Understanding by Design: Stage One

Name of the Unit/Module: “Borne

​“Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past” 
Past”
Anchor Texts:​
Texts:​ Works of the Lost Generation (Hemingway Short
Stories, T
​ he Great Gatsby​ by F. Scott Fitzgerald); Works of the
Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Johnson, Dunbar, & Hurston ) 
Established Goals: 
● KID.RL.11-12.2: Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text, ​and analyze their 
development over the course of the texts including how they interact and build on one another to 
produce a complex account​​; provide an objective summary of the text. 
● KID.RL.11-12.3: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate 
elements of a story or drama (e.g. setting, how the action is ordered, how characters are introduced 
and developed) 
● CS.RI.11-12.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including 
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of 
a key term or terms over the course of a text. 
● W.11-12.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, 
and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of 
content. 
● SL.11-12.1c: Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and 
evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge 
ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives. 
 
To meet the standards, students will need to ​understand​​ that… 
● Authors make choices and use certain strategies to develop their 
themes. 
● Literary themes are rarely didactic, but are always universal message about 
the human condition as evidence by the work as a whole. 
● There are multiple lenses through which we encounter a text, and via which we 
can craft interpretations. 
● We develop a stronger understanding of a topic or text through careful and 
critical inquiry, through challenging accepted ideas, and through promoting 
creative perspectives. 
● Writing about literature is a process, not an event.  
● Conversation is about understanding multiple points of view, NOT about 
having “the best” point of view. 
 
To understand, students will need to consider such ​questions​​ as... 
 ● How does the literature of the Roaring ‘20s reveal the values 
and fears of Americans at that time? 
○ How do author’s voice and ideas develop through a text? 
○ What is “zeitgeist? 
○ What was going on in the world before and during the 1920s? 
 
 
To understand, students will need to 
know…  be able to… 
● Essential Vocabulary:   ● Describe strategies authors use to develop 
○ ZEITGEIST  their ideas over the course of a text (i.e., 
○ Probing question, qualify, refute,  conflict, characterization, point of view, etc.) 
defend, follow-up question, bias,  ● Produce an interpretation of the development 
inductive/deductive logic  and complexity of an author’s central ideas 
○ Literary devices: conflict, setting,  and/or themes. 
characterization, tone, mood, motif,  ● Identify the author’s choices in the text. 
imagery, diction, style, symbolism,  ● Analyze the impact of the author’s choices on 
theme  the development of the work. 
○ Central idea vs. Theme vs. Main Idea  ● Develop an interpretation of a text using one 
○ Objective vs. Subjective  of three critical lenses. 
○ Summary vs. Paraphrase  ● Analyze the impact of the author’s choices on 
○ Interpretation  the reader. 
○ Working thesis  ● Develop a working thesis about the meaning 
○ Critical lenses:  of a literary text. 
■ Historical  ● Self-assess the need for further research on a 
■ Biographical  text via critical lenses. 
■ Social Justice  ● Track the development of a complex text, in 
● Historical context of WW1  writing. 
● Biographical information on Hemingway and  ● Revise the working thesis after further reading 
Fitzgerald, Hurston, Hughes, Dunbar, and  or research. 
Johnson (as we begin to read their texts)  ● Ask probing questions. 
● Anticipate multiple points of view on a topic. 
● Ask follow-up questions. 
● Examine the logic of a conclusion. 
● Determine the extent to which a topic has 
been explored. 
● Join sentences using conjunctions.