OVERVIEW OF UNIT I:
Early
American Writing 1491-1800
(Native American Literature, Literature of
Explorations and Early Settlement, Literature of the Puritan Experience,
Literature of the American Revolution).
Unit
Learning goal: Students will demonstrate knowledge of nineteenth century
foundation works of American Literature by choosing one of the four subsections
of this Unit (Native American Experience, Early Explorers and Settlers, The
Puritan Experience, and Writers of the Revolution) researching and reading an
additional story, essay or speech of their choice and creating a video
discussing the theme and how the work fits its particular period.
Scale/Rubric
relating to learning goal:
4 – The student can create a video that explores two or
more of the subsections of this unit and relate it to a theme and time period.
3 – The student can create a video that explores one of
the subsections of this unit and relate it to a theme and time period.
2 – With some direction/help from the teacher the student
can create a video that explores one of the subsections of this unit and relate
it to a theme and time period.
1 – Even with help from the teacher the student is unable
to can create a video that explores one of the subsections of this unit and
relate it to a theme and time period.
Objectives
(smaller chunks of overall goal) and suggested time periods
At the end
of this Unit the Students will be able to
1) Determine the themes of Native American Myths
and cite textual support to back up their ideas
2) Compare and Contrast a Native American Myth
with the story of “Adam and Eve”
3) Discuss how the author makes a character
appealing despite their character flaws (“Coyote and the Buffalo”).
4) Determine an author’s point of view and purpose
by citing specific textual support (“The General History of Virginia”, “Sinners
in the Hands of An Angry God”, “Speech in the Virginia Convention”)
5) Write a short essay about the power of
experience
6) Outline the similarities in the
experiences/viewpoints of the early explores and settlers. Connect these experiences to Unit themes.
7) Discuss how you persuade someone to do
something (Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God”).
8) Be able to define Ethos, Pathos, Logos
9) Discuss the claims of arguments in an author’s
work.
10)
Discuss the
author’s tone and it’s effect on a piece (“Sinners in the Hands of An Angry
God”, “Speech in the House of the Virginia Convention”)
11)
List fives
things that make a good persuasive argument
12)
Outline
issues that make up the Puritan Experience
13)
Outline the
Declaration of Independence. Make a list
of favorite grievances.
14)
Outline the
type of appeals and claims found in “The Crisis”.
15)
Pick out
examples of parallelism in works and use parallelism in writing.
16)
Use adverb,
adjective, and noun clauses
17)
Write a
personal narrative.
Major Themes addressed:
Who owns the Land? What makes a
good explorer? Are people basically
Good? Who has the write to rule?
The Native American Experience
“The World on the Turtle’s Back”
(Iroquois Creation Myth)
Adam and Eve – (from the Bible)
“Coyote and the Buffalo” (Trickster Tale)
Exploration and the Early Settlers
From “The Devastation of the West
Indies”
From “The General History of
Virginia”
From “Of Plymouth Plantation”
The Puritan
Experience
“Sinners in the Hands of An Angry
God”
The Crucible by
Arthur Miller
Writers of the Revolution
“Speech in the Virginia Convention”
“The Declaration of Independence”
“The Crisis”
from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Big Idea Questions/Stems:
How do you
determine an unreliable narrator?
What makes
up the American Character? How did the
Puritans influence the American Character?
How does
Experience shape us?
What
writers influence the American Revolution?
What was
the Revolution really about?
Why was
Benjamin Franklin the most famous American of his time?
What can we
learn about the American Experience from the early explorers?
