Ryan+O'Connell

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 * Context: ** This text set is intended for a 11th-12th grade English class, and centers around a common theme of social isolation. materials will include a play, two novels with a chapter from a third, a poem, film, and other supplementary online resources. =====

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1) After working with pieces of this text set, students will be able to cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what texts say explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain as determined appropriate for their grade level by the CCSS. ( [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1] ) =====

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2) After working with pieces of this text set, students will be able to determine two or more themes or central ideas of texts and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text; compare and contrast the development of these themes between texts as deemed appropriate for their grade level by the CCSS. ( [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2] ) =====

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3) After working with pieces of this text set, students will be able to analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement) as deemed appropriate for their grade level by the CCSS. ( [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6] ) =====

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4) After working with pieces in this text set, students will gain knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century works of literature, and be able to analyze how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.( [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9] )=====

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Text Summary: This chapter of Thoreau’s Walden describes the beginning of the author’s self-imposed isolation. He wanders from farm to farm in New England considering which might be best to buy, but ultimately decides to build his own small cabin near Walden Pond in Concord Massachusetts. =====

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Rationale: I’ve chosen to include this chapter from Walden in the text set because it offers a view of isolation which is very different from the other texts. Thoreau works with isolation from a positive perspective. The text is difficult so the work we would do with it would be in groups and as a class with a lot of scaffolded reading (copies clarifying vocabulary, allusions, author background, etc.). =====

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Text Summary: Bukowski’s poem paints all of humanity as isolated and hopeless. The poem is 33 lines of approachable vocabulary, but this simple style does not detract from its emotional effect on the reader. =====

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Rationale: The poem is very approachable in that it contains hardly any difficult vocabulary and is quite short, but despite this it is not simple or devoid of teachable content. The contrast between Thoreau and Bukowski is excellent, and as this poem mainly centers around social relationships one could raise the question of whether Thoreau’s escape from society would hold today as a worthwhile adventure. I would be able to use this text with students at any level because of its simplicity of diction, and as students grasp the basic meanings I could slowly demonstrate where greater meaning can be extracted from Bukowski’s word choice. =====

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Purpose: This poem’s primary purpose in the text set is to showcase a strong opposition to Thoreau’s ideology. I would enjoy having students craft their own creative poetic pieces on the theme of isolation with either a positive or negative perspective, and I would likely have them present their work aloud to the class (or in some cases perhaps privately to me). If time is available, it would also be rewarding to have students next revise their pieces using thesauri to manipulate their work by using more complicated diction. Students could next reflect either in writing (possibly for a grade in relation to virtually all CCSS language expectations), or aloud in class discussion as to whether they prefer their original or edited work and why. =====

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Text Summary: Jonas lives in a dystopian society where everything (your job, your wife, etc.) is decided by a panel of elders. Interestingly no one has memory of time before the establishment of this “perfect” society except for the Receiver of Memory who carries the burden alone. Jonas is chosen at age 12 to be the next Receiver. =====

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Rationale: The Giver is very relevant to the unit because everything that makes Jonas’ character interesting is so interesting because it isolates him for the society that wants to control him. The novel is written at a significantly lower lexile level than the other long texts in the set and is an ideal match for students exploring the isolation theme with less knowledge of academic vocabulary. =====

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Text Summary: Victor Frankenstein tries to play God and accidentally creates a dangerous, hideous monster. Upon hearing the Monster’s side of the story, however, we realize that life isn’t so easy for Monster’s either. =====

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Rationale: The Isolation that Victor feels from the shame of his mistake and the horror it seems to have led to is only half of the story, as the Monster’s isolation is even more pitiful. He loves nature and his creator and is really very gentle, but his forced isolation turns him violent. This text is difficult even despite its multiple-frame structure, and would be best matched with students who read at or above grade level, and are willing to make thorough use of graphic organizers. =====

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Rationale: Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a classic example of social isolation as he is either driven into madness by his horrible lone burden, or takes on madness as a disguise to distract from his true purposes of revenge. Either way, Hamlet contemplates suicide repeatedly and is all alone against the world. This text would be best matched with students reading at or above grade level, but with good usage of the attached Drama Map online interactive, students should be able to record their thinking very easily in a very useful format. =====

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Purpose: To demonstrate to students that the approaches we have seen to the theme of isolation owe a great debt to the bard, and that his writing (and the theme as a whole) is still extremely relevant today and in all time periods. =====

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Rationale: A comical depiction of Bukowski that also demonstrates even further his pessimistic attitude, students will be able to consider how a self-imposed isolation from society can either be meant (like in Thoreau’s case) to allow the experience of something better, or (like in Bukowski’s case) to avoid all of the other people whose lives have no meaning. =====

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Rationale: Kenneth Brannagh’s Shakespeare adaptations are always very well done, and Hamlet is no exception. Seeing such an emotional performance of the play can capture the attention of a viewer of any reading level, but the plot of the play is still complicated so the film is also better if accompanied by thorough notes. =====

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Rationale: The Drama Map graphic organizer will be extremely useful for all students who read Hamlet as the play features many characters across many scenes which can all be accounted for separately ( or together more generally) using this tool. =====

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Rationale: Walden is a very difficult text, and this Lit Chart very conveniently breaks down the chapter I want the class to look at. Important passages are explored and categorized by common themes. =====

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 * Using These Texts: **Different students have different needs, and we want to accommodate those needs without creating a great deal of separation between students. This balance can be acheived by providing each group of students with texts that are difficult for the students’ reading levels, and having a great deal of supplementary materials available to assist them in organization of their thoughts and in the creation of new ones. There are short texts through which the entire class can become familiar with the theme of Isolation in literature, and there are enough long texts where smaller groups can explore the theme from a variety of differing perspectives. At the end of the unit all students will have information to share, and we should be able to craft an intricate graphic organizer (as a class) of various ways that isolation can be utilized thematically. =====