Unit 3
The Land of Opportunity: Narratology and the Immigrant Experience

Week Breakdown

• Monday the 3rd - Tuesday the 4th

  • Write down both Lexicon #25: Narratology and Lexicon #26: Subtext.

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. 

  • Complete the three Discussion Questions in your Notebook.

  • Write down Lexicon #27: Dialogue tag.

  • Complete Notebook Entry #3: A Meaningful Conversation. 

• Wednesday the 5th

  • Write down both Lexicon #28: First-generation immigrant and Lexicon #29: Second-generation immigrant in your notebook.

  • Take notes on common struggles and challenges both type of immigrants tend to face in your notebook. 

  • Read, annotate, and discuss Roxane Gay's "About My Father's Accent" and "Motherfuckers," taking notes on what Gay experiences as a second-generation immigrant.

  • Write two 10-word summaries, one about "About My Father's Accent" and one about "Motherfuckers."

  • Read, annotate, and discuss Julia Alvarez's "Names/Nombres," taking notes on shared themes found in both Gay and Alvarez's text. 

  • What are common trends in immigrant literature you notice so far? Write your response in your notebook.

• Thursday the 6th

  • Write down Lexicon #30: Tokenization, a token in your notebook. 

  • Finish reading, annotating, and discussing "Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez. 

  • Complete Entry#4: Being Made of Accents and Nombres in your notebook. 

• Friday the 7th

  • Write down Lexicon #31: Magical Realism in your notebook.

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

  • Answer the discussion question in your notebook, utilizing at least one piece of evidence to substantiate your claim.

Week Breakdown

• Monday the 24th

  • Write down Lexicon#32: Voice in your notebook. 

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "Invitation" by Claudia Hernández González.

  • Respond to the two discussion questions in your notebook. 

  • Choose a prompt and scour through your photos for one worthy of writing about!

• Tuesday the 25th 

  • Complete Notebook Entry #5: An Invitation to the Past. 

  • Write down Lexicon#33: Diaspora in your notebook. 

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "Sewer Fauna" by Claudia Hernández González.

  • For honors double block: Read, annotate, and discuss "Shopgirl" by Dionne Irving. 

  • Answer the two discussion questions for "Shopgirl" in your notebook.

• Wednesday the 26th - Thursday the 27th (Mr. Roberts will be out on Thursday for a conference.)

  • Write down Lexicon#34: Unreliable narrator in your notebook.

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe.

  • Answer the two discussion questions for "The Black Cat" in your notebook.

• Friday the 28th

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "New York Day Women" by Edwidge Danticat.

  • Complete Notebook Enty#6: "Exploring the Purpose of Perspective" activity in your notebook.

Week Breakdown

• Monday the 10th

  • Write down Lexicon #35: Chekhov's gun in your notebook. 

  • Take notes on how Chekhov's gun operates in a story. 

  • Complete Notebook entry #7: Characters who Lie and Deny in your notebook. 

• Tuesday the 11th

  • Read, annotate, and discuss "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu. 

  • Answer the three discussion questions in your notebook.

• Wednesday the 12th

  • Finish "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu and answer the three discussion questions in your notebook. 

  • For Honors class only: Read, annotate, and discuss "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, then answer the two discussion questions in your notebook. 

• Thursday the 13th

  • Write down Lexicon #36: Adage in your notebook.

  • Take notes on the similarities and differences between adages and proverbs. 

  • Choose one or two of the adages from the 100 common adage list, then unpack them in your notebook. 

  • Complete Notebook entry #8: No hands left idle; no minds left dull in your notebook.

• Friday the 14th

  • Take notes on sanctuary cities, their purpose, and what critics and supporters claim about them.

  • Read, annotate, and discuss Mayor Wu's Opening Statement to the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. 

  • Answer the two discussion questions in your notebook.

Week Breakdown

• Monday the 23rd

  • Write down Lexicon #37: Authorial choice and Lexicon #38: Metaphor, extended metaphor in your notebook.

  • We'll craft metaphors with the metaphor dice to illustrate how easy we can read into things and create our own compelling metaphors.

  • Introduce the Unit 3 Final Assignment: Author's Note: This Means Something.

  • Begin sketching your first draft of your piece. Remember, we'll have multiple drafts, each being graded to make sure we are following the writing process. 

• Tuesday the 24th

  • Take notes on the types of conflict found in literature.

  • Consider some of the situations or conflicts for your short story.

  • Take notes on clauses in the mini-grammar lesson on building confidence with clauses.

  • Complete first draft of your short story today, a minimum of two pages. Remember, this is a draft, so you don't have to be married to anything yet!

• Wednesday the 25th

  • We'll be peer editing our stories today, working towards a complete draft by Thursday. 

  • Before we delve into it, we will look at one of Mr. Roberts' models, suggesting what we like (praise), things we are confused about (questions), and potential revisions for improvement (polish). 

  • After we got the feel of Praise, Question, and Polish, we will swap papers with a peer and give them some constructive feedback. 

  • Once we get our feedback, we will have time to continue writing our stories, hoping to arrive at the turning point or larger conflict moment of the story (page 3 or 4).

• Thursday the 26th

  • Mr. Roberts will start conferencing with students today and finish Friday while we make our finishing touches. 

  • Review the 6 ways to authentically add metaphors into our writing. 

  • We'll be focusing on adding meaning, foreshadowing, metaphors, allusions, and symbols into our pieces. By the end of the day, we should have a working full draft of the story or at least four pages.

• Friday the 27th

  • Mr. Roberts will finish conferencing with students. 

  • We'll go over 8 potential ways to end the story (there are more, but these are just some options!). 

  • We'll be adding the five footnotes, polishing the final draft, typing up the story today. If typing isn't available, then we can handwrite it neatly.

  • When you are done, you can submit it one of three ways:

    • Submit it on our Google Classroom website. 

    • Email me a copy of your short story from Word Doc or Google Doc. My email is Droberts@Bostonpublicschools.org

    • Handwrite it and hand in your Notebook, or alternatively, handwrite it and email me a picture of it to Droberts@Bostonpublicschools.org.