Page 124 - ELA_CA_HighSchool_Sampler_Flipbook

30 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Senior English
ACTIVITY 1.9
Another Perspective on the World
PLAN TEACH
LEARNING STRATEGIES:
Sketching, Quickwrite, Visualizing, Graphic Organizer
Literary Terms
A prologue is the introduction or preface to a literary work.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Although Ralph Ellison’s novelistic output is small, its influence is huge. Ellison (1914–1994) is best known for his novel Invisible Man (1952).
In his masterpiece, an unnamed narrator struggles against racism and
urban alienation to find an identity. Ellison employs an all-embracing style—combining elements of African American folklore, Native American mythology, and classical allusions—which he likens to a jazz musician’s improvisation on traditional themes. Ellison is also known for his short stories and for nonfiction writing on literature, music, and African American issues. Though Ellison detested being labeled a black writer, he accepted the label minority writer, because, as he put it, “the individual is a minority.”
Prologue
ACTIVITY 1. 9
Suggested Pacing: 2 50-minute class periods
1 Read the Preview and the Setting a Purpose for Reading sections with your students. Introduce the idea of a prologue, or introductory passage or speech before the main action of a novel, play, or long poem. Explain that they should highlight lines in the prologue where Ellison conveys what the speaker is and what he is not.
2 FIRST READ: Based on the complexity of the passage and your knowledge of your students, you may choose to conduct the first reading in a variety of ways:
• independent reading • paired reading
• small group reading • choral reading
• read aloud
Text Complexity Overall: Accessible
Lexile: 950L
Qualitative: Moderate Difficulty Task: Challenging (Create)
3 As students are reading, monitor their progress. Be sure they are engaged with the text and marking examples of self-perceptions. Evaluate whether the selected reading mode is effective.
My Notes
Learning Targets
• Analyze a literary passage for style, craft, and syntax.
• Design a visual representation of the imagery in a written text.
• Using vivid imagery and varied syntax, write a paragraph presenting a self-perception.
Preview
In this activity, you will read the prologue from a novel and analyze the author’s
style and craft. Then you will craft your own text, using the prologue as a model.
Setting a Purpose for Reading
• As you read the prologue, highlight images the author uses to convey what he is and what he is not.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
30 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Senior English
ectoplasm: supposedly an energy substance that is the physical form of a spirit or ghost
epidermis: the top, outer layer of the skin
disposition: characteristic way of thinking or behaving
9781457304682_TCB_SE_G12_U1_B1.indd 30
RL.11–12.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
L.11–12.3: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, of fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind.
I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.
Nor is my invisibility exactly a matter of a biochemical accident to my epidermis. That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact. A matter of the construction of their inner eyes,
from
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
L.11–12.3a: Vary syntax for effect, consulting references (e.g., Tufte’s Artful Sentences) for guidance as needed; apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts
when reading.
Additional Standards Addressed:
RL.11–12.4; RL.11–12.10; W.11–12.10; L.11–12.6
Focus Standards:
10/6/15 4:07 PM
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.