Young Goodman Brown

Name: Morgan Reid

Subject Area: American Literature
Grade Level: Junior (Grade 11)
Date: 26 September- 1 October 2014

Lesson Summary Description
We are 2 works into the Puritan/Colonial writings unit. This is the first of 3 stories in which
students will examine theme and track similar themes across different puritan works. We will
read 2 short stories together then they will be reading their own and annotating it themselves. I
will model the annotations they should make along with them for the first story; they will
annotate the second one with their groups, the third, on their own.

Standard(s)
RL 9: Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early-twentieth-century
foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period
treat similar themes or topics.
RI 1: Cite Strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text, including how they interact and build on one another to
provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI2: Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the
text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an
objective summary of the text.

Objective(s)
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to track developing theme in a text and determine the
evidence needed to support the theme they have chosen.

Content Standard: I can determine central ideas and track themes across multiple Early-American
writings.
Language Standard: I can make detailed annotations (notes in the text) tracking imagery, figurative
language, and themes.

Timeframe
Two 90 minute class periods

Materials Needed
LAPs (folders)
Lesson Plan Assignment
Journals
Words in context worksheet (for Elmo)
Elmo (projector)
Highlighters

Detailed Procedural Steps

Day 1: Good vs. Evil Journal Entry
Think back to a time when you discovered someones secret (and they werent aware you
knew their secret) or you hid a secret from a friend/family, how did your behavior change
around them? Did your perceptions of them change? How did this affect you?

Day 2: Entrance Activity
What is a thesis statement? Give one example using a text we have read.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) born in Salem, Massachusetts. He added a w to his name to
distinguish himself from his family- ancestor was judge in Salem witch trials (1692-3). The Hawthorne
legacy= strict Puritanism which Hawthorne grappled with in his stories/novels. Scarlett Letter.

Each group will be given a responsibility tent. Each tent has a responsibility that the group will
contribute to the class reading/analysis of YGB.
The tents (8) include: chunking, vocabulary, tweeting (left margin), questions/analysis (right
margin), imagery, themes (loss of innocence, the importance of honest hard work,
religion/Christianity).
We will read as a class and each group (after given time to discuss/identify) based on their
responsibility at the time will share with the class.
I will record the class annotations on the Elmo because we are completing this activity together.
(I do)
The next story will have more responsibility on them, but still completed as a class. (We do)
The last story will be completed individually. (You do)

Modeling the Annotations of Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Number each of the paragraphs
Chunking
Where would be good places to chunk multiple paragraphs together? Skimming the story, where
do logical places seem to be to divide the story into categories?
o On own, partners, groups
o Class

Lesson Plan Assignment
Once you have chunks- tweet the chunk. 140 characters or less.
Left side= what
Right Side= why
Appeals
Thematic
Questions
Circle unknown vocab. Find definition in context (own words)

Day 1: Exit Slips (5):
Which responsibility (of the 8) do you find most difficult to identify on your own?
Or
Identify a potential theme of the story. Based on what we have read so far, what is the
author trying to convey?

Day 2: Thesis Statement (10):
After reading Young Goodman Brown, develop your own thesis statement.
Identify a theme. How is that theme conveyed?
Do not have to list the works you are referring to.
Example:
In Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God vivid imagery is utilized through ethos,
logos, and pathos in an attempt to sway the acts of sinners to be morally correct.

What is your subject, argument, basis for your opinion, and method of support?
Straight to the point.
What is the theme and how is it being conveyed? How did you get to understand that theme? Are
characters speech, actions, or thoughts? A repetition of some kind of figurative language?

In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, a theme of Gods unswaying wrath towards mankind is
emphasized through the repetition of metaphors and imagery.