Unit 2 — Never Give Up
Description
Unit 2 explores perseverance and survival through narrative and informational texts. Students read a memoir about a girl's fight for education, poetry about resilience, a short story set in a historical time period, and a graphic novel about navigating change. The unit develops narrative writing skills while examining how individuals survive challenging environments. Students analyze how different perspectives about the same topic or time period build understanding. Writing instruction emphasizes mechanics, usage, and grammatical standards that promote clear communication.
Essential Questions
- What keeps people from giving up?
- How do individuals survive in challenging environments?
- How do various perspectives about the same topic build our understanding?
- Why do writers adhere to mechanics, usage, and grammatical standards in their work?
Learning Objectives
- Analyze features and structure of informational texts including memoirs.
- Generate and answer questions about texts to deepen understanding.
- Determine central ideas and summarize texts distinct from personal opinion.
- Analyze how plot and character develop in fiction and graphic narratives.
- Analyze how setting influences events and characters.
- Write personal narratives that establish context, use narrative techniques, and provide closure.
- Use varied transition words to convey sequence and signal time shifts.
- Use precise words, descriptive details, and sensory language in narrative writing.
- Apply capitalization rules correctly.
- Compare characters and experiences across texts.
- Use Greek and Latin roots to determine word meanings.
Suggested Texts
- from I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World — nonfiction
- Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward — poetry
- The First Day of School — fiction
- from New Kid — graphic novel
Supplemental Resources
- Graphic organizers for narrative planning
- Sentence strips for sequencing practice
- Pocket folders for organizing student work
- Lined journals for daily narrative writing practice
- Reference materials for capitalization rules
Language
Reading: Informational Text
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
- Analysis of informational text features in I Am Malala memoir excerpt
- Close reading of poem by Gwendolyn Brooks analyzing theme and form
- Comparison of plot and character across short story and graphic novel texts
- Writing practice with narrative techniques like dialogue and pacing
- Vocabulary strategy work with Greek and Latin roots
- Grammar practice with capitalization and sentence patterns
Summative Assessment
Write a personal narrative essay that develops real or imagined experiences with narrative techniques and descriptive details; HMH Unit Test
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of text analysis through oral responses to teacher questions about memoir features and themes, or by annotating a provided text with visual supports such as highlighters to mark key details. Response options may include drawing, verbal explanation, or guided written responses with sentence frames.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students with IEPs may benefit from pre-taught vocabulary related to perseverance and survival themes, including support with Greek and Latin roots before independent practice. For narrative writing, provide graphic organizers that scaffold the beginning, middle, and end structure, and allow students to dictate or use speech-to-text tools for drafting when written output is a barrier. When analyzing memoir, poetry, or graphic novel texts, offer audio versions and highlighted or chunked reading passages to support comprehension. Extended time and reduced-length writing drafts focused on demonstrating key narrative techniques—rather than length—should be considered to ensure assessment of mastery rather than stamina.
Section 504
Students with 504 plans should receive extended time on close reading tasks and the personal narrative essay to reduce the impact of processing or attention challenges on performance. Preferential seating and a low-distraction environment are especially important during independent reading of longer informational and fiction texts in this unit. Providing printed copies of any board-displayed writing models or directions—rather than requiring students to copy them—supports access during grammar and capitalization instruction.
ELL / MLL
Multilingual learners will benefit from a visual word bank of key thematic vocabulary connected to perseverance, survival, and historical context before engaging with memoir or fiction texts in this unit. Simplified directions for reading response tasks, accompanied by sentence frames, can help students participate in text analysis and narrative writing without the barrier of academic language production. Where possible, allow students to discuss ideas in their home language before writing or responding in English, and use images, text features, and graphic novel visuals as accessible entry points into the unit's central ideas.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support should be connected to the unit's theme of perseverance through brief discussion of personal experiences before reading, activating prior knowledge and building investment in the texts. Provide scaffolded note-taking guides during informational and memoir reading to help students identify central ideas without feeling overwhelmed by text volume. For narrative writing, breaking the personal essay into smaller, sequenced steps with frequent check-ins and feedback will help students build confidence and stay on track across the multi-week writing process.
Gifted & Talented
Advanced learners can be challenged to analyze how authors across this unit's varied text types—memoir, poetry, short story, and graphic novel—make deliberate craft choices to convey resilience and perspective, moving beyond summary to deeper evaluation of authorial intent. In narrative writing, encourage students to experiment with complex narrative techniques such as nonlinear structure, unreliable perspective, or shifts in tone, pushing beyond the foundational expectations. Students may also explore how the unit's themes connect to broader historical or global contexts, using outside research or more complex texts to deepen their comparative analysis across perspectives.