This lesson introduces an activity to help students analyze some of the lesser characters from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Students search for quotations that characterize three minor characters before using those quotations as the starting point for an analytical essay about the book.
This introductory lesson provides materials for teachers to use while reading Ray Bradbury's classic novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, consisting of powerpoint presentations with important quotes from the chapters of the book.
The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.
Who decides who among us is civilized? What rules should govern immigration into the United States? Whom should we let in? Keep out? What should we do about political refugees or children without papers? What if they would be a drain on our economy?
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Students read William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and write a short argument about who in the play is truly civilized.
Students participate in a mock trial in which they argue for or against granting asylum to a teenage refugee, and then they write arguments in favor of granting asylum to one refugee and against granting it to another.
Students read an Independent Reading text and write an informational essay about a global issue and how that relates to their book.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.
What role do national identity, custom, religion, and other locally held beliefs play in a world increasingly characterized by globalization?
How does Shakespeare’s view of human rights compare with that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Who is civilized? Who decides what civilization is or how it’s defined?
How do we behave toward and acknowledge those whose culture is different from our own?
Who is free at the end of the play? In this lesson, students will share their responses to that question and their ideas about the ending of the play. Students will have class time to draft an essay about civilized behavior in The Tempest. For homework, students will complete an initial draft of their essay.
This page includes a series of humorous quotes from great American author Mark Twain, along with a short lesson plan that has students analyze Twain's quotes before finding funny quotations from other American humorists.