KAKhaemenes AcademyEnglish 9 · Unit 5
High SchoolLanguage Arts

Term II · Weeks 13–15

Unit 05

Drama, Choice & Consequence

Read drama as literature and performance, examining dramatic structure, stagecraft, character motivation, conflict, and interpretation.

Begin Week 13Unit OverviewAssessments

Essential Question

How does drama place competing duties, values, and consequences into public view?

Text and Source Family

Sophocles’ Antigone or Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, with shorter scenes from world drama.

Learning Priorities

  • Read closely and cite precise textual evidence.
  • Write through planning, drafting, feedback, revision, editing, and reflection.
  • Use language conventions and vocabulary as tools for meaning and style.
  • Discuss, present, listen, question, and respond with intellectual fairness.
  • Preserve major work in the Grade 9 portfolio.

Open sustained drama readings · Weeks 13–15

Unit 5 required reading · Rain on the Roof

Original Khaemenes Academy passage for Grade 9; available offline.

Rain counted softly / across the empty hall; / a lamp made one bright circle / against the evening wall.

Outside, the gutters roared / beneath the rushing street; / inside, a single whisper / gave the storm a beat.

Focus: Poetry. Read twice. Underline two specific details, explain how they support or complicate an interpretation, and write an evidence-based paragraph relevant to this unit's focus. Keep the paragraph in your existing portfolio; revisit it during Weeks 13–15.

Unit reading-response assessment · 100 points

After completing the unit reading, submit a response in the existing portfolio. Your teacher can use this rubric for feedback; this page does not automatically change your grade or mastery status.

Reading response scoring guide
CriterionPointsWhat strong work demonstrates
Comprehension20Accurately explains the text without inventing details.
Textual evidence25Uses specific, accurately contextualized quotations or details.
Interpretation25Explains how evidence supports a nuanced interpretation and acknowledges uncertainty.
Writing clarity15Organizes claims and reasoning in clear, precise language.
Revision15Demonstrates a meaningful change after review and explains why it improves the work.

Process: Read and annotate → draft → check quotations → seek feedback → revise → preserve both drafts. If a reading is a brief instructional microtext, also complete the course's longer assigned literature; the microtext does not replace it.

Three-Week Sequence

Read, analyze, compose, and demonstrate.

Week 13

Reading Drama as Literature and Performance

How does a play communicate through words, bodies, space, and silence?

verbals and concise stage directions
Open Week
Week 14

Duty, Power & Consequence

When obligations conflict, how should a person decide?

subordination and logical relationships
Open Week
Week 15

Seminar & Dramatic Interpretation

How can interpretation remain creative while accountable to evidence?

formal register and discussion moves
Open Week

Performance Evidence

Literary analysis, Socratic seminar, and staged interpretation.

Students submit planning, one meaningful draft, feedback or conference notes, the finished product, and a short reflection explaining the strongest revision.

Add to PortfolioOpen RubricsDraft in PROSE

Standards Emphasis

Measured through authentic work.

  • RL.9-10.2–7
  • W.9-10.1–2
  • SL.9-10.1–6
  • L.9-10.3