The Fictional Mind: Exploring diverse fictional perspectives in literature

Description

English classes are more than just reading to write about what you read. In this course, students will analyze short stories, poetry and plays in order to understand the intersectionality of diverse perspectives. While the majority of the texts in this course are fiction, the skills learned are transferrable to all genres. This course has required readings and also gives students opportunities to choose their own texts in order to build student autonomy and help students to better know themselves as students of literature. Reading to analyze perspective is universal and The Fictional Mind will challenge students to question literary perspectives and deepen their analysis skills in and outside the classroom. 

State Standards

RL.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what a text states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

RL.2
Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text 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 a text.

RL.4
Determine the figurative or connotative meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are used in a text; analyze the impact of specific words or rhetorical patterns (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place, how shifts in rhetorical patterns signal new perspectives).

RL.5
Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution, the choice to introduce a new tone or point of view) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

RL.6
Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, understatement, notable omission)

RL.10
Independently and proficiently read and comprehend literary texts representing a variety of genres, cultures, and perspectives and exhibiting complexity appropriate for the grade/course.

Supports Available to Students

Tier 1 (Supports provided to ALL students)

• Paragraph and Essay Graphic Organizers
• Standards Aligned Classes
• Exit Tickets and Quizzes
• Social Emotional Learning 
• Pre test, Mid-year Practice Exam and Project Final Exam
• Progress Monitoring 
• Chromebooks 
• Gamified Review Sessions During Challenge Week 
• Teacher Notes via Google Documents 

Tier 2 (Supports provided to targeted SMALLER groups of students)

• Student Conferences with SMART Goals
• Quiz Retakes 
• Small Group Instruction 
• Frequent Check-ins 

Tier 3 (Intensive supports provided to SMALL groups or INDIVIDUAL students)

• Shortened Assignments 
• Use of Graphic Organizer for Final Exams 

Skills-learned

• Analyze a text for perspectives
• Analyze a text for figurative language
• Create defensible claims