Journeys through Personal Writing

The tenth grade literature focus is world literature. For this reason, many of the passages chosen reflect this multicultural view of the world. To assist students with understanding world literature and its role in society, the journey theme is the focus for the year. The emphasis in this unit will be the individual's journey: personal triumphs, challenges, setbacks, and life lessons (truisms). Thus, the beginning of the sophomore year will highlight personal writing in order to help students gain confidence with their writing and prepare them for the TAKS as well as help them to look at their own personal journeys. Students will have multiple opportunities to generate ideas through prewriting activities. Then, they will choose one topic to take through the writing process. It is critical during the writing process for students to integrate reading, writing, and thinking and realize these are not isolated activities. So that students are reminded of the natural connections between writing and reading, students will read personal stories and poems from various published authors. Students not only will learn valuable tips from these models but also will learn, through guided instruction, how to annotate a text to ensure comprehension. Students will show their mastery of these concepts by writing their own personal narratives as well as by beginning their own Self-Portrait Anthologies. The summative activity in this unit will be the personal narrative. Although students will work continuously on the 10th Grade Self-Portrait Anthology, it will not be turned in until the seventh week. Each nine weeks throughout the year, the students will turn in the Self-Portrait Anthology as a major grade.

Critical Questions:

Student Performance Expectations