LESSON PLAN
Grade Level: English 11 – American Literature
Lesson Title/Purpose: Modernism: An Investigation of the evolution of the American Dream from the dawn of the 20th century to the 21st century.
Learning Objectives:
1. Students will gain a greater understanding of the concepts related to the idea of the “American Dream”.
2. Students will read, annotate, discuss and analyze the literature of the Modernist time period.
3. Students will develop a written, analytical paper focused on one of the Modern authors of the early 20th century.
4. Students will develop a project (product) that addresses their personal perspective on the American Dream.
Necessary Resources:
1. American Literature textbooks, anthologies, and selections of Modern short works.
2. Access to the Internet, computer labs, laptop carts, classroom netbook collections, and possibly the media center.
3. Handouts, informational packets, audio files of the stories.
4. Example essays, peer review sheets, rubrics and evaluation instruments
For Objective 1: Students will gain a greater understanding of the concepts related to the idea of the “American Dream”.
To complete objective one, students should gain a better understanding of the elusive concept so often referred to as “The American Dream”. To fully understand the scope of this idea, students will be asked to analyze photography, begin brainstorming their own ideas about the concept, participate in small and whole group discussions about the concept and begin to apply a few concrete ideas to this relatively theoretical topic.
Specific Activities:
1. Conduct a brief informal whole group discussion about the idea of the American Dream.
2. View the ten selected photographs and take notes regarding the images.
3. Create a journal entry regarding three specific photographs that are representative of the American Dream.
4. Organize small groups for discussion regarding their reading of the photographs and their thoughts from their journal entries.
5. Share the small group findings as a whole class and identify common threads that exist among the groups (or note the significant differences that might be identified).
Evaluation:
The evaluation of students will work in a formative manner for objective one. After completing the entry activity, individuals will begin their work on the specific tasks of reading the photographs and creating the journal entries that will allow us to measure their progress on a daily basis through small, measured tasks. This formative approach will not present a numeric grade per se, but rather contribute to a continuing measurement of their performance throughout the entire unit. Working in smaller groups allows for more individualized interaction and personal observation, which is essential in measuring their progress. When the groups have completed their discussions and begin whole group discussions, my co-teacher and I will assume the role of student and attempt to absorb their information in the same way that other students would. This formative approach to assessment will allow us to guide their investigation and hopefully broaden their perspective about the American Dream to enhance the quality of later summative assessments, such as an analytical paper or a personal essay.
For Objective 2: Students will read, annotate, discuss and analyze the literature of the Modernist time period.
To complete the second objective, students should have a better understanding of a number of the pieces from the Modernist time period (approx. 1900 – 1945). Students will have a clear understanding of the selections on a literal and figurative level through their reading, annotating, and discussing of the works. They should be able to engage the text actively through their written annotations and use that work to develop some critical insights they can bring to a whole group discussion. In discussion, students will be able to solidify their initial reading of the text, develop new ideas based upon the sharing of multiple perspectives and begin to see the notion of the American Dream thematically emerging in the literature of this time period.
Specific Activities:
1. Distribution of selected works for critical reading. Texts may include:
a. Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson)
b. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
c. Our Town (Thornton Wilder)
d. “A Wagner Matinee” (Willa Cather)
e. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” (Kate Chopin)
f. Selections from Cane (Jean Toomer)
g. Selections from Ernest Hemingway
h. Selections from Flannery O’Connor
i. Selections from William Faulkner
j. Selections from authors of The Harlem Renaissance
2. Read and annotate specific selections individually.
3. Reading check quizzes for literal interpretations of the work.
4. Using the same groupings as for Objective One, small group discussion over the reading.
5. Whole group discussion of the short stories upon completion of the small group discussions.
6. Repeating the process for the remaining texts.
Evaluation:
Students will continue to be measured formatively throughout the second objective through their annotations of the text, the brief reading quizzes and their participation in small / large group discussion. Their individual engagement with the texts can be assessed by examining the depth / detail of their annotations and will continue to be monitored through their “performance tracking” on our Excel spreadsheet. They will also be measured by their progress on the reading check quizzes, which simply measure their literal understanding of the texts. If they do not achieve a score of 80% or higher, then they will be asked to re-examine the text through some means of additional intervention. Through our observation of their small group discussions, as well as our facilitation of whole class discussions, we will be able to gain a better understanding of how well the students are examining the texts on a more interpretive or figurative level. This understanding will allow us to shape the depth of the task for objective three and differentiate the written assignments as necessary to meet the needs of individual students.
For Objective 3: Students will develop a written, analytical paper focused on one of the Modern author’s view of the American Dream in the early 20th century.
To complete objective three, students should have a clear understanding of at least one Modern text (from the selections we read) that would enable them to construct a clear literary analysis of that work. In order to accomplish this task, students must draw on their prior knowledge of the writing process, their previous work with this particular style of writing, and utilize their new found understanding of the selected author and text to construct a clear and coherent paper analyzing his work. They need to be able to use their annotated text, their biographical information, their notes from small / large group discussion and their ability to think critically to synthesize the information. This information then must be organized, supported, developed and constructed into an original literary argument based on their reading of this author’s view of the American Dream.
Specific Activities:
1. Presentation of possible topics and models of previous papers to generate ideas for writing.
2. Organization of students’ notetaking materials from previous two objectives.
3. Brainstorming of potential topics.
4. Selection of topics.
5. Construction of rubric (including student input) for final evaluation
6. Prewriting and block-out sheets (outlines) for essays.
7. Drafting process of writing the paper.
8. Instructor feedback and peer feedback for initial draft.
9. Revision of initial drafts.
10. Editing and publishing stage.
11. Submission to www.turnitin.com.
Evaluation:
The completion of the third objective remains true to the formative assessment nature of this unit as the writing process is one of the truest measurements of this type of assessment. From the initial development stage of this writing assignment through the revision / editing stage of this task, we will be able accurately track a student’s progress through the various stages associated with writing this paper. A final summative grade will be given for the completed paper and will allow us to (hopefully) measure the students’ understanding of this Modern literary work. But even though this summative measurement is ultimately given by the instructors, the creation of the rubric, by which this paper will be graded, should be student driven and created with a great deal of their input. In so doing, the hope is that the final assessment standards for the paper will be very clear to the class as a whole and the benchmarks by which they are scored will be understood prior to the initial drafting of the paper. Even if the student struggles with written expression, there is enough formative / embedded assessment along they way that their overall score for the unit will not suffer dramatically.
For Objective 4: Students will develop a project (product) that addresses their personal perspective on the American Dream.
To complete objective four, students must synthesize their prior study of the ideas surrounding the American Dream in order to create their own original work that investigates the very same topic. Students must revisit their initial journal entry from an earlier task, the ideas generated from discussion, and their investigation of the American Dream in the literature of the early 20th century to examine how their own notion of this concept has evolved. Finally, they must construct a product that indicates how they see this concept alive at the dawn of the 21st century through their own personal lens. This product may be (but not limited to) a personal essay, a collection of photographs, a work of art, a soundtrack – the possibilities are endless.
Specific Activities:
1. Presentation of possible projects and models of previous examples to generate ideas.
2. Organization of students’ notetaking materials from previous three objectives.
3. Brainstorming of potential projects.
4. Selection of style and subject.
5. Construction of rubric (including student input) for final evaluation.
6. Drafting process of project.
7. Instructor feedback and peer feedback for initial effort.
8. Revision of initial effort.
9. Editing and publishing stage.
Evaluation:
The completion of the fourth and final object becomes the ultimate summative evaluation for the unit – what does the student have to say about the American Dream. Like the previous writing assignment, we will be able to accurately track a student’s progress through the various stages associated with the completion of this project. A final summative grade will be given for the completed project and will allow us to (hopefully) measure the students’ understanding of the American Dream. But even though this summative measurement is ultimately given by the instructors, the creation of the rubric, just like with the analytical paper, should be student driven and created with a great deal of their input. The final summative assessment for this unit will be based on the students’ understanding of the American Dream, their ability to produce a product that demonstrates their understanding of those ideas, and how those ideas relate personally to them.
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