1

CONTENT ORGANIZER: 12.3C

Content Organizer
Curriculum Framework Essential Understandings

“Virginia Standard of Learning-English 11.7a:

The student will:

a) Generate, gather, plan, and organize ideas for writing.”
(Virginia Board of Education, 2003).

FOCUS:
At the eleventh-grade level, students will write in a variety of forms with an emphasis on
persuasive essays and professional correspondence. Students will use their knowledge of genres,
formats, purposes, audiences, and situations to produce clear and effective products that reflect
use of all stages of a writing process.” (Virginia Board of Education, 2004).

“ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS:

All students should

• understand a writing process
• locate and select appropriate information that clearly supports a definite purpose and position

“ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PROCESSES:

To be successful with this standard, students are expected to:

• plan and organize ideas for writing
• develop a clear focus for writing
• understand a variety of organizational patterns
• elaborate ideas clearly and accurately
• use specific revision strategies and adapt content, vocabulary, voice, and tone to audience, purpose, and
situation
• revise writing for accuracy and depth of information
use MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association) style for
documentation.”
(Virginia Board of Education, 2004).

Materials and Lesson Preparation

I will print out the hand-out “Edgar Allan Poe-‘The Fall of the House of Usher’” (Web English
Teacher, 2010) for each student in the class so that they will be able to complete their group
work assignment and each student will have notes. I will make sure to make extra copies. I will
also tell the class to bring their laptops (one-to-one county like Henrico) to class for the online
quiz at the Poe Museum website.
• I am going to re-read Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” which the students had to read
for homework the night previous and have them give details from it on the bus ride to the
Edgar Allan Poe Museum.
 2
CONTENT ORGANIZER: 12.3C

Content Information and Vocabulary

Vocabulary words:
Go over the unique sentences students create using these vocabulary words in the correct context
(once they have looked up their definitions in an online dictionary) at the beginning of the
following class.
1. Pervade
2. Melancholy
3. Sublime
4. Importunate
5. Malady
6. Alleviation
7. Equivocal
8. Patrimony
9. Gossamer
10. Anomalous

• Introductory Set: I will ask students to turn in their five-paragraph essay on the dramatic
reading or acting of Poe’s works during the tour of the Edgar Allan Poe museum the
previous day. Before students hand these in, I will ask them to present the essays from
their desks, reading them aloud. We will then discuss as a class, for a grade of
participation, how the acting/dramatic reading enhanced the mood of Poe’s works during
the tour. I will then ask for volunteers for responses to “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
• Lesson Development: We will then continue the class by having students log-on to their
laptops (assuming they are provided by the county as in Henrico’s one-to-one program),
and take the ten question online quiz on the Poe museum website (Wilson, 2010).
Students will take the quiz and then determine how well they have done. We will share
the answers together as a class. I will then begin calling on students to start reading Poe’s
“The Fall of the House of Usher” aloud to the class. Once this reading is finished, I will
give out a hand-out (Web English Teacher, 2010) of eight questions on Poe’s “The Fall
of the House of Usher” to students and divide students into groups of 4 or 5 depending on
the class size. Students must each place their names on the paper and come up with
answers to the questions to be presented in front of the class and then turned in for a
grade. These questions will prompt an in-class discussion on “The Fall of the House of
Usher” and its meaning, during which students must actively listen, participate, and take
notes. The group work will be handed-in to me after it is presented.
• Closure: Students will be able to provide their own personal responses to “The Fall of
the House of Usher” in a five-paragraph formal essay to be composed and turned-in
during the last 20 minutes of class.
• Homework: Students will read the white board which has tonight’s assignment listed and
copy this down at the end of the class period. Some vocabulary words will be listed and
students will need to create original sentences using these words in correct context after
they have looked up the definitions in an online dictionary. The rest of the homework
listed will be to read Poe’s “The Raven” and to be ready to verbally answer questions on
 3
CONTENT ORGANIZER: 12.3C
“The Raven” and have a class discussion on it the next class period for a grade.
• Formative Assessment: I will be asking students to read “The Fall of the House of
Usher” aloud as a class, and then to get into groups to answer the eight questions on the
Web English Teacher (2010) hand-out on this work. Groups will compose formal
answers, present these to the class as a group, allow questions and class discussion during
their presentations on the meaning of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and turn in
their responses to the eight questions on the hand-out.
• Summative Assessment: Students will be graded fairly and equally based on if they fully
answered the questions on the hand-out as a group and seem to have a good
understanding of the work and on their own individual formal five-paragraph essay
response to “The Fall of the House of Usher” and the meaning they got from the work
and how it affected them personally. Finally, the homework given has the students
reading Poe’s “The Raven” and to be ready to respond to in-class questions and
discussion the following class for a grade.
• Grading Rubric This is the grading rubric for the formal five- paragraph in-class essay
response to “The Fall of the House of Usher” and the meaning they got from reading the
work.
A=93-100
B=92-89
C=88-79
D=78-70
F=69-0
Students will receive an A is their grammar is excellent, their thoughts are well-captured
in compound-complex sentences, they use a five-paragraph essay format with an
introduction, body, and conclusion, and if they capture the main ideas of “The Fall of the
House of Usher.”

Students will receive a B if the grammar exhibited is good, their thoughts are organized,
they use a five-paragraph essay format, and they capture some of the main concepts of
“The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Students will receive a C if they exhibit average grammar skills with some mistakes in
usage and mechanics, if some but not all of their thoughts are organized into paragraphs
that flow well, if they use a five-paragraph essay format, and they capture at least two
main concepts of “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Students will receive a D if they exhibit below-average grammar skills with many
problems in usage and mechanics, if their sentences and paragraphs are somewhat
disorganized, if they use a three-paragraph essay format, and they capture only one
concept or main idea of “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Students will receive a grade of F if their grammar is very poor with numerous mistakes
in usage and mechanics, if they use fragments instead of complete sentences, if their
paragraphs are not organized, if they do not use at least a three-paragraph essay format,
and if do not express any main ideas relating to “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
 4
CONTENT ORGANIZER: 12.3C
Connections – Cross-Curricular and Real-World
Eleventh-grade students need to be able to complete group-work assignments that require team-
work and background reading. This teaches students to be able to rely on others and listen to
other students’ creative ideas. It also motivates students to pay attention when they will be
presenting their answers to the eight-question hand-out to the class, and then turning it in for a
grade. It is also important that 11th grade students have as much practice as possible with being
able to write and to write well, particularly in preparation for the upcoming SATs (along with the
vocabulary words) and for introductory letters to potential employers later in life.