Lesson Plan

Context:
Date: October 18 and 19, 2017
Grade: 10 Grade English Honors
th

Length of lesson: 80 Minutes

Description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual characteristics:
This lesson will be taught at Monticello High School. Monticello is a suburban public school with a
population of about 1,200 students. This lesson will be taught in an Honors English 10 class where
students are being prepared for 1th Grade AP English. The class is approximately 60 percent female and
40 percent male. We are currently in a unit called Dehumanization and have been discussing what things
make us human and how our perspective informs our perception of humanity. Students in each class are
reading either In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez or Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. They
have been placed in literary circle groups and have created websites onto which all of their group work
assignments are being posted.

Standards:
10.1
Objectives:
1. Students will know how authors reveal characters in novels.
Materials:
1. Computers
Instructional Steps:
1. [15 min] SSR
Everyone take out your books for SSR!
Students will spend the first 15 min of class reading.

2. [15 min] Lit Circle Double Entry Journals

Students did not finish their double entry group assignment on Monday and Tuesday. I
will give them 15 minutes after SSR to finish this assignment.

Alright everyone, many of you did not finish your double entry response on your websites
the other day. I am going to give you 15 minutes, and 15 minutes only to finish. After 15
minutes I will stop you and we will move on. Once you have finished your responses, take
out your tic-tac-toe responses and begin discussing them. Take a second to read each
others responses. If the persons whose response you did, did it correctly, as well as
used two vocabulary words, you should cross it out on their board and initial it. At
exactly 15 minutes, I will ask you to refocus your attention back to me. Ready, set, work!
 3. [10 min] Diction Mini-Lesson

As I was reading your last literary analysis quizzes, I noticed that many of you were
analyzing diction. So, I want to ask the class, what is diction? Take a second in your
groups and come up with a definition. What is diction?

Many of you either had it or were very close. Diction is simply word choice. The specific
words an author uses within a text to convey a meaning or message.

So now, let me ask you this if you are going to analyze a text for the diction, what must
you do?

[In order to analyze diction in a text, you must provide specific words used from the text
that convey a meaning or message, not whole sentences.]

I am going to yell this at the students. I will make them repeat it to each other. I will have
the class say it out loud together. Once we have done this, we will go over the notes
(Appendix A) with the whole class. Students will read and provide their own input.

4. [45 Min] Jigsaw Discussion

Alright everyone, I am passing out our next discussion activity. It is called a jigsaw. If
you look on the board, I have put you in groups, based on what novel you have. In each
group, I want you to read your passage, talk about the context in which the quote is
happening. You will need your books. I have provided page numbers for you to go back
and look at. Once you have talked about it, I want you as a group to create an argument
in regards to the diction in the text. For your argument, you must state how you will
support it and why it matters. As you are discussing in your groups, you should be taking
notes, that is why I am giving you this graphic organizer. You will have about 20 minutes
to discuss with your group. Afterwards, you will be put in new groups. In the new groups,
there will be one member from each group. You will then share with your new group
what your group talked about. You will be the teacher in the discussion for your new
group. That being said, you have to listen and pay attention to what is being said in your
first group so you can share it with your second group.

Differentiation:
The discussion is student lead. Many of my students work best when they are interacting and
learning from each other and not the teacher. I have provided them a guide for discussion, but it
is completely student lead. For those students who struggle, I will be listening and providing
support as needed.
 DICTION
WORD CHOICE:
Many words in our language have strong connotations, and authors learn to
use them on purpose to elicit certain responses from the reader.

DENOTATION means the literal, dictionary definition of a word.

Example: The words "plump and "obese both literally describe a

person who is overweight. This is the dictionary definition of both
words. It is the shared meaning of these 2 synonyms.

CONNOTATION means the implied or suggested meaning attached to a

word, or the emotional tag" that goes along with a word.

Example: The word "plump" has the connotation of being pleasantly

fat, almost cutely overweight. Its connotation describes women more
often than men. It is this extra "emotional" feeling that shows how we
use the word. The word "obese, often used by medical personnel,
has a more technical connotation. It carries a less emotional, more
scientific emotional tag. Both "plump" and "obese have the same
literal definition, but the connotations are different.

Writing Commentary on Diction Steps:

1. You must discuss the connotation of the word or phrase to do a good
job of diction analysis.
2. Comment on the emotional response. What is the tone? Mood?
3. Comment on the purpose of the type of diction an author uses. What
is the significance? What does it show us about characters? What
does it show about the author? What does it show about the setting.
Things Fall Apart
Group 1:

Locusts are descending, was joyfully chanted everywhere, and men,

women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to
see the unfamiliar sight. The locusts had not come for many, many years,
and only the old people had seen them before And at last the locusts did
descend. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass; they settled
on the roofs and covered the bare ground. Mighty tree branches broke away
under them, and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the
vast, hungry swarm (55-56).
Group 2:

The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. The
short trees and sparse undergrowth which surrounded the mens village
began to give way to giant trees and climbers which perhaps had stood
from the beginning of things, untouched by the ax and the bush-fire. The
sun breaking through their leaves and branches threw a pattern of light and
shade on the sandy footway (58).
Group 3:
She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the
head. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin, and all over her body
were black patterns drawn with uli. She wore a black necklace which hung
down in three coils just above her full, succulent breasts. On her arms were
red and yellow bangles, and on her waist four or five rows of jigida, or
waist beads (71).

Group 4:

When did you become a shivering old woman, Okonkwo asked himself,
you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can
a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added
a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.
(71)
In the Time of Butterflies
Group 1:

One afternoon, I was on one of these getaway rampages, racing down the
small side roads that spiderweb our property. Near the northeast cacao
groves, I saw the Ford parked in front of a small, yellow house. I tried to
figure out what campesino family lived there, but I couldn't say I had ever
met them. So I made it my business to take that back road frequently,
keeping an eye out. Every time I drove the Ford, these raggedy girls came
running after me, holding out their hands, calling for mints(85).
Group 2:

It seemed suddenly that I'd missed a great opportunity. My life would have
been nobler if I had followed Lio. But how could I have 87 Julia Alvarez
made the choice when I hadn't even known about it? I forgot my earlier
ambivalence, and I blamed Papa for everything: his young woman, his
hurting Mama, his cooping me up while he went gallivanting around (88).
Group 3:

I saw his shoulders droop. I heard him sigh. Right then and there, it hit me
harder than his slap: I was much stronger than Papa, Mama was much
stronger. He was the weakest one of all. It was he who would have the
hardest time living with the shabby choices he'd made. He needed our love
(89).
Group 4:

Poor Mate cried and cried. As a consolation prize, I offered to bring her
back another souvenir. Last time at the party at Hotel Montana, we all got
paper fans with the Virgencita on one side and El Jefe on the other. I kept
making Maria Teresa turn the fan around when she sat in front of me,
fanning herself. Sometimes it was El Jefe's probing eyes, sometimes it was
the Virgin's pretty face I couldn't stand to look at.
Name_________________________________________________
Directions: Using the text, make an argument pertaining to the diction used in your excerpt.
Make sure to support your answer.

Group 1 Group 2

Group 3 Group 4
2A

Slide 1

Things Fall Apart

Group 1:

Olivia, Zach, Jayson O.

Group 2:

Benson, Amaya, Marcus, Lea

Group 3:

Kelly, Gabe D, Jay, Emily

In the Time of Butterflies

Group 1:

Nate, Sarah, Dasha, Aleecia

Group 2:

Maeve, Addi, Trent, Ryan

Group 3:

Gabe H, Aliyah, Carryl, Kayleigh

Slide 2

Jigsaw Groups:

Jayson O, Lea, Benson, Emily

Kelly, Marcus, Jay, Zach

Olivia, Amaya, Gabe

Jigsaw Groups:

Nate, Trent, Carryl,

Sarah, Ryan, Aliyah

Maeve, Aleecia, Kayleigh

Dasha, Addi, Gabe H.

4A

Butterflies

Lucas, Sara, Emily, Micah

Grayson, Morgan, Kyrssa, Julia,

Leah, Reagan, Shagun, Kees

Cole, Tara, Ricardo, Kate

Things Fall Apart

Makale, Marco, Kariman, Colin

Brooke, Nathan, Riley, Nick

Billy, Caudia, Jack, Zach

Jigsaw groups

Lucas, Morgan, Reagan, Kate

Sara, Grayson, Kees, Cole

Emily, Kryssa, Leah, Ricardo

Micah, Tara, Shagun, Julia

Makale, Riley, Claudia

Marco, Nick, Billy,

Kariman, Zach, Brooke

Colin, Nathan, Jack