Day One:
Flight and Fall
What’s on For Today and Why
Before we begin with Joyce’s text, students will be introduced to the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. In order for the students to better understand the images of birds, flight, and fall, that are used in Joyce’s text in relation to the main character, Stephen Dedalus, the students will be able to experience the myth for themselves. By pulling these images out of their original context, students will be able to understand the allusion being employed in the novel.
What to Do
1. Read Around
The classroom will be arranged in a circle. Each student will be given a copy of lines 299-399 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Daedalus and Icarus episode. First, the students will do a read around, with each student reading to a semicolon or a period. Afterwards, students will be asked questions such as: What kind of apparatus did Daedalus invent? Why? What did Daedalus warn Icarus not to do? Why? What happened to Icarus?
2. Word Tracking
Now that the students are familiar with the text, they will be broken up into pairs. Every three pairs will be given colored markers and will be assigned one of the following words to track: air, wings, flight, feathers/plumes, bird, sky, or escape. Students will be instructed to go through the text and underline their word as it appears throughout the text with a certain color marker. Air will be underlined in purple, wings in yellow, flight in red, feathers/plumes in orange, bird in brown, sky in blue, and escape in black.
Once the pairs have completed the word tracking, they will share the line numbers where they found their word with the class. The teacher will write the line numbers for each word on the board, so that the rest of the class can underline these words on their copy in their respective colors.
3. Introducing Stephen
By this point, the students should be familiar with the myth, the images, and the process of word tracking. Now they will be introduced to the character of Stephen Dedalus. They will be told that in tomorrow’s class they will begin the novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The main character’s name will be put on the board, as well as the definition of literary allusion. Students will be asked what they think the author might be implying by giving the main character the last name of Dedalus. Their ideas will be written on the board for the students to copy in their notebooks.
4. Homework
For homework, students will be given a few artistic representations of Daedalus and Icarus. They will be asked to find lines in the text that either justify or discredit the artist’s representation of these characters. Under each image the students will have space to write the line numbers of their textual support and the word “justify” or “discredit.”
How Did it Go?
If the students were able to pull out imagery from the myth and have some good conversation as to why an author might choose to give his main character the name of a mythological figure, then I would say the lesson went well.
Day Two: Once
Upon a Time
What’s on For
Today and Why
Today’s lesson is meant to help students become aware of narrative technique. Throughout the novel, Joyce employs a narrative style that matures as his main character grows older. Students will be able to see the shift in narration from the reporting of the five senses, to cognitive thought. In order for the students to become aware of this technique, as well as to make them feel comfortable with the style, familiar stories will be related to their new text. This narrative development, as well as the development of the main character will be related to the term buildungsroman.
What to Do
1. Homework Review
Students will be asked to volunteer some of their thoughts about the homework. After a short discussion, the homework will be collected.
2. Once Upon a Time
Students will be given copies of the first page of five different fairy tales. Volunteers will be needed to read each of the five stories out loud. Then students will be asked what type of story these opening pages were taken from. Students will also be asked for what kind of audience are these stories intended.
Now that the students are familiar with the “Once upon a time” opening, copies of Joyce’s text will be distributed. Students will be asked to do another read around session of the first page of the text, stopping at each period or colon to change readers. Students will be asked the following questions about the section of text they have just read: What similarities can be seen between the fairy tales and the opening of Portrait? Why do you think the author would choose to start off his novel in this way?
3. Point of View
After a short discussion about the opening of the novel, students will be introduced to the terms, point of view and buildungsroman. Once these terms have been clearly defined, students will be asked how what they think the point of view of Portrait might be based on the reading of the first page.
Now that some ideas about point of view have been discussed, a chart outlining the five senses will be given to the students. In groups of four, students will be asked to pull out examples of the author’s use of the five senses in the first page of the text. Each group will be asked to share their findings for one of the senses with the class. Once this is done, the teacher will explain that from the point of view of a child, the world is perceived through the five senses. A small child’s perception is a reaction to what is felt through these five senses.
4. Homework
For homework, students will be asked to read pages 19-38 of Portrait. To assist their reading, a map of the events of Chapter One will be distributed, and students will be encouraged to keep these maps with them while they are reading. Each student will also be assigned a word to track as they read the text. Students will be responsible for keeping a log of the page numbers of the where their word appears.
How Did it Go?
If the students were able to see similarities between the fairy tales and the first page of Portrait, were able to see the point of view of a child, and grasp the use of sensory perception in this opening narrative, then the lesson went well.
Day Three: Oppression and
Conflict
What’s
on For Today and Why
Today’s lesson will give students the opportunity to further explore the narrative technique of Portrait. Through the homework and a discussion of what they had read, student will be able to look at style and plot. This lesson will also cover some of the history of Ireland to prepare the students for the next section of reading. Exercises in reading lines of dialogue will prepare students for a brief acting exercise for the following lesson.
What to Do
1. Homework Review
Students will be asked to share some of their answers to the homework questions. After a short discussion, homework will be collected.
2. Question and Answer Session
Now the students will have the opportunity to ask questions about what they have read so far. Students will be broken up into groups of four. In these groups, students will discuss what they have read, and see if they are able to answer each other’s questions for about ten minutes. Then they will be able to make a list of the questions for which they could find no answer. Each group will then be able to share these questions with the class and the teacher. Discussion of these questions will help to clarify the text so far.
3. A Little Bit of Irish History
Being that much of Portrait reflects Irish history, the teacher must provide some background information. Following an outline that will be given to the students for reference, there will be a brief discussion of British imperialism in Ireland, which will be related to the “sums” incident of the first section of the novel. The conversation will then move to Charles Stewart Parnell. This will give the students the subtext for the following episode of the chapter.
4. Tossing Lines at Dinner
In order to prepare students for the episode they will read for homework, and to get them ready for a little performance, a line tossing exercise will be conducted. Each student will receive an index card with a line from the “Christmas Dinner”
scene from Portrait. In groups of about 10, student will stand in a circle and with a ball. The person with the ball will read the line on their card and then toss to ball to the next person. Then that person will read and toss, so on and so forth.
In preparation for performance, these groups of ten will be further divided into groups of 6. Each group will be given a number, which will correspond to the scene that they will perform.
5. Homework
For homework, students will read pages 38-50 of Portrait. They will also have to answer the question on their map, “What happened at Christmas Dinner?”
How Did it Go?
If the students were able to have some thoughtful discussion about what they had read and if every student was able to speak a line or two during the line tossing exercise, then the lesson went well.
Day Four:
Setting the Table
What’s on for
Today and Why
For today’s lesson, students will be able to review the material read the night before. After some discussion about the homework question, “What happened at Christmas dinner?” students will be able to have another question and answer session to sort out the details of the scene. Then students will be able to work in groups to rehearse their performance for the following day. The rehearsal and performance will allow the students to apply what they have learned about Irish history to the emotions and reactions of the characters in the book. By having them prepare to act out the scene, the students will have to do a close reading of this holiday argument in order for them to figure the political or religious beliefs of each character. Knowing the political or religious stance of each character will enable the student to determine how they will bring the dialogue of the text to life.
What to Do
1. Homework Review
Students will be asked to break up into the groups they were assigned the previous day. In these groups, the students will discuss their answers to the homework question, “What happened at Christmas dinner?”
2. Question and Answer Session
These homework discussion groups can be used to launch into another question and answer session. After about five minutes of group discussion, remind students to make a list of the questions for which they could find no answer. Each group will then be able to share these questions with the class and the teacher. Discussion of these questions will help to clarify the text so far.
3. Rehearsal Time
Now that students have been able to clarify was happened in the Christmas dinner scene, and they have had some practice tossing some of the line around, it is now time for some rehearsal. Each group will be given a set of lines from this scene in the book. Then each group will be told to: decide who will play the parts of Mr. and Mrs. Dedalus, Uncle Charles, Dante, Mr. Casey, and Dante, decide how to set up the scene (who will sit where, etc.), and to practice their lines using the political motivations that were previously discussed. They do not need to memorize the lines. Students will be told to make sure that they have these details worked out by the end of class, because they will be performing the next day.
4. Homework
Student will have to complete the first part of a WebQuest about Irish history (www.geocities.com/questbaioneportrait/index.html) and bring the answers of the multiple-choice questions to class the next day.
How Did it Go?
This lesson was successful if: the students were able to discuss and clarify the scene they had read, the teacher observed thoughtful conversation about performance that was based on the text and historical background discussed in class, and all of the students participated in rehearsal (choosing roles, reciting lines, directing, etc.).
Day Five: At the
Dinner Table
What’s on for
Today and Why
Once the homework has been collected and reviewed, students will be able to perform the scenes that they rehearsed the previous day. Each group’s performance will be rated by the rest of the class on its effectiveness in conveying the mood of the text. This will give students the chance to interpret the text as well as give them the opportunity to assess the validity of each interpretation. This will reinforce the close reading that they have already done on the text.
What to Do
1. Homework Review
Students will be asked to hand in their answers to the multiple-choice from the WebQuest. Volunteers will have the chance to share their answers, and the correct answers will be discussed and will be put on the board for the class to write down in their notebooks. These answers will be helpful in the completion of the second part of the WebQuest.
2. Quick Rehearsal
Students will be given about five minutes to rehearse their scenes.
3. It’s Show Time
Each group will perform their segment from the Christmas dinner scene. The rest of the class will rate each performance on the effectiveness of the piece in: conveying the emotional response of the characters based on their political or religious stance, the representation of the setting of the scene, the movement of the performers, and the ability of the actors to relate the relationships between the characters. Students will write these responses to the performers in short letter form.
4. Homework
Tonight’s homework will be to complete the second half of the WebQuest. The essay they will write will have to be handed in on Monday. Encourage students to use their notes from the previous night’s assignment in writing their essay.
How Did it Go?
Did the performance show:
· An understanding of the argument.
· The political or religious motivation of the characters by changes in tone during times increased conflict during the conversation.
· Movement and setting that can be supported by the text.
If yes, then the performance exercise was successful. The students have understood what they have read.