Dear Families, Thank you for a great first six weeks filled with wonderful discussions, insights, and stories! Watching our students’ imaginations come alive on paper and in the classroom was an encouraging and exciting way to start the year, and we know they will only continue to grow as readers and writers. During the first half of this unit, students will read, analyze, and make thematic connections among American drama, thematically-connected poetry, and informational texts that provide details about the sociohistorical context surrounding these literary works. Using the script from the award-winning musical, Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, students will make cross-curriculum connections between their studies in US history and contemporary social life. During the second half of this unit, students will develop a deeper understanding of how playwrights can present a unique perspective on contemporary social issues as they write their own literary analysis essays about the sociocultural significance of a specific scene in Hamilton. During the second six weeks, all eleventh grade ELA students in EMS-ISD will have two writing assessments that will be given before and after the writing unit. Teachers will use these assessments to drive instructional decisions and measure growth in writing over the course of the unit. Moreover, these assessments create an opportunity for teachers to evaluate their students’ ability to transfer the skills that have been taught when students write independently. This approach reflects our goal of nurturing great writers rather than simply producing great pieces of writing. The first writing assessment will be administered at the beginning of the unit and is designed to provide information for teachers about individual student needs as they plan for instruction. The second writing assessment will be administered at the end of the unit and creates an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they have learned during this particular unit. The second assessment will be graded using a standards-based rubric. The district common reading assessment will take place during the unit. We encourage you to speak with your students about what they are reading, writing, and learning in class. Be sure to continually review their performance via Skyward Access. Respectfully, EMS-ISD 11th Grade ELA Teachers