8 Day Thematic Unit
The Miracle Worker
by: William
Gibson
Inspirational Voices
Unit
Lesson
Plan - Day 1
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Analyzes the author’s use of narrative techniques such as flashbacks.
Evaluates
use of language devices such as symbolism.
Writing Competencies:
Analyzes, elaborates, and extends text.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Tapped:
Verbal/Linguistic
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Literary
~ Students
will correctly identify the protagonist and multiple antagonists in Act
I.
~ Students
will identify a specified point of imagery and uncover multiple implications
of the imagery in the context of Act I.
2. Humanistic
~ Students
will analyze two primary flashbacks and make inferences from the context
in which they occur and based on their own experiences.
~ Students
will analyze and understand the symbolism of the key and make inferences
about its significance according to their own experiences.
B. Resources
and Materials
1. Students
will use Act I of The Miracle Worker from their textbooks, Prentice Hall
Literature - Gold.
2. Students
will make journal entries in their Reader Response notebooks.
3. Instructor
will use overhead projector to provide students with vocabulary obstacles
they will encounter in the reading of Act I.
4. Students
will be given a copy of Questions for Understanding for Act I to reinforce
in-class reading.
5. Students
will utilize a copy provided of Character Trait Analysis Chart.
6. Students
will utilize a copy provided of Vocabulary Matching activity.
C. Introduction
William Gibson’s
drama, The Miracle Worker, begins our unit on Inspirational Voices, where
we will explore various genres that relate to this common theme.
To introduce students to the work, the instructor will give a short bibliographical
account of Gibson and a short history of the main characters in this work.
We will introduce the work in a short discussion of how we might teach
someone deaf, someone blind, or someone who is both. We also will
discuss the challenge and the benefits of teaching a child with these qualities.
1. Focus
We will focus
on the characteristics of children in coordination with characteristics
of people with the disabilities of deafness and blindness. To accomplish
this goal, students will contribute to their understanding from first hand
experiences as children in the past, and from what they know of people
with sensory disabilities. Our primary focus will be on the family
of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, Helen’s teacher.
2. Review
Since The Miracle
Worker is the first work in the Inspirational Voices unit, there will be
no form of review of previous material. However, the instructor will
review major dramatic components such as protagonist, antagonist, imagery,
symbolism and flashbacks. These elements will be essential for understanding
the work and will assist students in the guided and independent practice
portions of this lesson plan.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. The
instructor will pose the following questions for discussion:
~ How do you
teach someone who is deaf? (answers will primarily range from sign
language to computer devices)
~ How do you
teach someone who is blind? (answers will primarily range from Braille
texts to computer synthesized devices)
~ How do you
teach someone who is both blind and deaf? (answers will be scarce,
if any)
We will attempt
to discuss how we could implement the previously named approaches, but
will find that a person with both disabilities will have an extremely difficult
time with modern technology and with contemporary teaching
techniques.
2. Input
This discussion
will transition us into the background of the famous disabled student,
Helen Keller and the author of this drama, William Gibson.
Dramatic Background
~ The drama,
The Miracle Worker, is based on the real-life story of a teacher, Annie
Sullivan, and her pupil, Helen Keller.
~ In reality,
Annie and Helen met when Helen was seventeen years old. However,
for Gibson’s drama, he altered Helen’s age so that she
was between the ages of six and seven when the two met.
~ Helen is
not only deaf and blind, but she is mute, which is usually found in those
people who have never heard spoken language.
Author Background
~ William Gibson,
born in 1914 in New York, began his career as a writer, but supported
himself by giving private piano lessons.
~ Gibson’s
first successful play, Two for the Seesaw, is noted for having a character
say, “...after the verb to love, to help is the sweetest
in the tongue.”
~ The themes
of loving and helping are apparent in many of Gibson’s works, not
excluding his famous play, The Miracle Worker.
~ The original
title of this play was, After the Verb To Love, but was changed due to
a description of Annie Sullivan given by Mark Twain as
“a miracle worker”.
3. Students will copy from overhead projector the vocabulary obstacles that may hinder their comprehension of the work (Attachment A). As we are reading, these vocabulary words will be pointed out and defined by the teacher, who will expect the students to record the meaning and utilize the words in a practice exercise for homework.
4. Students will be assigned character parts to read in Act I. The instructor will read stage directions, which come to be more essential than the printed material later in the act (45 minutes).
5. Students
will be asked to make an entry in their Reader’s Response Journal on the
following topic:
Helen throws
the key to Annie’s door into the well at the end of Act I. She hugs
herself as if she has done something good. Do you
think Helen is mean by nature, just acting as a child, or has
been trained by those around her that bad deeds call for good rewards.
Defend your answer.
6. Modeling
A. Characters
- Position in the Work and Traits
~ Teacher will
elicit responses from the students as to who the protagonist is in the
work (Annie Sullivan is protagonist, though it would
seem that this position should be Helen’s. However,
the work is revolving around Annie’s intervention into the life of Helen
and the Keller family).
~ As we discuss
why Annie is the protagonist, we will also list character and personality
traits of Annie that are evident thus far in The Miracle Worker.
B.
Imagery
~ The instructor
will point out the use of imagery on page 223. Keller states, “I
might as well try to work in a henyard as in this house.”
~ The instructor
asks students to examine the sentence, and offer interpretations for what
Keller may mean by henyard. (Student response should include the
physical condition of the house (e.g. lack of cleanliness),
the dependence of the family on Keller (e.g. as hens
are dependent on their keeper to feed and protect them) and finally, the
nature of the people in the home (e.g. specifically Helen,
who lacks the ability to communicate, as do hens).
This process shows students the multiple implications of the imagery.
C. Symbolism
~ The instructor
will point out the importance of symbolism in this work, particularly since
we are dealing with someone who is mute, blind, and deaf. On page
229, Kate puts on her bonnet, and Helen realizes she is leaving.
To Helen, the bonnet, though she knows not what it is,
represents an act of leaving. More importantly, Helen realizes she
will be alone, so the bonnet symbolizes perhaps abandonment
for a period of time.
D. Flashback
~ The instructor
will define flashback as a section of a literary work that interrupts the
sequence of events to relate to an event form an earlier time. An
example of an unwritten flashback is the experience
that Helen has had in the past when she has been alone.
Helen recalls that the hat her mother puts on means she will be away, which
is an internal flashback that the reader assumes on page
229.
7. Check
for Understanding
Instructor will
pose the following samples and ask student to identify the excerpt as a
character trait, symbol, image, or flashback.
~ While Jamie
tells Angie what she did on Saturday night, Jamie stops herself to tell
Angie what happened Friday at school.
~ When we see
an apple, we think about education.
~ “And the
wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking” (from the
poem, “Sea Fever”).
~ Brad is a
sensitive person when it comes to friendships.
8. Guided
Practice
A. In
groups of two, students will create a chart displaying the characteristics
of those they feel are the antagonists in Act I (Attachment
C).
B. With
a partner, students will examine the imagery on page 227. Here, the
smallest child begs Annie, “Don’t go, Annie, where the
sun is fierce.” Students are to list the possible
multiple implications of this image on the reader.
C. Students,
individually, are to think about the two flashbacks Annie experiences during
Act I. Both of them relate to her past and her brother, Jimmie.
In a short essay (one to two paragraphs), students are
to explain what they think may have happened to Jimmie
and why Annie cannot let go of these memories.
9. Independent
Practice
In a brief
essay, students are to address the following topic:
Evaluation
of Helen in Act I
On page 226,
Anagnos says to Annie before she leaves of Helen,
“Deaf,
blind, mute -- who knows? She is like a little safe, locked, that
no one can open. Perhaps there is a treasure inside.”
a. How
does this simile relate to the last action that Helen makes.
b. Look
at your list of characteristics for Helen. Did you have any that
may be valid for the action that she performed in the
final moments of the act? Create one sample of
imagery/simile/metaphor that incorporates one of the characteristics from
your list to describe how you feel about Helen as your
closing sentence for your essay (e.g. The child is as restless
as the wind on a March day).
E. Closure
In closing, we will
review the definitions of imagery, flashback, symbol, and character traits.
We will give a few more examples from other works read earlier in the semester
to assure understanding by the students. We will discuss the dramatic
uses of these elements in this work. We will also make predictions
as to what will happen in Act II.
F. Assessment
Students will be given
Questions for Understanding handout (Attachment B) and a Vocabulary Matching
Activity as forms of assessment for Act I of The Miracle Worker (Attachment
D).
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Recognizes the presence of archetypal characters.
Participates
effectively in creative interpretations of a selection.
Writing Competencies:
Connects text with personal experiences and to reflect on issues encountered
in text by writing in reading log/response journal.
Writes
to clarify information or perform a task.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intellegences Tapped:
Verbal/Linguistic
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Literary
~ Students
will recognize and understand internal and external conflict.
~ Students
will demonstrate an understanding of chronological sequence of events in
Act II of the
drama.
2. Humanistic
~ Students
will analyze the use of persuasion in the work and relate their own sentiments
to the specified sample of persuasion.
~ Students
will look at the trait of tyranny in two of the characters and decide who
they feel is the most despotic.
B. Resources
and Materials
1. Students
will use Act II of The Miracle Worker from their textbooks, Prentice Hall
Literature -
Gold.
2. Students
will make journal entries in their Reader Response notebooks.
3. Instructor
will use overhead projector to provide students with vocabulary obstacles
they will encounter in the reading of Act II.
4. Students
will be given a copy of Questions for Understanding for Act II to reinforce
in-class reading.
5. Students
will utilize a provided Chronological Order Activity worksheet.
6. Students
will utilize a provided Conflict Chart.
7. Students
will utilize a provided vocabulary exercise worksheet.
C. Introduction
This is the
second day of working with William Gibson’s drama, The Miracle Worker.
To introduce students to the second act, we will discuss the main points
of what happened in the previous act, and again discuss what events we
think will unfold today. We saw at the end of Act I that Helen, though
deaf and blind, cannot be categorized as dumb. She is very quick
and aware of what is happening around her. Today we look further
into the complex mind of Helen and see what delinquent acts she will attempt.
1. Focus
Today, we will
focus on conflict, both of the internal and external nature. We will
engage in a brief discussion of the two types of conflict present in this
work, and which characters are engaged in conflict.
2. Review
As a form of
review, students exchange the Questions for Understanding from Act I with
a peer. As a class, we answer each question individually and students
mark papers. This review allows us to catch up to the beginning of
Act II, having gone over the major events from Act I. This time also
gives students the opportunity to question the instructor regarding any
portion of the material about which they were confused.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. Students
will exchange their answers for Questions for Understanding from Act I
with a peer and the instructor will locate volunteers to give answers
to the questions. These questions will be turned in for a daily
grade for the previous day.
2. Students will turn in their brief essays on the Evaluation of Helen in Act I, as well as their Vocabulary Matching Activity for a homework grade.
3. Input
To begin the
focus of Act II, the teacher will define for students external and internal
conflict.
~ External conflict:
a character struggles against an outside force (Man v. Man; Man v. Society;
and Man v. Nature);
~ Internal conflict:
a character is in conflict with him or herself;
4. Students will copy from overhead projector the vocabulary obstacles that may hinder their comprehension of the work (Attachment A). As we are reading, these vocabulary words will be pointed out and defined by the teacher, who will expect the students to record the meaning and utilize the words in a practice exercise for homework.
5. Students will be assigned character parts to read in Act II. The instructor will again read stage directions, which are just as important here as they were in Act I.
6. Students
will stop reading at page 249, where they will respond to the following
question in their Reader Response notebook:
How do you
feel about the way Annie is handling Helen? Do you consider her actions
to be proper for a teacher or do you think they are outright
cruel?
7. Students will continue reading after everyone has made their entries until the completion on page 264.
8. After
Act II is completed, students will compose a second entry in their Reader
Response notebook on the following topic:
After hearing
what happens in the remainder of Act II, have you changed your mind about
Annie’s treatment of Helen? Do you think she really likes Helen?
Do you think Annie really has the “patience and zeal”
that she had read about in the Perkins Reports (254)?
9. Modeling
A. External
Conflict
~ Teacher will
create a chart on the overhead to demonstrate examples of internal conflict
and the three types of external conflict. From the examples she gives,
students will be asked to give more examples of external
and internal conflict they have observed in other works.
~ Man v. Man conflict is exemplified in the drama, Oedipus the King, where
Laius and his son, Oedipus, battle.
~ Man
v. Society conflict is exemplified in the drama, Romeo and Juliet, where
the two lovers are in conflict with family prejudices.
~ Man
v. Nature conflict is exemplified in the short story, “The Glass of Milk”,
where the protagonist is conflicted by hunger.
B. Internal
Conflict
~ Internal
conflict is exemplified in the drama, Hamlet, where Hamlet himself is in
conflict with what he feels is right and just.
C. Persuasion
~ The teacher
will demonstrate the power of persuasion to the students by reminding them
of Hitler’s power over the Germans in late 1930’s and early 1940’s.
The teacher will talk about those who succumbed to the
persuasion (Rommel) and those who resisted it (Schindler).
The teacher will point out persuasion in The Miracle Worker as it relates
to a Guided Practice assignment.
10. Check for
Understanding
~ The instructor
will pose the following samples and ask students to identify, orally, the
specific conflict taking place:
~ Predating
the 1960’s, minorities were in conflict with the government and those of
the opposite race.
~ In the boxing
match Friday night, Evander Holyfield was in conflict with Lennox Lewis.
~ In the fairy
tale, Pinnochio, Pinnochio is in conflict with his non-human capabilities
(* could be man v. nature or internal conflict).
~ The instructor
will ask students to identify the following as one who has succumbed to
persuasion or one who has resisted:
~ Dr. Martin
Luther King
~ Nala (when
Simba invites her along to the Elephant Grave Yard in the movie, “The Lion
King”)
11. Guided Practice
A. Students
will work in groups of two to fill out the chronological order activity
(Attachment C).
B. Students,
in small groups of two or three, will fill out the analytical chart deciding
characters who they feel demonstrate conflict (type and reason for categorizing
with page references) (Attachment D). Charts should
display at least 4 conflicts (Annie v. Memories of Jimmie;
Annie v. Helen; Annie v. Mr. Keller; Helen v. Disabilities)
C. Individually,
students will compose a short (two paragraph) essay on the following
topic:
Paragraph
#1
In Act
II, Mr. Keller attempts to persuade Annie to have pity on Helen.
It seems as if the Kellers equate the amount of
pity they give to the amount of love they give.
Who do you think is showing the greatest amount of love? Defend your
position.
Paragraph
#2
In Act
II, James seems to show us more about the way he really feels about
Helen. With whom do you think James sides? Why?
12. Independent
Practice
In a brief
essay, students are to address the following topic:
Character Attributes
in Act II
Some people
argue that Annie’s ultimatums and actions with Helen show her to
despotic, or somewhat of a tyrant. Do you think this is true, or
do you think this is the only way Annie can teach Helen?
Consider the fact that Annie thinks that by giving Helen her
way, the Keller family has made Helen a tyrant? Is there competition
as to who can be the most tyrannical? Defend your position.
E. Closure
In closing, we will
review the types of conflict, internal and external, and discuss examples
the students have given on their group conflict charts. We will also
review the chronological order activity to ensure students have an understanding
of the sequence in Act II. Finally, we will hear a few students’
short essays on persuasion, leaving us to ponder who really is acting in
Helen’s best interest.
F. Assessment
Students will be given
Questions for Understanding handout (Attachment B) as the primary form
of assessment for Act II. Students will also be asked to create original
sentences utilizing specified vocabulary from Act II (Attachment E).
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Makes inferences and draws conclusions based on interpretation of literary
or informational materials.
Analyzes
the author’s use of narrative techniques such as flashbacks.
Evaluates
use of language devices such as symbolism.
Writing Competencies:
Validates personal experience and feelings through writing.
Connects
text with personal experiences and to reflect on issues encountered in
text by writing in reading log/response journal.
Develops
an interpretation of literature by exploring motivations, causes, and
implications.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Tapped:
Visual/Spatial
Verbal/Linguistic
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Literary
~ Students
will identify and demonstrate an understanding of static and dynamic
characters.
~ Students
will identify and understand the lack of the use of a flashback and its
implications in the context of Act III.
2. Humanistic
~ Students
will identify Annie’s motivation for teaching Helen as they relate their
own experiences to the text.
~ Students
will identify symbolism and connect it to the inspiration value that emerges
at the end of Act III.
B. Resources
and Materials
1. Students
will use Act III of The Miracle Worker form their textbooks, Prentice Hall
Literature -
Gold.
2. Students
will make journal entries in their Reader Response notebooks.
3. Instructor
will use overhead projector to provide students with vocabulary obstacles
they will encounter in the reading of Act III.
4. Students
will be given a copy of Questions for Understanding for Act III to reinforce
in-class reading.
C. Introduction
This is the
third and final day of the introductory drama, The Miracle Worker, in the
Inspirational Voices unit. To introduce students to the third act,
we will begin by focusing on change in the lives of the main characters,
Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller.
1. Focus
We will be looking
at the staticity or dynamism of every character participating in Act III.
We will engage in a brief discussion of what we expect the outcome to be
at the end of Act III.
2. Review
As a form of
review, students exchange the Questions for Understanding from Act II with
a peer. As a class, we answer each question individually and students
mark papers. This review allows us to catch up to the beginning of
Act III, having gone over the major events form Act II. This time
also gives students the opportunity to question the instructor regarding
any portion of the material about which they were confused.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. Students
will exchange their answers for Questions for Understanding from Act II
with a peer and the instructor will locate volunteers to give answers
to the questions. These questions will be turned in for a daily
grade for the previous day.
2. Students will turn in their brief essays on Character Attributes in Act II, as well as their Vocabulary Activity for a homework grade.
3. Input
To begin the
focus of Act III, the teacher will define for students static and dynamic
characters.
~ Static Character:
a character that does not show change during a work;
~ Dynamic Character:
a character that develop and grows during the course of a work;
4. Students
will copy from overhead projector the vocabulary obstacles that may hinder
their comprehension of the work (Attachment A). As we
are reading, these vocabulary words will be pointed out and defined
by the teacher, who will expect the students to record the meaning and
utilize the words in a practice exercise for homework.
5. Students will be assigned character parts to read in Act III. The instructor will again read stage directions, which are just as important here as they were in Acts I and II.
6. At the
close of Act III, students will compose an entry on the following topic
in their Reader Response notebook:
How did you
feel as the curtain closed. Do you think Annie will remain in the
Keller home? Do you think that Kate feels that
Helen, now, loves Annie more than she does Kate herself?
7. Modeling
A. Static
Character
~ Teacher will
create a chart on the board listing those characters in other works that
the students have read that demonstrate the qualities
of being static.
~ Teacher
will begin the list with Walter Mitty, for Thurber’s “The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty”, who is no less “mousy” or less inclined to fantasize at
the end of the story than he was at the beginning.
~ Students
will add to the list from works they recall.
B. Dynamic
Character
~ Teacher will
add to the chart the quality of dynamic, and list those characters in other
works that they students have read that demonstrate the qualities of being
dynamic.
~ Teacher
will begin the list with Doodle’s brother from the story, “The Scarlet
Ibis”, who changes drastically throughout the work.
~ Students
will add to the list from works they recall.
8. Guided
Practice
A. Students
will work individually and complete the Character Analysis Chart for Act
III, identifying what characters they consider to be
static or dynamic and why. From this, students
ill choose the character with whom they were most intrigued -- and draw
why they chose this character. Students must draw
their character and the trait that intrigued them with
no textual support on the drawing. Drawings will be presented and
discussed at the end of the period.
B. Students
will make an entry in their Reader Response notebook on the following topic:
After
Helen realizes language, she and Annie embrace. and Annie spells in
Helen’s hand, “I love Helen”. After this, she whispers into the air,
“forever and ever”. However, Annie hesitated
before she said that last “ever”. We know she
is listening for the voices, but they don’t come. Why do you think
they are silent now?
~ Students
are to write in their notebooks for three to five minutes. Upon completion,
they are to exchange their notebook with a peer, who will make a “Dialogue
Entry”. Both peers must read the written entries, make
two positive comments about the entry, and then write why he/she
does or does not agree with the entry of their partner.
C. Students
will create a second Reader Response entry for Act III on the following
topic:
Many
people who have examined The Miracle Worker have mixed feelings as to
why Annie stayed in the Keller home, though she was treated disrespectfully
and lacked the cooperation of her pupil, Helen.
What do you think Annie’s motivation for
staying with Helen was? Defend your position.
~ Students
are to write in their notebooks for three to five minutes. Upon completion,
they are to exchange their notebook with a peer, who will make a “Dialogue
Entry”. Both peers must read the written entries, make
two positive comments about the entry, and then
write why he/she does or does not agree with the entry of their partner.
9. Independent
Practice
Overall in
The Miracle Worker, there are four main inspirational moments:
#1 Act I, Page
222
Keller:
Katie. How many times can you let them break your heart?
Kate:
Any number of times.
#2 Act
I, Page 240
Annie:
You think I’m so easily gotten rid of ? You have a thing or two to
learn first. I have nothing else to do...and nowhere
to go.
#3 Act
II, Page 244
Kate:
I should like to learn those letters Miss Annie.
#4 Act
III, Page 273
Annie:
I wanted to teach you -- oh, everything the earth is full of, Helen, everything
on it that’s ours for a wink and it’s gone, and what
we are on it, the -- light we bring to it and leave behind
in -- words, why, you can see five thousand years back in a light of words,
everything we feel, think, know -- and share, in words, so not a soul is
in darkness, or done with, even in the grave.
~ Choose one
of these inspirational moments to write an essay on. Why did you
choose Annie or Kate? For the item you choose,
this is to be your introductory sentence for your essay
on Inspiration. In the five paragraph essay format, give three reasons
why you think this character was the most inspirational.
You may include character traits or actions the character
made in the story that made you see Annie or Kate as being inspirational
to you.
~ Be sure you
have explicit transitions and connectors. Make sure your essay is
about only one of these characters, the one whom you
are fondest of because of her message.
E. Closure
Students will present
their illustrations of their most intriguing static or dynamic character.
The student will present the picture, upon which other students in the
class will attempt to decipher who the character is and what the defining
characteristic is presented. Following the guesses, the presenting
student will explain their illustration and reasons for including certain
aspects. There should be a variety of illustrations of the multiple
characters in the work. This will give the class an idea of what
their fellow students are intrigued by and what they look for in a work.
At the end of the period, the class will discuss why this is an example
of inspirational literature and they will suggest certain elements that
define it so. The essay due at the beginning of the following class
period will act as a way of examining the most inspiring characters in
The Miracle Worker.
F. Assessment
Students will be given
Questions for Understanding handout (Attachment B) as a form of assessment
for Act III. There will be a unit test at the end of the Inspirational
Voices unit that will include questions from all acts of The Miracle Worker.
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Associations of personal values, experiences, and beliefs with content
of selection.
Describes
the major events in the life of an author and identifies ways in which
those events may be reflected in or may have influenced the work of that
author.
Recognizes
why an author might choose one form or mode as more effective
than another.
Determines
the merit of a selection in terms of its timelessness and timeliness.
Writing Competencies:
Validates personal experience and feelings through writing.
Connects
text with personal experiences and to reflect on issues encountered in
text by writing in reading log/response journal.
Writes
about literature using descriptive and argumentative modes as
appropriate to purpose and audience.
Writes
in appropriate style and format of content areas.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Tapped:
Verbal/Linguistic
Bodily/Kinesthetic
(Day 5)
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Literary
~ Students
will recognize and understand the purpose of persuasive pieces of work.
~ Students
will recognize and understand parallelism and repetition as used by persuasive
speakers.
2. Humanistic
~ Students
will demonstrate the elements of a persuasive essay and connect and develop
effective persuasive tactics in their own writing.
~ Students
will examine biblical reference and determine its effectiveness as a common
theme and one to which they can relate.
B. Resources
and Materials
1. Students
will use the excerpt of the speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have
a Dream”, from their textbooks, Prentice Hall Literature - Gold.
2. Students
will make an entry in their Reader Response notebook.
3. Instructor
will use overhead projector to provide students with vocabulary obstacles
they will encounter in the reading.
4. Students
will be given a copy of Questions for Understanding for the speech excerpt
to reinforce in-class reading.
5. Instructor
will provide a videotape of this speech as it was delivered by King himself
in 1963.
6. Instructor
will utilize a video-recorder to tape students delivering speeches developed
as Independent Practice.
C. Introduction
Martin Luther
King’s speech, “I Have a Dream”, is one of the most renowned persuasive
essays to ever be publicly performed. This work continues our unit
on Inspirational Voices as we look at attempts to bring to light an issue
that had been opaque for so long. King desired, in the delivery of
this speech and many others, to bring equality to a nation which had always
proclaimed that right as a hallmark of its declaration of independence
from Britain.
1. Focus
We will focus
on the characteristics of the genre of persuasive essays. We will
also focus on the time frame in which this essay occurred, considering
equally the background of the participants in the demonstrations and the
background of King himself. Particularly, this essay will be most
noted as the promotion for equality for racial minorities in America, “the
land of the free”.
2. Review
As a form of
review, we will discuss the inspirational characteristics found in the
first work of the unit, The Miracle Worker. We will compare and contrast
the main focus of that work (hope in the face of doubt, determination,
and love) to what we know about King’s efforts and the Civil Rights Movement.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. The
instructor will pose the following questions for discussion:
~ What types
of inspirational messages were found in the drama by William Gibson, The
Miracle Worker? Answers should be in the range of hope in the face of doubt,
determination, love, etc.
~ What types
of inspirational overtones do you expect to encounter in the excerpt from
Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream”? Students should be asked
to give similarities they expect and differences.
2. Input
This discussion
will transition us into the background of the situation for which this
speech was developed and the background of the writer/speaker.
Situation Information
~ “I Have a
Dream” comes from a speech delivered to a massive civil rights demonstration
held in Washington, DC, in 1963.
~ The purpose
of this demonstration, and all predating demonstrations and boycotts, was
to influence great numbers of seemingly powerless people to join together
in order to effectively work for change.
~ Pre-dating
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation existed in every public environment
(restaurants, schools, etc.).
Author Information
~ Martin Luther
King (1929-1968) was a minister and civil rights leader who struggled to
bring African Americans into the political and economic mainstream of America.
~ King was
born in Atlanta, Georgia -- deep south, where racial segregation had its
roots.
~ King, son
of a minister, was inspired by Christian ideals and those ideals and
philosophies of the Indian leader, Mohandas K. Gandhi.
~ King led
marches and sit-ins to protest discrimination against black citizens of
the United States.
~ King was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, then, at the age of 34, the youngest
man to ever receive this prestigious award.
3. Students will copy from overhead projector the vocabulary obstacles that may hinder their comprehension of the work (Attachment A). As we are reading, these vocabulary words will be pointed out and defined by the teacher.
4. A strong reader from the class will be asked to read the excerpt from “I Have a Dream”.
5. Students
will respond to the following topic in their Reader Response notebook:
At the end
of this excerpt, King point out that he desires,
“...all
God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants
and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that
old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free
at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!’”
Do you think
that it was necessary to include minorities and majorities in this sentence?
Do you think that majorities are somehow bound/chained if the minorities
are mistreated? Defend your answer.
6. Students will watch the video clip of Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered this speech in 1963.
7. After this excerpt is viewed, we will discuss the difference in the way the student read the speech and the way King gave it (intonation in voice, stress and accents on certain elements, etc.).
8. Modeling
A. Persuasion
~ Instructor
will define persuasion as writing or speech that attempts to convince the
reader to adopt a particular opinion or course of action.
~ To give examples,
the instructor will talk about commercials and editorials, which
students encounter on a daily basis.
B. Parallelism
~ Instructor
will define parallelism as the repetition of similar grammatical structures
to create emphasis and show the equality of ideas.
~ Instructor
will give examples of parallelism in previously read works (e.g. “The Raven”
by Edgar Allen Poe repeats “nevermore”).
C. Reference
~ Instructor
will explain that references are often introduced within works to emphasize
a theme or bring to mind a familiar event from the past.
~ Instructor
will open the floor for suggestions of reference from previous read material
(e.g. The Miracle Worker makes reference to the Civil War and the division
between the North and the South to show clear divisions
between the type of people the Kellers are and the type
of person Annie is).
9. Check
for Understanding
Instructor will
check for understanding in the three modeled categories in the following
manner:
~ Students
will be asked to give the instructor examples of persuasive literature
or media.
~ Students
will be asked to identify the examples of parallelism in “I Have a Dream”.
~ Students
will be asked to identify the references (historical and biblical) in “I
Have a Dream”.
10. Guided
Practice - Debate
Students will
be assigned to groups of two. With a partner, students will read
the debate topic (Attachment B). On the chart provided, students
will indicate reasons supporting and against using biblical reference
in this speech. Students will be given ample time to create reasons
for and against this issue and the class will rejoin to discuss.
This activity will produce debate in peer groups and expand to become
a classroom debate.
11. Independent
Practice
Students will
construct their own persuasive essay on a topic from the provided list
(Attachment C) with the following prompt:
The purpose
of a persuasive essay is to convince an audience to accept or ponder an
opinion or recommendation made by the speaker. King’s use of imagery,
symbolism, and metaphors along with repetition of key
phrases, shows his essay/speech to be very effective
in attaining the persuasive goal. Pick a topic from the handout about
which you have strong feelings. Your essay does
not have to be in the five paragraph format, but it must
be coherent and comprehensible. Include in your essay at least one
metaphor, one example of imagery, and use repetition/parallelism
at least once to emphasize your desire/persuasive point.
Essays must be at least one page in length.
E. Closure
To affect closure,
the class will compile a list of strategies that will help them construct
their essays for homework. This list will include such things as
appeal to emotions, demonstrate a pleasant yet strong tone, be clear with
desires, include effective and common reference points, be positive, etc.
This list will be generated by the students and the instructor will copy
down the ideas on the overhead projector. Students may copy the list
to help guide them in their writing for homework.
F. Assessment
(Day 5)
The essay constructed
as Independent Practice will serve as the primary form of assessment for
this work. The students will present their essays to their peers
in class. After each essay, the instructor will spend 2-5 minutes
pointing out the requirements that were displayed in the essay (e.g. parallelism,
metaphor, and imagery). Students will also be expected to give
strong delivery, as they observed from Dr. King’s speech. Students’
essays will be graded by a rubric (Attachment D). Students will also
complete the Questions for Understanding handout to reinforce King’s essay
(Attachment E).
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Associates personal values, experiences, and beliefs with content of selection.
Recognizes
supporting and contradictory information related to historical or
contemporary issues.
Describes
the major events in the life of an author and identifies ways in which
those events may be reflected in or may have influenced the work of that
author.
Recognizes
why an author might choose one form or mode as more effective
than another.
Evaluates
use of language devices such as symbolism.
Writing Competencies:
Validates personal experience and feeling through writing.
Connects
text with personal experiences and to reflect on issues encountered in
text by writing in reading log/response journal.
Writes
about literature using narrative and descriptive modes as appropriate to
purpose and audience.
Writes
to clarify information, give directions, or perform a task.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Tapped:
Visual/Spatial
Verbal/Linguistic
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Humanistic
~ Students will
identify the gender expectations related in the work and generate their
own list of stereotypical qualities of males and females.
~ Students will
identify the inspirational messages in the work, particularly from the
illustrations provided in the text, and develop their own inspirational
description for Literary Objective 2.
2. Literary
~ Students will
be able to identify the difference between a character analysis and a biography
in writing and texts they encounter.
~ Students will
identify the symbols presented in the illustrations and their interpretations
from the text.
~ Students will
create an artwork displaying symbolism to coincide with the description
produced in Humanistic Objective 2.
B. Resources
and Materials
1. Students
will use the essay “Georgia O’Keeffe” from their textbooks, Prentice Hall
Literature
- Gold.
2. Students
will make a journal entry in the Reader Response notebooks.
3. Instructor
will use overhead projector to provide students with vocabulary obstacles
they will encounter in the reading of “Georgia O’Keeffe”.
4. Students
will be given a copy of Questions for Understanding for “Georgia O’Keeffe”
to reinforce in-class reading.
5. Students
will be provided with a copy of gender expectation chart.
6. Students
will be provided with a copy of the Independent Practice assignment prompt.
C. Introduction
Joan Didion’s
essay, “Georgia O’Keeffe”, is an appropriate essay to follow Martin Luther
King, Jr. This essay, being classified as a character analysis, contrasts
the persuasive essay genre that was exposed in Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream”
speech. Dr. King wrote his essay to encourage racial equity in the
United States of America after years of oppression. Joan Didion’s
character analysis essay of Georgia O’Keeffe is an inspirational essay
demonstrating the inequality that was experienced in the early 1900’s towards
women and its continuation today.
1. Focus
We will focus
on the stereotypical characteristics of men and women that existed in the
early 1900’s and their persistence today. We will also be focusing
on the symbolism utilized in O’Keeffe’s artwork and symbolism we encounter
in our own lives. This focus will allow us to better understand the
variations of interpretations that can come when people bring in their
own experiences and encounters to a piece of artwork - the artist’s own
personal symbol. We will also compare this work to Dr. King’s speech,
contrasting its outwardness to Didion’s subtlety in demonstrating the issue
at hand.
2. Review
As a form of
review, we will discuss the inspirational characteristics found in the
essay “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (e.g. persuasive essay
characteristics, appeasement to the masses, etc.) These characteristics
will not be utilized in Didion’s work, but her essay is just as effective
in demonstrating inequality.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. The
instructor will pose the following questions for discussion:
~ What were
the characteristics that you feel made Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
a success? Answers should range from the parallelism,
the repetition of key phrases, the references to common
themes and experiences, etc.
~ Do you think a work can be successful in demonstrating inequality if
it does not possess these characteristics? In other
words, do you have to be blatantly clear with the message
or are hints sufficient to prove the issue? Answers should vary as
to student opinion.
~ Do you think
that one must be exposed to inequality to actually identify with the
author/speaker? Answers should vary according to student opinion.
2. Input
The final question
posed above will allow us to transition into the background information
on Joan Didion, the author of the essay, “Georgia O’Keeffe”.
Author Information
~ Joan Didion
has been denoted as a pioneer because of both her background and her
accomplishments.
~ Didion’s
great-great grandmother went West in a covered wagon in 1846,
demonstrating that her ancestor was ambitious and courageous, qualities
then rarely associated with women.
~ Didion wrote
an essay and won a contest sponsored by Vogue magazine as a young
woman.
~ From that
accomplishment, she eventually became an editor for that magazine and
encountered great success in that position.
~ She has accumulated
a great reputation in the literary world for her novels and
collections of essays.
~ The essay,
“Georgia O’Keeffe”, comes from a collection titled The White Album, which
pays tribute to many artists and develops many issues that Didion considers
to be valuable and intriguing.
Genre Information
~ A character
analysis includes a writer’s revealing of key traits that describe someone’s
identity. It is usually briefer and more focused than a biography,
and it does not necessarily follow chronological
sequence.
3. Students will copy from the overhead projector the vocabulary obstacles that may hinder their comprehension of the work (Attachment A). As we are reading, these vocabulary words will be pointed out and defined by the teacher.
4. A volunteer will be selected to read the first paragraph of Didion’s essay.
5. Following
this reading, the students will compose a short entry in their Reader Response
notebook on this topic:
Didion has just stated that her daughter asks her, “Who drew it? ... I
need to talk to her.” Focus on the word “her”, reread
the paragraph if necessary, and explain why this would
surprise Didion and what it implies. Why did the child make this
assumption?
6. Volunteers will be chosen to read the rest of the work, alternating by paragraph.
7. Students will group with a partner to answer the Questions for Understanding as presented by the instructor.
8. Modeling
A. Expectations
~ Instructor
will ask students to brainstorm with instructor to compose a list of
stereotypical observations or views students have of political figures
(e.g. background in law; educated at ivy league institution;
private school attendant in younger years; wealthy; sneaky;
adulterous; etc.)
B.
Symbolism
~ Instructor
will draw an apple on the blackboard. He/she will then ask students
to offer an interpretation as to what this apple represents
(teaching, education, hunger, good work, etc.)
9. Check
for Understanding
Instructor will
check for understanding in the two modeled categories by requesting the
following and eliciting student responses at random:
~ Students
will be asked to write down 2-3 qualities they believe all teachers have.
~ Students
will be asked to draw a symbol and be able to explain its reference or
interpretation to the class.
10. Guided Practice
Students will
be assigned to groups of two or three. With a partner, students will
record the stereotypical qualities they believe men and women
are expected to have on the provided chart (Attachment C).
It will be pointed out that usually a quality listed on one side can be
negated to fit on the other side when stereotyping is concerned.
11. Independent
Practice
Students will
create an original symbol that represents something for which they care
about deeply and write a short essay that will be graded by the instructor
and displayed in class. The assignment is explained in Attachment
D.
E. Closure
To bring this work
to a close, we will compare now the subtleties of Didion’s “Georgia O’Keeffe”
to the strong, clear message in King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Students
will debate/discuss which essay they feel was more effective as to calling
for change and proving a point. The instructor will point out the
effectiveness of having a successful woman author, who has more than likely
experienced some of the stereotypes mentioned by O’Keeffe herself, write
about a pioneer artist who was non-conventional and entered a “man’s world”.
We will discuss the possibility that Didion chose to be subtle with her
writing because O’Keeffe’s artwork stated so much on its own - no words
needed.
F. Assessment
Assessment for this
essay will be in the form of the essay and symbol that the students produce
in independent practice. The students must display an original idea/symbol
to have represent something meaningful to the student him/herself.
With an original symbol, the students will see how each students sees something
and brings to it his/her own experiences.
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Associates personal values, experiences and beliefs with content of selections.
Recognizes
supporting and contradictory information to historical or
contemporary issues.
Recognizes
why an author might choose one form or mode as more effective
than another.
Writing Competencies:
Validates personal experience and feelings through writing.
Connects
text with personal experiences and to reflect on issues encountered in
text by writing in reading log/response journal.
Writes
about literature using narrative and descriptive modes as appropriate to
purpose and audience.
Writes
in appropriate style and format of content areas.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Tapped:
Verbal/Linguistic
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Literary
~ Students will
recognize this work as a biography and understand the components of a biography.
~ Students will
recognize and understand anecdotes as used by the author and develop their
own anecdotes in a similar biography.
2. Humanistic
~ Students will
be able to connect the work of King and Sandburg as having inspirational
qualities which relate to the same idea/goal.
~ Students will
develop a biographical account.
B. Resources
and Material
1. Students
will use the excerpt of the biographical account, from “A Lincoln Preface”,
from their textbooks, Prentice Hall Literature - Gold.
2. Students
will utilize their Reader Response notebooks to create a journal entry.
3. Instructor
will use overhead projector to provide students with vocabulary obstacles
they may encounter in the reading of from “A Lincoln Preface”.
4. Instructor
will utilize overhead projector to provided students with historical background
of the biography.
C. Introduction
Carl Sandburg’s
excerpt from his biography, “A Lincoln Preface”, is an appropriate work
to follow both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Joan Didion. While Sandburg’s
biography and King’s speech/essay include some of the same thematic material
regarding slavery, Sandburg’s biography also parallels Didion’s character
analysis of Georgia O’Keeffe, where the focus is on one individual of exceptional
and admirable qualities as a citizen of this nation and a person in general.
1. Focus
The focus in
this work will be on the anecdotal qualities Sandburg has consciously chosen
to use in writing a biography of such an important historical figure.
We will also focus on the parallelisms this work has to both King’s speech/essay
and Didion’s character analysis, all three of which were dynamic illustrations
of inspirational voices.
2. Review
As a form of
review, we will once again discuss the differences in the way King outwardly
presented his views and opinions, hopes and dreams to the public and the
way Didion used a more subtle approach (unlike O’Keeffe herself), to write
her character analysis. We will also discuss the differences between
a character analysis and a biography as this next work is presented.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. Students
will be asked to brainstorm about things they know regarding Abraham Lincoln.
A list will be compiled at the board (should contain elements such
as president, abolitionist, etc.).
2. Input
This list will
serve as an introduction into the historical background to be provided
on the overhead by the instructor containing the following information:
Historical
Figure and Context
~ Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States from
1861-1865.
~ Lincoln became
a prairie lawyer, based in Springfield, IL and in 1834 was elected to the
Illinois legislature for the first of four terms.
~ Lincoln served
a term in the US House of Representatives from 1847-1849, but lost his
backing when he criticized the Mexican War.
~ Lincoln ran
as the Republican candidate for the US senate in 1858. Lincoln
lost to Stephen A. Douglas, but became a well known figure for the debates
he and Douglas had during the campaign.
~ Lincoln was
nominated for the presidency at the Republican National Convention in
1860.
~ At his winning
the election, many of the southern states began to secede from the Union
because of many Republicans’ antislavery policy.
~ Lincoln’s
main concern was to preserve the Union; however, when public zeal for the
war was dwindling, he expanded the cause to include antislavery through
his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
~ Lincoln was
reelected 1864, defeating George B. McClellan (D).
~ Five days
after Appomattox on April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot and killed by John
Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.
~ He died on
the following day, Saturday the 15th, and the following Sunday was denoted
Black Easter.
Author Background
and Information
~ Carl Sandburg
(1878-1967) was born in Galesburg, Illinois, of Swedish immigrant
parents.
~ Sandburg
won Pulitzer prizes for both his poetry and biography of Abraham Lincoln.
~ “A Lincoln
Preface” is part of a sixteen volume biography describing Lincoln’s early
life through his presidency and to his death.
Genre Information
~ A biography
is an account of a person’s life written by someone else.
~ Biographers
research the facts of the subject’s life and may include in the biography
their own interpretation of the facts they find.
3. Students will copy from the overhead projector the vocabulary obstacles that may hinder their reading from “A Lincoln Preface” (Attachment A).
4. Volunteers will be selected to read from “A Lincoln Preface”.
5. After
the reading is completed, students will be asked to compose in their Reader
Response notebooks on the following topic:
Some people
often look down on Sandburg’s work because it gives an account of
Lincoln’s life through anecdotes (brief stories that recount an interesting
or strange event). Do you think you would have enjoyed
the work more had it not been in anecdotal form?
Do you think that because Lincoln was a president, his biographical account
should have been in a chronologically sequenced narrative,
instead of skipping around? Explain your response.
6. Modeling
The instructor
will choose a student to interview orally in the classroom. The student
will be asked a series of questions that would allow the instructor
to compose a short biography on the student in narrative form.
This list of questions will also be used (in a more complete form) by the
students when they interview one another in the guided practice exercise
to follow.
Mock Interview
Instructor:
What is your full name?
Student:
Johnnie Thomas Taylor.
Instructor:
Have you always lived in this area?
Student:
No, I was originally born in New York City and moved here when I was eleven.
Instructor: Do you like living here in North Carolina?
Student:
It’s OK. I’ve seen more exciting things.
The instructor
will then precede to orally produce a narrative showing students how to
report facts and interpret them while still being within a biographer’s
rights:
Johnnie Taylor
Thomas lives now in Conway, North Carolina. Not native-born, he
emerged from New York City some sixteen years ago and moved here only five
years ago. Because he was northern born and bred for
the greater part of his life, he has a small distaste
for the South and its way of life.
7. Check
for Understanding
The students
will be asked the following questions to which they will respond yes or
no aloud in class:
~ Is a biography
a story written by you about you?
~ Is a biography
a story about someone else that you made up?
~ Is an anecdote
a long story inserted that is not relevant to the biography?
~ Is an anecdote
a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event told to
entertain or make a point?
~ Are biographers
able to interpret the facts that they learn about their subject when
writing?
8. Guided
Practice
Students will
be grouped in interviewing groups of two. The two students will then
utilize the provided interview guide handout to complete a biographical
interview about their partner (Attachment B). Students will
be sure to give short anecdotes regarding some of the questions to
allow the interviewer to make the biography more interesting for the audience.
9. Independent
Practice
Each interviewer
will write a short biography about their partner (one page). To the
greatest extent possible, the biographer should utilize the interview
guide handout to gauge their creation of the biography. Students
must have at least one related anecdote in the biography to make it more
interesting for the audience. The biography must be in standard English
(unless it is a quote) and written in a formal manner.
E. Closure
To bring this work
to a close, we will again review some of the interesting points that Sandburg
made regarding Lincoln’s life (e.g. the way he was regarded by people,
the way he regarded others, his simplicity, his western background, etc.).
We will point out that each individual biography will be different depending
on the biographer. This statement will be even more apparent when
the students write their biographies of their fellow students, which would
probably differ a great deal from the way it would be written as an autobiography.
We must remember that Lincoln himself did not write this factual account
himself. Many of the interpretations found in this biography are
Sandburg’s own, and though he gives Lincoln a great amount of credit, another
biographer may have created the account an entirely different way.
F. Assessment
Assessment will be
performed by the teacher on the written biographies the students produce
of their peers. The instructor will be looking for Standard English,
formal writing styles, and at least one use of an anecdote.
NC Standard Course
of Study Objectives to be Addressed: English I
Reading Competencies:
Associates personal values, experiences, and beliefs with content of selections.
Recognizes
supporting and contradictory information related to historical or
contemporary issues.
Describes
the major events in the life of an author and identifies ways in which
those events may be reflected in or may have influenced the work of that
author.
Evaluates
use of language devices such as figurative language.
Writing Competencies:
Validates personal experience and feelings through writing.
Connects
text with personal experiences and to reflect on issues encountered in
text by writing in reading log/response journal.
Revises
by altering voice of a work.
Writes
in appropriate style and format of content areas with teacher support.
Analyzes,
elaborates, and extends text.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Tapped:
Verbal/Linguistic
Interpersonal/Social
Intrapersonal/Introspective
A. Objectives
1. Literary
~ Students will
experience free verse poetry in contrast to other end-rhyming poetry with
which they are accustomed.
2. Humanistic
~ Students will
further develop the free verse poem, “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman
to include occupations and significant trades of the modern world.
B. Resources
and Materials
1. Students
will use the poem “I Hear America Singing” from their textbooks, Prentice
Hall Literature - Gold.
2. Students
will utilize their Reader Response notebooks to create a journal entry.
C. Introduction
Walt Whitman’s
poem, “I Hear America Singing” is the last work we will sample in our Inspirational
Voices Unit. This poem is appropriate because it ties together many
of the issues that we have discussed in seven days time. It suggests
something about inspiration, individuality, equality, and beauty.
1. Focus
Our primary
focus with this poem will be to look at the stylistic free verse and the
figurative suggestions Whitman is making “singing” each line of poetry.
We will also look at the diversity he has chosen to include in this work
and examine the purpose behind it.
2. Review
As a form of
review, we will again point out the struggle to inspire and motivate in
Gibson’s The Miracle Worker, the persuasive outcry of King’s “I Have a
Dream” for equality, the subtle suggestions of gender inequality and stereotypes
pointed out by Didion in her character analysis of “Georgia O’Keeffe”,
and finally, the goals and accomplishments discovered in the biography
of Lincoln written by Carl Sandburg. All of these images can be discussed
as related to Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”.
D. Methods and
Procedures
1. We
will begin our discussion by focusing on the review items listed above.
Pointing out the focus of each of the works will refresh students
as to the inspiration they saw emerge.
2. Input
Author Background
~ Walt Whitman
(1819-1892) was born on Long Island, near New York City.
~ Whitman based
his major work, Leaves of Grass, on his growing and changing country, the
United States of America.
~ “Part of Whitman’s
mission as a poet was to inspire and vitalize the United States through
the ecstatic vision of democratic life that Leaves projected.”
Literary Devices
~ Free verse
is verse without a regular arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables.
~ Free verse
is unconfined due to the fact that normal conventional rhythmical patterns
are not imposed.
~ Figurative
language is writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally.
It is often used to create vivid impressions.
3. Volunteers will be selected to read aloud Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”.
4. After
the reading is completed, students will be asked to journal in their Reader
Response notebooks on the following topic:
Interpret the first line of “I Hear America Singing” in your own words.
“I hear America
singing, the varied carols I hear”
5. After the students have been given 3-5 minutes to compose, the instructor will ask for students to read aloud their entry. Responses should include interpretations such as equality, multiculturalism, unity, etc.
6. We will spend a short amount of time looking at the multicultural implications this first line portrays. The instructor will point out Whitman’s birthplace is Long Island, where many immigrants have found their first sights and feelings for America.
7. Modeling
The instructor
will write lines two and three on the chalkboard to examine. The
instructor will point out that when referring to mechanics, Whitman
states, “...each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong...”
Students should immediately pick up on “his” and the changes that we have
seen develop since Whitman’s time. This activity will be a model
for what the students will be working on in their guided practice
activity.
8. Check
for Understanding
The teacher
will check for understanding by once again reviewing Whitman’s lifetime
as being in the 1800’s. The instructor must undoubtedly give
examples as to the roles of men and women in society at that time.
9. Guided
Practice
Students will
pair with a classmate to do the brief guided practice activity. Students
are to examine each line, which speaks of a profession and the tradesperson
of the profession, and tells what the tradesperson “sings”.
Students should look for gender inequalities, jargon of the profession,
words with which they are unfamiliar, and imagery that seems misplaced
or incomprehensible. After these lists are compiled, we will
discuss some of the changes that have taken place in America in the one
hundred years that Whitman has been gone.
10. Independent
Practice
Students are
to complete the activity denoted as Attachment A, where they will rewrite
part of Whitman’s poem to make it better explanatory of present day
America.
E. Closure
To bring closure to
this unit, we will review the inspirational messages we have discovered
in each of the works. The students will discuss the inspirational
overtones they have found in Whitman’s work, which may give them ideas
when they are creating their own “Whitman” in 1999.
F. Assessment
This work will be
assessed for understanding by the student products, “I Hear America Singing
in 1999”. In this, they are using free verse and figurative language
to express their feelings about the changes that have taken place in America
following a specified format.
“I Have a Dream”
by: Martin Luther
King
Vocabulary for Understanding
Essay: p. 466-468
1. creed: n. statement of belief;
2. oppression: n. keeping others down by unjustly using power/authority;
3. oasis: n. fertile place in the desert;
4. interposition and nullification: n. the disputed doctrine that a state can reject federal laws considered to be violations of its rights;
5. exalted: v. lifted up;
6. prodigious: adj. wonderful; of great size;
7. curvaceous: adj. having shapely qualities;
8. hamlet: n. very small village;
Debate Topic: Common Themes
King states at the
beginning of this excerpt from his speech:
“...in spite
of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.
It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”
It is obvious, from
this sentence, that King wants to connect his dream to the dreams of our
forefathers; therefore, King wants to connect his dream to the dream of
all Americans. The American dream (equality, wealth, succ