Visual Literature: Draw Your Way Through Middle School English and Language Arts

Welcome to Visual Lit: Middle School ELA! This Language Arts course covers grammar, literary 
analysis, and discussion skills as outlined by Common Core, NCTE, and International Reading 
Association standards. Each Standard listed below is covered in a stand-alone lesson; lessons do not build off 
each other week after week. 

This course uses sketchnoting to draw/ analyze/ access texts. Sketchnoting is a form of note-taking, 
hence the “noting” part of it, but as you might guess it involves bringing more visuals into the process 
compared to typical note-taking, hence the “sketch” part. 

This class begins with a different warm-up activity each time that can include anything from VISUAL GRAMMAR 
 and sentence diagramming to thought- provoking discussion questions. There is no homework or pre-reading required. Stories and poems are accessed during class with guided reading and socratic discussion. 

Each class we will dive deeply into texts and examine literary elements such as tone, plot structure, 
symbolism, and character development. We draw our ideas during our examinations so students will 
have artifacts to remember each text by. 

The goal for each class is to help students gain confidence in their analysis and discussion abilities in a 
supportive group setting. All texts are available in the public domain online and are listed below:

CURRICULUM: JOIN ANY TIME!! (This class has no end date) 


******TEXTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE DUE TO STUDENT INTEREST/ SUGGESTIONS*********

WEEK OF FEB 3:  Standards: RL4; RL6; RL7: NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “The Friday Everything Changed” - Anne Hart https://shortfictioncollingwood.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/the-friday-everything-changed.pdf

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 17:  Standards: RL2; RL4; RL5; RL8: CC10 ; NCTE 1; NCTE 2: Text: “Secret Life of Walter Mitty” James Thurber : https://www.sphstigers.org/ourpages/users/jasher/SSBootCampWebsite/SecretLifeWalterMitty.pdf  

WEEK OF FEB 24:  Standards: RL3; RL4; RL5; RL7: CC 1; CC 2; Text “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan text found here: https://jg019.k12.sd.us/eng1/Assignment%20Documents/Rules%20of%20the%20Game.pdf & Amy Tan biographical text 

WEEK OF MARCH 3:  Standards: RL4; RL6; RL7 NCTE 1 NCTE 2 CC 7 CC 10“Hey You Down There" by Harold Roseblath: https://www.mrbroviak.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37450073/hey_you_down_there_1.pdf 

WEEK OF MARCH 10:  Standards: : RL1; RL2; RL3: CC 3 ; NCTE 6; “Rikki Tikki Tavi” Rudyard Kipling https://www.vma.is/static/files/enska/Bokmenntir/Short%20Stories/RikkiTikkiTavi_Kipling.pdf 

Week of March 17: Standards: NCTE/IRA 1 4;7  (FINISH STORY FROM LAST WEEK AND THEN): “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe: https://www.northiowa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Tell-Tale-Heart.pdf 

WEEK OF MARCH 24:  Standards: Standards: RL4; RL6; RL7; NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6  “”The War of the Wall” by Toni Cade Bambara pdf found here: https://www.cbsd.org/cms/lib/PA01916442/Centricity/Domain/1670/War_of_the_Wall.pdf  

WEEK OF MARCH 31:  Standards: NCTE/IRA : 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11:     “The Test” by Theodore Thomas found here: https://www.auburn.wednet.edu/cms/lib/WA01001938/Centricity/Domain/2205/The%20Test.pdf and The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson found here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/lled4492016/files/2016/04/PossibilityofEvil.pdf and if time permit, nonfiction tie-in: “What Makes Good People Do Bad Things” by Melissa Dittman text found here:  https://shorturl.at/IQGVB  
 

*****************NO CLASS APRIL 6 -12 DUE TO TEACHER SPRING BREAK*************

WEEK OF APRIL 14 (POETRY MONTH!):  RL 1; RL5; RL6; RL7; RL 8;  : Standards: CC 1; CC 2; NCTE  4; Text: “The Chaser” by Jon Collier & “Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare:  https://f01.justanswer.com/VaIxepPC/the_chaser-collier.pdf & https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-day 

WEEK OF APRIL 21 (POETRY MONTH!):  PRT 1 Standards: RL 1; RL5; RL6; RL7; RL 8CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; CC 3 ; NCTE 6, 1 & 7  Texts: (Poetry focus): “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert W Service ; “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer and “O Captain! My Captain” and “A Noiseless Patient Spider both by Walt Whitman 
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45081/the-cremation-of-sam-mcgee ; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45474/o-captain-my-captain ; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45398/casey-at-the-bat 

WEEK OF APRIL 28 (POETRY MONTH!):  Standards: PRT 2 Standards: RL 1; RL5; RL6; RL7; RL 8CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; CC 3 ; NCTE 6, 1 & 7  Texts: (Poetry focus): “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert W Service ; “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer and “O Captain! My Captain” and “A Noiseless Patient Spider both by Walt Whitman 
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45081/the-cremation-of-sam-mcgee ; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45474/o-captain-my-captain ; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45398/casey-at-the-bat 

--END QUARTER 3---
******TEXTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE DUE TO STUDENT INTEREST/ SUGGESTIONS*********

WEEK OF MAY 5:  Standards: RL4; RL6; RL7: NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text:  “Jabberwocky” Lewis Carroll : https://www.npschools.org/Downloads/jabberwocky.pdf 

WEEK OF MAY 12:  Standards: RL1; RL5; RL8:  CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7   "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain found here: https://www.oneida-boces.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1715&dataid=1904&FileName=The%20Celebrated%20Jumping%20Frog%20of%20Calaveras%20County.pdf

WEEK OF MAY 19:  Standards: RL2; R35; RL8:  CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7  “ The Smallest Dragonboy by Anne McCaffrey    found here: https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781476781617/9781476781617___4.htm  
WEEK OF MAY 26:  (THE EPIC!) Standards:  RL..2, RL..3, RL..4, RL..5, RL..6 : Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and The Odyssey section one (Polyphemus) found here: https://mnet.mwpai.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/Odysseus_and_the_Cyclops.pdf 

WEEK OF JUNE 2:  (THE EPIC!)  Standards: Standards:  RL..2, RL..3, RL..4, RL..5, RL..6 : Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and The Odyssey Odyssey books 11 and 12 (finish Polyphemus)  found here: https://mnet.mwpai.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/Odysseus_and_the_Cyclops.pdf  

WEEK OF JUNE 9:  (THE EPIC!) Standards: Standards:  RL..2, RL..3, RL..4, RL..5, RL..6 : Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and The Odyssey books 11 and 12 (Cattle of the Sun God and Journey to the Underworld) found here: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D1  and here https://theodysseyonline.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/3/2/15321652/book_12_complete.pdf  

WEEK OF JUNE 16:  Standards: : RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL..7, RL.10; SL.1; L.1, L.2, L.4
 “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow PDF found here:  https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/Paul%20Revere%27s%20Ride%2C%20full%20text.pdf

WEEK OF JUNE 23:  STANDARDS: RL.7.1, RL.7.2, RL.7.4; W.7.1, W.7.4, W.7.7, W.7.9; SL.7.1; L.7.1, L.7.2, L.7.4: “Ransom of Red Chief” O Henry. PDF found here: http://www.kelleytown.com/Shared%20Files/The%20Ransom%20of%20Red%20Chief.pdf    

WEEK OF JUNE 30:  RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.2, RL.9-10.3, RL.9-10.4, RL.9-10.5 : “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 JULY 7:  Standards: RL.1, RL.2,RL.4, RL.6 
 Text: “The Story Teller” by Saki PDF found here: https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/Storyteller.html   

WEEK OF JULY 14:  Standards: : RL.5, RL.6,RL.7, RL.8; RL.1; “The White Umbrella” by Gish Jen PDF found here: https://mrcampbellrocks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/whiteumbrella.pdf    

WEEK OF JULY 21:  Standards: RL1, RL. 2, RL. 4; SL.1; L..1, L..2, L..4  “The Treasure of Lemon Brown by Walter Dean Meyers PDF found here: https://www.hasd.org/faculty/alysonnewhouse/lemonbrown.pdf

WEEK OF JULY 28:  Standards: RL.1, RL. 2, RL. 3; SL..1 L..1, L..2, L..5
 “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara PDF found here: https://www.remsencsd.org/cms/lib/NY01913914/Centricity/Domain/46/RaymondsRun.pdf