Unit 4 — Inspired by Nature
Description
Students read literature and informational texts to understand themes of harmony with nature and community. Through reading memoirs, short stories, poems, and environmental writing, students analyze how authors use figurative language and form to convey their perspectives on nature. Students examine argumentative writing about environmental issues and evaluate the effectiveness of supporting evidence. Writing tasks require students to construct literary analysis essays arguing a position about texts and themes. Students compare different genres and media formats to understand how form affects message.
Essential Questions
- What does it mean to be in harmony with nature?
- What makes a community?
Learning Objectives
- Cite textual evidence to support analysis and make inferences.
- Analyze how elements interact in stories and dramas.
- Analyze how form and structure contribute to meaning in poems.
- Compare and contrast written texts with multimedia versions.
- Analyze argument and evaluate reasoning and sufficiency of evidence.
- Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and evidence.
- Demonstrate understanding of figurative language and word relationships.
- Use precise language to express ideas clearly.
Suggested Texts
- Allied with Green — short story
- Never Retreat from Eyes Wide Open — argument
- Mississippi Solo — memoir
- The Drought — poem
- Ode to enchanted light — poem
- Sleeping in the Forest — poem
- Trash Talk — video
- You're Part of the Solution — poster
Supplemental Resources
- Printed images and photographs of natural landscapes for writing inspiration
- Highlighters for marking figurative language and key evidence in texts
- Chart paper for organizing comparison of forms and analyzing persuasive techniques
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Literature
Speaking and Listening
Writing
Students analyze Earth and space science concepts through literature and informational texts, including exploring concepts related to natural phenomena, environmental systems, and scientific inquiry across multiple units.
Students examine historical perspectives, cultural contexts, and civic themes through narrative and informational texts, analyzing how authors portray time periods, places, and characters in relation to historical events.
Students develop critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills through discussions, presentations, and written work that prepare them for post-secondary success and informed citizenship.
Formative Assessments
- Direct message to character analyzing motivation and perspective
- Discussion of nature and environmental responsibility
- Brochure promoting green projects and environmental action
- Opinion piece responding to environmental argument
- Infographic on energy efficiency
- Literary analysis essay on environmental themes
- Poetry reading and discussion of nature imagery
- Poster critique and analysis of persuasive media
Summative Assessment
Write a literary analysis argument essay about nature themes in a text with supporting evidence.
Benchmark Assessment
A short-answer task requiring students to identify figurative language in a nature-themed poem or passage, explain its effect on meaning, and cite textual evidence to support their analysis. This assesses comprehension of form, figurative language, and text citation skills across the unit's reading standards.
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral explanation of textual evidence and inferences about nature themes, recorded or presented to the teacher. Visual supports such as annotated text excerpts, graphic organizers mapping character motivation, or sentence frames for literary analysis may be provided as needed.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
For this unit's focus on literary analysis and argumentative writing about nature themes, students may benefit from graphic organizers that help them organize textual evidence before drafting their essays. Providing pre-highlighted or annotated texts can support comprehension of figurative language and author's craft without reducing the complexity of the content. Where written output is a barrier, allow students to dictate responses or use speech-to-text tools, particularly for longer tasks such as the literary analysis essay. Audio versions of texts and chunked reading passages can help students access memoirs, poems, and environmental writing at a manageable pace.
Section 504
Students should be given extended time on reading and writing tasks, particularly the literary analysis essay and any timed in-class writing. Preferential seating in a low-distraction environment supports sustained focus during close reading and discussion activities. Providing a print copy of any text displayed digitally or on the board ensures consistent access to the unit's literary and informational materials.
ELL / MLL
Before reading environmental texts, poems, and memoirs, pre-teach key domain vocabulary related to nature, environmental responsibility, and figurative language using visual supports such as illustrated word walls or picture glossaries. Simplified written directions accompanied by visual models of expected products — such as a sample outline for a literary analysis essay — help students understand task expectations. Where possible, encourage students to discuss ideas about nature and community in their home language before transitioning to English expression, building conceptual understanding as a foundation for academic writing.
At Risk (RTI)
Connect the unit's themes of nature and environmental responsibility to students' own communities and lived experiences as an entry point into both reading and writing tasks. Reduce the complexity of initial analysis tasks by focusing on a single text element — such as one example of figurative language or one piece of supporting evidence — before expanding to multi-text comparison. Providing sentence starters and partially completed graphic organizers can lower the barrier to entry for argumentative writing while still guiding students toward independent claim construction.
Gifted & Talented
Encourage students to explore the relationship between literary form and environmental advocacy by independently researching how writers in different historical periods or cultural contexts have used nature writing to drive social change. Students may extend their literary analysis by comparing how multiple genres — such as memoir alongside poetry or multimedia — construct differing arguments about the human relationship with nature, examining not just what is argued but how form itself shapes persuasion. Challenging students to evaluate the rhetorical effectiveness of real-world environmental arguments, and to craft their own evidence-based responses to those arguments, pushes beyond the standard essay task into authentic intellectual engagement.