Nicole Willekes

English 310- 02

November 30, 2012

Comprehensive Unit Plan

Genre: Short stories

Grade level: 12th grade

Examples of short stories:

1. “20/20” by Linda Brewer2. “The Jewelry” by Guy de Maupassant3. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe4. “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison5. “A Wall of Fire Rising” by Edwidge Danticat6. “A & P” by John Updike

Backwards Design: Preliminary Plan

Stage 1- Desired Results

Established Goals:

- Students will be able to produce a short story, “making conscious choices regarding language, form, and style.” Standard 1.5

- Students will thoughtfully analyze and study mentor texts and example literature. Standard 2.1

- Students will be able to use writing strategies to create “meaning beyond the literal level (e.g., drawing inferences; confirming and correcting; making comparisons, connections, and generalizations; and drawing conclusions).” Standard 2.2

- Students will “understand and use the English language effectively” in composing their own short stories. Standard 4.1

Based on MI HSCE, English Language Arts.

- Students will be able to “write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, orobservation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s)

of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smoothprogression of experiences or events.b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection,and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.”W.12.3a/3b

- Students will be able to “develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is mostsignificant for a specific purpose and audience.” W.12.5

Based on CCSS, English Language Arts

Essential Questions:

- How does one create narrative prose?- How are the elements of a narrative (characters, setting, etc…) deepened and made

realistic to a reader?- What can novice writers learn about the process of drafting short stories from a mentor

short story?

Understanding:

Students will understand that…

- The plot in narrative writing must be sequenced and shaped in a way that engages an audience and shapes their story.

- Narration and point of view must be given substantial consideration when writing with style, tone, and voice.

- Characters need to be well-developed and realistic.- Setting can set the situation, mood, and even character, as well as set the stage for

foreshadowing, symbolism and other literary devices.- Symbolism can turn narrative prose into a metaphorical treasure hunt by deepening the

story into multiple, rich layers for the reader’s interpretation.

Knowledge:

Students will know…

- The elements of a good narrative are plot, narration and point of view, characters, setting, and symbolism.

- The process one puts into composing a narrative consists of extensive planning, revising, editing, and rewriting.

Ability:

Students will be able to…

- Compose narratives using the elements learned throughout the unit.- Make these elements believable and realistic.- Proofread, revise, and edit multiple drafts of a narrative.- Read mentor texts analytically, annotate, and apply observed concepts.

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:

- Write, proofread, revise, and edit a short story- Read and annotate mentor texts - Respond to peer work

Other evidence:

- Journal entries- Class discussion- Group discussion (Literature circles)

Stage 3- Learning PlanLearning Activities: WHERETO

W: This design will help students know WHERE the unit is going by giving them preliminary activities, such as reading short stories out loud and for homework. They will know WHAT is expected by examining mentor texts closely, studying the literary devices and techniques that established writers used to write short stories. The teacher will know WHERE the students are coming from by asking for reflective writing in their journals after various class periods. H: This design will HOOK all students and HOLD their interest by exploring previously published short stories with engaging plots, characters, settings, and themes. They will be asked to replicate literary devices and compose, drawing them into the unit and holding their interest with the principle of choice as the great motivator: students will able to choose any topic they wish for their own short story. E: This design will EQUIP all students with a knowledge of commonly used and effective literary devices and strategies through the guided instruction of the teacher (annotating mentor texts as a class, learning through writing, and watching the teacher write). The students will EXPERIENCE the key ideas and EXPLORE the issues in their journal writing and in their own short story, which will be the culminating experience in this unit. R: This design will provide opportunities to RETHINK and REVISE their understandings and work through several peer-reviews, one-on-one conferences with the teacher, and individual revising and editing processes.

E: This design will allow students to EVALUATE their work and its implications by sharing it with a small group and discovering the effect that it has on an audience. They will be given chances to self-evaluate by being asked to put themselves into someone else’s shoes (ex. “Pretend you are mother with three children, pretend you are a 13-year old, etc…Read your story. React through the mind of another.)T: This design will be TAILORED (personalized) to the different needs, interests, and abilities of all learners by offering a wide and diverse range of mentor texts that the students can connect too. The students will be allowed to choose their topic and theme for their final short story, allowing students to choose topics that they are comfortable in and know about. It also allows higher-achieving learners to challenge themselves by choosing more difficult topics or weaving new and unfamiliar literary strategies into their writing. O: This design will be ORGANIZED to maximize initial and sustained engagement as well as effective learning by alternating the activities to accommodate high school attention spans. Reading and writing will be varied, as well as activities within a “reading day”. Mentor texts chosen will be interesting, unique, and offer many opportunities for analysis on a literal and metaphorical level.

Month-Long Calendar of My Unit:

MON TUES WED THURS FRI

Week 1 WritingLesson Plan 1: Intro to short stories. Study “20/20”-Writing: What do we notice?

Reading “The Jewelry” by Guy de Maupassant

Literature circles. Free write.

WritingStudy examples of genre: “The Jewelry”Writing: Plot

WritingLesson Plan 2:“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe

Literature circles. Free write.

WritingHow to incorporate plot and other elements we noticed into our writing.Journal writing.

Week 2 WritingLesson plan 3: Demonstrating the writing process : Characterization

Reading “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison

Literature circles. Free write

WritingLesson plan 4: Demonstrating the writing process: CharacterizationBegin drafting.

Reading“A Wall of Fire Rising” by Edwidge Danticat

Literature circles. Free write

WritingActivity: Working with symbolism.Drafting. Journal writing.

Week 3 WritingLesson plan 5: Hands-on activity (understanding and skill)

Reading“A & P” by John Updike

Literature circles,Drafting,Free write

WritingFinish “A & P” discussion.

Draft short stories

WritingDraft short stories

Finish draft as homework

WritingShare short stories within small groups. Check for plot and narration

Teacher collects drafts.

Week 4 WritingReturn drafts with feedback.

Lesson plan 6: Specific mechanics lesson for editing purposes

WritingOne-on-one conferences w/ teacher. At the same time…Group work checking symbolism and characters

WritingOne-on-one conferences w/ teacher.At the same time…Group work checking symbolism and characters. Hw:Final Draft

Presenting:Read short story to class (Peer review for two other classmates)

Presenting:Read short story to class (Peer review for two other classmates)

Lesson Plan 1: Introduction to Short Stories

Week 1, Monday

Materials: Journals, pens, copy of Linda Brewer’s 20/20 for all students, Copy of 20/20 for teacher’s overhead projector, whiteboard, markers.

Connection (0-2 minutes):“Good morning class! We just finished learning about the genre of poetry a

couple of days ago and today we are beginning a journey into a new genre: narrative writing. We will focus on short stories in this unit and towards the end of this unit we will work on composing our own short stories! Another thing we will practice again in this unit is reading as a writer. I know we say that all the time but it’s very important so we will be focusing on that as well!”

Active Engagement (2-20 minutes): “We are going to begin with an immersion into the genre. I want you all to read

carefully and notice elements of this short story as you go. Go ahead and get your journals off the shelf for this activity.”

Students will know what their journals are; they will have had them for the whole year in this class. Journals always stay in the classroom.

“I am going to hand out a short story entitled ‘20/20.’ Some of you may have read this story before. It is a very short piece, but it is loaded with meaning. Read it through once without stopping, and then go back and read it slowly a second time. On your second time around, I want you to write down things that you notice about this short story. For example, tell me something about the characters in this short story. What do you notice about these characters? Don’t forget to put the date at the top right-hand corner of your new journal entry.”

Teacher will pass out printed copies of Linda Brewer’s short story, “20/20.” (Handout #1: included at end of unit plan) Students will read as teacher circulates, reading over shoulders, keeping students on track.

“Alright class, what did you think of the story?”Teacher will call on a few students.“What did you notice?” Teacher will allow students to share some of the things that they noticed and

wrote in their journals. Teacher will put overhead copy of ‘20/20’ up so that all students can see the teacher copy. Teacher will guide and discuss the items that students share while marking the observations on the overhead copy, in order to model annotation of a mentor text for students. If students do not cover all the points, the teacher will bring them up before moving on to the lecture. Following are examples of points that, ideally, students will bring up, and teacher will discuss if they do not:

“The plot of “20/20” is very unique. It begins right in the middle of an action, going on a road trip. We see a turning point in the story, which also happens to be Bill’s only piece of dialogue, when he takes over driving. He sees something here that he did not know before. The story ends in the middle of an action, just like the beginning: “Bill decided to let it ride” (Brewer, 21). Who is telling this story? It appears to be someone who is not actually in the story. The narrator refers to the characters in third person and

uses the past tense. We also notice some casual language; it almost seems as if Bill is talking. Bill seems to be the main character. The characters are from interesting places: rural Ohio and the East Coast. We notice that Bill seems to be the focal character and the way he judges Ruthie makes him feel superior. He is proud of his ability to argue, while Ruthie is observant. The story is also dependent on setting because the sights that Ruthie sees are humorous because of the unlikely locations: ‘a white buffalo bear Fargo’ (Brewer, 21). There are many points that we can observe about this short story, however, these are all specifics things that we observed about just this one particular story. So let’s talk about short stories in a broader setting than just this one and see if we can put names to some of the concepts we just discussed. What makes up a short story? What are the elements of a good short story?

Teaching Point (20-30 minutes): Teacher will give an introduction of short story unit with a mini-lecture which

provides a brief overview of the components of a short story. Teacher will write main points on the whiteboard to help the students take notes.

“First off, we are going to talk briefly about what a short story is. As we progress through the unit, we will be looking at a variety of short stories that show us all the elements of a good narration. So what makes up a short story? What components go into a good, or well-written short story? There are five main parts of a short story that we are going to focus on.

First, we are going to learn about plot and how to recognize this throughout short stories. Plot itself consists of 5 main parts: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The exposition sets the stage for the story. This can be anywhere from one sentence long to multiple paragraphs. It tells us the ‘where’ and ‘when’ and introduces us to our characters. What is the situation? What is the information that we need to make sense of this story? That is what we will learn in as much detail as the author allows through the exposition.

The rising action is the ‘building action.’ The story is building up to something big. Maybe the tension is mounting or emotion is growing. Conflict is being introduced in the characters lives. Often we refer to the ‘inciting incident,’ just a fancy term for conflict which has been introduced.

The climax is the ‘big moment’ of a story. It is ‘the moment of greatest emotional intensity’ (Booth & Mays, 64). The plot’s outcome and the character’s fate are decided at the climax.

Next we have the falling action. The falling action begins to bring the story to a close and moves the plot towards the final resolution. The tension built up at the climax begins to diffuse.

Finally, the story ends with the conclusion. The conflict is solved (not always to the satisfaction of the readers) and there is a certain aspect of closure. Often, the conclusion disappoints the characters as well as the readers.

So that was a summary of the 5 main parts of a plot. Are there any question regarding this? Ok, great.

Secondly, we will focus on narration and point of view. Who is telling the story? Do they know everything? Can they see inside the character’s heads or are they just another character? Point of view is a great place to start. If the story is told from an “I”

character, we are getting a first person narrator. A third person narrator gives us the point of view from the outside; all the characters can be referred to in third person (he, she, they, etc…). When speaking of third-person narration, we have a few different types. An omniscient narrator can see inside the characters’ heads and read thoughts and perceptions of these characters. This narrator can also be called an unlimited narrator, and despite its abilities, will often choose to focus on a few characters. A limited narrator cannot read thoughts. These types of narrators usually only have access to one point of view, and may even be a character in the story. We can also encounter an objective narrator, which does not give us insight into any one characters’ head, but rather states things as they are and leaves it to the reader to figure out the rest. Once in awhile, we also encounter the unreliable narrator. For example, the story might be told in first-person because the narrator is a character in the story, but as a human, he or she might stretch the truth, or even lie.

Character is my personal favorite element of short stories. Like all the elements that we will study in this unit, characters are extremely important to the life and breathe of every short story. There are so many ways that you can tell about your characters without explicitly stating their characteristics and it is fun to make these inferences as we read a text as well! When we have a character that acts in a manner that is predictable and stereotypical we refer to that as a flat character. The opposite of this would be a round character. A round character is much more complex and has more unpredictable, varied responses than does a flat character. However, we need to remember that sometimes, a flat character can be just as good and memorable as a round character. For example, if we give them one or two individual traits, and for the most part they are a ‘stock’ character, this may stick in the reader’s mind longer than a very complex character (Booth & Mays, 124). Has anyone here ever read Oliver Twist? By Charles Dickens? That is a great example of flat, yet memorable characters. I recommend that book to all of you. Another way we can classify characters is by whether or not they are dynamic or static. A dynamic character is one that changes through the course of the story. A static character will remain the same; uninfluenced by the events or experiences that the story presents.

Our fourth main element for this unit is symbolism. Incorporating symbolism into a story can enhance the depth and the meaning of the story. As readers, we are constantly searching for symbols and interpreting them. As writers, we need to be thinking ahead and planning if we want to have rich symbolism throughout our work. A symbol is an object or concept that, below the surface, has another meaning; it signifies something else. But each and every one of you is already an expert on symbolism since we already studied symbolism in our poetry unit! I know that you guys already know this stuff!

The last element that we are going to study in this unit is setting. Setting provides the time and place of the story. Setting answers the questions of where and when the story takes place. Setting may seem insignificant to a story, but ‘in good fiction, setting always functions as an integral part of the whole’ (Booth & Mays, 159).”

Teaching Point (30-32 minutes):“Alright, so now we have done a formal overview of the elements in short stories.

I would like you to go back now and read over what you have written about 20/20. Start on the next clean page of your journal and re-write your observations using the terms and ideas that we just talked about with short stories. Put your notes right alongside your

journals and don’t be afraid to refer to them frequently! If you still have time after you have re-written your observations using the terms we just discussed, look back through your notes and see if there is anything that you neglected to discuss about 20/20. Can you pinpoint the climax in this story? What type of narrator do we have? Is Bill a dynamic or a static character? Write about everything that you can discover in this story!”

Active Engagement (32-57 minutes):Students will work in their journals for about 20-25 minutes, re-writing and

writing about 20/20. Teacher will walk around and read over students’ shoulders, offering advice or help.

Closing (57-60 minutes):“Alright let’s pack it up for the day. You all did great work today with 20/20 and

I look forward to working on more short stories with you! I enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm in your writing and in our discussion today! Read through The Jewelry once for homework; we will be working on that story tomorrow.”

Formative Assessment:Teacher will go over the students’ journals to make sure they understand the

concepts introduced in the day’s lecture.

Lesson Plan 2: Discussing and reacting to: “The Cask of Amontillado” Week 1: Thursday

Materials: Students will have their anthologies, video projector for teacher’s copy, pens for

annotating, whiteboard, markers, and student journals.

Connection (0-2 minutes): “Good morning class! I hope you all enjoyed reading “The Cask of Amontillado”

for homework last night. I know this story is a little dark, but it is well-written and entertaining to read. Plus, it has a lot of great writing strategies for us to notice and apply to our own writing, so we will also focus on reading as a writer today!”

Active Engagement (2-20 minutes): “Alright, let’s go ahead and get into our literature circles for the day! You all

know which circle you are in already for today so let’s start some useful discussion here.”Literature circles will have been established at the beginning of the week for

students so they know what to do here. Each literature circle is made up of 5 different students. Groups are changed around every Monday. Students are to take notes as they read during homework and come to class prepared to discuss the reading in their small group and as a class. When students are in their groups, teacher will give further instructions.

“Today, after you all discuss your own notes that you took, I want you to take a special look at the narrator. Who is the narrator? What type of narrator is speaking in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’?”

As students confer in their small group, teacher will walk around the room and check in with each group. If students are having trouble staying on task or finding ideas for discussion, teacher will offer hints and/or provoking questions.

Teaching Point/ Whole class discussion (20-40 minutes):“As I circulated the room, I noticed that you all brought up great points in your

small groups. Let’s bring it back together as a whole class now and share some of these ideas! First of all, I would like to cover our main point of discussion for the day. What type of narrator do we have in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’?”

This designed to be a discussion with meaningful interaction between students and teacher. Teacher will take notes on and annotate a copy of the short story on the video projector to model annotation for students. Following are examples of points that, ideally, students will bring up, and teacher will discuss if they do not:

“So let’s start out with a look at the narrator of this story. As we can see already in the very first sentence, this is a first-person narrator. His name is Montresor and he is a character in the story, the main character to be precise. Is he a reliable narrator? Why or why not? He is an unreliable narrator. As you discovered, he ends up walling Fortunato into a hole in his basement and leaving him there. But why does he do that? The narrator gives us his rationale right away in the exposition: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe, 107). So naturally, we say to ourselves, ‘oh, Fortunato is a terrible person and he has done awful deeds!’ But we must not be quick to jump to wrong conclusions just because that is what our narrator is telling us. We don’t actually even know what Fortunato has ever done to Montresor. Perhaps he has murdered his puppies, but we don’t know that. Fortunato’s ‘injuries’ to Montresor could simply be glances the Montresor is misinterpreting. We, as readers, are hesitant to give him the benefit of the doubt when we discover that he lures another human being down to his basement and buries him alive.

A sneaky little hook that Montresor uses in this piece is to address the reader directly: “You, who know so well the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat” (Poe, 107). What is the narrator doing here with the use of ‘you?’ He is attempting to build a rapport with the reader by addressing him or her directly. This pronoun is directed right at the reader, engaging them in the story and bringing them to his side. Montresor confides in the reader, begging them to side with him and see the story from his point of view.

What else can we learn about the narrator from this story? We see that he is great at deceiving people because Fortunato had no idea that he was going to be walled up down in the vaults. Montresor managed to keeps his grievances and woes to himself, up until he kills Fortunato. We can see that when he says ‘it must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation’ (Poe, 108). If Montresor is so good at deceiving Fortunato, what stops him from deceiving us as the readers? This is just further proof to us, as readers, that Montresor is unreliable and deceptive.

Through this story, we also get a sense that Montresor is bitter. As the men descend into the basement, he alludes to once having been rich when addressing Fortunato: ‘you are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was’ (Poe, 109). He mentions here that Fortunato has all these traits and riches that he once had. Once can imagine Montresor saying this in his head with great bitterness and jealousy, while on the outside, he is all smiles and friendship with Fortunato. The text also tells us that Fortunato has servants and we can see the depth and size of the basement cavern that the two men enter because of how long it takes them to reach the pre-appointed place of the murder. Fortunato even remarks that ‘these vaults…are extensive’ (Poe, 11). This lifestyle by no means denotes poverty to us. If this is Montresor’s life while he is no longer ‘rich’, like Fortunato, what does this tell us about Fortunato’s current state of possessions, money, etc…?

Through these textual inferences that Poe gives us, we can conclude that Fortunato was indeed a man of great fortune. Montresor also tells us that Fortunato was ‘a man to be respected and even feared’ (Poe, 108). Was this because of his riches and therefore his power? The narrator leaves us to infer conclusions about these indirectly-stated ideas with the implications which are planted throughout the text.”

Teacher will ensure that the text has been annotated and discussed for this information about the narrator. If there is still discussion time left over after a thorough discussion about the narrator, teacher will ask students to bring up other items that they noticed and took notes on during their reading of the text. Students can also discuss ideas that came up within their small-group discussions at the beginning of class.

Active Engagement (40-58 minutes):“Alright let’s switch gears now. Go ahead and pull out your journals and we are

going to do some journaling on ‘The Cask of Amontillado.’ React, as a writer, to the discussion we just had. Go ahead and use your notes. Why does Poe use Montresor as the narrator in this story? How is making Montresor the narrator more effective to this story than a different type of narrator, such as an omniscient one? What devices and ways of writing do you see in this story that you may use in your own short story? Think about these questions and react to this short story as the great writers that you all are!”

Students will write for about 20 minutes in their journals. Teacher will circulate the classroom to help students that are struggling or have questions.

Closing (58-60 minutes):“Ok, we are going to pack it up for the day. We had a great discussion today on

this short story and I look forward to reading your journal responses to see what you all, as writers, took away from Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. I am gearing you guys towards writing your own short stories so I want you to always be focusing on reading as a writer, not just a reader! Great work today.”

Formative Assessment:Teacher will look over students’ journals to make sure that they are reading and

responding as writers, and thinking ahead to how they could incorporate ideas that they are seeing in mentor texts to their own writing. If students are struggling to make the leap from reading as readers to reading as writers, teacher will ask to see them one-on-one after class to make sure they stay kept up with the rest of the class.

Lesson Plan 3: Demonstrating the Writing Process: CharacterizationWeek 2: Monday

Materials:Students’ journals, pens, overhead video projector, teacher’s notebook

Connection (0-2 minutes): “Good morning class! Last weekend we finished class working on plot and

narration. We saw these elements in Guy de Maupassant’s ‘The Jewelry’ and in Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado.’ This week we will be focusing on symbolism and a lot of characterization. We will start thinking about our final projects, our own short stories, and we will start taking steps towards building the foundations of these stories.”

Teaching Point (2-15 minutes):“I am going to start the day off by focusing on characterization. We discussed

characters at the beginning of our unit. Round versus flat, dynamic versus static: the possibilities for creating characters for our short stories are endless. Among the millions of humans that walk the planet each day, not any two of us are alike. While I realize that once in awhile you will find an animal or something else that is not a human characterized in a story, we are going to focus on human characters for this unit. You all will be creating a main character for your short stories before beginning the actual writing process. It may seem like a very daunting task: where do we even start to make up a person? We are going to use lists to get us started. We will start by creating two side-by-side lists.”

At this point, teacher will boot up overhead video projector and put a notebook under it. Teacher will draw a line down the middle of a clean page in order to make room for two side-by-side lists.

“Alright, I am going to start with a clean page here and model the lists that I want you all to do in a few minutes. I am going to draw a line right down the middle for the two lists. On the top of the left one I am going to write ‘External Characteristics.’ On the top of the right one I am going to write ‘Internal Characteristics.’ Now, I am going start brainstorming external and internal traits for the main character of a short story that I am going to write. If you already have a name you want for your character go ahead and write it right at the top of your page just like this.”

Teacher will have made the format for the lists and will write the name ‘Julianne Rae’ at the top of sheet. Teacher will then begin to list characteristics that she wants her character to have.

“Ok, so I like the name Julianne Rae for my character. It sounds a little bit aristocratic to me and that is the sense that I am going to try achieve with this character. I am going to start writing down her external characteristics now. What do I want her to be like on the outside? What will she look like? Dark hair….I think I would like it to be curly…Yes, she will have curly dark hair. Julianne is going to be small for her age. She is seven years old. What else does she look like? Hmmm. She always wears nice clothes. They are always ironed…Ironed, nice clothes. Maybe these are private-school uniforms?

Yes, that would be good. Her hair is always done very neatly but a little messy by the end of the day. She wears tights and patent leather shoes and they are almost never scuffed. She has blue eyes. Ok, that’s a pretty solid list for external characteristics.”

Teacher’s list for external characteristics will look like this:External Characteristics of Julianne Rae:

-7 yrs. old - Dark brown hair, sort of mahogany colored (curly)- Small for her age- Nice clothes, ironed. Private school uniforms- Neat hair, messy by the end of the day- Tights -Patent leather shoes, rarely scuffed- Blue eyes

Teacher will make sure that students understand that these are brainstorming lists. Complete sentences are not required: this is the palette that they are mixing their colors on, so to speak. Next, teacher will draft a list of internal characteristics for the students.

“OK, now that I have a list of external characteristics I am going to start on the right side and list some internal characteristics. What is this character like inside? Thought, feelings, emotions, etc…anything that you know can go on inside a person or the psyche: this is what you are making up now! Hmmm…Julianne has been sheltered throughout her life so she is a naïve, or innocent. She is optimistic and hopeful but she is not perfect. She has her moments like everyone else. Sometimes she is prone to temper tantrums. We need to remember that even our favorite characters are not going to be all good. That is not realistic and we need to remember that our characters come to life when they are believable and seem real-to-life! Julianne is also an analytical thinker- she loves to solve riddles and puzzles and sometimes has a way of looking at situations in unique ways that adults often miss or gloss over. She is just beginning to discover and develop a sense of sarcasm. Now I have a good start to the internal characteristics of my main character.”

Teacher’s list of internal characteristics will look like this:Internal characteristics of Julianne Rae:-Naïve, innocent-Optimistic-Hopeful-Quick temper (tantrums)-Analytical thinker (riddles, puzzles)-Developing sense of sarcasm

Active Engagement (15-40 minutes):“Alright I have just modeled for you all the process of making lists for a

character. You are going to spend some time now doing this exact same thing and developing a character for your short story. Our goal here is to create characters that we are well-acquainted with. Even if these details are not explicitly stated in our short stories, we will know more about our characters. This, in turn, helps us to shape their

motives and actions, and ultimately, their stories. Turn to the next clean page in your journals and start working on your two lists.”

Students will go through the list-making process for internal and external characteristics of a main character. Teacher will circulate the room to offer advice/help and keep students on task.

Active Engagement (40-55 minutes):“So as I’ve been walking around the room and working with you on these lists I

have been seeing some awesome characters being created here. I love the creativity and uniqueness that some of you have been coming up with for these characters. I want you all to get in your literature circles now and share your characters. Each one of you will share your character list with your group and then I would like an ‘I like’ statement and an ‘I notice’ statement about everyone’s characters from the other group members. Remember, none of this is final-- we are just drafting here!”

Students will share their work within their groups. Teacher will circulate and comment. If there is extra time, class will come together as a whole and discuss their lists as a class.

Closing (55-60 minutes):“Great work today class. I am looking forward to seeing the stories of these

freshly-created characters come to life as we proceed through the unit. Tomorrow we will be working with “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison so make sure you read through that at least once for class. Go ahead and leave your journals on the front table as you leave, I will be checking out your work tonight.”

Formative Assessment:Teacher will page through student journals to check lists and offer feedback if

necessary.

Lesson Plan 4: Demonstrating the Writing Process: Characterization Week 2: Wednesday

Materials: Students’ journals, pens, overhead video projector connected to teacher’s computer

Connection (0-2 minutes):“Good morning class! We had a little break from working on our characters with

a reading day yesterday but we are back at it today. I am excited to work further on our short story projects. We are going to do a lot of fun writing today so grab your journals and we will get started!”

Active Engagement (2-20 minutes):“We are going to start off with a fun writing prompt to get those creative juices

flowing. Turn to the next clean page in your journals and date the top. I want you to

imagine that you are illiterate. You cannot read or write. You are presented with the choice between instantly becoming flawlessly literate or being able to fly. Which would you choose? Why would you choose that? Try to consider the pros and cons of both issues. Go!”

Students will write for about 20 minutes on this prompt before teacher switches tracks.

Teaching Point (20-30 minutes):“Alright let’s put our pens down and switch tracks now. We will be using our lists

from Monday about our characters and begin to tell their stories. I am going to start off and write the first paragraph of my story to show you all how I weave an element such as character into my own writing.”

Teacher will pull up a new word document on projector for students to see. As students watch, teacher will write first paragraph of a short story about Julianne:

“Ok so I am going to start my story off with an exposition. I want my reader to begin gaining a sense of where the story is taking place and who is in my story. I am going to address this right along with character because often these elements are happening together and relying upon each other to build towards your final piece.”

Teacher will be typing out the story as she explains what she is doing. “I am choosing to write this story using first-person narration. I would like my

reader to be able to read the thoughts of my character in order to understand motives and actions. Here, in my first phrase, I am going to introduce the concept of a small, well-dressed child. I mentioned when I was making my list on Monday that my character, Julianne, is from a wealthy environment. Instead of just stating that in my exposition, I am going to show the reader that through the details.

Teacher will type: “The dark blue lapel of my blazer pressed against the wrought-iron cold of the balcony as I boosted myself up and dangled over the edge..”.

“The ‘dark blue lapel’ gives the reader a clue as to what this person is wearing but we have no idea of the age of the character. The phrase, ‘As I boosted myself up and dangled over the edge’, puts the picture of a small child in the reader’s head. Now I can picture a small, well-dressed child hanging over the edge of a balcony. I am beginning to weave elements of my character and setting into the piece.

“…hoping for a quick glimpse of the sleek, dark car before it pulled out of the driveway.”

“Again, I am working on setting here. What type of environment is this? Where does one find a ‘sleek, dark car?’ I am cluing the reader in to the financial situation of this child’s environment.

“My little feet fit nicely between the bars, and sometimes I liked to pretend I was a little yellow bird, perched out there on the railing.”

“These are a child’s feet: these ‘little feet’ that fit ‘nicely’ between the bars of a wrought-iron balcony. We can see her little imagination working as she imagines herself to be a canary ‘perched out there on the railing.’ Why doesn’t she just say canary? That is part of the challenge of making this piece from a child’s point of view in first-person narration, her vocabulary will be different from mine and I will need to remember that as I go through and write this piece.

“I knew she was coming even before I heard her. We went over this every morning. Light footsteps tripped over to the French doors and clipped smartly across the balcony.”

“Here we are alerted to the presence of another character coming into the story. Again, what does this sentence say about this person that is coming? She has ‘light footsteps’ and her feet clip ‘smartly’ along. This character that is approaching is no nonsense and means business. Instead of saying those details, I can relate them through her tread, or the way she walks. The ways in which we can tell our readers about our characters are endless. You can be so creative with weaving characterization into your stories!”

Teacher has now demonstrated the writing process through writing the first paragraph of her own story which reads as follows:

“The dark blue lapel of my blazer pressed against the wrought-iron cold of the balcony as I boosted myself up and dangled over the edge, hoping for a quick glimpse of the sleek, dark car before it pulled out of the driveway. My little feet fit nicely between the bars, and sometimes I liked to pretend I was a little yellow bird, perched out there on the railing. I knew she was coming even before I heard her. We went over this every morning. Light footsteps tripped over the French doors and clipped smartly across the balcony.”

Active Engagement (30-55 minutes):“Now that I have shown you all some of my writing, I would like you to show me

some more of yours! Start on the next clean page of your journal and begin writing about an incident from the life of your character. If you really like your work from today you may end up incorporating it in your final short story too if you wish! It may become the beginnings of your short story or one little part of it. Or you may abandon this piece entirely after today. You may pick what you would like to do with it after today. Work from the lists that you created Monday about your characters and incorporate these traits and characteristics into your writing; tell your readers about your characters. I once had a professor who told us to write brave and write fast. This is first draft writing so I want you guys to do just that! Let your creativity flow!”

Students will write for about 25 minutes. Teacher will offer advice and help for struggling students.

Closing (55-60 minutes):“Good work today class! As I walked around the room I noticed some very

interesting stories being written. We got a lot done today and you guys jammed on writing today. For tomorrow I would like you all to read through ‘A Wall of Fire Rising’ by Edwidge Danticat. Think about symbolism as you read and we will discuss tomorrow.”

Formative Assessment: Teacher will check journals and make sure that students are keeping up. Character

lists from Monday and writing from today will be given a completion grade together.

Lesson Plan 5: Hands-on Activity (Understanding and Skill)Week 3: Monday

http://www.ehow.com/info_11403681_activities-using-symbols.html

Materials: Student journals, pens, construction paper, markers, colored pencils, old magazines, glue, whiteboard, markers

Connection (0-2 minutes):“Good morning class! We are beginning another fun week in our short story unit!

Last week we finished up working with symbolism in Danticat’s ‘A Wall of Fire Rising.’ Today we are going to work more with symbolism.”

Instructions/ Teaching Point (2-7 minutes):“We are going to take a step back from Danticat and look at symbols in a larger

context. As you all remember, symbols are most often found as concrete objects which mean something else below the surface. We, as readers, need to be able to find the symbols in writing and decipher what they mean. We, as writers, need to learn how to incorporate symbols into our work to deepen our stories and make them pieces with multiple layers. Today we are going to talk about symbols in our own lives. What are objects that symbolize who we are? For example, I would say an iPod symbolizes part of who I am because I love music. I invite you all to grab your journals and start a list.”

As teacher is talking, she will be drawing an example list on the whiteboard for students to model in their journals.

“Split your paper into two. At the top of the first column write ‘qualities.’ At the top of the second column write ‘symbols.’ Fill up the first column with qualities or traits about yourself that you value. What makes you who you are? Fill up the second column with concrete symbols that represent these values. Let’s take a few minutes to fill out these charts.”

Active Engagement (7-15 minutes):Students will fill out lists as described above. Teacher will complete her list on the

board as well to continue modeling for the students. Instructions (15-20 minutes):

“As you can see, I have lots of great craft stuff up here on the front table! What I want you all to do now is to create a graphic symbol that represents who you are. Use the elements that you wrote down in your list and incorporate these into a collage of symbols that stands for who you are. There are old magazines that you can cut pictures out of to paste onto your graphic symbols. Here is construction paper, markers, and colored pencils as well. That is all the directions that I am going to give you! Be creative and incorporate at least eight symbols about yourself into your graphic symbol. Go!”

Active Engagement (20-55 minutes):

Students will use craft supplies from front table to create graphic symbols of them selves. Teacher will also create one as an example for students. Below is a

teacher example created entirely from magazine clippings:

Qualities and Symbols:

1. Love for flying/freedom: airborne snowboarders

2. Appreciation of clean cars: Car driving into a waterfall

3. Love of nature/winter: Snow-covered mountains

4. Being good with children: children playing

5. Simplicity: All-white clothing6. Penchant for winter accessories: hat

and snow goggles7. Love for chocolate: chocolate-bar

pillows on the couch8. Love of swimming: goldfish swimming

onto the page

Closing (55-60 minutes): “Great work today! I am seeing a lot of fun creativity and I enjoy seeing the

symbols that you all are choosing to represent yourselves. In our last five minutes here I would like you to write your qualities and the symbols that represent them on the back of your graphic symbol. If you are not yet finished with this project, complete this for homework and bring it back tomorrow. See you all tomorrow for another great class!”

Formative Assessment:Teacher will check journals for completion of quality/symbol lists.

Lesson Plan 6: Specific Mechanics Lesson: Adverb ClausesWeek 4: Monday

Materials: Student journals, colored pens, whiteboard, teacher PowerPoint, student drafts

Connection (0-2 minutes):“Good morning class! I spent the weekend looking over your first drafts and I was

very pleased with what I saw. I saw a lot of thoughtful construction and creative thought processes in these drafts. I would like to congratulate each and every one of you for turning out interesting and creative first drafts. We are going to spend some time revising and editing these drafts this week so I would like to start out with a mini-lesson in mechanics that will benefit all of us.

Teaching Point (2-12 minutes):“I noticed that many of us had errors with adverb clauses in our stories. We are

going to discuss adverb clauses today: what they are, what they do, and how we can best use them.

Teacher will go through a corresponding PowerPoint as she teaches the following points:

“Ok, so first off let’s address what an adverb clause actually is. Does anyone want to tell me what an adverb is first of all? Ok, yes, an adverb modifies a verb. And a clause? What is a clause? Yes, a clause is a group of words that almost always contains a subject and a predicate. So an adverb clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate and modifies a verb. This is a clause that tells us why, how, when, or under what condition things are or were done.

Let’s also quickly review what our subordinating conjunctions are. Does anyone know the acronym that we use for our subordinating conjunctions? Yes! AAAWWUBBIS! After, although, as, when, while, until, because, before, if, and since! An adverb clause will always begin with a subordinating conjunction, like the ones in AAAWWUBBIS.

Something we always need to remember, however, is that adverb clauses are NOT complete sentences. Since they begin with subordinating conjunctions, they are always subordinate to, or dependent upon, another clause.

So how are these useful to us as writers? By using these in our writing, we can tell our readers how, where, when, why, or under what conditions something is or was done. For example, Kelly Clarkson uses an adverb clause in one of her most famous songs. In fact, the title of the song is also an adverb clause. Does anyone know which song I am referring to? Yes! ‘Since You’ve Been Gone.’ So in the song, Kelly tells us: ‘Since you’ve been gone, I can now breathe for the first time.’ This is important information for us as the listeners, because now we know when, or under what condition Kelly can breathe. ‘Since’ is the subordinating conjunction, and ‘since you’ve been gone’ makes up the adverb clause.

This example also gives us a great example of another concept: using adverb clauses as titles. Titles do not have to be complete sentences, and therefore, adverb clauses can be great material for titles. Another classic example of an adverb clause as a

title is ‘Because of Winn-Dixie.’ ‘Because’ is the subordinating conjunction and we notice that this clause is not a complete sentence; it is an adverb clause.”

Active Engagement (12-20 minutes):Teacher will hand short story drafts back to the students.“What I would like you all to do right now is to come up with an adverb clause

that would be an appropriate title for your short story that you would possibly want to use. Write one down and we will go around the room and share these one a couple minutes.”

Students will write down a possible title for their short stories that is an adverb clause. Teacher will leave the AAAWWUBBIS words on the PowerPoint screen fro students to refer too.

“It looks like everyone has set their pens down by now. Let’s go ahead and start here in this front corner and we are just going to go around the room and everyone will read their adverb clause title aloud to the class. Go ahead.”

Everyone will share the adverb clause that they came up with.

Active Engagement (20-55 minutes):Teacher will ask students to get two different colored pens out. Teacher will

provide colored pens for those students who do not have their own. Teacher will ask students to exchange drafts with another student. They are to read through another student’s draft and underline with the first pen all the adverb clauses in the other student’s paper. They are to circle the subordinating conjunction that begins the adverb clause with the second color pen. It is not their job to make corrections to any of these clauses; they are simply to find them. After about fifteen minutes, students will switch papers and receive a different classmate’s story. They are to read through it and write an ‘I like’ and an ‘I notice’ statement on the back. They are also to correct any incorrect adverb clauses and provide suggestions for alternative adverb clauses if needed.

Closing (55-60 minutes): “Great work today everyone! You all put a lot of work into adverb clauses and

worked hard today. I would like you all to take your drafts home with you tonight and check out your classmates’ suggestions for your stories. Adjust your stories accordingly, and we will continue revising tomorrow. Be sure to remember to bring your short story with today’s revisions completed back to class with you tomorrow!”

Formative Assessment:Teacher will have listened closely to student’s possible titles for their stories and

taken notes to see who does or does not understand adverb clauses. If there is still a student struggling with this concept, teacher will address it during one-on-one conferences with the students over the next two days.