Outlines for Conceptual Units.
If you would like to recommend additional titles for this list, please send the title, author, and appropriate unit to smago@uga.edu. If you have a whole outline (texts and key concepts and problems) for a unit not listed here, please send it along as well, and I'll be happy to credit you. And if you have any Handy Links that I've overlooked, I'd be grateful if you'd share them with me. Thanks! Also: Please keep in mind that this project is a work in progress. Some of the units--or perhaps all of them--are still under construction.
I always appreciate your comments and suggestions on how to improve and expand them. This page provides outlines for conceptual units of instruction of the sort found in the Virtual Library of Conceptual Units. For each unit I provide a set of possible texts and a possible conceptual focus.
Keep in mind that my intention here is to suggest possibilities rather than to prescribe a curriculum; there are many other units that you could develop, and different texts and focuses for each of the units that I outline. The lists of texts are intended to be responsive to a range of readers in terms of age, reading ability, interests, and so on, so that the unit themes could be adapted to readers of different grade levels, communities, etc. The lists include both canonical works and less familiar texts, including literature, film, and popular music. There are far more texts listed than you would ever teach in any single unit; rather, the idea is to provide an idea of what is possible for teaching a particular theme.
I would always hope that any teacher using these lists would use her own knowledge and imagination to make the instruction work for her own students and circumstances. I've also tried to make this site as versatile as possible. In addition to the links to websites related to the various themes, I've linked (when possible) each text to an online version so that you can preview the literature when considering possibilities. I've further provided links to images and news stories that fit with each unit focus. And wherever possible, I link themes to teen writing available on the web.
Online Instructor's Guide for Smagorinsky, P. (2008). Teaching English by design: How to create and carry out instructional units. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
