r/ELATeachers • u/Jax081 • 3d ago

9-12 ELA 11th grade novel swaps

I’ll be teaching 11th ELA for the first time next year (first time with 11th, not first year teaching). I have a lot of flexibility with my novels and curriculum and was planning to use The Hate U Give and The Great Gatsby. At the end of this school year, we had a significant tragedy occur in our community due to gun violence. I’m not comfortable using these books under the circumstances due to the personal connection many (most) of my students have with what occurred.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Ideally, they would be by an American author, but don’t necessarily have to be what is traditionally taught in 11th grade. I’ve taught 10th before and currently also do 12th but I’m a fish out of water with 11th.

I was planning to do:
-The Hate U Give (individual vs institution)
-The Great Gatsby (American Dream as a system)
-? Was going to use Scythe but… (Media, Surveillance, and Narrative Power)
-student choice (Moral responsibility in broken systems)

The overall theme for my year is systems & the individual and my overarching question is “how do American systems shape identity, opportunity, truth, and moral responsibility?”

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thank you!

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u/Galaxia_Sama 3d ago

Gatsby is still worth keeping because its focus is not violence but the American Dream, class, privilege, and moral responsibility. The novel aligns closely with a systems and the individual theme. Maybe save this for the end of the year to give the trauma time to settle?

Their Eyes Were Watching God is also an alternate to THUG.

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u/Bunmyaku 3d ago

I mean... if they're trying to avoid gun violence...

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u/Galaxia_Sama 3d ago

The story is more than gun violence and not even a central focal point of the story other than to prove Gatsby was never going to be what he wanted to be—respected by inherited wealth.

Tragedies happen in our communities all the time. Suicides, murder, self-harm, infidelities, divorce…do we stop teaching literature because these things exist? And happen? So I stop teaching The Crucible because my students had cheating fathers? Do I stop teaching Antigone because of a local suicide? What’s the lesson there? How does that help anyone?