Objective: To have the students find out about the Shaker religion, it's origin, founder, and where it began in order to become familiar with the religion in the novel.
When we started the novel A Day No Pigs Would Die, I had the students brainstorm as to what a shaker would be. The answers ranged from a stripper to an instrument. Then we read the back of the book to get a better idea of what the term meant. I then broke the class into small groups and sent them to the computers to find out what a Shaker. I had written on the board questions as to what I wanted answered. After about 3o minutes we came back together as a group to share what we found. The Shaker religion is very interesting and strange. We compared and contrasted it with some of the religions of today as well as some in other stories we had read or heard about. This lead to the discussion as to where and when the religion came to the United States and where our story takes place.
I feel this was a good lead into our story. It gave the students a feel for the beliefs of the characters in our story as well as giving a feeling or reality of the story. The students really did a great job finding out about Shakers and pulling in other information about other religions.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Creating the News
Lesson Objective; to get the students to not only read the novel, but to really dig into the time period in which the novel was to take place in order to get the students more into the novel
I will do this lesson after completion of a novel
The teacher will present to the students an example of a newspaper article that may have been presented in a newspaper at the time of the novel. The students will be able to look at the example and see that there are a lot of different ideas that can go into creating this newspaper article.
Once the students have been shown the example, the teacher will explain to them that they are going to be doing a little research in the time period in which the novel took place. They may get two class periods to look up different information. Once they have gathered their information, they are to creat the front cover story of a newspaper from that time period. They get to invent the name of their newspaper, create the pictures for the newspaper and create the stories as they would think they would appear in that time period. It is neat to see the stories that the students will come up with by using the characters from the novel.
I will then have the students present their newspapers to the rest of the class and we will then hang them up for the rest of the school to see.
This activity not only gives the student the opportunity to read the novel and get more interested in it, it also gives them the time to do the research and look into that time period.
I will do this lesson after completion of a novel
The teacher will present to the students an example of a newspaper article that may have been presented in a newspaper at the time of the novel. The students will be able to look at the example and see that there are a lot of different ideas that can go into creating this newspaper article.
Once the students have been shown the example, the teacher will explain to them that they are going to be doing a little research in the time period in which the novel took place. They may get two class periods to look up different information. Once they have gathered their information, they are to creat the front cover story of a newspaper from that time period. They get to invent the name of their newspaper, create the pictures for the newspaper and create the stories as they would think they would appear in that time period. It is neat to see the stories that the students will come up with by using the characters from the novel.
I will then have the students present their newspapers to the rest of the class and we will then hang them up for the rest of the school to see.
This activity not only gives the student the opportunity to read the novel and get more interested in it, it also gives them the time to do the research and look into that time period.
The big picture
At the end of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout finds herself standing on the Radley front porch, looking out at the neighborhood and realizing that Boo Radley had been watching their lives unfold.
One of the things about this novel that has always caught me was the neighborhood and the dynamic characters in the neighborhood. I had a neighborhood where children gathered in the summer for games or imaginative reenactments of TV shows (Gunsmoke was a favorite), and where dusk saw all the neighbor kids huddled under shrubs or behind posts or lying in dark shadows while someone counted to a hundred and then yelled, “Ready of not, here I come.” The map of our comings and goings was trampled into paths on vacant lots between friends’ houses. All the adults in the neighborhood knew us, and anyone’s grandma was everyone’s.
Some students still grow up in a similar neighborhood, but some don’t at all. I imagine a novel lesson plan that would bring all the people and places in the novel to life. Because the imagery is so visual for me, I want to incorporate visual images in the plan.
On day number one, as students arrive in class, they will see all the walls and bulletin boards empty of the usual posters and postings. At the front of the room will be a roll of 30”-wide, white paper, art supplies, and a stack of colorful, cast-off magazines for cutting and pasting, and copies of the Tom Swift, etc., novels mentioned by the children. (The Tom Swift book is just because I happen to have one in a collection of antique books.)
As the books are distributed, I will form groups of three or four students by arranging students in numerical order according to their book numbers.
With each description of a place or a character that occurs during the reading of the novel, a different group will be directed to use whatever materials the members choose to recreate the description as a poster and to post that poster on the wall.
When we are finished with the novel and with the posters, we should have a panorama of Maycomb surrounding us. The poster representing the Ewell residence and the geraniums in broken pots should give students a little insight into Mayella’s character and desperation.
After we have read the description that Scout makes as she stands on the Radley porch in front of the shutter from which Boo watched them, we will attempt to draw a map of the city of Maycomb.
The next day we will spend time in the computer lab checking out the website, www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=61177 , that talks about Monroe, Alabama, the city which served as Maycomb’s model.
Of course, all of this will augment classroom discussion and the other aspects of the study of the novel. Hopefully it will serve to make the descriptions in the novel into tangible images.
One of the things about this novel that has always caught me was the neighborhood and the dynamic characters in the neighborhood. I had a neighborhood where children gathered in the summer for games or imaginative reenactments of TV shows (Gunsmoke was a favorite), and where dusk saw all the neighbor kids huddled under shrubs or behind posts or lying in dark shadows while someone counted to a hundred and then yelled, “Ready of not, here I come.” The map of our comings and goings was trampled into paths on vacant lots between friends’ houses. All the adults in the neighborhood knew us, and anyone’s grandma was everyone’s.
Some students still grow up in a similar neighborhood, but some don’t at all. I imagine a novel lesson plan that would bring all the people and places in the novel to life. Because the imagery is so visual for me, I want to incorporate visual images in the plan.
On day number one, as students arrive in class, they will see all the walls and bulletin boards empty of the usual posters and postings. At the front of the room will be a roll of 30”-wide, white paper, art supplies, and a stack of colorful, cast-off magazines for cutting and pasting, and copies of the Tom Swift, etc., novels mentioned by the children. (The Tom Swift book is just because I happen to have one in a collection of antique books.)
As the books are distributed, I will form groups of three or four students by arranging students in numerical order according to their book numbers.
With each description of a place or a character that occurs during the reading of the novel, a different group will be directed to use whatever materials the members choose to recreate the description as a poster and to post that poster on the wall.
When we are finished with the novel and with the posters, we should have a panorama of Maycomb surrounding us. The poster representing the Ewell residence and the geraniums in broken pots should give students a little insight into Mayella’s character and desperation.
After we have read the description that Scout makes as she stands on the Radley porch in front of the shutter from which Boo watched them, we will attempt to draw a map of the city of Maycomb.
The next day we will spend time in the computer lab checking out the website, www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=61177 , that talks about Monroe, Alabama, the city which served as Maycomb’s model.
Of course, all of this will augment classroom discussion and the other aspects of the study of the novel. Hopefully it will serve to make the descriptions in the novel into tangible images.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
First Day
The idea for this lesson plan comes, in part, from a book study in which I recently participated, so credit for the main idea goes to guy named Doug Diehl. The plan would be appropriate for high school & older students. Technically the book, Blue Like Jazz, is non-fiction and leans toward the philosophical, but it is written and reads much like a fictional novel. I believe this introductory lesson could be adapted for use with any type of book. The plan was effective, interesting, and motivating. It made me want to read the book and come back again the next week.
The book makes reference to jazz music and coffee houses circa the 60's, so the first time we met we were greeted with a coffee house setting with jazz music playing in the background. This really set a great mood for the study session. The first session was also some people's first exposure to the book. My spin on this idea is implementing it in a situation where there was no chance for preparatory reading and encouraging people to hang out and read. I would recommend reading rapidly, not being concerned with detail, but rather reading to get a sense of the style, main theme, and time period of a book.
We had a choice of one of three tasks for our assignment, each connected with a thread introduced in the first chapter of the book. (Since we were meeting weekly, adjustments in the tasks would be necessary to accomodate a daily class.)
1. Write a proof that other people existed.
2. Make a list of self-centered moments.
3. Create a collage of what people like.
There's always a first day of class, or a first day of a unit and often some students prepare ahead and others don't. As I experienced it, this plan was highly motivational and would ease that first day, when not everyone is starting from the same place.
The book makes reference to jazz music and coffee houses circa the 60's, so the first time we met we were greeted with a coffee house setting with jazz music playing in the background. This really set a great mood for the study session. The first session was also some people's first exposure to the book. My spin on this idea is implementing it in a situation where there was no chance for preparatory reading and encouraging people to hang out and read. I would recommend reading rapidly, not being concerned with detail, but rather reading to get a sense of the style, main theme, and time period of a book.
We had a choice of one of three tasks for our assignment, each connected with a thread introduced in the first chapter of the book. (Since we were meeting weekly, adjustments in the tasks would be necessary to accomodate a daily class.)
1. Write a proof that other people existed.
2. Make a list of self-centered moments.
3. Create a collage of what people like.
There's always a first day of class, or a first day of a unit and often some students prepare ahead and others don't. As I experienced it, this plan was highly motivational and would ease that first day, when not everyone is starting from the same place.
Novel Lessons
I love plays on words, and thus I think the URL for this blog is most fitting. My hope for this space is that each of us can post a lesson plan--no special format required, just something that we do teach novels to our students or use novels in our bookclubs or share the wonder of a good book in some way with others. In her book Radical Reflections, Mem Fox talks about her reason for writing not being to publish, but being to share with others. I think the same can be true of teaching--creating and presenting the lesson is a success of sorts, but getting to share ideas with other teachers is where another level of delight, and the real opportunity for improvement, comes to fruition.
For those of you who are not familiar with blogs, the set up is basically this: someone posts their ideas, and others get to comment on it. While many blogs are the musings of a single person, I have set up this blog so that each of you can POST your lesson plan idea, and the rest of us can provide you with feedback in the form of COMMENTs. You need only post once and comment once (for Week 4, you'll need to do it again for Week 8)--although I hope you will find the blog a friendly place where you come often to hang out with your new online teaching friends, have a cup of virtual coffee, and share.
For those of you who are not familiar with blogs, the set up is basically this: someone posts their ideas, and others get to comment on it. While many blogs are the musings of a single person, I have set up this blog so that each of you can POST your lesson plan idea, and the rest of us can provide you with feedback in the form of COMMENTs. You need only post once and comment once (for Week 4, you'll need to do it again for Week 8)--although I hope you will find the blog a friendly place where you come often to hang out with your new online teaching friends, have a cup of virtual coffee, and share.
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