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[Dr. G's
English Page]
Lesson
Plans for Literature
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[1984] [Bad Seed] [Catcher in the Rye] [The Crucible] [F.451] [Lord of the
Flies]
[Native Americans] [Oedipus Rex] [Othello] [Poe] [
Mystery Unit ]
[Scarlet Letter] [Research Paper form] [Writing Assignments] [Fun with
Words]
"If someone brings
a lot of new technology into your school district,
and doesn't provide staff development, the only thing
that will change is your electric bill."--David Thornburg
"It is one of the most beautiful
compensations of life,
that no man
can sincerely try to help another without
helping himself." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson
This site
was provides lesson plan suggestions (worksheets and
projects) with which I have had a modicum of success. Where possible
I've provided sources for my information. I must confess though,
after 30 years of teaching, I'm not always sure where my lessons and
projects end and others' intellectual properties
begin.
Items
highlighted in yellow are
not yet added to this site. Two months ago my ISP went chapter 11 and I am
still trying to find some of the older files. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Lord of the
Flies:
Check out my Lord of the Flies website
Othello:
Lesson Plan
#1: A successful way of introducing the play is to start off with a
play writing assignment that uses some of the plot situations in Othello
and gives them a modern twist. This works both as a group or
individual assignment. If you do it as a group assignment, you can
have the students act out the scenes they've created. To view the
scenario, click on Lesson Plan #1.
Lesson Plan #2: A simple and effective way of reviewing the
play. This involves no downloading--just a plan that works. At
the end of Othello, I break the students into 5 groups (one for each
act). Their assignment is, with large sheets of art paper and
crayons, to break down the act and quickly illustrate important events in
that act. This is not an art project--talent is not a
requirement. In fact, it's more enjoyable if some of the art is a
tad silly.
On Day one it takes the group 1/2 a period to break down the acts
and assign events. Day two is the drawing and the hanging of the pictures
(in proper sequence around the room). On Day three, each person in
the group is responsible for explaining what happens between his/her
picture and the next picture. When he/she gets to the event, that
new person is to stand and explain up to the next picture.
It reinforces the play and allows you to see errors in plot
understanding. And we have a good time enjoying the artistic talent
and lack of artistic talent of others.
Lesson Plan Handouts: Here are a few hand outs I use in
class.
Lesson Plan
#3
Students are given a list of
project
assignments and asked to pick one. Some of the assignments can
be done in small groups.
Lesson Plan #4:
Foiled Again!
When teaching Othello the term foil is often
applied to the character Iago or in teaching Hamlet the character Laertes.
Here is a "hands-on" assignment for teaching this literary term that was
developed for www.essonplanz.com . With an advanced class, I don't
waste class time with the actual making of the foil figure in
class.
There are some interesting lesson plans at The Folger
Library Lesson plans. Plans span from elementary school to high
school. Need a little background information and analysis of
Othello, check out bookwolf.com.
The Scarlet
Letter:
Highlighted plans have not been replicated yet for this site.
Lesson Plan #1:
Short and simple assignments that can be done while reading The Scarlet
Letter.
Lesson Plan #2: A
Parallel Writing Lesson or The Scarlet
Letter
Students learn about the
1600's will honing their creative writing skills. A decent
parallel assignment while teaching The Scarlet Letter.
Lesson Plan #3: The
Scarlet Letter 20th Century Style
Judge Poe in Texas (1998) was doling out justice
Puritan style. Here is a good article for discussion on "public
punishment."
Lesson Plan#4:
Humorous look at the Scarlet Letter--The ABC's
of the Scarlet Letter
A PowerPoint presentation for introducing the Scarlet
Letter. An assignment from Outta Ray's Head by Marli
Janata, a New Jersey teacher, on shunning. Hester
Prynne and Monica Lewinsky -- shunning in society
Some Short and
Quick Ideas for Teaching the Scarlet Letter
Brief and easy to read summary of the Scarlet
Letter: chapters 1-4, chapters
5-9, chapters 10-14, chapters
15-20, chapters 21-24.
Additional Lesson
There a page that will
bring you to other teachers' lesson plans for
the novel.
The Crucible:
I've got plenty. Just need time to put
them up! If you visit my classroom site, several are online there for my
students. I need to get my Crucible files back up. If you have
any requests, please email me at cathygrim@aol.com
Lesson Plan #1--We Didn't Start the
Fire
In working on 1984,
Brave New World, F. 451 and especially The
Crucible, our class discussion often centers on the books in their
times--what was going on in the world that influenced the writers.
Billy Joel's song, "We Didn't Start the Fire" is an excellent source for
looking at what was happening in the late 1940s and 1950s. It is an
great start off point (from one person's point of view) of what
significant things were happening.
- Give students a copy of the lyrics and play
the song for them one or two times (Napster can help you
here!)
- Have students research the references for the
1950s (or maybe the whole song). A discussion here is why did
Billy Joel chose these items or events? Which ones were omitted
that should be included?
- Have the students finish the song by creating
their own last stanza for the 1990s. I give extra credit for
performing it.
- Have students compile a list of books that
represent the concerns addressed in their lyrics.
LessonPlan #2--Banned
Books
It seems that many of the
books I teach were at one time banned or challenged, e.g., Catcher in
the Rye, 1984, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, Crucible,
etc. In a discussion of The Crucible, the rights for
freedom of speech and the rights to express one's own views often come
up. As an extension of the "McCarthy Trials," my students have an
assignment on reading a banned book and researching the book and our 1st
amendment. As extra credit, I have the students produce one of the
following. They may work in groups but the evaluation of the quality
of the project grows exponentially.
- Write a script and produce a video entitled
"The Day the Books Were Banned."
- Design (an) overhead
transparency/transparencies illustrating a book that has been
banned.
- Videotape a "people on the Street" scenario
regarding their views on censorship. Make sure you represent
different ages and different backgrounds.
- Produce a "book float parade" on censored
books. With a student emcee and a commentator, videotape the
parade. (To make a book float, invert the bottom of a shoebox and
decorate it with a scene or the main idea from the book. Use
fishing line to pull the "float" during the video tape.
I got these
suggestions from a lesson plan on the Internet but I can't remember the
site. If any of you come across it, please send me the URL so I can
give proper credit. Here is the whole Banned Book Unit
Plan
Writing:
Lesson #1: Nursery Rhyme
Murders
Here's a good creative
writing assignment, either alone, or as a side to Christie's 10 Little
Indians.
Lesson #2: How to be a Good
Wife
This writing
assignment provides the students with an exercise on revising a point of
view. It is an excerpt from a 1950s home economics textbook giving
young ladies guidelines on how to be a "good wife."
Lesson #3: Bloom's Writing
prompts
Here are several writing
prompts for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Old stuff but useful at times
to make sure that you are hitting our students' understanding of
literature beyond comprehension.
Lesson #4: Miss
Thistlebritches' Writing Prompts
Catcher in the
Rye:
Catcher in
the Oatmeal. A little parody that works well as a beginning to a
writing assignment in trying to write in the style of.... Or as
quick companion piece to the novel.
Nine
Lesson Plans for Catcher. This site, created by Ailise Lamoreux,
provides several excellent lesson plans for teaching Catcher in the
Rye. Lessons include everything from introducing the novel to
final projects. Several of the lessons, like the Timeline, could be
modified for almost any piece of literature.
Need a question
worksheet for Catcher in the Rye? Worksheet
1 and Worksheet 2.
Here is a vocabulary
list for Catcher in the Rye.
Using some of Ms. Lamoreux's ideas, I created several PowerPoint demos
for the kids to highlight the culture in the 50s. Chantilly
Lace
Catch a Falling Star
We Didn't start the Fire Here are two videos
Jailhouse Rock
Great Balls of Fire
E.A. Poe:
This link will bring you to a web page that I
use for students to research the Life and Death of Poe.
The links on the top of the page provide access to all of the
information. Providing a pages and worksheets like these (a) insures
that the students are finding valid information, (b) encourages students
not to just collect information, but read it, and (c) improves
time-on-task. This lesson was especially successful with
In-Class Support classes.
Mystery/Detective
Unit:
When teaching Poe sometimes I like to
get beyond the obvious "gloom and doom" and focus on his talent for
writing mysteries and being considered the Father of the Detective
Story. A great place to start a mini-unit like this is at http://www.mysterynet.com/. This
site provides information for not only high school, but middle school and
elementary.
Sometimes, using Sherlock Holmes and/or
Christie, I do a Mystery Unit. Here are some of the ideas and
projects I use in my unit:
- Mystery
History ( Mystery
History quiz),
- Mystery
Online Internet Hunt (uses a lot of the items covered in Mystery
History.
- mini-mysteries mini-mystery 1,
mini-mystery 2, and mini-mystery 3.
mystery. Here are some adventures
that I think are better than the mini-mysteries. These were taken from a
Sherlock Holmes board game.
- Crime Vocabulary list using "cop/detective" words
they've picked up from TV and movies--detective
vocabulary (w/test)
- For my honors' classes, I've also modified
a Kidnapping
WebQuest by by Deena Wickliffe.
- Need graphic organizers for writing a
mystery story? Check these out: (If
you get a message to enter network password, just click cancel and the
document should appear in a several seconds.)
-
 Here's an Inspiration graphic we used for
introducing how to Write a Detective Story .
- Also here are some hints for
the kids to follow in writing a Detective or Mystery story.
Fahrenheit
451
Lesson Plan #1--103 Reasons to
Love/Hate Fahrenheit 451
Here is a list of questions that
will take the students through the plot of Fahrenheit 451. I usually
have them answer them as they are reading. It serves as a study
sheet for them.
Lesson Plan
#2--Group research
This is a list of the people, events,
and quotes alluded to in F. 451. I have had the students present their
reports/information using HyperStudio, Powerpoint, and even have had them
make webpages which we used on our "intranet" at school.
Lesson Plan
lan #3--A Fahrenheit 451 essay. At Outta Ray's Head,
there is an excellent essay assignment using F. 451 as the fulcrum.
It includes examining the novel for its views on technology, censorship,
conformity vs. individuality, etc.
Need a Fahrenheit
451 vocabulary list?
1984
Need a worksheet for 1984? While teaching
1984 we discuss how the futuristic flavor of 1984 is lost by its archaic
sounding title. Most of my students weren't even born in
1984. One assignment I give them is to come up with a new title for
the novel that would reflect its content or theme. Orwell, himself,
toyed around with naming 1984, "The Last Man." Check out gradesaver
or sparknotes
for additional information and self-quizzes on this novel.
Oedipus
Rex
Lesson Plan #1--Using
the Internet for research
After the student have finished the
play, I've taken them into to lab to gather some research on Greek theater
using a quickly made up site called greekweb. A great
site, TrackStar, was excellent
for providing many of my web page links. Feel free to borrow and
modify my little web search for my freshmen.
Lesson Plan #2--Riddles
This may be stating the obvious;
however, as part of my unit on Oedipus Rex, I have students search the
library and the Internet for clever riddles. These riddles are typed
up on 81/2 x 11 sheets and displayed around the room w/o answers.
Days later, we discuss the riddles and their answers.
Lesson Plan #3--The Saga of Oedipus
Students are directed
to write out the story of Oedipus in any of the following forms: As a
song, using the tune of the Brady Bunch, as an epic poem, as a rap
song, or as a Dr. Suess story. Best of the Best are displayed
on my classweb page. This is an excellent way of making sure the
students understand the plot line (You'd be surprised how quickly their
peers are to point out errors in plot, sequence or characters. We
also have a great time reading and performing them in class.
Fun
with
Words
Janus words:
looking at our language and shaking both sides of our heads
How to: Research
Paper
Here are some worksheets that I have used successfully in the
classroom. They are to teach MLA style sheet. I use Oedipus Rex as a topic
because by the time I give the paper in my classroom, all of my students
have read it.
- First is a sample
reseach paper. This is how I introduce the MLA style sheet.
Along with this sample research paper, I also run off the MLA form
listed below. After, we've talk about the form, I collect the
sample research paper back.
- Second is a worksheet
for the research paper. Here is the same research paper I gave
before; however, this time it doesn't have the bibliography, footnote,
MLA stylesheet form. I have grayed areas to assist students in
filling in this information. You need to print out and handout the
bibliography/note form also.
- Third is a worksheet for
bibliography/note form. This form has the information that the
students need create the bibliography and notes.
- If needed, I provide more practice in bibliography and
citations. If you need additional worksheets, please e-mail
me.
For starter papers (freshmen/ 9th grade), I
have the students broken into groups and each group gets a topic and a
thesis statement. Students do the research in library and online for
a day or two to find information to support their thesis statements.
Then for a day or two, they go over the information in the
classroom. I provide the students with highlighters and index
cards. They are to highlight any information that supports or has
important detail. On the index card they are allowed to write any facts,
quotes, information they deem important. They are also to use a
cross-reference between their information on the index card and the site
or book it came from. When they write their paper in class they are only
allowed to have the index card in their possession. When the paper
is written, they go back and make sure their references are accurate.
After the paper is printed out as a first draft, others in their group
peer edit. Final draft is given to me.
I am currently writing web pages for teaching the Research Paper
Form. To see what I have begun, check out this
site.
An excellent site on MLA form (easy to understand and well laid out,
can be found at www.mta.link75.org/curriculum/english/stylesheet.html.
This is one of the best I've seen.
If you have visited here before, check out my new
additions.
Also for your more sarcastic moments, here is
a poem
one of my daughter's college professors gave
out: Did I
Miss Anything?
Good sites to look for lesson plans. Click on the
icon or text.
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