While there are many thematic topics woven throughout this English 9В unit and novels, theВ supplemental Composition Projects will focus on the themes of beauty and racism, particularly on how our societyвЂ™s ideas about race and beauty impact the individual. While the Composition Projects may occasionally include content unrelated to English 9, most have both a skill and content connection to the work students are doing in their EnglishВ 9 class. For teachers who are interested in including these Composition Projects but do not have a separate Composition course, we have included a вЂњSuggested PlacementвЂќ to note where these projects would most logically fit into the English unit. Below, we have included Supplementary Composition Projects to reflect the material covered in our Composition course. Both of these connections should be made by the teacher during this unit.ДЄt Match, students have a Composition class 4 days per week in addition to English class.

Additionally, in the first unit of this year, students explored the theme of identity and the many factors that contribute to individual identity. In their eighth grade year, students read Fences by August Wilson and were introduced to the idea of authors as social commentators. Specifically, through juxtaposing Claudia and PecolaвЂ™s lives, we see how a loving and supportive home can strengthen a childвЂ™s response to these pressures, while for the most vulnerable (Pecola) they can be devastating. The role of authors as change agents in our society is a question that students will address towards the end of the unit, and by the time they complete the novel, students should be able to express in some way that through her novel, Morrison is commenting on the impact of notions of beauty and love (as defined by the culture of power) on black Americans. Symbols: the house, blue (est) eye, marigolds/flowers/seeds.Motifs: seasons and nature, Dick and Jane story, color/whiteness, vision and seeing, cleanliness and dirtiness.Thematic topics: racism, love, community, power, beauty.In addition to racism and its impact on the individual and society, students will also explore the additional thematic topics, symbols, and motifs that Morrison employs in the novel to convey her powerful message. 210) The impact of racial stereotypes on the identity development of young black women and men plays a central role in both the novel and the paired texts. In her novel, The Bluest Eye, author Toni Morrison explores what she describes in her own words as вЂњhow something as grotesque as the demonization of an entire race could take root inside the most delicate member of society: a child the most vulnerable member: a female.вЂќ (Morrison, p. In this second unit of the year students will continue to investigate the thematic topic of identity, focusing specifically on how societal influences such as racism impact the development of an individualвЂ™s sense of self. Due to the mature nature of the topics and themes of the book (race, class, identity, exploitation, sex) the teacher should prepare, along with his/her instructional leader, how s/he will address these topics with sensitivity in an academic setting prior to beginning the unit.

The novel contains explicit descriptions of sexual encounters and sexual violence including rape and incest. Important Note: This novel is both on the Common Core suggested text list and has been banned in a number of school districts around the country.

The bluest eye spring