Lesson Plan 4
Focus/Context
This lesson is designed to expand
students’ understanding of the theme of relationship by showing them that,
while there are many different kinds of relationships that one can have with
things external, it is also important to have a relationship with one’s self. This theme is one that reverberates throughout history, from
the time of the Greeks (Know Thyself) to Shakespeare’s Polonius (This above
all – to thine own self be true) and indeed to present day. This theme forms
the basis of one of the main goals of Thematic Literature 3201 – to
have students respond reflectively to a work of literature in a variety of ways,
including understanding it through its relationship to the self.
That is, students are to learn to value literature because it develops self-understanding
and personal values.
Specific Curriculum Outcomes
Speaking and Listening
- Students
will share emotional, reflective, and creative responses with others.
- 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.
Reading and Viewing
- Students
will articulate their understanding of ways in which information texts are
constructed for particular purposes.
- Students
will articulate their own processes and strategies in exploring,
interpreting and reflecting on sophisticated texts and tasks.
- Students
will make informed personal responses to increasingly challenging print and
media texts and reflect on their responses.
Writing and Other Ways of Representing
- Students
will examine how texts work to reveal and produce ideologies, identities and
positions.
- Students
will use other ways of representing to reflect on the basis for their
feelings, values and attitudes about a particular text.
Activities
- Students
will examine the poem The Reaper by William Wordsworth and
participate in a class discussion on the meaning of the poem.
The teacher will put effort into directing the focus of this
discussion to final rhyming couplet : The music in my heart I bore,/Long
after it was heard no more with the intention of making it clear to the
students that a personal connection with a particular text transcends the
actual encounter with it.
- Students
will then be given the opportunity to select a particular text that they
feel that they can, or have already, connected with on a personal level and
to prepare a presentation. Students
will have the option of picking any kind of text – a television
advertisement; a piece of artwork; a poem; a song; etc. – that they wish.
This will be given as a homework assignment, but students will also have
class time to work on this project.
- Students
will deliver the presentation that they have prepared to the class,
identifying the piece/work that they have chosen and the reasons why they
feel that they are better able to understand themselves by connecting
with the piece/work.
Assessment
- Students
will be evaluated on the amount of effort that they appear to have put into
planning their presentations and the extent to which they explain their
connection to the piece/work that they have chosen.
The evaluation will be conducted on a holistic level (poor-exemplary)
and will include not only the presentation, but also the students’ ability
to answer questions about their presentations.
Resources
The Reaper (The Way of
Poetry, provided by the teacher)
Selected Texts (Provided by the
students)
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