LESSON DAY 1:
TITLE:
Oppression Simulation & Setup for “The Lottery”
SUBJECT:
American Literature and Composition
GRADE:
10th
QCC(s):
2, 11, 27, 36, 41
GENERAL
OBJECTIVES: (IRA/NCTE standards for the English Language Arts)
Students will:
•
Read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of
texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world;
to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and
the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and
nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. (No. 1)
•
Apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and
appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with
other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts,
their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual
features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context,
graphics). (No. 3)
•
Participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a
variety of literacy communities. (No. 11)
•
Use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes
(e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
(No. 12)
SPECIFIC
OBJECTIVES: (Georgia’s Quality Core Curriculum)
Students will:
•
Read critically, ask pertinent questions, recognize assumptions and
implications, and evaluate ideas. (Topic: Core Skills – L.A. 9-12 No. 2)
•
Use inferential comprehension skills (e.g., predictions, comparisons,
conclusions, implicitly stated main idea). (Topic: Core Skills – L.A. 9-12 No. 11)
•
Analyze logical relationships in arguments and detect fallacies. (Topic:
Critical Thinking – L.A. 9-12 No. 27)
•
Engage in discussion as both speaker and listener, critically and
constructively interpreting, analyzing, and summarizing ideas. (Topic:
Speaking/Listening – L.A. 9-12 No. 36)
•
Write in narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and expository modes with emphasis
on exposition. (Topic: Writing/Usage/Grammar – L.A.
9-12 No. 41)
PROCEDURES/TEARCHER
NOTES:
Daily Writing
Prompt:[10
minutes]
As
students enter the class each day they will be given a new expository prompt
either in a handout, written on the board or projected by an overhead. Students
will respond to the text by writing a paragraph.
Prompt:
STILL
HERE By Langston Hughes
I
been scared and battered.
My
hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow
has friz me,
Sun
has baked me,
Looks
like between 'em they done
Tried
to make me
Stop
laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--
But
I don't care!
I'm
still here!
Question
the students will answer: Think about
what you have just read. Write an expository paragraph to turn in explaining
your response to the text.
Quick
Write: Students will create a fast response paragraph as quickly as possible.
When the students have finished their fast response, they should place it in
their class folder, put their pen/pencil down and remain quiet.
Overview of
main lesson:
This
is the first lesson from the unit Society Against Itself: Oppression of the Minority.
The teacher
will
start the students on exploring the issue of oppression and how we react to it
as individuals and a society. In order to get the students personally
involved right away, we will start of with an "oppression simulation"
explained below. The teacher will then debrief the simulation and start
reading "The Lottery" in order to make the first connection between
their personal lives and texts within the issue of oppression.
Step
1: Introduction [10 minutes]
The
oppression simulation goes like this: The most important thing to know here is
that Students A, B, and C are all in on this plan (that’s why it is delayed
until the second unit when we are farther into the year and know each other
better). The teacher has talked to them beforehand and each student has
agreed to act in a certain way. There should be a Student D that is an
"observer" writing down the reactions of the class. The teacher
has the students do a "pop" quiz. Unlike quizzes normally given on a
Monday or Wednesday, the students will have no prior warning from the previous
Friday that a quiz will be given.
*************
On
the previous Friday, there was a minilesson on Language Comparisons (simile, metaphor, personification, and analogy). For
‘the Quiz’ the students will take out a piece of paper and will identify the
passages projected by the overhead as a simile,
metaphor, personification or analogy.
*************
After
a couple of minutes, the teacher accuses student A of cheating and asks student
B to tear up the cheating student’s paper. Student B refuses to tear up a
peer’s paper and so the teacher asks Student C to do it. Student C
complies and tears student A’s paper.
Student
A has a big reaction, says something like, "I’m tired of this!
I’m
leaving!" and walks out of the classroom.
This
simulation is intended to get students to see their natural reactions to
oppression. They will be presented with teacher oppression and because they do
not know that this is all set up the entire class will be able to honestly
observe patterns of complicity or rebellion in themselves and their fellow
students. Again it is important to note that this simulation is taking
place in the second unit after the class has gotten to know each other and
feels comfortable with each other. In addition, this is an advanced class that
will be able to appreciate the implications of the simulation.
Step
2: [10 minutes]
As
soon as the simulation has been acted, the teacher will lead the class in a
debriefing session. Before she tells the students that this is a
simulation, she will have the students answer the following questions:
a)
What just happened? Describe everything that you remember.
b)
How did you react?
c)
How did the people around you react?
Step
3: [15 minutes]
The
teacher will then let the students know that this was a simulation.
She
will then lead a class discussion. Possible questions are:
a)
What is oppression?
b)
What happened and how did you react?
c)
How did everyone else react?
d)
How did you feel about the different students A, B and C?
e)
Did you value the student that tore up Student A’s paper, or did you value the
student that refused to? Why?
f)
What would you have done?
g)
Have you ever gone against what is the norm?
Step
4: [30 minutes]
The
teacher will break the students into pairs. The students will discuss with
their partner what they think affected the way they personally reacted, and
what they think affected the way everyone else reacted. Hopefully, students
will come up with some kind of answer about how there was either pressure to
conform or to rebel. The teacher will then have each pair representative
report their conclusions. The teacher will prod the students to illicit their
honest conclusions. The most important result is that the students
realize that there are many possible reactions to oppression and that there are
many factors that affect those reactions. It is important to let this
discussion go on while there are students that have thoughts to add.
Simulations can be difficult for some more sensitive students so great care
will be taken so that all students feel that they have had an opportunity to
express themselves.
Step
5: [10 minutes]
Next,
the teacher will tell students that the class will be reading a short story
that deals with how we react to oppression. The teacher will pass out
copies of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and start reading as a
class. Give students a few minutes to get started on the reading
assignment once reading as a class stops. We are reading "The
Lottery" as an opportunity to study conformity and rebellion in-depth
through a short story before we move into a whole novel.
Step
6: For homework: Students should finish reading "The Lottery" and
come back with one quote that they found to be important and a brief
explanation (5 sentences) of why in preparation for a discussion on the story
tomorrow.
CLOSING:
The teacher will stress that the class is reading "The Lottery" as an
opportunity to study conformity and rebellion in-depth through a short story
before moving on to the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
While
you finishing reading "The Lottery" think about our class discussion
today about oppression and conformity, pay special attention to characters that
complain about the lottery that is taking place in the story.
Tomorrow
we will be discussing what you read and the quotes you all have picked. Don’t forget
to write your five complete sentences on why you chose the quote you did.
MATERIALS:
Dry erase markers, copies of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
ADDITIONAL
TEACHER NOTES:
If
students have strong opinions about what happened, then it means that the
simulation touched them in some way. Further questions should be explored.
a)
Has anything like this every happened to you? To someone you know?
SUPPLEMENTARY
MATERIALS: Students will need to have paper, pen/pencil.
EVALUATION:
Discussion:
The teacher should strive to keep the conversation going so that students
discuss their emotions and don’t leave with hard feelings. They should
leave the discussion with an insight into their reactions as well as their
classmate’s reactions and a definition of oppression, so that they have a point
of comparison when they read "The Lottery" and later The Crucible.
Homework: Concrete
assessment will happen when students discuss the quotes they picked in the next
day’s discussion and turn in their 5 sentence explanation.
ACCOMMODATIONS: See accommodation sheet
In
addition, students who have difficulty reading will benefit from the time we
have for reading aloud in class. When we move to silent, reading, I will
have an opportunity to work with students who are having trouble. I can
read along with them or ask them questions as they read so that they are doing
active reading.
REFERENCES:
Jackson,
Shirley. "The Lottery.” 1969. The Lottery. 22 Nov 2001.
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/shorts/lotry.html
Hughs,
Langston. "Still Here." Langston Hughs. 22 Nov 2001.
http://www.novia.net/~aaronk/ls/hughes.html