NAME: Jessica Hash                  DATE: June 29              AGE/GRADE LEVEL: 15-16/Sophomores

SUBJECT: English                      # of STUDENTS: 24                    # of IEP STUDENTS:       

MAJOR CONTENT: Modernizing Themes                        UNIT TITLE: Interpreting the Novel

 

GOALS & OBJECTIVES:

 

GOALS: Students will use their knowledge of theme, setting, and characterization to critically analyze one of several possible texts, using this information to develop a plan for modernizing this fictional work, and therefore, making it more relevant for individuals of their generation.

 

OBJECTIVES:

1. Students will recall the definitions and significance of certain literary terms – theme, setting, and characterization – through an in-class discussion of Pride and Prejudice, a recently completed class novel.
2. Students, as a group, will be able to identify the major themes, setting, and significant characterizations in an assigned text, detailing the significance of these literary elements within the text on a handout.
3. Students will be able to analyze the presence of these significant literary terms in a modernized film version of their text, assessing the film’s presentation by comparing certain elements with the original text in a two column, bulleted list.
4. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of a text and its literary elements by developing their own plan for modernizing a work of literature, developing either a storyboard or a film version of a particular scene within their text and presenting their work to the class. 

 

CONNECTIONS:   

 

1)      Kentucky Learning Goals

1.2-1.3: Students make sense of the variety of materials they read and the various things they observe.

1.13, 1.15: Students make sense of and communicate ideas with the visual arts or with movement. 

 

Through their group assignment, students will be asked to “make sense” of a text that we have read over the course of the school year, as well as a modern film version of that text.  After reading the text and observing elements of the movie, students will display their understanding through a written explanation of the major themes of the work and a list comparing the text and film version’s presentations of those elements.  After analyzing these works, students will create their own modernized scene, communicating their own ideas either visually, through a storyboard, or with movement, by acting out their scene. 

 

2:25: In the products they make and the performances they present, students show that they understand how time, place, and society influence the arts and humanities such as languages, literature, and history. 

2:26: Through the arts and humanities, students recognize that although people are different, they share some common experiences and attitudes. 

 

In the arrangement of their storyboards and scenes, students demonstrate that they understand how the setting of their text influences the way in which the story is presented, yet recognizing that the major themes of their work can remain a common experience for both the original and modern audiences.

 

2)      KDE’s Core Content for reading Assessment

Grades 8 through 10

RD-H-1.0.14: Critique the author’s word choice, style, content, and use of literary elements. 

RD-H-1.0.15: Make connections among literature, students’ lives, and/or real-world issues. 

 

After analyzing the literary elements of theme, setting, and characterization within their assigned texts, the students will be asked to modernize the setting and characterizations of their text, making the themes relevant to the modern-day lives of students today. 

 

3)      NCTE’s Standards for the English Language Arts

http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm

 

1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print 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.

3.   Students 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).

 

The various, classical texts assigned to students include novels and plays, asking students to work with a wide range of print texts, as well as various non-print, film texts.  In studying the various literary elements of these texts and developing a plan for modernizing the presentation, students must understand both the original cultural context for the work as well as the modern culture of the United States, in which they are currently living.  Students will comprehend and evaluate the original text through an understanding of the textual features of theme, setting, and characterization. 

 

CONTEXT:

This lesson will be situated in a larger unit on interpreting prose, which includes the reading of the class novel Pride and Prejudice.  The major focus of the unit will be on interpreting a literary text, including lessons on theme, setting, and characterizations.  The summative assessment for the first half of this unit will be a multiple choice/essay test on the novel.  The lesson and project described above serve as the culminating experience for this unit, allowing students to interpret a text in groups and analyze the cinematic presentation of those literary elements.  In designing a modern version of this same text, students are taking ownership of the knowledge they have acquired over the course of the unit, determining how to best make the theme of the novel/play relevant for their own generation.  By adapting the plot and characters to a modern setting, students will gain a greater understanding of the significance of the literary elements of setting and characterization, while recognizing that the theme can be universally understood across generations.  In order to adapt their novel, students will have to critically consider the needs of their own generation, recognizing the social, cultural, and global concerns of their peers and presenting the theme in a way that is significant to their audience.  After the projects have been completed and presented to the class, students will be asked to individually write a journal in which they reflect on their experience, specifically focusing on whether or not they feel that their modern versions would be accessible to a modern audience.  This lesson and project begin on the fourth week of a six week unit.         

 

RESOURCES:

During today’s lesson, an overhead will be used in the initial review of the literary terms.  Students will be asked to write definitions on an overhead sheet that will then be shared with the class.  Students will also need writing tools and class hand-outs.  As students begin their group work, they will have access to the DVDs of the film versions of their texts, DVD players and televisions, through the school’s media center.  They will also have access to video cameras if they choose to film their scene.  If they decide to storyboard their group’s scene, they will have the opportunity to use PowerPoint.  Finally, students will have several on-line articles available to assist with their group work; they will be located on the class website. 

 

PROCEDURES: 

Sequential Activities for a 75 minute Block schedule class

Class will begin with students sitting in their assigned, cooperative groups.  Students will be asked to define, from memory, three literary elements: theme, setting, and characterization.  They will write their definitions on an overhead sheet provided, presenting their ideas to the class.  (10 minutes)

 

Next, I will introduce the idea of “modernizing” a text written during an earlier historical period.  Each group will be asked to consider a different element of the text (Longbourn – residence of the Bennets, Pemberley – residence of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennett, or Mr. Darcy).  Each group will discuss a modern equivalent of the place or person.  As a class we will discuss these possibilities.  (10 minutes).

 

I will then ask students to recall some of the major themes of the novel, asking them to explain how those themes could be applied to our “modern” versions of the characters and setting.  This will be done as a whole class, with students raising their hands to contribute to the discussion.  (10 minutes). 

 

Students will be given a handout describing their final project, with due dates and a sample of the final assessment rubric.  I will explain to students the nature of the assignment, asking students to divide into their cooperative groups (4 groups of 6 students each).  Once in their groups, I will give each group the title of the text on which they will base their project.  Each text will be one we have read at some point over the course of the year, so that no one will be required to read something new in addition to completing the project.  After the groups have moved together and the texts are assigned, there will be a time for students to ask questions.  (10 minutes).    

 

As a group, students will complete the handout on the themes, setting, and characters of their text.  Students will have the opportunity to use previous class notes as well as the Internet to create thorough descriptions.  (30 minutes).

 

Finally, students will be asked to turn in their worksheet.  Before leaving, we will discuss plans for the next class period.  In the time between classes, students are asked to have previewed the modern version of their respective texts.  The availability of the media center will be explained.  (5 minutes). 

 

Attending to Individual Needs and Diversity:

Mental, Emotional, and Physical Involvement

Over the course of today’s lesson and throughout their upcoming project work, students will be involved bodily/kinesthetically, interpersonally, verbally, logically/mathematically, and intrapersonally.  Body/Kinesthetic Intelligence will be involved during the creation of a group’s filmed scene or in their manipulation of the computer programs for a storyboard.  Interpersonal Intelligence will be accessed as students work in their groups, discussing ideas and collaborating.  Verbal Intelligence will assist students as they present their scenes to the class, explaining their decisions.  Logical/Mathematical Intelligence will assist students throughout, as they compare the written text with the modern film version and as they track the major theme throughout this process.  Finally, students will be asked to use an Intrapersonal Intelligence in their final journal, as they reflect on the experience.    

 

This lesson also utilizes cognitive, affective, and psychomotor activities, involving a range of experiences for the diverse students and learning types in my classroom.  The cognitive activities students will be involved in include analyzing the texts and completing assigned worksheets.  The main affective activity involves reflecting on the central theme of a work and determining how best to make that accessible to their peers.  Finally, as students prepare their scenes or storyboards, they will be involved in a psychomotor activity. 

 

Questioning from various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (involving students)

KNOWLEDGE: What are the definitions of theme, setting, and characterization?

COMPREHENSION: Can you identify theme, setting, and characterization in a new text?

APPLICATION: How is the presentation of these three elements similar in the text and film and how is it different?

ANALYSIS: What is the central theme of the text and film?  How are they related?  Did they maintain the same purpose?

SYNTHESIS: How would you best “update” this text to appeal to a modern audience?

EVALUATION: As a teenager, did you find your “modern” version more accessible than the original?

 

Choice, Authenticity, and Diversity (meeting individual needs and diversity)

Students will have several choices throughout the lesson, choosing how to modernize the individual elements of their text as well as deciding how to present this information to the class (filming a scene or creating a storyboard).  This lesson is authentic, asking students make a piece of class literature accessible to an audience of their peers.  This is a critical process that asks them to examine the universality of a theme, connecting what they are reading to their own lives.  In the various learning styles involved in this lesson as well as the many different methods of assessment, students are provided with diversity throughout this lesson and unit. 

 

STUDENT ASSESSMENT:

Throughout this extended project, students will be assessed in various ways, including teacher observation, summative, and formative assessments.  On this particular day in the unit, in which students are presented with the topic for their final projects and begin to work in groups, students will be evaluated on their in-class participation through teacher observation and notes describing their effort within their groups.  This will be used to determine their participation grade for the day.  Additionally, students will be formatively assessed in regards to two in-class worksheets.  The first worksheet will be completed and turned in at the end of this first class period, asking students to describe the themes, setting, and major characterizations of their assigned novel.  After viewing the modernized film version of their text, students will complete, as a group, a second handout comparing the presentation in the novel and film.  These two assessments will provide opportunities for the students to receive ongoing feedback and direction from the teacher as they develop their final project.  The summative evaluation for this unit will be the presentation of the final projects – the storyboard or scene – and their explanations. 

 

STUDENT USE OF TECHNOLOGY:

Technology has been incorporated into this lesson at several different stages.  Students will have access to the class website in order to access several websites that I will have made available; these sites will offer further information to assist with their group work and project.  In order to preview another version of their text, students will have access to a television and DVD player.  Students will also use technology as they begin to construct their presentations, either using a video camera to film a scene or using PowerPoint to create a storyboard (they may also use a digital camera or recorder to add pictures or sound to the storyboard if they choose).

 

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT: 

The final project created by students (their scenes or storyboards) incorporates technology during the production.  If filming a scene, students will use a video camera, using its various functions to enhance their scene (zoom, pan, angled shots, etc.).  During their presentation, they will be using a television and VCR.  If students choose to storyboard their scene, they will create a PowerPoint presentation of the various shots they would have filmed.  With PowerPoint, students have the opportunity to use a digital camera or a recording device to add pictures or sound.  The filmed version must be at least 10 minutes long, but no longer than 15 minutes.  The Power Point presentation must include at least 15 slides, but no more than 20. 

 

RUBRIC:

Please see the additional site for a grading rubric.