Lesson Plan 3
Focus/Context
Friendship is one of the most
important kinds of relationships that we, as people, can establish. Some friendships are fleeting, others last a lifetime, and no
two friendships are the same. At
the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify the theme of
friendship as it exists in selections from various different genres, and show
how it is expressed in each. Students
will also be able to recognize that there are different levels of friendship,
including over-lapping with other kinds of relationships and
negative-friendships.
Specific Curriculum Outcomes
Speaking and Listening
- Students
will demonstrate knowledge of how spoken language influences and manipulates
and reveals ideas, values and attitudes.
- Students
will address the demands of a variety of speaking situations, making
critical language choices, especially of tone and style.
- Students
will reflect critically on and evaluate their own and others’ uses of
language in a range of contexts, recognizing elements of verbal and
nonverbal messages that produce powerful communication.
Reading and Viewing
- Students
will experience literature in written, oral and enacted forms, from within
their provincial, national, and world culture for pleasure and enjoyment.
- Students
will read widely and experience a variety of literary genre and modes from
different provinces and countries and world literature from different
literary periods.
Writing and Other Ways of Representing
- Students
will make effective choices of language and techniques to enhance the impact
of imaginative writing and other ways of representing.
- Students
will respond to literature in any form, from any culture, in a variety of
ways (emotionally, reflectively, creatively) and share their experiences
with others.
Activities
- Students
will examine the following texts:
-
My Heart is Broken by Mavis Gallant (located in Themes for all
Times, p.30-34)
-
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe (copy provided by
teacher)
-
A Harmless Deception by Anastasia English (copy provided by
teacher)
-
Mending Wall by Robert Frost (copy provided by teacher; recording
of the poet reading the selection provided by teacher)
-
Wind Beneath my Wings by Bette Midler (a copy of printed lyrics
provided by teacher; recording provided by teacher)
- Students
will participate in small discussion groups of about five people, focusing
on each of the selections chosen for this lesson.
Each of these groups will be required to choose one of the
selections and present to the class a demonstration of the way(s) in which
the theme of friendship permeates the text.
Presentations can be conducted as a dramatic skit/reader’s theatre;
a lecture-style presentation; a collaboratively written poem/song; an
interview with one of the characters; another kind of presentation (pending
approval of the teacher).
- Students
will be required to write a journal entry on one of the assigned texts,
which is not the same as the one that they will be presenting on.
The journal entry can take on any form that the student wishes.
Assessment
- Students
will construct a peer-scoring rubric with the help of the teacher and use
this rubric, combined with questions posed directly to each group after
their respective presentations, to evaluate each other’s performances.
- Particular
attention will be paid to the apparent effort put into the presentation by
each member of the group – each group member will submit a reflection
paper on the presentation, including a peer evaluation of other group
members (taking into account participation, effort, etc.)
·
The
journal entry will constitute a small part of a cumulative assessment and as
such, it will be graded holistically on a scale of 1-5 (poor to exemplary)
in terms of how well the student is able to articulate meaning in his/her
response.
Resources
My
Heart is Broken – Short Story (Themes
for All Times:
Course Text)
The Cask of
Amontillado – Short Story (Fiction
100: An Anthology of Short Stories, 7th ed.)
A
Harmless Deception – Short Story (Tempered
Days: A Century of Newfoundland Short Fiction)
Mending
Wall – Poem (20th
Century Poetry and Poetics, 4th edition; privately owned
recording)
Wind Beneath my Wings
(Printed Lyrics from Internet; privately owned recording)
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