Austin Simpson

Section III: Unit Standards, Goals, and Objectives

Unit Standards (CDE):
1.2.a.iii: Listen actively in groups to accomplish a goal
1.2.a.iv: Contribute effectively in both small and large groups to collaboratively
accomplish a goal
3.1.a: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
3.3.a: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and
usage when writing or speaking.
3.3.a.i: Use parallel structure.
Unit Goals
Parallelism is a major concept in the English language and mastery of it
can dramatically improve sentence fluency. The CDE standards for 10th grade state that
students need to be able to demonstrate command of standard English grammar and
usage when writing and speaking; and first among the grammatical elements that 10th
graders should focus on is parallelism (standards 3.3.a. and 3.3.a.i.).
Not only is parallelism a key focus in the 10th grade ELA standards, but in the
month that I have been at TVHS, it is clear that there is a need for further parallel
structure instruction. Student writing is riddled with verb tense switches and,
predominantly, with lists that are not parallel (e.g. trains and a bus are public
transportation rather than trains and buses are public transportation). Parallelism is an
easy grammatical element to lose track of, especially when trying to construct longer,
more complex sentences.
My ultimate goal with this unit is to increase students overall mastery of parallel
structure and, by effect, to increase their reading comprehension of complex sentences
and their ability to create their own complex sentences.
Unit Objectives:
Students will demonstrate an initial understanding of parallel structure through
their pretest. Through a range of activities and lessons, we will work through different
dynamics of parallel structure (i.e. how to identify faulty structure, how to fix faulty
structure, how to identify correct structure, etc.), which will eventually develop a wellrounded, in-depth understanding of the concept. The activities will start a relatively basic
level and increase in complexity throughout the week. My hope is that by the time they
take their posttest (which will be identical to the pretest) it will seem extremely basic and
easy compared to when they took it a week prior.