Adapting Literature

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1

My first lesson Discovery Mission focuses on the art of the sleuth to research the background information needed to set the focus for our reading of The Odyssey.

For this lesson, it is very important to coordinate with the Media Specialist. Prior to the lesson, I will provide a listing of all of the topics that students must research as well as a copy of the research guide they will complete during their time in the media center.

Upon arrival, students will be given a color coded envelope. Each student will then take his/her envelope to the station in the room that matches the color coded envelope. Groups should be no larger than three persons. If needed, allow several groups to have identical materials.

The following grouping allows for 32 students; each color coded envelope will contain one of the terms/phrases outlined below:

• Group 1 (Red): Scylla and Charybdis, River Styx, Death, Circe
• Group 2 (Blue): Paris and the Golden Apple, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus
• Group 3 (Black): Ithaca, Fidelity, Suitors, Greek Hospitality
• Group 4 (Green): Tiresias, Blindness, Hades, Prophesy
• Group 5 (Orange): Trojan War, Menelaus, Hercules, Troy
• Group 6 (Purple): Polyphemus, Sheep, Poseidon, Hubris
• Group 7 (Yellow): Circe, Sirens, Calypso, Curiosity
• Group 8 (Brown): Athena, Telemachus, Penelope, Family

Students will have 40 minutes to use media center resources to research their individual term/phrase. They will complete a Discovery Mission worksheet to help guide their research (See Appendix C). Allowing my ninth grade students to research with the instruction to simply go and find information is too unstructured. I am able to do so with upperclassmen, but knowing intimately the nature of ninth grade students, it is much better to provide a structure that will move them strategically through the media center.

Then the group members will come together with the others in their color coded group to discuss how they feel all of their terms/phrases related. Allowing at least 20 minutes for such a discussion will allow students the opportunity to tell the stories of what they found during their research. I truly appreciate this strategy as it provides a rich opportunity for students to learn a lot of material in a short amount of time and, because they are retelling the information to others, students are more likely to retain their bits of information so that when they uncover their terms/phrases or allusions to them in the reading, they will be better able to make logistical connections to the work. After the groups have discussed, the class will make a determination about our literary journey forthcoming with The Odyssey.

Students will take notes on 2 video segments. The first is Odysseus's monologue before when the weary and battle-scarred Odysseus reveals to his hosts his true identity and his intense longing for home. The second from the Encyclopedia Britannica Film Series details the structure of an epic and provides a brief overview of Greek myths.

Lesson 2

Lesson 2: You be the Critic, will teach students about the roles that not only film critics play in film, but also the myriad of roles that are also a part of, to include the caterers and the stunt artists. This lesson will span 2 days and will ultimately teach students to use literary criticism as models to refute or justify their own understanding of works.

Part of becoming literate in today's society is to become well-versed in navigating the internet. To facilitate such an experience for students, this lesson will expose students to the internet resources that provide tools for analyzing literature and film.

As an introduction to the lesson, I will give students a listing of "goofs" from familiar movies. Such listings can be found on the Internet Movie Database, Inc. (IMDb) website. Using the specific clips from the movies that are on this listing will be an attention grabbing strategy to lure my learners into paying closer attention to details in movies. The site also provides trailers, a listing of memorable quotes, financial information relating to the film (that incidentally, may serve as a wonderful resources of interdisciplinary planning with your mathematics teacher.), actor information and a wealth of other material that students will find very intriguing about the behind the scenes aspects of film production.

I will then ask students to go to the IMDb website and guide them through the components of the site indicating how it might be used to secure commentary and critiques. Using The Odyssey as our entry to model, I will provide ask students to read the external reviews and to provide feedback on regarding how they related—positively/negatively—to the review.

Students will then search for reviews O Brother Where Art Thou? and provide the same feedback based on their viewing of the work from a randomly selected viewpoint. I will put students into groups 4 and ask them to view clips and stills (as applicable) of the film from the following perspectives: lighting; audio; set; visual effects; camera angles. Having watched the clips/viewed the stills, I will ask students to critique the effectiveness of their selected element to the overall work.

Students will collaborate on the critique to produce one finished product to share with the class.

Lesson 3

This lesson, Chart It: Formulating and Supporting Judgments requires that students respond in an interdisciplinary mode to express their personal connection with the works presented.

Having now thoroughly analyzed The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art the students will make judgments about the intrinsic effect of the cinematography associated with episodes from each work. In order to do this, the 90-minute lesson will intentionally infuse the use charts and graphs as a medium to do more than display statistical data, but also to analyze emotional response.

Prior to the lesson, I will prepare in electronic format a barrage of charts and graphs from various sources that would in their own right, generate discussion about key socio-economic issues relevant to students peer groups. I suggest using Microsoft PowerPoint or direct links to statistical websites (suggestions are included) if such technology is available.

As a class, we will examine the presented graphics reviewing specifically the structural make-up of the various types of graphs. We will concentrate on why an analyst would choose to "organize" his or her data in such manners ultimately addressing the impact that the visual has on viewers. It is important that students learn to read critically such data for their personal development but also as a strand found among the Georgia High School Graduation and End-of-Course Tests. So, I will explore two paths, how this awareness affects students understanding of their context and what the assumptions of the viewers.

I will then ask students to apply their thinking and interactions with charts and graphs to episodes relating to The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou? and The Wiz. Since by this time in our unit, we have listed the various episodes from the works, some of which are outlined in the following chart for The Odyssey and The Wiz, students will be readily able to do so. A listing of parallels in O Brother Where Art Thou? is also provided.

EPISODES

This is a general listing in no particular order and it does not suggest a visual parallel of episodes.

Students will rank a minimum of five episodes according to those they view as most suspenseful, and crucial to character and plot development. Students will then to present their rankings in a graph format of their choosing. After each student has completed his or her individual rankings, the average for each episode as a class will be calculated as well.

Microsoft Word offers a variety of charts (bar, pie, linear, 3-D cone) that students might use easily and include commentary if this is desired; but I will have my 9th graders, who need tactile stimulation, draw their graphs using protractors, graph paper, rulers, calculators, colored pencils and the like. Students normally use these devices in mathematics classrooms, and this interdisciplinary use will be surprising, just as impacting and the finished products will be wonderful additions to my classrooms décor.