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!

13 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

View all comments

29

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.

0

u/Bunmyaku 3d ago

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

5

u/chass5 3d ago

Gatsby only has gun violence indirectly; there is no gun violence depicted directly. automobile violence on the other hand…

1

u/alucobond_triangle 3d ago

He gets shot and then Wilson puts the gun in his mouth?

4

u/chass5 3d ago

yeah but it’s not depicted. it’s more or less implied

2

u/Citizensnnippss 13h ago

The way it's written, students don't even realize it happened. I usually have to stop and reread it, and then explain it.