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. These standards are aligned to cover reading, literacy, speaking, viewing, and 
basic grammar. 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 grammar 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) 


WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 9: Standards: RL3; RL4; RL5; RL7;  NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “Zero Hour” Ray Bradbury : https://bpb-ca-c1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.winnipegsd.ca/dist/c/368/files/2010/10/Zero-Hour-1t9weds.pdf 

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 16: Standards: RL2; RL1; RL5; RL6; RL 7;  NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant https://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/the_diamond_necklace.pdf & ILLUSTRATION https://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/the-diamond-necklace

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 23: Standards: RL1; RL3; RL4; RL5; RL 7 CC 3 ; NCTE6 Texts: “The Magic Shop” H G Wells http://public-library.uk/ebooks/59/83.pdf  

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30: RL2; RL5; RL6; RL7; NCTE 3; CC 4; CC 5 CC 6; Texts: “Harrison Bergeron”  Kurt Vonnegut https://www.tnellen.com/westside/harrison.pdf 

WEEK OF OCTOBER 7: Standards: RL3; RL5; RL7; RL 8; CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7;  “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl http://juliestanaway.weebly.com/uploads/9/6/3/1/963190/landlady.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3DSR-3AzeEYe2YVLZUpXmAVKnxDS3ajZzPdq9vSNS1YJ-hBYn7ztZZ74M 

WEEK OF OCTOBER 14:  Standards:  RL1; RL3; RL4; RL6 NCTE 1; NCTE 2; CC 7; CC 10: Text: “The Monkeys Paw” by  W W Jacobs: 
https://www.kyrene.org/cms/lib/AZ01001083/Centricity/Domain/2259/The%20Monkeys%20Paw%20-%20text.pdf

WEEK OF OCTOBER 21: Standards: RL2; RL1; RL5; RL6; RL 7 CC 3 ; NCTE 6; Texts: “The Open Window” by Saki (AND SOME GRAMMAR FUN TOO!)  
https://www.vma.is/static/files/enska/Bokmenntir/Short%20Stories/TheOpenWindowSaki.pdf  

WEEK OF OCTOBER 28: Standards: RL1; RL3; RL4; RL7; RL 8  NCTE 1; NCTE 2; CC 7; CC 10 Text: “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe https://openlibrary-repo.ecampusontario.ca/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1300/1/The-Cask-of-Amontillado-1645716368.pdf


WEEK OF NOVEMBER 4: Standards: RL4; RL6; RL7; RL9; NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury: https://www.chino.k12.ca.us/cms/lib/CA01902308/Centricity/Domain/4327/Soft%20Rains%20Bradbury%20Text.pdf

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11: Standards: RL1; RL2; RL6; RL3; RL8; NCTE 9; CC 1; CC 2; Text: “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker: https://harpers.org/archive/1973/04/everyday-use/

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18: Standards: RL3; RL5; RL7; RL4; NCTE 4; CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; CC 3; NCTE 6, 1 & 7 Texts: (Poetry focus): “Growing Down,” “The Clockman” ~Shel Silverstein & "Sonnet 116" Shakespeare, “The Road Not Taken” ~Robert Frost https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/growing-down ; https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-clock-man ; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45090/sonnet-29-when-in-disgrace-with-fortune-and-mens-eyes; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 25: THERE WILL BE NO CLASSES FROM NOVEMBER 27TH TO NOVEMBER 30TH FOR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS 
For class on November 26: Standards: ELA RL..1; ELA RL.2; ELA RL.6; RL..10; ELA RL5; ELA L.1; ELA L.0.2; Common Core Writing Standard 1, W.9-10.6“The Lady of the Tiger?” by Frank R Stockton https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/396/pg396-images.html 


WEEK OF DECEMBER 2: Standards: RL3; RL4; RL6; RL7; RL8; CC 1; CC 2; Text: “The Interlopers” by Saki https://www.edco.ie/_fileupload/The%20Interlopers%20-%20A%20short%20story%20by%20Saki.pdf

WEEK OF DECEMBER 9: Standards: RL1; RL2; RL3; RL5; RL7; CC10; NCTE 1; NCTE 2; Text: “AUDIO ONLY The Snowman - 1986 Audiobook - Read by John Baddeley (Tempo 9516) AUDIOBOOK: https://youtu.be/pKO826q34r0    

WEEK OF DECEMBER 16: Standards: RL3; RL5; RL8; RL4; NCTE 3; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury 
https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/163728/The%20Veldt%20-%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf

WEEK OF DECEMBER 23: THERE WILL BE NO CLASSES FROM DECEMBER 23RD TO DECEMBER 29 DUE TO WINTER HOLIDAY

WEEK OF DECEMBER 30: Standards: RL1; RL2; RL6; RL8; NCTE 9; NCTE 4; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst http://jjett.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/97072218/The_Scarlet_Ibis.pdf

WEEK OF JANUARY 6: Standards: RL3; RL5; RL6; RL7; RL8; CC 1; CC 2; Text: “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Through-the-Tunnel-Lessing-Doris.pdf

WEEK OF JANUARY 13: Standards: RL4; RL6; RL7; RL3; RL8; NCTE 9; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; Text: “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell https://ia802708.us.archive.org/9/items/TheMostDangerousGame_233/connell_richard_edward_1893_1949_most_dangerous_game.pdf

WEEK OF JANUARY 20: Standards: RL2; RL4; RL7; RL8; NCTE 1 & 7; NCTE 6; CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; Text: “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/ASoundofThunder.pdf

WEEK OF JANUARY 27: Standards: RL3; RL5; RL6; RL7; CC 4; CC 5; CC 6; NCTE 3; Text: “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib/IL01001538/Centricity/Domain/361/jackson_lottery.pdf

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