Unit 1 — Discovering Your Voice
Description
Unit 1 focuses on how writers find and express their voices through argument and persuasion. Students read a diverse range of texts including a novel about conformity, memoir in verse, informational texts about self-portraiture, and humor writing. The unit emphasizes analyzing author's purpose and point of view while building skills in argumentative writing. Students learn to support claims with relevant evidence and organize arguments with clear reasoning. The unit addresses freedom, choice, and safety through the lens of how individuals make themselves heard in society.
Essential Questions
- What are the ways you can make yourself heard?
- Is it more important to feel safe or have freedom of choice?
- What comprises an effective argument?
Learning Objectives
- Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly and inferences drawn from it.
- Determine central ideas of texts and how they are conveyed through details.
- Analyze how key individuals, events, or ideas are introduced and developed in texts.
- Write arguments that introduce claims, organize reasons and evidence clearly, and support them with credible sources.
- Use words, phrases, and clauses to clarify relationships among claims and reasons.
- Establish and maintain formal academic style in argument writing.
- Determine author's purpose and point of view in texts.
- Compare and contrast texts in different genres.
Suggested Texts
- The Giver — fiction
- from Brown Girl Dreaming — poetry
- from Selfie: The Changing Face of Self-Portraits — nonfiction
- What's so Funny, Mr. Scieszka? — humor
- A Voice — poetry
- Words Like Freedom — poetry
- Better Than Words: Say It With a Selfie — argument
- OMG, Not Another Selfie! — argument
Supplemental Resources
- Printed word lists for vocabulary instruction
- Index cards for word study activities
- Chart paper for collaborative argument mapping
- Highlighters for text annotation
- Graphic organizers for argument planning
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Literature
Speaking and Listening
Writing
Students analyze historical texts and primary sources to understand different perspectives on freedom, justice, and human rights across time periods and cultures.
Formative Assessments
- Text-dependent questions on The Giver analyzing plot, character, and theme
- Speed discussions on memoir in verse from Brown Girl Dreaming
- Analysis of author's purpose and point of view in informational and humor texts
- Vocabulary strategy practice with connotations and denotations
- Grammar exercises on commas, sentence variety, and pronouns
Summative Assessment
Write an argument essay with a clear claim, organized reasons, and relevant evidence from texts; HMH Unit Test
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral explanation of textual evidence and reasoning instead of written responses. Visual supports such as graphic organizers, sentence frames for argument structure, and highlighted text passages may be provided to support analysis of author's purpose and point of view.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students with IEPs may benefit from graphic organizers that scaffold the structure of argumentative writing, helping them visually map claims, reasons, and evidence before drafting. For reading tasks involving multiple genres, provide chapter summaries or pre-selected passages to reduce cognitive load while maintaining access to core content. Allow students to demonstrate comprehension through oral responses or recorded explanations as alternatives to written analysis, and offer sentence frames to support formal academic language in argument writing. Extended time and chunked assignments will support students who need additional processing time when moving between reading and writing tasks.
Section 504
Students with 504 plans should be provided extended time on written argument tasks and text-dependent reading responses, as well as a low-distraction environment during independent reading and writing periods. Preferential seating near instructional modeling and access to printed copies of any directions or mentor texts displayed digitally will help students stay on track across the unit's varied reading and writing demands.
ELL / MLL
Multilingual learners benefit from a unit vocabulary word bank that includes key academic and domain-specific terms related to argument writing, such as claim, evidence, and point of view, supported by visual examples or translated definitions where appropriate. Simplified oral directions paired with visual models of argumentative text structure will help students access writing tasks, and flexible grouping that allows peer conversation before written responses supports language development. Whenever possible, connect themes of voice, identity, and self-expression to students' own cultural and linguistic backgrounds to build meaningful engagement with the unit's texts.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support should be offered entry points into argumentative writing through familiar, relatable topics connected to the unit's themes of choice and freedom before transitioning to text-based claims. Pre-teaching connotation and denotation vocabulary in small-group settings will help build the word knowledge needed for both reading analysis and writing tasks. Breaking the argument essay process into clearly sequenced, manageable steps with frequent check-ins and specific feedback will keep students on track and build confidence across the unit.
Gifted & Talented
Advanced learners can be challenged to examine how voice and persuasion function differently across the unit's multiple genres — analyzing how a memoir in verse, a novel, and a humor piece each construct argument through stylistic and structural choices. Students may develop a comparative written analysis that evaluates the rhetorical effectiveness of two or more texts, going beyond identifying author's purpose to evaluating how well each author achieves it. Encouraging students to research a real-world issue connected to the unit's themes of conformity, freedom, or self-expression and craft a fully sourced, multi-perspective argument essay will deepen both their critical thinking and their command of formal argumentation.