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Achieve

Achieve is a comprehensive set of interconnected teaching and assessment tools that incorporate the most effective elements from Macmillan Learning's market leading solutions in a single, easy-to-use platform.

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Table of Contents

1 Essential Skills

1.1 Thinking about English Class

ACTIVITY Thinking about English Class

1.2 Making Connections to Yourself and to Others

1.2a Knowing Yourself

Nikki Giovanni, Knoxville, Tennessee

1.2b Knowing Others

ACTIVITY: Making Connections to Yourself and to Others

1.3 Reading Actively

1.3a Annotating Texts

1.3b Model Annotation

Rutger Bregman, from Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World

1.3c Considering Context

1.3d Making Meaning from Texts

ACTIVITY Reading Actively

Aimee Nezhukumatathil, On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance

1.4 Understanding Vocabulary in Context

ACTIVITY Understanding Vocabulary in Context

Nicola Davis, from New Hope of Finding Life on Mars After Indication of Water, Scientists Say

Andy Weir, from The Martian

1.5 Writing Academic Paragraphs

ACTIVITY Writing an Academic Paragraph

1.6 Listening Actively

ACTIVITY Listening Actively

1.7 Engaging in Academic Conversations

ACTIVITY Engaging in Academic Conversations

Adam Grant, from Hidden Potential

1.8 Setting Academic Goals

ACTIVITY Setting Academic Goals

2 Literature

2.1 Thinking about Literature

ACTIVITY Thinking about Literature

Shirley Jackson, from The Haunting of Hill House

2.2 Identifying Theme in Literature

ACTIVITY Identifying Theme in Literature

2.3 Annotating for Theme

2.3a Model Analysis and Interpretation

William Blake, The Tyger

ACTIVITY Annotating for Theme

Naomi Shihab Nye, Famous

2.4 Understanding Elements of Fiction

2.4a Point of View

2.4b Characterization

2.4c Plot and Conflict

2.4d Setting

2.4e Symbolism

ACTIVITY Understanding Elements of Fiction

2.5 Connecting Elements of Fiction to Theme

2.5a Model Analysis

George Saunders, Sticks

ACTIVITY Connecting Elements of Fiction to Theme

Nathaniel Hawthorne, from The Scarlet Letter

2.6 Discussing Interpretations of Literature

ACTIVITY Discussing Interpretations of Literature

Mona Gardner, The Dinner Party

2.7 Understanding Elements of Drama

ACTIVITY Understanding Elements of Drama

Lorraine Hansberry, from A Raisin in the Sun

2.8 Reading Poetry

ACTIVITY Reading Poetry

William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow

2.9 Considering Shifts in Poetry

ACTIVITY Considering Shifts in Poetry

Rachel Hadas, The Red Hat

2.10 Discussing Speaker in Poetry

ACTIVITY Discussing Speaker in Poetry

José Olivarez, Home Court

2.11 Thinking about Poetic Structure

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

2.11a Lines and Stanzas

2.11b Rhyme

2.11c Meter

2.11d Form

ACTIVITY Thinking about Poetic Structure

A. E. Stallings, The School of Dreams

2.12 Considering Sound in Poetry

ACTIVITY Considering Sound in Poetry

Phillis Wheatley Peters, On Being Brought from Africa to America

2.13 Connecting Elements of Poetry to Theme

2.13a Model Analysis

Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

ACTIVITY Connecting Elements of Poetry to Theme

Emily Pauline Johnson, Marshlands

2.14 Understanding Language and Style

Ted Kooser, After Years

2.14a Diction

2.14b Syntax

2.14c Figurative Language

2.14d Imagery

ACTIVITY Understanding Language and Style

Edna St. Vincent Millay, from Renascence

2.15 Analyzing Style and Tone

2.15a Model Analysis

Olga Tokarczuk, from Flights

ACTIVITY Analyzing Style and Tone

Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sympathy

2.16 Analyzing Style and Theme

2.16a Model Analysis

Debora Kuan, Magic Lesson

ACTIVITY Analyzing Style and Theme

Chinua Achebe, from Things Fall Apart

2.17 Analyzing Visual Art

ACTIVITY Analyzing Visual Art

Archibald John Motley Jr., Town of Hope

Mary Cassatt, Summertime, 1894

Jaschi Klein, Konferenzen 17

3 Argument and Rhetoric

3.1 Recognizing Argument and Rhetoric

ACTIVITY Recognizing Arguments

3.2 Identifying Claims

ACTIVITY Identifying Claims

Joyce Kazman Valenza and Debra Kachel, from It’s About Equity

Anthony Chow, from A User- and Community-Centered Perspective

3.3 Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

ACTIVITY Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

Ronald Reagan, Challenger Speech

3.4 Considering a Text’s Evidence

ACTIVITY Considering a Text’s Evidence

Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson, from Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back

3.5 Detecting Bias

Activity: Detecting Bias

Phil Knight, from Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

3.6 Identifying Rhetorical Appeals

3.6a Logos

3.6b Pathos

3.6c Ethos

ACTIVITY Identifying Rhetorical Appeals

3.7 Examining Counterarguments

ACTIVITY Examining Counterarguments

Jonathan Haidt, from The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

3.8 Discussing Differences of Opinion

ACTIVITY Discussing Differences of Opinion

3.9 Understanding Logical Fallacies

ACTIVITY Understanding Logical Fallacies

3.10 Considering Style in an Argument

3.10a Connotative Language

3.10b Figurative Language

3.10c Allusion

3.10d Parallel Structure

3.10e Rhetorical Questions

ACTIVITY Considering Style in an Argument

Elie Wiesel, from Nobel Prize Speech

3.11 Analyzing and Interpreting an Argument

3.11a Model Analysis and Interpretation

Ursula K. Le Guin, from A Left-Handed Commencement Address

ACTIVITY Analyzing and Interpreting an Argument

Arwa Mahdawi, Forget the 5 a.m. Starts! Night Owls Like Me Possess the Real Secret of Success

3.12 Analyzing and Interpreting Visual Arguments

3.12a Images as Arguments

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York

ACTIVITY Interpreting Visual Arguments

4 Academic Writing

4.1 Recognizing the Writing Situation

4.1a Role

4.1b Audience

4.1c Format

4.1d Task

4.1e Tone

4.1f RAFT-T: Writing Situation Elements Together

ACTIVITY Recognizing the Writing Situation

4.2 Understanding a Prompt

ACTIVITY Understanding a Prompt

4.3 Writing a Thesis Statement

ACTIVITY Writing a Thesis Statement

4.4 Planning an Essay

ACTIVITY Planning an Essay

4.5 Writing Introduction Paragraphs

ACTIVITY Writing Introduction Paragraphs

4.6 Evaluating Sources

ACTIVITY Evaluating Sources

Salman Khan, from Brave New Words

4.7 Using Evidence and Commentary

4.7a Evidence

4.7b Commentary

ACTIVITY Using Evidence and Commentary

4.8 Integrating Sources

4.8a Integrating Summaries and Paraphrases

4.8b Integrating Quotations

ACTIVITY Integrating Sources

Joshua R. Eyler, from Failing Our Future

4.9 Synthesizing Sources

Amanda Ripley, from School Should Be About Learning, Not Sports

Frederick M. Hess and Amy Cummings, from The Misguided Sliming of High School Sports

H.G. Bissinger, from Friday Night Lights

ACTIVITY Synthesizing Sources

1. from The Guardian View on Meat: We Need to Eat Less of It

2. Lynne Curry, from The “Eat Less Meat” Movement Is Growing. Does It Distort Science?

3. Frank M. Mitloehner, from Yes, Eating Meat Affects the Environment, But Cows Are Not Killing the Climate

4.10 Writing Conclusion Paragraphs

ACTIVITY Writing Conclusion Paragraphs

4.11 Finalizing an Essay

4.11a Receiving Feedback

4.11b Revising an Essay

4.11c Editing an Essay

ACTIVITY Finalizing an Essay

4.12 Defending Your Writing

ACTIVITY Defending Your Writing

5 Changing the World

Skill Workshop: Understanding Personal Experience in Argument

Malala Yousafzai, Speech to the United Nations Youth Assembly

Section 1

Noah Berlatsky, Let 16-year-olds Vote

Vicki Abeles, Why I Think All Schools Should Abolish Homework

Greta Thunberg, You Did Not Act in Time

Section 2

Central Text: DeRay Mckesson, Bully and the Pulpit

Liz Jensen, After I Lost My Son, I Realized I Needed to Stop Looking for Closure

Jessica Valenti, A Radical Fix to the World’s Wage Gap: Why Not Just Pay Women More — and Men Less?

Dolores Huerta, from Speech at UCLA

Section 3

Zeynep Tufekci, Do Protests Even Work?

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have Been to the Mountaintop

Virginia Woolf, Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid

Changing the World: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Using Personal Experience in an Argument

exploring beyond nonfiction

Shirley Jackson The Lottery

Pablo Picasso Guernica

6 Self-Discovery

Skill Workshop: Understanding Character and Theme in Prose

Judith Ortiz Cofer, Abuela Invents the Zero

Section 1

Billy Collins, On Turning Ten

David A. Robertson, Bookmark

Renée Watson, Half a Moon

Section 2

Central Text: Amy Tan, Rules of the Game

Chetna Maroo, Happiness

Chen Chen, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities

Eugenia W. Collier, Marigolds

Section 3

Oliver de la Paz, In Defense of Small Towns

Amy Silverberg, Suburbia!

James Joyce, Eveline

Self-Discovery: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Writing an Analysis of Character and Theme

Exploring Beyond Literature

Trevor Noah, Chameleon

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas

7 Humanity

Skill Workshop: Understanding Rhetorical Situation

Barbara Bush, Commencement Address

Carl Sagan, A Pale Blue Dot

Section 1

Xochitl Gonzalez, I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Tim Urban, Why Procrastinators Procrastinate

Jeffrey Kluger, How Telling Stories Makes Us Human

Section 2

Central Text: James Baldwin, The Creative Process

Yuval Noah Harari, from Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1

David Palumbo, The AI Lie

Martha C. Nussbaum, What Does It Mean to Be Human? Don’t Ask.

Section 3

Rhiannon Giddens, How Music Shows Us What It Means to Be Human

Francis Fukuyama, Transhumanism

Steven Pinker, A History of Violence

Humanity: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Writing a Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Exploring Beyond Nonfiction

Lyndsey Croal, The Loneliness of Water

Walt Whitman, That Music Always Round Me

8 Cultures, Conflicts, and Connections

Skill Workshop: Understanding a Poem’s Speaker and Meaning

Claude McKay, The Tropics in New York

Adrienne Su, The Chow Mein Years in Atlanta

Section 1

Kari Gunter-Seymour, Oh You Woman of Appalachia

Thomas King, Borders

Jose Olivarez, Ode to Tortillas

Section 2

Central Text: Natasha Trethewey, Enlightenment

Janika Oza, Fish Stories

Richard Blanco, My Father in English

Arah Ko, Haole Girl

Section 3

Alexandra Chang, Li Fan

Oscar Gonzales, We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born

Eavan Boland, An Irish Childhood in England: 1951

Cultures, Conflicts, and Connections: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Writing an Analysis of a Poem’s Speaker

Exploring Beyond Literature

Viet Thanh Nguyen, America, Say My Name

Ernie Barnes, Window Wishing

9 Value

Skill Workshop: Understanding Evidence in Argument

Amy Meuers, To Be the Leaders of Tomorrow, Students Need to Learn Essential Skills — Today

Learn Essential Skills — Today

Section 1

Toni Morrison, The Work You Do, the Person You Are

Marie Colvin, Truth at All Costs

Emi Nietfeld, How the SAT Changed My Life

Section 2

Central Text: Florence Williams, from The Nature Fix

Barack Obama, from Dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Monica Hesse, Tradwives, Stay-at-Home Girlfriends and the Dream of Feminine Leisure

Alfred Archer and Jake Wojtowicz, from Why It's Okay to Be a Sports Fan

Section 3

Ingrid Robeyns, Limitarianism

Bill McKibben, A Shirt Full of Bees

Bryan Caplan, What’s College Good For?

Value: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Writing an Evidence-Based Argument

Exploring Beyond Nonfiction

Tobi Ogundiran, The Clockmaker and His Daughter

Rebin Kheder, Poetry is Dead!

10 Imagined Futures

Skill Workshop: Close Reading of Prose

Cory Doctorow, Printcrime

Section 1

Susan Palwick, Sparrows

Wendy Xu, The Memory of Soil

Margaret Atwood, Oh Children

Section 2

Central Text: Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron

Jacqueline Woodson, Dear Future Ones

Ken Liu, Real Artists

N. K. Jemisin, Valedictorian

Section 3

Kanishk Tantia, Those Left Behind

Tony Hoagland, Peaceful Transition

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, The Era

Imagined Futures: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Writing a Close Analysis of Prose

Exploring Beyond Literature

Walter Mosley, Culture Zone: Black to the Future

Alice Pasquini, Neighbors (a window in the sky)

11 Ethics

Skill Workshop: Understanding Style and Tone in Argument

Cevin Soling, Why I Think Students Should Cheat

Chuck Klosterman, from Why We Look the Other Way

Section 1

Fortesa Latifi, Influencer Parents and the Kids Who Had Their Childhood Made into Content

Peter Singer, Is It Okay to Cheat at Football?

Izzie Ramirez, It’s Time to Break Up with Fast Fashion

Section 2

Central Text: Jamaica Kincaid, from A Small Place

Kevin Sites, from In the Hot Zone

William MacAskill, from What We Owe the Future

Michael Sandel, from The Tyranny of Merit

Section 3

Sam Harris, from Lying

George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant

Nelson Mandela, from An Ideal for Which I Am Prepared to Die

Ethics: Texts in Conversation

Writing Workshop: Writing an Analysis of Tone

Exploring Beyond Nonfiction

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

William Stafford, Traveling through the Dark

12 Power

Skill Workshop: Understanding Literary Argument

Anurag Andra, Cherry Coke & Mint Pulao

Gwendolyn Brooks, We’re the Only Colored People Here

Section 1

Langston Hughes, Freedom

Hernando Téllez, Lather and Nothing Else

Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias

section 2

central text William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth

section 3

Nella Larsen, Sanctuary

Solmaz Sharif, He, Too

Octavia Butler, Childfinder

Power: Texts in Conversation

writing workshop Writing a Literary Argument

exploring beyond literature

Elena Ferrante, A Power of Our Own

Jacob Lawrence, . . . again the rebels rushed furiously on our men. — a Hessian soldier, Panel 8

Appendix: Revision Workshops

Appendix: Grammar Workshops

Appendix: MLA Documentation Style

Appendix: Vocabulary and Word Roots

Glossary / Glosario

Text Credits

Index

Authors

Renee Shea

Renée H. Shea was professor of English and Modern Languages and director of freshman composition at Bowie State University in Maryland, where she taught graduate seminars in rhetoric. A College Board faculty consultant for more than thirty years in AP® Language and Literature, and Pre-AP® English, she has been a reader and question leader for both AP® English exams. Renée served as a member on many committees for the College Board, including the AP® Language and Composition Development Committee, the English Academic Advisory Committee, and the SAT Critical Reading Test Development Committee. She is co-author of Literature & Composition, American Literature & Rhetoric, Conversations in American Literature, Advanced Language & Literature, and Foundations of Language & Literature, as well as volumes on Amy Tan and Zora Neale Hurston for the NCTE High School Literature Series. Renée continues to write about contemporary authors for publications such as World Literature Today, Poets & Writers, and Kenyon Review. Her recent publications focused on Celeste Ng, Imbolo Mbue, Namwali Serpell, Manuel Muñoz, and Ohio’s 2020–2025 poet laureate, Kari Gunter-Seymour.

John Golden

John Golden teaches at Cleveland High School in Portland, Oregon. He was an advisor to the College Board® 6–12 English Language Arts Development Committee. An English teacher for over twenty years, John has developed curriculum and led workshops for the College Board’s Pacesetter and SpringBoard® English programs. He is also a co-author of the Bedford, Freeman and Worth textbook Foundations of Language & Literature and the producer of Teaching Ideas: A Video Resource for AP® English. He is also the author of Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom and Reading in the Reel World: Teaching Documentaries and Other Nonfiction Texts, the producer and co-host of the podcast Third Rail Classroom, and the producer of The NCTE Centennial Film: Reading the Past, Writing the Future.

Carlos Escobar

Carlos Escobar  teaches tenth-grade English and AP® English Literature and Composition at Felix Varela Senior High School in Miami, Florida, where he is also the AP® Program Director. Carlos has been the College Board Advisor for AP® English Literature, an AP® Reader, a presenter at local and national AP® workshops and conferences, and a member of the AP® English Literature and AP® African American Studies Test Development Committees. As part of the College Board’s Instructional Design Team, he contributed to the development, review, and dissemination of the 2019 AP® English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description. Carlos designed and delivered daily live YouTube lessons streamed globally by the College Board and was the Lead Instructor for AP® Daily, the College Board’s skill-based, on-demand video series accessed through AP® Classroom. He is also a co-author of Bedford, Freeman & Worth’s The Language of Composition and Literature & Composition.

Tiffany Thomas

Tiffany Thomas is a twenty-year dedicated educator and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Hilliard City School District. She was an English Language Arts teacher for sixteen years before transitioning to the position of Innovative Media Specialist at Hilliard Bradley High School. During her time in the classroom, Tiffany focused her approach on developing lessons and standards-aligned curriculum for grade-level courses that incorporated culturally relevant teaching practices. She also helped develop the district-wide ELA curriculum and represented her colleagues as a Hilliard Education Association Building Representative. In efforts to create an environment in which every student feels comfortable, accepted, and heard, Tiffany leads teachers in both culturally relevant teaching and restorative practices at her school and throughout the district. She frequently conducts professional development for other HCSD educators to foster inclusive practices throughout the district and presents at conferences such as the Ohio State University Office of Diversity and Inclusion Conference on Diversity, Race, and Learning, NCTE, OCTELA, and Learning Forward.

Related Titles

Literature & Composition

Renee H. Shea; Robin Dissin Aufses; Lawrence Scanlon; Katherine E. Cordes; Carlos Escobar; Carol Jago | Third Edition | 2022 | ISBN:9781319281144

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The Language of Composition

Renee Shea; Lawrence Scanlon; Robin Dissin Aufses; Megan M. Harowitz; Katherine E. Cordes; Carlos A. Escobar | Fourth Edition | 2023 | ISBN:9781319409258

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Foundations of Language & Literature

Renee H. Shea; John Golden; Tracy Scholz | Second Edition | 2023 | ISBN:9781319409265

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American Literature and Rhetoric

Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon | Second Edition | 2025 | ISBN:9781319548940

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