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 JUNE 17: “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara PDF found here: https://www.remsencsd.org/cms/lib/NY01913914/Centricity/Domain/46/RaymondsRun.pdf  STANDARDS: RL.1, RL. 2, RL. 3; SL..1 L..1, L..2, L..5

WEEK OF JUNE 24: “The Fog Horn” by Ray Bradbury PDF found here: https://goms.rocklinusd.org/subsites/Jenny-Salmon/documents/Short%20Story%20Unit/Fog%20Horn%20STORY.pdf STANDARDS: RL.1, RL.2, RL.3; L..1, L.2, L.3; SL.8.1 & “The Dragon” by Ray Bradbury (paired reading): found here: https://crhszajac.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/9/1/25910764/dragon.pdf 

Week of July 1: Standards  NCTE 1; NCTE 2; RL.1, RL.2, RL.3; L..1, L.2, L.3; SL.8.1; Text: “My Father the Cat” Henry Slesar 
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/28119/pg28119-images.html 

Week of July 8: Standards:   RL.1, RL.3, RL.9; “The Catbird Seat” by James Thurber text found here: https://www.columbia.edu/~jjl2217/The_Catbird_Seat_Annotated.pdf 

Week of July 15: Standards: RL 2, RL. 4. RL7;  RL.8 PART 1: “The Great Automatic Grammatizer”  Text found here: https://d-a-v-e.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The_Great_Automatic_Grammatizator.pdf   

Week of July 22: Standards: RL 2, RL. 4. RL7;  RL.8 PART 2: “The Great Automatic Grammatizer”  Text found here: https://d-a-v-e.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The_Great_Automatic_Grammatizator.pdf   

Week of July 29: Standards: RL 1, RL. 3. RL5;  RL.6  CC 2; CC 6; NCTE 1, 4, 8   “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu  text found here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5838a24729687f08e0321a15/t/5bf2bdfa562fa782871c6252/1542635003373/The-Paper-Menagerie+by+Ken+Liu.pdf 

WEEK OF AUGUST 6: RL1; RL4; RL2; RL 5; CC 3 ; NCTE 6; Texts: “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.warrenjfk.com/resource/resmgr/Docs/SRH10Marigolds.

WEEK OF AUGUST 12: Standards: RL3; RL6; RL7; RL 5; CC 1; CC 2; NCTE  4; Text:  “ A Horseman in the Sky” by Ambrose Bierce: https://americanliterature.com/author/ambrose-bierce/short-story/a-horseman-in-the-sky 

WEEK OF AUGUST 19: Standards: RL1; RL4; RL2; RL 6; CC 1; CC 4; CC 7; NCTE 1 & 7; Text: “ The Treasure in the Forest” by H G Wells : https://americanliterature.com/author/hg-wells/short-story/the-treasure-in-the-forest 

WEEK OF AUGUST 26: Standards: RL8; RL3; RL2; RL 5;  CC 3 ; NCTE 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 SEPTEMBER 2: Standards: RL1; RL5; RL8; CC 3 ; NCTE 6; Texts: “Little John Turns Barefoot Friar” ~Howard Pyle https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10148/10148-h/10148-h.htm 

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

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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

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: “The Snowman” O. Henry https://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/the-snow-man

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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