English 12: Literature

Hawthorne, Chopin, Bierce, Whitman, Poe, Irving, Thoreau and Twain, American Modernism, Douglass, and court reasoning in Korematsu, Plessy and Brown, and Tinker. Students also choose a text and begin an independent analysis: gather evidence, draft, revise with feedback.

• 1 · Welcome to English 12: The Capstone of Your Reading Journey
• 2 · Interacting Themes in Hawthorne's “Young Goodman Brown”
• 3 · Stated vs. Meant: Irony in Chopin's “The Story of an Hour”
• 4 · Structural Time Manipulation in Bierce's “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
• 6 · Cumulative Word Choice: Whitman's Pun on “Leaves” in “Song of Myself”
• 7 · Literary-Period Synthesis: Bradstreet, Emerson, and Twain on the American Self
• 8 · Legal Reasoning: Korematsu v. United States, Majority and Dissent
• 9 · Cross-Document Synthesis: The Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address
• 11 · The Tell-Tale Heart: Building a Precise Analytical Vocabulary
• 12 · Tracing American Modernism: From Realism to the Harlem Renaissance
• 13 · Frederick Douglass and the Power of Sustained Understatement
• 14 · Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board: Comparing Legal Reasoning Across Eras
• 16 · Bartleby, the Scrivener and the Cumulative Effect of Repetition
• 17 · Independent Analysis: Choosing Your Own Sophisticated Text
• 18 · Independent Analysis: Gathering Textual Evidence
• 19 · Comprehensive Mixed Review: Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death”
• 21 · Independent Analysis: Drafting Your Response
• 22 · Analyzing Poe’s “Annabel Lee” and Its Treatment of Mortality
• 23 · Analyzing Transformation in Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”
• 24 · Delineating and Evaluating Reasoning in Tinker v. Des Moines
• 26 · Independent Analysis: Revising with Feedback
• 27 · Legacy Versus Reinvention in Thoreau’s Walden
• 28 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 2: Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?”
• 29 · Timed Reading Practice: Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”

Plus 6 review days, not listed.

Hawthorne's stories, Poe's The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher, Bryant, Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, Dickinson, Longfellow and Emerson alongside Federalist Nos. 10 and 51, Schenck, Brandenburg, Miranda, Marbury and Dred Scott. Includes a first explainer project and reading list.

• 31 · Hawthorne’s “The Ambitious Guest”: Ambition Versus Contentment
• 32 · Hawthorne’s “The Celestial Railroad”: Analyzing an Extended Allegory
• 33 · Schenck v. United States and Brandenburg v. Ohio: Comparing Endings on Free Speech
• 34 · Federalist No. 10: A Foundational Document’s Enduring Relevance
• 36 · Miranda v. Arizona: Delineating Reasoning in a Contemporary Constitutional Debate
• 37 · Poe’s “The Raven”: Analyzing a Text’s Final Word Choice
• 38 · Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life”: Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 3
• 39 · Marbury v. Madison: Evaluating Competing Historical Interpretations
• 41 · Institutional Power as Antagonist: Hawthorne's “The Minister's Black Veil”
• 42 · Full Dramatic Structure: Hawthorne's “Rappaccini's Daughter”
• 43 · Free Will Versus Fate: Bryant's “Thanatopsis”
• 44 · Mixed Reading Passage Set 4: Dickinson's “I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —”
• 46 · Collective Memory: Whittier's “Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl”
• 47 · Assessment-Prep Close Reading: Patrick Henry's “Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!”
• 48 · Testing a Text Against Reality: Dred Scott v. Sandford and Its Overturning
• 49 · Timed Reading Practice: Bryant's “To a Waterfowl”
• 51 · Analyzing Isolation Versus Connection in Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• 52 · Tracing Layered Symbolism in Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”
• 53 · Generational Change in Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans
• 54 · Mixed Reading Passage Set 5: Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride”
• 56 · Explainer Project: Teaching Layered Symbolism
• 57 · Applied Project: Curating a Capstone Reading List
• 58 · Mixed Reading Passage Set 6: Emerson’s “The American Scholar”
• 59 · Timed Reading Practice: Madison’s Federalist No. 51

Plus 6 review days, not listed.

Moral courage in Susan B. Anthony's speech, redemption in Lincoln's Second Inaugural, foreshadowing, Dickinson's I'm Nobody, Gideon v. Wainwright, irony in Poe's The Black Cat, the Bill of Rights and Douglass's What to the Slave. Teaching projects and mixed practice passages fill the rest.

• 61 · Analyzing a Text’s Portrayal of Moral Courage
• 62 · Analyzing a Text’s Use of Foreshadowing at the Structural Level
• 63 · Analyzing a Text’s Treatment of Redemption
• 64 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 7
• 66 · Explainer Project: Teaching Structural Foreshadowing
• 67 · Comparing 2 Texts’ Treatments of Redemption
• 68 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 8
• 69 · Timed Reading Practice: A Sophisticated Passage Set 3
• 71 · Vulnerability as Strength in Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”
• 72 · Understated Triumph in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• 73 · Central Irony in Poe’s “The Black Cat”
• 74 · Mixed Reading Passage Set 9: Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”
• 76 · Timed Reading Practice: The Bill of Rights
• 77 · Explainer Project: Teaching Central Irony with Poe’s “The Black Cat”
• 78 · Applied Project: Recommending Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” to a Younger Reader
• 79 · Mixed Reading Passage Set 10: Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

Plus 4 review days, not listed.

Cumulative reviews, a halfway reflection, a literary timeline, a capstone analysis of a chosen text (choose, gather evidence, draft, revise, present), Federalist No. 84, a family book discussion, a podcast script, and comparing Whitehead's The Underground Railroad with Morrison's Beloved.

• 81 · Cumulative Review: Interacting Themes and Sophisticated POV
• 82 · Cumulative Review: Independent Analysis and Legal Reasoning
• 83 · Cumulative Review: Deepened Thematic and Structural Skills
• 84 · Timed Reading Practice: The Halfway Comprehensive
• 85 · Halfway-Year Reading Growth Reflection
• 86 · Applied Project: Curating a Final K-12 Literary Timeline
• 87 · Explainer Project: Teaching Independent Textual Analysis
• 88 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 11
• 89 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 12
• 91 · Capstone Prep: Choosing a Final Independent Text
• 92 · Capstone: Gathering Textual Evidence
• 93 · Capstone: Drafting the Full Analysis
• 94 · Capstone: Revising with Feedback
• 96 · Capstone: Presentation Prep
• 97 · Capstone: Presentation Delivery
• 98 · Mixed Passage Practice: Federalist No. 84
• 99 · Timed Reading Practice: Douglass’s “West India Emancipation”
• 101 · Applied Project: Leading a Final Family Book Discussion
• 102 · Applied Project: Writing a Literary Podcast Episode Script
• 103 · Reviewing Common Errors in Independent Analysis
• 104 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 14
• 106 · Applied Project: Comparing 2 Award-Winning Recent Texts
• 107 · Explainer Project: Teaching Independent Textual Analysis Applied
• 108 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 15
• 109 · Timed Reading Practice: A Full-Year Mixed Set

Plus 5 review days, not listed.

Dickinson on suffering, Faulkner's A Rose for Emily, Booker T. Washington's Atlanta speech, Whitman's O Captain! My Captain!, Federalist No. 39, Ex parte Milligan, then three rounds of full-year cumulative review, a reading-growth reflection and a K-12 reading journey piece.

• 111 · Analyzing Wisdom Earned Through Suffering: Dickinson’s “After great pain, a formal feeling comes”
• 112 · Analyzing Unreliable Collective Narration: Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
• 113 · Analyzing Inherited Ideals: Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise” Address
• 114 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 16: Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!”
• 116 · Assessment-Prep Close Reading: Madison’s Federalist No. 39
• 117 · Explainer Project: Teaching Unreliable Narration
• 118 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 17: Dickinson’s “The Soul selects her own Society”
• 119 · Timed Reading Practice: A Full-Year Mixed Set 2 — Ex parte Milligan
• 121 · Full-Year English 12 Cumulative Review, Part 1
• 122 · Full-Year English 12 Cumulative Review, Part 2
• 123 · Full-Year English 12 Cumulative Review, Part 3
• 124 · Timed Reading Practice: The Comprehensive Final Passage
• 126 · Explainer Project: Teaching K-12 Reading Skills Synthesis
• 127 · Full-Year Reading Growth Reflection
• 128 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 18
• 129 · Applied Project: A Final K-12 Reading Journey Reflection Piece

Plus 4 review days, not listed.

How texts treat their central questions and reward rereading (Poe), reconciling opposing truths (Whitman, Yick Wo, O. Henry), legacy (Crossing Brooklyn Ferry), restraint, coming to terms (Federalist No. 1), beginning again, circular structure and final images. Many practice passages and explainer projects in between.

• 131 · Analyzing a Text’s Final Assessment of Its Own Central Question
• 132 · Analyzing a Text’s Treatment of What Endures Versus What Fades
• 133 · Analyzing How a Text Rewards Rereading
• 134 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 19
• 136 · Comparing How 2 Texts End Their Central Questions Differently
• 137 · Explainer Project: Teaching How to Reread for Deeper Meaning
• 138 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 20
• 139 · Timed Reading Practice: A Full-Year Mixed Set 3
• 141 · Analyzing a Text’s Treatment of Reconciling Opposing Truths
• 142 · Analyzing Quiet Heroism in Yick Wo v. Hopkins
• 143 · Analyzing the Final Turn in O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi”
• 144 · Mixed Reading Practice: Dickinson’s “Tell all the truth but tell it slant”
• 146 · Explainer Project: Reconciling Opposing Truths in Federalist No. 47
• 147 · Comparing 2 O. Henry Final Turns
• 148 · Mixed Reading Practice: Bryant’s “The Prairies”
• 149 · Timed Reading Practice: Ex parte Endo
• 151 · Analyzing a Text’s Portrayal of Legacy and What We Leave Behind
• 152 · Analyzing a Text’s Use of Restraint and What’s Left Unsaid
• 153 · Analyzing a Text’s Portrayal of Coming to Terms
• 154 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 23
• 156 · Explainer Project: Teaching Restraint and the Unsaid
• 157 · Comparing 2 Texts’ Treatments of Legacy
• 158 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 24
• 159 · Timed Reading Practice: A Sophisticated Passage Set 6
• 161 · Analyzing a Text’s Portrayal of Beginning Again
• 162 · Analyzing a Text’s Use of Circular Structure
• 163 · Analyzing a Text’s Final Image or Symbol
• 164 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 25
• 166 · Explainer Project: Teaching Circular Structure
• 167 · Comparing 2 Texts’ Final Images or Symbols
• 168 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 26
• 169 · Timed Reading Practice: A Sophisticated Passage Set 7

Plus 8 review days, not listed.

Final reviews of theme and structure, point of view and craft, and argument and rhetoric; preparing and giving a capstone presentation; a literary scavenger hunt; a look at a lifetime of reading; and a final reflection.

• 171 · Final Review: Theme, Character, and Structure
• 172 · Final Review: Point of View, Irony, and Craft
• 173 · Final Review: Argument, Rhetoric, and Comparison
• 174 · Preparing a Capstone Presentation: A Year of English 12
• 175 · Delivering Your Capstone Presentation
• 176 · Reflecting on a Year of English 12
• 177 · Literary Scavenger Hunt: Stories All Around You
• 178 · Previewing What's Next: A Lifetime of Reading
• 179 · Final Reflection: My English 12 Journey
• 180 · Congratulations! You completed English 12: Literature!