ELA 8: American Voices—Semester B

All-American Shmoop

  • Credit Recovery Enabled
  • Course Length: 18 weeks
  • Course Type: Basic
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • Middle School

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Whether you're a mega-fan of Semester A returning for more, or a first timer, the second semester of our ELA 8 course has something for everyone.

Each of the units in our eighteen-week Semester B course focuses on a different informational, literature, and language Common Core standard. The units culminate in a final project and unit test, with many benchmark and mirror assessments along the way. The variety of activities, varied to appeal to all types of learners, each have suggestions for differentiation and extension, so you can tailor the course to your special Shmooper.

This semester is where the magic happens: the skills we set up in Semester A help the students analyze and think critically in ways they never have before.

Semester B will cover:

  • Comparing work from multiple sources, the research paper, active vs. passive voice, root words
  • Poetry, theater, and performance, written rhetoric, figurative and descriptive language 
  • Analyzing author's purpose and perspective, the analytical essay, denotation and connotation
  • Allegory and symbolism, narrative writing, roots, the editing and revising process

So…who's ready for another serving of all-American Shmoop? Looking for Semester A? Check it out here.


Unit Breakdown

4 ELA 8: American Voices—Semester B - Making Change in America

Think of Unit 4 as the hipcat sequel to Unit 3: it's another research paper, but a new semester, and all about the 1960s and the Vietnam War. Building off last unit's research skills, we'll push our critical thinking even further by comparing work through multiple sources—Fallen Angels and Vietnam War-inspired music, primary sources, poetry, and short stories. Along the way, we'll even work on both active vs. passive voice and root words. Now that's war for you, Shmoopers.

5 ELA 8: American Voices—Semester B - So They Say: Plays, Speeches, and the Gift of Gab

Unit 5 is all about how to use figurative language to make work come alive. This can take the form of stage directions in Raisin in the Sun, speaking and listening skills in slam poetry, or rhetorical skills in creating your own monologue. You know what they say, Shmooper—all the world's a stage.

6 ELA 8: American Voices—Semester B - Activism Starts Here

What do we want? A unit about author's perspective and protest lit! When do we want it? Now! Unit 6 presents The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and some of the best protest speeches, poetry, and comedy of the American canon. You'll be laughing—and analyzing author's purpose, writing fierce analytical essays, and really getting to the bottom of denotation and connotation for subversive word usage.

7 ELA 8: American Voices—Semester B - Do the Right Thing

This course finishes with a thoughtful unit on the book and film Speak, as well as a number of all-American poems and personal narratives. Yeah, we said "narratives"—that's the name of the game in Unit 7. While working on symbolism, allegory, and another take on root words, we'll focus on an extensive writer's workshop of our own personal narratives to finish off middle school, taking Shmoopers from brainstorming to that elusive difference between editing and revision. (It's there. We promise.)


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 4.03: Arriving in 'Nam

Welcome to the Vietnam War. We would tell you where the exits are, but you won't actually be leaving until 1975.

We're going to start this road trip with a few excerpts from Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. This novel is not your lighthearted angsty high school drama that culminates in a school dance.

No, we're in Vietnam, and the world is about to get real. Real tough, real hard, real everything.

Fallen Angels is a novel, and one of the trademark traits of a novel is that it's fiction. However, though the story is made up, there is still a lot of truth in what Myers writes, especially when it comes to characters' emotions and actions.


Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 4.4.03a: Pre-Reading Activity

Shmoopers, we're going to be in 'Nam for a while, but we have to get there first. So does Richie Perry, our intrepid protagonist in Fallen Angels. Before you head off into your novel, check out the first video on this list, "Arriving in Vietnam," about what American veterans remember about their arrival in Vietnam.

As you watch each video, think about the following ideas and write your responses on the Pre-Reading Sheet:

  • What were soldiers' expectations for what Vietnam would be like?
  • How did the weather affect the soldiers? 
  • How did new people and people who had been there a while differ?

Finally, write three to five words that contain the prefix "anti" in the third box on your Roots Vocabulary Sheet.


Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 4.4.03b: New Places, New Faces

Nothing against Walter Dean Myers (he's our fave), but much like in other units, we're only going to read excerpts of Fallen Angels in Unit 4, not the whole thing. But we'd of course recommend starting at the very beginning and going all the way to the end, especially if you're looking for a pretty fantastic, gritty, realistic read.

Before you arrive with Richie at the base in Vietnam, you should know a couple things about the novel. First of all, it's often challenged by parents and school boards for two reasons: language and realism.

For one, this means that there will be hurtful words, like racial and homophobic slurs, in the novel. Just because these words are there doesn't make them right. For another, there will be violence and prejudice in the novel, and it won't fade to black like a PG movie. We'll give you a heads-up about these two things. This time, keep an eye out for the hurtful language—and think about why people might use it.

Got it?

Good. Pull out your fresh, pristine copy of Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, and crack that spine. By the end of this unit, that book will be dog-eared and well used. If that's not a metaphor for Vietnam, we don't know what is.

Today, you're going to read pages 6–24 of the novel, starting with "Okay, listen up!" on page 6 and ending with "wherever the hell Chu Lai was" on page 24.

As you read, you want to annotate. What does Shmoop mean by this? Let us be clear: we're going to give you some things to look out for, and you scribble all over your book to show you're interacting with it. Mark the page of your book up with an underline, comment, or question whenever you come across answers to the following questions:

  • How is this part of the novel similar to or different from the veterans you saw in the Pre-Reading Activity?
  • What does Vietnam look like, and what does Richie think about this difference?
  • What are two text-to-text connections you can make between this section and the brief history of the Vietnam War you read in Lesson 2?
  • Who are Richie Perry and Peewee, and what do we infer about what they value, how they feel about Vietnam, and their temperaments?

Check out what an annotated book looks like here, and then head over to your reading.


Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 4.03a: Prove It!

Now that you've annotated your novel, take photos of three of your best annotations in Fallen Angels upload them here.

What qualifies an annotation as the "best"? That's easy—it's when you actually have something to say about the text. You may have a rockin' connection, question, or some other fabulous annotation. (Don't just upload a picture of lots of underlines—that likely won't impress your teacher the way a text connection in the margins to a modern-day war or situation would.)


Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 4.03b: Close Reading

There's a lot of subtle racism in the novel, and then there's some totally blatant racism, too. Let's do a little close reading of a couple sections to really nail both the main characters Richie and Peewee and check out what they have to contend with as African-American soldiers over in Vietnam.

Reread the section from pages 12–13 in the novel and answer the embedded questions. (Hint: you can use any annotations from your book to help you with this part.) Answer the questions in at least fifty words each, explaining how you arrived at your opinion using a cited quote from each passage.

    1. "Hey, you!" he sat up and called to the Vietnamese woman. "Mama Cong!"

      The woman looked at him, shrugged, and then turned away.

      "Mama Cong!'' he repeated, louder.

      "She probably doesn't even understand English," I said. A couple of other guys had turned to see what Peewee was doing.

      "Watch if she don't split," Peewee said.

      Why might Peewee be disrespectful to the Vietnamese woman?

    2. The woman turned again and looked at Peewee. Then she left.

      "See!" There was a big smile on his face. "She's a Cong, that's why she left. She know Peewee got her number."

      Does Peewee believe this? Does Perry? What makes you think this?

    3. "If you talked crazy at me," a heavy, red-faced guy called over to Peewee, "I'd leave, too."

      "That's cause you probably a Cong, '' Peewee said. "And you a ugly-ass Cong, too."

      Why does Peewee respond the way he does to the red-faced (infer: white) guy?

    4. The guy stood up. He seemed twice as big standing as he did sitting. He came over to Peewee's bunk and put his foot on Peewee's bed.

      "Boy," he said, "I just finished seven months of ranger training, learning how to kill little people like you. So why don't you just shut up?"

      Why is calling Peewee "boy" such an insult? (If you don't already know the history of the word, read the first four paragraphs of this article.)


    5. "Yo, you, what's your name?" Peewee called over to me.

      "Perry."

      "Perry, did this peckerwood just call me 'boy'?"

      Why does Peewee ask this question if he knows the answer to it? He just heard the man. Why shoot his mouth off?

    6. "I think you'd better leave him alone," I said. "Yeah, but did he just call me 'boy'?"

      "I can answer for myself," the ranger said. "Yes, I did call you 'boy,' Boy!"

      Peewee turned and looked as if he were going to put his feet on the floor. Instead he shot both legs into the ranger's crotch. The big man doubled over, and Peewee punched him on the side of the head. Then he laid back, put his hand under his pillow, and pulled out a knife, which clicked open with a flick of the wrist.

      "Now you can get up and start beating on me if you want," Peewee said. "But if you do, I'm going to cut your damn throat soon's you go to sleep."

      What does Peewee's action reveal about both his sense of self and his ability to survive?

  1. The ranger got up, looked at Peewee, and started sputtering something about if Peewee didn't have the knife what he would do. I put Peewee in the letter to Mama.
    1. The ranger is trying to save face in front of the other men. Why?

    2. Based on this one instance, what can we infer about Peewee's values and character?

    3. How can Peewee be so defensive about racist behavior towards himself and yet treat the Vietnamese woman the way he does?

    4. What do you think Richie will tell his mother about Peewee? What might he leave out and why?