Liana AlcantaraProfessor WillisCI 403LPA #1, Week 4

Title:

Understanding Motifs: Recurring Ideas in Midnight’s Children

Time:

This lesson was designed to take a full 50 minute class period.

Theory Into Practice Background:

As outlined in our theoretical rationale, this lesson demonstrates use of the UDL format

for learning and Fisher and Frey’s “Feed Up, Feed Back, Feed Forward” model. Using both of

these frameworks allows for the largest possible number of students to have the greatest chance

possible of understanding the material as presented. The emphasis on this lesson is largely in

group work and large group discussion. While there is much to say against the large group

discussion format, I believe that when used in conjunction with other styles of teaching, it can be

very useful, not just to the student speaking, but the students listening. In Burke’s book The

English Teacher’s Companion, he quotes Douglas Barnes and his work From Communication to

Curriculum”, where he uses the phrase “exploratory talk”. This is speech that is “marked by

frequent hesitations, rephrasings, false starts and changes of direction…it is very important

whenever we want a learner to take an active part in learning…” (page 241) I believe that

exploratory talk would be very beneficial to all students in understanding the role of motifs in

Midnight’s Children, and allowing time for them to ask questions of myself and each other is

essential to this.

Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, students will:

Have a concrete understanding of the definition of motifs in literature.

Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the function of motifs in this section of

Midnight’s Children.

Be able to apply these motifs to their own lives and find common ground between

themselves and Saleem.

Materials:

For this lesson, you will need:

Copies of Midnight’s Children for every student

Dry erase/chalkboard at the front of the classroom

Copies of creative application prompt for every student

Preparation:

Students will have read the first two chapters in Book Two for this lesson: “The

Fisherman’s Pointing Finger” and “Snakes and Ladders”. For this lesson to run smoothly, make

sure to have the copies of the creative application prompt ready to go before class starts. While

the goal of the lesson is to have students arrive at the definition of motifs through collaboration,

you should also have a definition ready to suggest if students are reluctant to participate, but also

so you have a clear goal of what you are steering their conversation towards. When students

enter the room, there should be the following written on the board: What do you think of when

you hear the word “motif”? Take out your notebooks and a writing utensil and do a quick free

write on what you think “motif” means. This will allow students to begin working as soon as

they enter the classroom.

Procedure:

1) As students enter the classroom, collect their journals from Week 3 and direct them to

follow the instructions on the board. Allow sufficient time for all students to turn in

journals and get settled into their seats and complete the free writes. (2-3 minutes)

2) After students have all written down a few ideas, ask students to shout out some

responses as you write them on the board. Try to steer students towards a literary

definition of motifs and include examples from other texts they may have read. The final

definition should look something like the one below. (5 minutes)

a. motif: a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. A motif

may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil. In the

Book of Genesis, we see the motif of separation again and again throughout the

story. […] A motif is important because it allows one to see main points and

themes that the author is trying to express, in order that one might be able to

interpret the work more accurately. (See A Handbook to Literature, The Concise

Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms)

3) After the class has come up with a cohesive definition for motif, write it concisely on the

board for them to reference throughout the rest of class. Ask students to brainstorm some

motifs found in this section of Midnight’s Children. Make a list on the board for students.

Some possible motifs: snakes and ladders, blood/the color red, the pointing finger. (3-5

minutes)

4) After students have brainstormed a list of motifs, break students up into groups of three

or four and have each group focus on a specific motif. It is fine if more than one group is

on the same motif, there are lots of examples in this section. Have each group come up

with at least two instances of their motif in this section of text and discuss the importance

of the motif. (15-20 minutes)

5) Have students come back into large group discussion and present one example of their

motif and the significance of it to the class. Students should be taking notes on each motif

as it is presented for future reference/use in the creative application prompt. (5-10

minutes)

6) Pass out the creative application prompt and talk through it with the class. Answer any

questions that arise. (5 minutes)

7) Write the following exit slip prompt on the board. Tell students that this will be turned in

as a check for understanding: What motif(s) do you think may recur throughout the whole

novel? Which do you think may be more central to this section of text? Why do you think

this? (2-3 minutes)

8) Allow students to begin working on the prompt if there is sufficient time left for students

to work. (remainder of class)

Discussion Ideas:

A large part of this lesson is dependant on facilitating large group classroom discussion,

and also circulating and fostering discussion as students work in groups. The following are some

examples of what could be said to prompt students in the brainstorming of motifs stage:

If students are having trouble getting started: Think of a specific story or symbol that

Saleem tells us about. Does Rushdie bring any of these back in the general narration? If

so, which ones?

If students are confusing motif with symbols: You have the right idea, that it is an object

or idea of continued importance throughout a novel, but try and think of a motif as

coming directly from the author, while a symbol can mean many things, often on

purpose. What is a concrete motif we see throughout this section?

In group work, if students are having trouble finding examples of their specific motif, the

following are some questions/ideas that could help guide their thinking:

For snakes and ladders: When did something go right for Saleem or his family in this

section? When did something go wrong? Could either of these be seen as snakes or

ladders? How so?

Bilingual/ESL and Englishes Accommodations:

While much of this lesson takes place through discussion, my writing the important

pieces and definitions on the board will help ESL students follow along and get the same

information as their peers. If it would be helpful, I could have a student that is already taking

notes on the discussion share them with the ESL student, or if the student would feel more

comfortable in having a definition in front of them, I could provide them with the “ideal

definition” found in the procedure ahead of time. Also, the group work can help solidify the

understanding of motifs for every student, and the final exit slips will help me gauge each

student’s individual understanding at the end of the lesson.

If any students were feeling unclear about the text in general, there is a Spark Notes guide

on this book that provides fairly detailed summaries of the text in fairly simple English. This

could be a good resource for any student, because the nature of this book is such that just reading

the summaries will not mean complete understanding of the text, it is an incredibly dense text

that takes lots of dissection to fully comprehend. I may recommend students refer to the Spark

Notes if they are confused, it is a good resource if properly used.

Special Education Accommodations:

Similarly to the ESL accommodations, the visual aid of having the definition and major

ideas of discussion written on the board could be helpful. One student in this class has ADHD,

and I know that this student performs better with clear instructions and varied situations for

learning. Thinking of this and using the UDL approach to planning, I included elements of

individual work (beginning prompt and exit slip), large group discussion (definition of motif and

brainstorming of different motifs), and small group work and discussion (finding specific

examples of motifs and discussing their overall importance). If the student with ADHD would

find it useful, I could provide a guided note sheet, or if they perform better when directly

involved with tactile tasks, the student could be the one to record the class’ discussion on the

board instead of me. Often, the way to ensure involvement in the class for students with ADHD

is to give them more responsibility in its functioning. It allows the student to be both involved in

the learning, but also to have a task to focus on—if they are busy writing down everyone’s

answers, it leaves less time for them to be idle and potentially become distracted.

Assessment:

Informal assessment will be used for the majority of the class—simple polls of the class

after sections of the lesson could provide the adequate feedback necessary to know if I need to

clarify anything before moving on, for example ensuring that everyone understands our final

definition of motifs before moving on to brainstorming different motifs could help alleviate any

potential confusion before it begins. The final assessment for this specific lesson is the exit slip,

which forces students to synthesize the main points of the lesson and apply their knowledge to

answer a prediction question. Another piece of assessment for these learning objectives is the

creative application prompt, which will be completed as homework/in class the next day, as it

will be due at the end of the lesson. The assignment sheet for the creative application prompt can

be found at the end of this lesson plan.

Extension Ideas:

If students wanted to continue engaging with the ideas of motifs, I would encourage them

to choose a motif they find particularly interesting/integral to the text and track it throughout the

rest of the novel. The student’s reading journals would be an ideal place to do this, and it may

inspire them for the final project as well. Also, if students wanted to do more creative projects on

the topic of motifs, they could create another creative application with another motif, or possibly

illustrate an instance of a particular motif that they found important directly from Midnight’s

Children.

Source of Activity:

In checking out potential resources for ESL/students in Special Education, I found a

Spark Notes guide online for Midnight’s Children. There is a section on themes, motifs, and

symbols for the novel as a whole, and I saw that one of these was snakes. The origin of that motif

is in the chapter “Snakes and Ladders”, and so from there I decided to do a lesson centered

around motifs, which not only helps students while reading the rest of the novel, but also ties

back to the overall focus of this unit: how the form of Midnight’s Children affects our

understanding of literature’s place in history. Students could discuss and utilize motif in their

final projects for this unit.

Resources and References:

"All American: Glossary of Literary Terms." UNCP. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec 2011.

<http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm

Definition of motif, which the website says is taken from A Handbook to Literature,

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms

Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion: a Complete Guide to Classroom, Curriculum,

and the Profession. 3rd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.

"Midnight's Children." Spark Notes. n. page. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/midnightschildren/themes.html>.

Spark Notes resource page on motifs

Illinois State English Language Arts Goals:

This lesson meets the following ISBE standards:

2.A.5a: Compare and evaluate oral, written, or viewed works from various eras and

traditions and analyze complex literary devices (e.g., structures, images, forms,

foreshadowing, flashbacks, stream of consciousness).

o By attaining a working knowledge of motif, students can then analyze why

and how Rushdie uses these motifs throughout the text and the affect it has on

the plot and characters as a whole.

1.A.5a: Identify and analyze new terminology applying knowledge of word origins

and derivations in a variety of practical settings.

o Students come away from this lesson with a very practical, self-made

definition of motif that they can then apply to the rest of the text and make

connections to their own lives.

Creative Application: Motifs in your own life

Now that we have discussed and defined motif, it is time to apply your

knowledge to your own lives! Rushdie gives us many different motifs to

choose from in this section. Your task is to choose one of these motifs and

represent it creatively with a scene from your own life.

Some possible motifs:

Snakes and ladders

The pointing finger

Blood/the color red

Anything from the list we made in class today

You can do this in many ways:

Write a creative short story (1-2 pages) about when you were young.

Make a sketch/draw a picture of a scene where you felt like Saleem in

one of the times a motif shows up. Include a brief paragraph explaining

the scene and which motif you chose.

Write a poem dealing with one of these motifs and a time from your

own life when you felt this way.

Any creative representation of a motif will do—if you have ideas other

than these, just talk to me. It is probably fine, I just want to make sure

you are on the right track before you start.

This assignment will be due tomorrow (date here) at the end of class.

You may wish to work on it at home, as you will only have about 20 minutes

of class time tomorrow to add any finishing touches. There will be time to

share with the class as well, so do your best! This assignment is worth 15

points: 10 for how well you apply your chosen motif to the story, and 5 for

creativity.