Unit Materials for 12th Grade English
Explore the texts and supporting materials used in each unit of 12th Grade English.
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Download the text list for the 2026–27 school year, which includes ISBNs and guidance on ordering quantities.
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"To Be or Not To Be" and other Questions: Making Meaning of Life and Hamlet
Core Texts
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Play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Supporting Texts
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Article: “Dear Men: It's You, Too” by Roxane Gay (The New York Times)
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Short Story: “Gertrude Talks Back” by Margaret Atwood
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Poem: “How I Didn't Get Myself to a Nunnery” by Suzanne Lummis (The New Yorker)
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Podcast: “Act V” (This American Life)
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Transcript: “Act V Podcast Transcript”
- Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading
Klara and the Sun: Heart, Hope and Humanity in the Age of AI
Core Texts
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Book: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Supporting Texts
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Video: “The ChatGPT Revolution” (CBS Reports)
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Excerpt: “Excerpts from Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelley
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Article: “Could AI help cure 'downward spiral' of human loneliness?” by Ian Sample (The Guardian)
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Article: “How COVID taught America about inequity in education” by Clea Simon (The Harvard Gazette)
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Podcast: “If By Chance We Meet Again” by Ira Glass (This American Life)
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Poem: “(First Trimester)” by Craig Santos Perez (Poetry Foundation)
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Poem: “From 'understory'” by Craig Santos Perez (Poetry Foundation)
- Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading
Beyond the Boundaries: Intersectionality, Nonconformity, and Female Friendship in Sula
Core Texts
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Book: Sula by Toni Morrison (Vintage Press, 2004)
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Audiobook: Sula Audiobook
Supporting Texts
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Video: “The urgency of intersectionality” by Kimberlé Crenshaw (TED Talk)
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Poem: “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa
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Poem: “Black Mother Woman” by Audre Lorde
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Article: “Visualizing the Great Migration” by MoMA
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Article: “The Forgotten Northern Origins of Jim Crow” by Steve Luxenberg (Time)
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Video: “African Americans and World War I | The Great War” by PBS Learning
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Video: “Remembering Toni Morrison, An Iconic American Author | NYT News” by The New York Times
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Photo: Please let your light shine on me (Library of Congress)
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Photo: Are they equal in the eyes of the law? (Digital Scholarship Initiatives)
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Article: “The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison” by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
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Excerpt: “All About Love: New Visions” by bell hooks
- Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading
Crossing Borders: Migration, Identity, and Belonging in Exit West
Core Texts
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Book: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
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Book: The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Supporting Texts
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Poem: “Home” by Warsan Shire
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lnfographic: Refugee Data Finder (UNHCR)
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lnfographic: Figures at a glance (UNHCR)
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Video: “What migrants face as they journey through the deadly Darién Gap” (PBS NewsHour)
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Video: “I AM A REFUGEE: Global refugees share their stories” (Global Citizen)
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Article: “Syrian Refugees Share Cherished Cellphone Snaps” (Newsweek)
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Exhibit: Space in Between by Margarita Cabrera (Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College)
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Illustration: Perspective by Thi Bui (p. 63 in The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives)
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Illustration: What Gets Lost by Thi Bui (p. 65 of The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives)
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Excerpt: “"Guests of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa"” by Lev Golinken (pp. 75–80)
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Excerpt: “"The Parent Who Stays"” by Reyna Grande (pp. 81–89)
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Excerpt: “"Refugees and Exiles"” by Marina Lewycka (pp. 129–135)
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Excerpt: “"A Refugee Again"” by Vu Tran (pp. 165–171)
- Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading
Tragicomic Truths: Exploring Identity, Family, and Grief in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home
Core Texts
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Book: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Supporting Texts
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Poem: “Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong” by Ocean Vuong (The Poetry Archive)
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Transcript: “On Personal Expression and Comics with Alison Bechdel” by Noelle Chung (WHRB News)
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Poem: “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop (The Poetry Foundation)
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Article: “Heteronormative Meaning: What Does Heteronormative Mean? Plus, 8 Examples to Know” by Kristen Cochran (Teen Vogue)
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Poem: “Cyrus & the Snakes” by Ada Limón (The Poetry Foundation)
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Short Story: “Nothing Extraordinary” by Jeniffer Kim (Performance Task Mentor Text)
- Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading
