12th Grade ELA Course Summary
Please Note: The Fishtank team is in the process of revising the 11th and 12th Grade ELA courses to refine the sequence of unit texts and provide deeper, more aligned support for teachers and students. The full sequences for 11th and 12th Grade ELA will be available for the 2025-26 school year.
The new 12th Grade ELA sequence centers around the theme On Being Human. Two new units for 12th Grade have been released for teachers who wish to pilot them in early 2025, and the three remaining units will be released in Summer 2025.
In 12th Grade English Language Arts, students explore the year-long topic, On Being Human. They will grapple with overarching questions:
- What shared experiences do humans have across different times and cultures?
- How does technology impact our sense of what it means to be human?
- How do we maintain our humanity in the midst of challenging or dehumanizing circumstances?
Building upon the knowledge and English Language Arts skills they’ve developed in previous years, students deeply engage with complex texts through both independent reading and guided Close Reading, prepare for and engage in whole class discussions including Socratic Seminars, and write multi-paragraph responses to Essential Questions by gathering evidence and effectively communicating their thoughts. Across the units, students will also deepen their writing skills through narrative, opinion, analytical, and informational writing tasks.