Lesson 1: How can we transform the future?

Lesson Objective

This unit offers a wide variety of literature that will encourage students to consider these questions and more while also exploring texts in the unit’s genre focus, informational text. There is a wide variety of nonfiction selections in this unit, beginning with the newspaper article “Are the New ‘Golden Age’ TV Shows the New Novels?” The speeches “We Choose to Go to the Moon” and “Commencement Address at Wellesley College” as well as personal essays Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, and “How Much Indian Was I?, My Fellow Students Asked” model for students how to use language to express a personal point of view. The informational texts “Community Colleges vs. Technical Schools,” “Overcoming Impostor Syndrome,” and “Booster Staff Investigates” illustrate how to share information from an objective viewpoint. The United States Supreme Court opinions in “Plessy v. Ferguson” offer students strong examples of arguments supported by rhetorical appeals and strong evidence. The excerpt from the classic novella The Metamorphosis allows students to read across genres as well.