Lesson Plan 1 - Whodunit?
Objective: Students will learn the prose map used in plots of the detective fiction genre. Students will understand detective fiction vocabulary. Students will research African- American authors of the genre. The Pennsylvania State Academic Standards in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening addressed in this lesson are: 1.1.11A, .E, & .F; 1.2.11.A, & .B; 1.4.11.B; 1.6.11.C, .D, .E, & .F; 1.8.11.B, & .C.
Materials: writing paper and large poster paper, colored markers or oil pastel crayons, Internet connection in classroom and projector.
Audience: This lesson will introduce the unit. It is designed for both 9th and 12th grade students. It can be adapted for use in a learning support ELA classroom. These daily lessons and lesson segments are designed for a class period of 45 - 55 minutes.
Procedure: Day 1- (10 minutes) Write the term "Whodunit" on the board. Have students define the term as a journal free write (no dictionaries allowed). Later in the class period, ask students to read aloud their definitions of the term. Most likely they will not define the term correctly. For homework, ask students to find a more accurate definition of the term. Along with the correct definition, they must connect three African-American authors with the definition of whodunit. They must give a brief description of each author and list at least one title for each. In addition, they must write one question that they might ask the author about their work.
Day 2 - (45- 55 minutes) Write the term "Whodunit" on the board again. On this day, have student volunteers define the term aloud (4-6 student volunteers). Discuss the proper definition of the term and then explain to students the different types of detective fiction and other terms needed to understand the origins of the genre. (See Appendix A) After having worked with the vocabulary terms and definitions, students will use Sketch to Stretch strategy10 to artistically define the terms for classroom and bulletin board display. Assign students, for homework, to add at least one of the terms from the list in their descriptions of the three authors they found the previous night.
Day 3 - (45- 55 minutes) Using the Internet and the projection system, have another student name an author they listed, ask other students (one at a time) to search for the person. Students will use the Dogpile.com search engine to find photos or biographical information about the authors that will be shared with the larger group. After students find the author's photo/bio, they will copy and paste the photo in a blank PowerPoint slide for future use. Teachers can already save a blank presentation file for students to pull up for use. Next, another student who has research information about the same author will give a brief synopsis about the author, as well as a title of their work. The student at the computer will type the author's name and the title onto the slide. Students will find at least 28 African-American authors in this genre. At the end of the lesson, for homework students must find out about the detective series of Mosley, Neely, and Himes.
Assessment: Teachers should look for students' willingness to participate and being open to new information. Teachers should also check students' written work from the onset of the lesson until the end. The objective learning outcomes are all measurable by traditional methods.
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