Empathy: High School English Unit

Empathy: High School English Unit is an 89-page, print-ready English/ELA resource designed for Grade 9 and adaptable for Grades 9–12.

Built around the essential question “How do we develop empathy through others?”, this unit helps students explore how perspective, historical context, language, prejudice, courage, and personal experience shape the way people understand one another.

Students move from historical speeches into literature, practicing close reading, vocabulary, rhetorical analysis, discussion, writing, reflection, and critical thinking along the way.

The unit includes study of:

• George Washington’s Farewell Address
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms
• Winston Churchill’s Sinews of Peace
• Adm. William H. McRaven’s 2014 commencement address
• Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

Inside the unit you’ll find parent/teacher guidance, pacing suggestions, historical-context activities, photograph analysis, speech-analysis assignments, vocabulary work, authentic student writing samples, To Kill a Mockingbird literature-study pages, a final novel exam, a Teacher/Parent Answer Key, and the informal end-of-unit reflection “Who’s the Person in the Mirror?”

The recurring “Tell Me What You Took Away” feature gives students space to reflect in their own words and encourages meaningful discussion rather than one “correct” response.

Please note: To Kill a Mockingbird, full speech texts, films, and copyrighted transcripts are not included and must be obtained separately through legal sources.

Designed for use in homeschool, tutoring, or individual classroom settings.

Digital Download: This is a digital product. No physical item will be mailed.

Usage: For personal, homeschool, or single-classroom use only. Please do not redistribute, share, or resell the file.