Lesson Plans
Reading the Two Real Life Stories
Objectives
Working in groups, the students will read and analyze the text and uncover its important points. They will create provocative questions and/or point out provocative phrases and lead the class in discussing them.
Activities
The two stories "The Court-martial of Jackie Robinson" and "The Story of Franz Jägerstätter" will be studied separately. I will Xerox the stories for the students. The students will be in groups of three. In their groups, the students will read the stories and highlight significant phrases. Each group will be assigned different sections of the story, and they will prepare discussion points about that section. Each group will lead discussion about those particular sections.
In addition, for "The Story of Franz Jägerstätter," I will assign the groups one of Jägerstätter's journal entries. Working together, they will read and notate the text, and figure out Jägerstätter's main points. Then, as before, they will present the text to the class and lead discussion about Jägerstätter's point of view. I will evaluate the student's performance using the rubric below.
Rubric
(table 05.03.01.01 available in print form)
Teacher should average the scores of each criterion for the final grade. Four = A. Three = B. Two = C. One = D.
Reading the Play
Objective
Working in groups, the students will read and analyze An Enemy of the People. They will generate discussion points and a journal topic that they will assign to the class. In a presentation to the class, each group will dramatically read and perform their passage. Then they will lead the class in discussion of the passage. The entire class will compose a coherent essay that will elaborate their point of view about an issue raised by the particular passage.
Activities
The students will be in groups of four and five. Each group will be assigned about ten pages of the play. Working together, they will prepare a presentation for the class. Their presentation will include dramatically reading and performing the text, leading a discussion of the text, and assigning a journal topic to the class.
In this strategy, the students must assign each other a role and practice it. They will be graded on how well they dramatize the parts. They must analyze the text, note important passages, bring up important questions about the text, and lead the class in a discussion of the text. During discussion, I hope that students from other groups will compare their section to the section being presented. For example, if one group has a theory about a character, members of another group can disagree and bring up evidence from their text to dispute it. I will engage the class in any aspect of the text that was overlooked.
Assignment
At the end of group's presentation, they will assign the class a journal topic which they will do as homework assignment. When the class returns the assignment the next day, the group will evaluate them, using the rubric below.
Rubric
(table 05.03.01.02 available in print form)
Teacher should average the scores of each criterion for the final grade. Four = A. Three = B. Two = C. One = D.
Research Essay
Objectives
Students will use Google to search the Internet for an article that pertains to people being abused. They will analytically read the article and, in a coherent essay, narrate the episode and explain their judgment of it. Students will revise their essay, and evaluate each other's essay based on a rubric.
Activities
Students will be paired. Each pair will write about the same article, but in their own way on separate computers. First, they will search the Internet, find an article, download it, and print it. To find an article, the class will come up with the Search phrases for Google. If they have trouble, I will suggest: "crackdown on dissent," "civil liberties," and "violation of human rights." When the students find a pertinent article, they will show it to me for approval.
The students will do this at school in the computer lab because many of them do not have Internet at home. However, a teacher may assign this for homework if the students have access to the Internet.
In pairs, the students will read the article, highlight, and notate the pertinent information. Sitting next to each other at computer terminals, the pair of students will summarize the details of the episode, focusing on paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is a serious problem with many students. As they begin writing, they fall into the rut of copying from the text. Therefore, a teacher must emphasize that they paraphrase and not transcribe. They will save this as [Last Name.First Name.Draft 1]. Then they will add an introduction with a thesis, revise the body, and explain their judgment about the episode (i.e.: how it was handled, how it should have been handled, and reasons supporting their judgment); then they will compose a closing that re-emphasizes their thesis. The students will save this as [Last Name.First Name.Draft 2]. They will print it and give it to their partner to evaluate. Their partner should give constructive criticism. Then they will write a final draft and save it as [Last Name.First Name.Draft 3]. They will print all of their drafts.
About two classes later, I will pair the students with another partner, and they will evaluate each other's paper, using the rubric below. The final grade will be an average of all the criteria grades. They will have one-on-one conference where they discuss the grade.
Grading Rubric
(table 05.03.01.03 available in print form)
Teacher should average the scores of each criterion for the final grade. Four = A. Three = B. Two = C. One = D.
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