Students explore the factors that contribute to and impact one’s personal identity through their reading of short stories, poems, and nonfiction.

Students explore how Trevor Noah leverages elements of fiction such as characterization, figurative language, and tone to develop his complex argument about institutional racism and its impact on identity development.

In this unit, students read John Steinbeck's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, and the 2011 nonfiction text, The Central Park Five by Sarah Burns. 

Students examine what it means to come of age and be disenfranchised as a female undocumented immigrant in a community plagued by machismo culture.

Through their reading of Shakespeare's play and supplemental texts, students examine the thematic idea of desirability and its relationship to societal messages generated by contemporary phobias and ideologies.