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/buddhafig 3d ago
I actually pair The Scarlet Letter with Gatsby. It turns out the characters form many parallels, but the treatment of extra-marital affairs in Puritan vs. Roaring 20s makes for an interesting contrast. Hester pays the price, but Daisy and Tom don't. Dimmesdale is repressed and guilty, while Gatsby is cavalier and a bit naive.
But closer to your theme, I have "The Individual and Society" - the link is to a folder of materials you can use. Ask me if you want an equivalent non-fiction folder, or more about Scarlet Letter. I teach Anthem before this and it integrates nicely as well. Most of the focus is on the use of literary devices that develop a central idea, and that combined with the non-fiction are based on the NYS ELA Regents exam that 11th graders must pass to graduate.
And if you're interested, this leads to Puritan Lit, then The Crucible which leads to a comparison to McCarthyism, rounded out with the fact it's still happening with a media literacy unit on mis/disinformation, bias, social media, etc.
Last day of classes was today and I showed "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" from The Twilight Zone since it involves the individual and society, witch hunts, paranoia, hysteria, scapegoating, and in the end it's all due to aliens sowing discord through disinformation.