LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

About this resource

Appropriate grades
11
Subjects
English language arts (reading, writing), thinking skills (critical literacy), diverse learners (gender issues, multiple intelligences)
Provider
IRA/NCTE

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Students write letters expressing their views on an important and potentially controversial topic—feminism. After students have read “We” by Mary Grimm, they analyze certain quotes from the piece and participate in a small group discussion about feminism. Then, students independently read “The Problem That Has No Name,” from The Feminist Mystique by Betty Friedan and write about and discuss the core issues of the feminist movement. Upon completion of these critical questioning activities, students write an informal, friendly letter to themselves about their opinions of the feminist movement. Readwritethink provides discussion questions, guidelines for assignment, questions for student reflection, and suggestions for using other texts that discuss controversial topics.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 11 — English III

  • Goal 1: The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression.
    • Objective 1.01: Create memoirs that give an audience a sense of how the past can be significant for the present by:
      - elaborating upon a significant past episode from the student's current perspective.
      - projecting the student's voice in the work through reflective interpretation of relationships to people and events.
      -writing for a specific audience and purpose.
    • Objective 1.02: Reflect and respond expressively to texts so that the audience will:
      - discover multiple perspectives.
      - investigate connections between life and literature.
      - explore how the student's life experiences influence his or her response to the selection.
      - recognize how the responses of others may be different.
      - articulate insightful connections between life and literature.
      -consider cultural or historical significance.
  • Goal 2: The learner will inform an audience by using a variety of media to research and explain insights into language and culture.
    • Objective 2.01: Research ideas, events, and/or movements related to United States culture by:
      - locating facts and details for purposeful elaboration.
      - organizing information to create a structure for purpose, audience, and context.
      - excluding extraneous information.
      -providing accurate documentation.
    • Objective 2.03: Respond to informational texts by:
      - using a variety of strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
      - paraphrasing main ideas and supporting details present in texts.
      -explaining significant connections among the speaker's/author's purpose, tone, biases, and the message for the intended audience.
  • Goal 3: The learner will demonstrate increasing sophistication in defining issues and using argument effectively.
    • Objective 3.02: Select an issue or theme and take a stance on that issue by:
      - reflecting the viewpoint(s) of Americans of different times and places.
      - showing sensitivity or empathy for the culture represented.
      - supporting the argument with specific reasons.
    • Objective 3.03: Use argumentation for:
      - interpreting researched information effectively.
      - establishing and defending a point of view.
      - addressing concerns of the opposition.
      - using logical strategies (e.g., deductive and inductive reasoning, syllogisms, analogies) and sophisticated techniques (e.g., rhetorical devices, parallelism, irony, concrete images).
      -developing a sense of completion.
  • Goal 4: The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas.
    • Objective 4.02: Develop thematic connections among literary works by:
      - connecting themes that occur across genres or works from different time periods.
      - using specific references to validate connections.
      -examining how representative elements such as mood, tone, and style impact the development of a theme.
    • Objective 4.03: Assess the power, validity, and truthfulness in the logic of arguments given in public and political documents by:
      - identifying the intent and message of the author or artist.
      - recognizing how the author addresses opposing viewpoints.
      - articulating a personal response to the message and method of the author or artist.
      -evaluating the historical significance of the work.
  • Goal 5: The learner will interpret and evaluate representative texts to deepen understanding of literature of the United States.
    • Objective 5.01: Interpret the significance of literary movements as they have evolved through the literature of the United States by:
      - analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and how the selection of genre shapes meaning.
      - relating ideas, styles, and themes within literary movements of the United States.
      - understanding influences that progress through the literary movements of the United States.
      -evaluating the literary merit and/or historical significance of a work from Colonial Literature, the Romantic Era, Realism, the Modern Era, and Contemporary Literature.
    • Objective 5.02: Analyze the relationships among United States authors and their works by:
      - making and supporting valid responses about the text through references to other works and authors.
      -comparing texts to show similarities or differences in themes, characters, or ideas.
  • Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
    • Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of language by:
      - decoding vocabulary using knowledge of Anglo-Saxon, Greek, and Latin bases and affixes.
      - discerning the relationship of word meanings between pairs of words in analogies (synonyms/antonyms, connotation/denotation).
      - revising writing to enhance voice and style, sentence variety, subtlety of meaning, and tone in considerations of questions being addressed, purpose, audience, and genres.
      - contrasting use of language conventions of authors in different time periods of United States literature.
      -analyzing the power of standard usage over nonstandard usage in formal settings such a job interviews, academic environment, or public speaking events.
    • Objective 6.02: Discern and correct errors in speaking and writing at a level appropriate to eleventh grade by:
      - reviewing and refining purposeful use of varying sentence types with correct punctuation.
      - reviewing and refining correct pronoun usage, antecedents, and case.
      - refining subject/verb agreement and choice of tense.
      - extending effective use of phrases and clauses. - discussing parts of speech as they relate to writing.
      -editing for correct spelling and mechanics.