*

• Helen Vendler’s “Speech Acts” 

• “There’s More to Life than Being Happy” 

Types of Writing:

• Poetry analysis essay (AP literature)

• Prose analysis essay (AP literature)

• New York Times Student Opinion (weekly)

*Note: Specific resource for ASPIRE

Unit 2: Politics and Principles

(6 weeks)

Students will...

• Continue to study grammatical structures and integrate those structures in their writing in meaningful ways. 

• Read King Lear by William Shakespeare and analyze the principal characters’ motives and how those motives reflect various aspects of human nature.

• Examine the play through multiple critical lenses

• Examine how political beliefs and ideologies influence behavior. 

• Examine how people are manipulated by various rhetorical strategies. 

• Study argument and rhetoric to determine how effective arguments are constructed. 

• Create a rhetorical analysis of the speech given by Edmund in King Lear 1.2.1-22 to determine how the argument is constructed and the effectiveness of the argument. 

• Analyze principal characters from King Lear in order to determine what those characters convey about human nature.

Connections to AP World History: 1450-1750 Global Interactions

Examine the political subtext contained in King Lear and how it pertains to some aspects of the political atmosphere in Elizabethan England. 

Texts

• Excerpts from Machiavelli’s The Prince*

• “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift*

Types of Writing:

• Rhetorical analysis essay (AP language)

• Open question analysis essay (AP literature)

• New York Times Student Opinion (weekly)

*Note: Specific resource for ASPIRE

Unit 3: The Primal Aspect of Human Nature

 (8-9 weeks)

In this unit, students will read Things Fall Apart in order to practice the skill of examining a novel through multiple critical lenses and crafting a literary analysis of the text. Students will also work on analyzing excerpts from two related ancillary texts that explore colonialism in Africa during this period. 

Students will...

• Continue to study grammatical structures and integrate those structures in their writing in meaningful ways.

• Read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and examine the novel through multiple critical lenses. Student will work in groups and present their interpretation of the text using the group’s assigned critical lens.

• Examine how writers utilize setting, characterization, conflict, point of view, and tone to communicate some aspect of human nature or society.

• Read and analyze excerpts from ancillary texts: Heart of Darkness and King Leopold’s Ghost to determine theme/author’s purpose. 

• Examine how the philosophical concepts of akrasia and sophrosyne relate to works they have read. 

• Examine through both fiction and nonfiction how people behave in the absence of authority. 

Connections to AP World History: 1750-1900 Industrialization and Global Integration

• Students will make connections between the way that colonialism is depicted in Things Fall Apart and in excerpts from Heart of Darkness and King Leopold’s Ghost to what students are studying in AP World History. 

Texts

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

• Excerpts from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad*

• Excerpts from King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild*

Types of Writing:

• Open Question Analysis Essay (AP literature)

• Prose analysis essay (AP literature)

• New York Times Student Opinion (weekly)

*Note: Specific resource for ASPIRE

Unit 4: Everything's an Argument

(5 weeks)

During this unit, students will read a variety of nonfiction texts and will work to develop their skills in crafting arguments based upon thought provoking prompts. Students will also cultivate their ability to create an argument based on multiple sources. 

Students will...

• Continue to study grammatical structures and integrate those structures in their writing in meaningful ways. 

• Select one of the following texts for independent reading and participate in Socratic seminars in which they demonstrate their understanding of the text an any insights that they gained from reading the book. Possible selections include:

  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

  • The Year of Less by Cait Flanders

  • Educated by Tara Westover

  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

  • Columbine by David Cullen

  • Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

  • Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

  • Generation Me: Why Today‘s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—And More Miserable Than Ever Before by Jean Twenge

  • American Icon by Alan Mulally

  • Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

• Construct arguments in response to complex prompts based upon their prior knowledge.

• Synthesize sources to construct an argument.

• Identify connections between what they are studying and the world around them. 

Connections to AP World History: Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (1900-Present)

• Many of the factors that influenced global change such as scientific advancements, global power shifts, and shifting cultural ideologies are addressed in the works that we are reading in this unit.

Texts

• Various retired AP language argument and synthesis prompts

• Outside reading books  listed above*

Types of Writing:

• Argument Essay (AP language)

• Synthesis essay (AP language)

• New York Times Student Opinion (weekly)*

*Note: Activity is specific to ASPIRE. 

Make it Memorable

 (Concurrent with Unit 4)

This is an opportunity for students to learn for the love of knowledge. They will be asked to consider a topic about which they are passionate or to research an idea they have always wanted to know more about, formulate an idea, and solve a problem. 

Students will...

• Research a topic of their choice that solves a problem. 

• Write a 3-5 page research paper in MLA format.  

• Create a TED-style talk about their topic to present during class to their peers.

• Create a product that demonstrates a solution to a local, national, and/or global problem. 

• Present their final product to the community.