Table Of ContentENGLISH
GUIDEBOOK
HIGH
SCHOOL
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................................5
• Louisiana Believes… ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................5
• How to Use the English Language Arts Guidebook ........................................................................................................................................6
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................8
• Texts...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9
• The Importance of Text .........................................................................................................................................................................................9
• Text Quality .................................................................................................................................................................................................................9
• Text Sets .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
• Standards and Assessments .....................................................................................................................................................................................11
• The Standards Shifts ............................................................................................................................................................................................11
• Assessment ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................13
• Instruction ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................15
• Whole Class Instruction ......................................................................................................................................................................................15
• Small-Group Reading Instruction .................................................................................................................................................................16
• Small-Group Writing Instruction ...................................................................................................................................................................17
• Independent Reading .........................................................................................................................................................................................18
TOOLS FOR TEACHING ................................................................................................................................................................19
YEAR-LONG PLANS ......................................................................................................................................................................20
• Create a plan for the year ..........................................................................................................................................................................................20
• Sample Year-Long Plan ...............................................................................................................................................................................................23
UNIT PLAN OVERVIEW ...............................................................................................................................................................25
• How to Use the Unit Plans ........................................................................................................................................................................................25
• How to Read the Unit Plans ......................................................................................................................................................................................27
9TH GRADE UNIT PLANS ............................................................................................................................................................31
• Grade 9 Unit Overview ................................................................................................................................................................................................33
10TH GRADE UNIT PLANS ......................................................................................................................................................147
• 10th Grade Units at a Glance ...............................................................................................................................................................................149
11TH GRADE UNIT PLANS ......................................................................................................................................................253
• 11th Grade Units at a Glance ...............................................................................................................................................................................255
12TH GRADE UNIT PLANS ......................................................................................................................................................367
• 12th Grade Units at a Glance ...............................................................................................................................................................................369
APPENDIX (HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS) .............................................................487
Web Version
The Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) does not discriminate on the basis of sex in any of the education programs or activities that it operates,
including employment and admission related to such programs and activities. The LDE is required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972 (Title IX) and its implementing regulations not to engage in such discrimination. LDE’s Title IX Coordinator is Chris Fruge, Office of the General
Counsel, LDE, Exec. Office of the Supt.; P.O. Box 94064, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9064; 877-453-2721 or [email protected]. All inquiries
pertaining to LDE’s policy prohibiting discrimination based on sex or to the requirements of Title IX and its implementing regulations can be directed
to Mr. Fruge or to the USDE, Asst. Sec. for Civil Rights.
INTRODUCTION
Louisiana Believes…
Louisiana students…are just as capable as students anywhere. They deserve high
expectations with support to reach them so that they are prepared to complete college and
attain a professional career.
Louisiana teachers…will understand those expectations and work with their peers to make
individual decisions to meet their students’ needs through planning and instruction.
Louisiana principals and schools…will create and lead meaningful structures of feedback
and collaboration to ensure teachers are able to learn and grow with support and guidance.
Louisiana districts…will choose strong assessment and curricular plans and build systems
that support school leaders with goal setting, feedback, and collaboration.
Louisiana’s Department of Education...will continue to shift away from prescribing local
decisions and instead provide resources, data, models, and direct teacher, principal, and
district support.
At the heart of these beliefs is good classroom teaching and learning. Effective instruction stems from the
constant cycle of setting an ambitious goal, planning and teaching, and evaluating results. Our Teacher
Support Toolbox in Louisiana is built to support these core actions of teachers. This instructional guidebook is
a printed companion to our Teacher Support Toolbox. The guidebooks and the Teacher Support Toolbox, when
used together, should support teachers and schools to make informed but independent decisions about how
to provide rigorous but unique instruction in each classroom around the state.
http://www.louisianabelieves.com/resources/classroom-support-toolbox/teacher-support-toolbox
5
How to Use the English Language Arts Guidebook
This guide is meant to support teachers in creating yearly, unit, and daily instructional plans for students. Each
group of students has a unique set of needs, and thus the department is not mandating that teachers use the
instructional models shared in this guide. Instead, the models are provided as a starting point for teams of
teachers to use in planning for the unique needs of their students.
This guide provides:
• An explanation of how to structure an English language arts classroom centered around authentic texts
• Plans aligned to the state standards for English language arts
• Yearly and unit instructional plans that can be adapted by teams of teachers
• Examples of daily whole-class instruction
This guide does not provide:
• A set of plans that should be taught exactly the same in every classroom
• Daily lesson plans that all English language arts teachers must use in their classroom
How to Read This Guide
There are two sections of this guide, which function differently.
• English Language Arts Overview (page 8): This section describes how teachers can structure an
English Language Arts (ELA) classroom to ensure students meet Louisiana’s standards.
• Tools for Teaching (page 19): This section provides grade-level plans for instruction. These plans are
meant to serve as a model for how teachers can structure their year and their units. Teachers should
collaborate to adjust these plans to meet the needs of their students.
In addition, this guide is a companion to a series of resources that can only be accessed virtually through
the Teacher Support Toolbox. Thus, throughout the guide you will see the following icons that highlight key
connections.
Online Teacher Toolbox Resources: Notes a recommendation to find more available resources in the
Teacher Support Toolbox.
Multimedia Components: Notes a recommendation to find a resource or video hosted on an outside
Internet site.
Statewide Assessment: Illustrates how a component of this guide connects to the statewide
assessment students will take.
Compass Connections: Illustrates the connections between instructional content and the Compass
rubric.
As always, we welcome questions and feedback on these materials. If you need any support, do not hesitate to
contact us at [email protected].
6
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
ARTS
OVERVIEW
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS OVERVIEW
Engaging students with grade-level text is central in an effective ELA classroom. Research has shown that the key
factor in determining student learning in ELA is students’ ability to read and understand grade-level texts.1
As such, Louisiana’s new ELA standards demand:
• All students regularly access at or above grade-level texts and
• All students express their understanding of those texts through writing and speaking.
To support teachers with this, the department is releasing an online ELA instructional framework2 and
these guidebooks.
The online ELA instructional framework illustrates a vision of text- and standards-based classroom instruction.
Students must have access to quality texts during whole-class and small-group settings. Meaningful texts,
use of standards, and ongoing assessment must integrate in each component of ELA instruction. The online
framework helps illustrate what this looks like for teachers.
The ELA guidebooks accompany the online framework and provide an overview of this vision of instruction.
These guidebooks include full unit plans for every grade level K through 12.
1 ACT released a study showing the importance of grade-level text:
http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/reading_summary.pdf
Tim Shanahan released “Letting the Text Take Center Stage” highlighting similar findings:
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/fall2013/Shanahan.pdf
“Text Complexity Is the New Black” from Text Complexity by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp (2012):
http://www.reading.org/Libraries/Books/bk478-samplechapter.pdf
2 http://www.louisianabelieves.com/resources/classroom-support-toolbox/teacher-support-toolbox/lesson-assessment-planning-resources
8
TEXTS
The Importance of Text
Quality texts are critical for English language arts instruction. “Quality” means a text’s language is at or above grade
level and the content of the text is appropriately complex and connected to themes, concepts, or topics students
are learning. All students, even the most struggling readers, must regularly have access to texts that are at or above
grade level. This does not mean students do not also engage with texts on their reading level (they may during
small groups) but whole-group instruction must remain rigorous and complex.3
Texts should be varied and include fiction or literary texts, nonfiction or informational texts, and nonprint texts (e.g., art,
film, songs, etc.). Students should have the opportunity to formulate their own ideas about these texts and communicate
them either in writing or orally to their peers. Grade-level standards provide the criteria for reading, formulating ideas,
and expressing those ideas about quality texts. As such, the text, use of standards with that text, and connection of
that text to other texts are among the most important choices an ELA teacher will make.
Text Quality4
Texts must be both linguistically complex and instructionally useful based on the grade-level standards. Teachers use
the following criteria to ensure texts are appropriate and meaningful for their students:
• Texts are complex.
» Use this guide to determine if your text meets the complexity expectations5 of Reading Standard
10 and Reading Standard 4 in grades K-1 for student-read texts.
» Review all of the texts already reviewed and listed by grade bands in Appendix B6 of the standards.
• Texts are instructionally useful.
» Texts build student knowledge about universal themes, diverse cultures, and other perspectives (e.g.,
RL.2.9, RI.5.6, or RL.9-10.6.)
» Texts are available7 and include commonly read authors or genres that are mentioned in grade-specific
standards (e.g., Shakespeare or mysteries, RL.4.9, RL.6.9, RI.11-12.9, Grade 3 overview, Grade 7 overview.)
» Texts represent major historical events and time periods, popular science, music, and art or connect to
other content areas (e.g., RI.1.9, RI.3.3, or RI.8.9). Texts interest students or provide opportunities for
building reading stamina and perseverance.
• Texts include age-appropriate content. Decisions about content appropriateness must be made locally.
While text titles are provided in the sample units, local districts, schools, and teachers should make the
final determination of which texts will be read in Louisiana classrooms.
• Texts are authentic. They are written by a published author and/or are high-quality and contain accurate
information as opposed to short passages expressly written for the purpose of teaching a discrete ELA skill.
3 http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/reading_summary.pdf
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/fall2013/Shanahan.pdf
4 http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/E0928_PassageSelectionSlidesFinal%28SueP%29.ppt
5 http://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/teacher-toolbox-resources/guide---how-to-determine-text-complexity-grades-k-12.
pdf?sfvrsn=5
6 http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf
7 http://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/teacher-toolbox-resources/guide---locating-texts-for-classroom-use.pdf?sfvrsn=5
9
Text Sets
Students explore
1
universal themes.
The unit plans included in this guidebook (page 25) illustrate quality text choice and
2 Anchor text is
are organized as a text set. The anchor text is the focus text for the unit—a quality text
complex, authentic,
that students read and understand and then express their understanding of as they work and instructionally
with the grade-level standards. The supporting texts help students make meaning of the useful for grade 9.
themes, concepts, or topics highlighted in the anchor text. 3 This text set
contains a balance
Here is a sample of a text set from grade 9. of literary and
informational
texts.
Strong Text Set, Grade 9
4 Related texts
coordinate with
Unit Focus: Students explore how patterns and contrasts in language (diction, imagery, other content
figurative language) reveal central ideas in texts and develop various motifs (light vs. dark, areas.
dreams vs. reality, high vs. low, etc.) in Romeo and Juliet. They come to understand how 5 This text set
those motifs emphasize internal and external conflicts that result from love, hate, loyalty, 1 contains different
formats and
and friendship. Students examine the extent to which characters’ reactions to conflict and mediums of text.
opposition dictate the outcomes of a situation and learn about the science and psychology
behind the way teenagers think about choice, conflict, and consequence.
2
ANCHOR TEXT
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare (Drama)
RELATED TEXTS
Literary Texts (Fiction)
• “A Poison Tree,” William Blake (Poem)
• “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe (Poem)
• “The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe” from Metamorphoses, Ovid
3
Informational Texts (Nonfiction)
• “The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction,” National Institute of Mental Health 4
• “Teenage Brains Are Malleable and Vulnerable, Researchers Say,” Jon Hamilton
• “On Revenge,” Sir Francis Bacon
• “Teenage Brains,” David Dobbs, National Geographic (October 2011)
Nonprint Texts (Fiction or Nonfiction) (e.g., Media, Video, Film, Music, Art, Graphics)
• Romeo + Juliet, Baz Luhrmann (Film)
5
• Where’s Romeo? (c. 1912), William Hatherell (Art; Act III, Scene iii)
• The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet,
1853-55, Frederic Lord Leighton (Art)
• “Understanding the Mysterious Teenage Brain,” Talk of the Nation, NPR (Text and Audio)
If you choose to build your own units or access another curriculum, we recommend that you review the
guidance8 in the Teacher Support Toolbox that illustrates the steps to find and assess the quality of the
texts you are using.
To learn more about how to find quality texts, review this guidance9 in the toolbox.
8 http://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/teacher-toolbox-resources/guide---how-to-create-a-text-set-for-whole-class-instruction-
grades-k-12.pdf?sfvrsn=9
9 http://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/teacher-toolbox-resources/guide---locating-texts-for-classroom-use.pdf?sfvrsn=7
10
Description:Internet site. Statewide Assessment: Illustrates how a component of this guide connects to the statewide Things Fall Apart,. Chinua Achebe.
