Visual Lit High School: Draw Your Way Through High School English Language Arts

Welcome to Visual Literature: High School English Language Arts!  You can join in anytime! This comprehensive Language Arts course explores grammar, literary interpretation, and effective communication skills in accordance with the standards set by the Common Core, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and International Reading Association. 

These standards encompass a wide range of competencies including reading comprehension, literacy, oral expression, visual interpretation, and fundamental grammar skills. Each individual standard is addressed in a self-contained lesson, allowing for independent progression without cumulative dependency.
In this course, we utilize the technique of sketchnoting to enhance our understanding and analysis of texts. Sketchnoting, a form of note-taking, involves incorporating visual elements into the process, thereby promoting a more engaging and vivid representation of information.

Our class commences with varied warm-up activities, ranging from sentence diagramming to thought-provoking discussion prompts. No homework or pre-reading assignments are required as we access and explore stories and poems together during class. Guided reading and Socratic discussions facilitate our comprehension and exploration of these literary works.

Throughout the course, we embark on in-depth examinations of texts, delving into various literary elements such as tone, plot structure, symbolism, and character development. During these explorations, we translate our insights into visual representations, allowing students to create tangible artifacts that serve as lasting reminders of each text.

The primary objective of this class is to foster students' confidence in their analytical and grammatical skills within a supportive and collaborative learning environment. All the texts we will study are available online and/or in the public domain and are provided as links in the list below:

CURRICULUM: 
THIS CLASS CONTINUES WITHOUT STOPPING (except for occasional breaks) and is designed so that students can join at any time. 


****The texts listed below are subject to change to match student interest and learner need/ request.*****

******THIS CLASS CONTINUES WITHOUT STOPPING (except for occasional breaks) and is designed so that students can join at any time. ********

WEEK OF JAN 24 Standards: RL1, RL2, RL6, RL8; NCTE 9, NCTE 4; CC 4, CC 5 Text:  “Icarus and Daedalus” - Josephine Preston Peabody;   PDF FOUND HERE: https://www.ontarioteacher.org/reading7/index_htm_files/Icarus%20and%20Daedalus%20Myth.pdf & Musée des Beaux Arts BY W H Auden found here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/159364/musee-des-beaux-arts-63a1efde036cd 


WEEK OF FEB 02:  VISUAL GRAMMAR + STANDARDS RL..3, RL.1, RL..4, RL..10, RL.5 “The Signal Man” by Charles Dickens found here: https://dailystep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DailyStep-English-The-Signalman-By-Charles-Dickens.pdf   

WEEK OF FEB 10: VISUAL GRAMMAR + STANDARDS RL..3, RL.1, RL..4, RL..10, RL.5 “The Signal Man” by Charles Dickens found here: https://dailystep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DailyStep-English-The-Signalman-By-Charles-Dickens.pdf & Emily Dickinson’s “I Like To See It Lap The Miles” found here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56019/i-like-to-see-it-lap-the-miles-383 

WEEK OF FEB 10:  Standards RL1; RL2; RL3;  RL5; RL7 CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7  “Axolotl” by Julio Cortázar found here https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/AxolotlByJulioCortazar.html and “”The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop found here: https://poets.org/poem/fish-2 

WEEK OF FEB 24:  Standards: VISUAL GRAMMAR + STANDARDS RL..3, RL.6, RL..7, RL.10 : “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner found here: https://facultyweb.wcjc.edu/users/jonl/documents/RoseforEmily.pdf 

WEEK OF MARCH 3:  : VISUAL GRAMMAR + STANDARDS RL..2, RL.3, RL..10, RL.5.  “The Price” by Nail Gaiman found here: https://www.wlwv.k12.or.us/cms/lib8/OR01001812/Centricity/Domain/1733/The%20Price.pdf & T S Eliot poem “The Naming of Cats” : https://poets.org/poem/naming-cats   

Week of March 10: NCTE/IRA Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 11: Visual Grammar + “The Four Seasons” by FDR found here: https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/fdr-the-four-freedoms-speech-text/  and essay “Freedom from Fear” by Stephen Vincent Benet: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/12/stephen-vincent-benets-freedom-fear/ + The Four Freedoms by Normal Rockwell 

WEEK OF MARCH 17:  VISUAL GRAMMAR + Standards R.L.6, R.L.4, and R.L.2 : “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” by Jack Finney found here: https://www.cusd80.com/cms/lib6/AZ01001175/Centricity/Domain/3421/Contents_of_the_Dead_Mans_Pocket.pdf 

Week of March 24: Visual Grammar + NCTE/IRA Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12:  “A White Heron” Sarah Orne Jewett and Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers” found here: https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/310568.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOooRPURr0P9jiAj8vd5A8hncKm0RqtUJ6QUUkRCfA6vxT0BnldxA  and here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314  (part 1) 

Week of March 31: Visual Grammar + NCTE/IRA Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12:  “A White Heron” Sarah Orne Jewett and Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers” found here: https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/310568.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOooRPURr0P9jiAj8vd5A8hncKm0RqtUJ6QUUkRCfA6vxT0BnldxA  and here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314  (part 2) 

***********NO CLASS WEEK OF APRIL 6 TO 13 DUE TO SPRING BREAK***************** 

WEEK OF APRIL 14 VISUAL GRAMMAR +  NCTE/ IRA Standards:  RL 1. RL 4. RL 3. 5. & 7 “ Nonfiction Sketchnoting Activity Part 1. Podcast: “Colors” by Radiolab. Transcript found here: https://radiolab.org/podcast/211119-colors/transcript and the poem “Before I Got My Eye Put Out” (336)  by Emily Dickinson found here:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52135/before-i-got-my-eye-put-out-336 PART 1

WEEK OF APRIL 21 VISUAL GRAMMAR + Standards: VISUAL GRAMMAR +  NCTE/ IRA Standards:  RL 1. RL 4. RL 3. 5. & 7 “ Nonfiction Sketchnoting Activity Part 1. Podcast: “Colors” by Radiolab. Transcript found here: https://radiolab.org/podcast/211119-colors/transcript and the poem “Before I Got My Eye Put Out” (336)  by Emily Dickinson found here:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52135/before-i-got-my-eye-put-out-336  PART 2


WEEK OF APRIL 28 VISUAL GRAMMAR +  RL 3 ; RL 6; Texts: “Joy” by Anton Chekhov and “I am Nobody” "I heard a Fly buzz"  by Emily Dickinson (poem) https://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/1103/ and https://poets.org/poem/im-nobody-who-are-you-260 

 WEEK OF MAY 5:  VISUAL GRAMMAR +  Standards:  RL.1, RL.2, RL.5.,  “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Text found here: https://blocs.xtec.cat/elruidodelalluvia/files/2013/01/Ambrose-Bierce-An-Occurrence-at-Owl-Creek-Bridge.pdf 

WEEK OF MAY 12: VISUAL GRAMMAR+ Standards: RL. 7 R.L.6, R.L.4, and R.L.2  “War” by Luigi Pirandello. Text can be found here:  https://www.thatenglishteacher.com/uploads/6/6/8/5/6685188/war-by-luigi-pirandello1.pdf 

WEEK OF MAY 19:  Standards: VISUAL GRAMMAR +  Standards: RL 1; RL.3; RL.7; Text: “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, AZ” by Sherman Alexie: https://www.enl.auth.gr/files/Sherman_Alexie.pdf 

WEEK OF MAY 26:  Standards: Visual + NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; (SATIRE/ PARODY FOCUS) Text: “A Ghost Story" by Mark Twain found here: https://www.bookyards.com/en/book/details/15561/A-Ghost-Story 

WEEK OF JUNE 2: CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7. Nonfiction Focus  “How To Become a Writer” by Lorrie Moore: https://www.sfuadcnf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-to-Become-a-Writer-Lorrie-Moore.pdf 

WEEK OF JUNE 9:  Standards: NCTE 1, 7, 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6 “The Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri : https://iblit2013.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/lahiri-interpreter-of-maladies-full-text.pdf 

WEEK OF JUNE 16: :  Nonfiction Focus (memoir):  "The Wide Spread Enigma Concerning Blue Star Woman." by Zitkala-Sa [aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin]  http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/zitkala-sa/stories/enigma.html   (audio recording here https://ia902603.us.archive.org/15/items/americanindianstories_2304_librivox/americanindianstories_09_zitkalasa_64kb.mp3 ) Standards: NCTE 2, 6, 8; CC 1; CC 3; CC 5

WEEK OF JUNE 23:  VISUAL GRAMMAR + Standards R.L.6, R.L.4, and R.L.2.   “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathanial Hawthorne: https://www.columbia.edu/itc/english/f1124y-001/resources/Young_Goodman_Brown.pdf 

WEEK OF JUNE 30: Standards: : CC 2; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 2, 3, 6: “A Hunger Artist” by Kafka:   https://www.kafka-online.info/a-hunger-artist.html 

WEEK OF JULY 7:  Visual Grammar + STANDARDS: RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL..7, RL.10; SL.1; L.1, L.2, L.4  “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” Katherine A Porter:  https://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english220/Porter-Jilting_of_Granny_Weatherall.pdf  

WEEK OF JULY 14:  Standards: VISUAL GRAMMAR + : STANDARDS: RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL..7, RL.10; SL.1; L.1, L.2, L.4  “Powder” by Tobias Wolff : https://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/pdf/2014/261077.pdf 

WEEK OF JULY 21:  Standards: VISUAL GRAMMAR +: CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7; Text:  “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allen Poe https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1064/1064-h/1064-h.htm 

WEEK OF JULY 28:  VISUAL GRAMMAR + Standards: NCTE 3, 5, 6; CC 4; CC 6;  poetry: “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44996/goblin-market 

 
****The texts listed above are subject to change to match student interest and learner need/ request.*****


******GRAMMAR   COVERED through visual grammar series: W.9-10.6 ; ELA L.9-10.1; ELA L.9-10.2  

******THIS CLASS CONTINUES WITHOUT STOPPING (except for occasional breaks) and is designed so that students can join at any time.