Syllabus

See what we are learning this year!

Our Units

  • Unit 1: Rites of Passage

  • Unit 2: Resilience

  • Unit 3: Taking A Stand

  • Unit 4: Human Intelligence

  • Unit 5: Pushing Boundaries

Unit 1: Rites of Passage

Overarching Question:

What are some milestones on the path to growing up?

Readings:

  • “The Banana Tree” by James Barry (adventure story)

  • “L’Amour, Maybe Not” by Shruti Ganguly (personal narrative)

  • from “La Princesa Mileidy Dominguez” by Ruben Degollado (realistic fiction)

  • “First-Day Fly” by Jason Reynolds (short story)

Summative Assessment:

  • Writing a personal narrative

Unit 2: Resilience

Overarching Question:

What do stories of resilience teach us about the human spirit?

Readings: (subject to change)

  • Night by Elie Wiesel (novel)

  • from “Acceptance Speech for The Nobel Peace Prize” by Elie Wiesel (speech)

  • “Letter To A Young Refugee” by Andrew Lam (Essay)

  • “Surviving” by Marie Lu (memoir)

  • “After Fleeing Genocide, Gilbert Tuhabonye Now Leads Austin’s Running Community” (interview)

Summative Assessment:

  • Informational Essay

Unit 3: Taking A Stand

Overarching Question:

How do we decide what matters to us?

Readings: (subject to change)

  • “Brain and Body Benefits: The Case for Playing Video Games” by Libby A . Rosenberg (informational essay)

  • “I Make Video Games. I Won’t Let My Daughter Play Them” by William Siu (opinion piece)

  • “Words Do Not Pay” by Chief Joseph (persuasive speech)

  • “The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Sailnas (short story)

  • “In Her Own Words: Truth At All Costs” by Marie Colvin (persuasive speech)

Summative Assessment:

  • Argumentative Essay

Unit 4: Human Intelligence

Overarching Question:

In what different ways can humans be intelligent?

Readings: (subject to change)

  • Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (science fiction)

  • from Blue Nines and Red Words by Daniel Tammet (memoir)

  • “The More You Know, The Smarter You Are?” by Jim Vega (informational essay)

  • from The Future of The Mind by Michio Kaku (informational essay)

Summative Assessment:

  • Research paper

Unit 5: Pushing Boundaries

Overarching Question:

What inspires people to invent?

Readings: (subject to change)

  • “‘Nikola Tesla,” The Greatest Inventor of All?” by Vicky Baez (biography)

  • from The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt (historical fiction)

  • “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov (short story)

  • “Icarus and Daedalus” retold by Josephine Preston Peabody (myth)

  • from The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (science fiction)

Summative Assessment:

  • Writing a short story