English IV Thursday, 03.23.15 Lesson with Reflection

1 Ms. Gries, Academy at Palumbo, English IV, 03.23.15

***This lesson had to be modified due to weather cancellation. Changes to the plan have been added in bolded, italicized text.***

Location Analysis: Connecting Location and Character in Pride and Prejudice

I. Context

Class: World Literature

Period(s): First Period, Fourth Period, Sixth Period

Class Size: 33 students per class—99 students in total

Student Context

Ethnic Composition: The majority of students in each of the classes are African American. Asian students and White students make up the larger minority, and Hispanic students are in the minority.

First Period (33 students)

Boys: 15 Girls: 18

Students with Learning Supports/IEPs: 1 Learning Support, 2 Mentally Gifted

1 biologically female student who identifies as male (transgender)

1 student who prefers to behave as a select mute—this student does not speak, but will communicate with minimal body language

Fourth Period (33 students)

Boys: 18 Girls: 15

Students with Learning Supports/IEPs: 1 Learning Support (Emotional Support), 5 Mentally Gifted

Sixth Period (33 students)

Boys: 10 Girls: 23

Students with Learning Supports/IEPs: 2 Mentally Gifted


Learning Context

Literary Timeline Context: This lesson falls in the middle of a unit the British Enlightenment and Regency period. Students have done work with texts from the British Renaissance, including a taste of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and a taste of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Students have also spent a week in between literature units to begin work on their Senior Research projects. The Project Week was difficult for the students, who expressed mixed opinions about the structure implemented to schedule the project to completion. With these student concerns in mind, this unit on the Enlightenment/Regency Period is designed with attention to diversity in lesson type, teaching technique, and assignments, materials, and supplementary resources.

Skill Context: In their work with Shakespeare and Milton, students have practiced deciphering poetic language. In their work with Pride and Prejudice, students have practiced deciphering archaic prose for meaning and connection to contemporary themes (love, marriage, friendship, judgment). Students have worked cooperatively in groups to teach each other about marital and entailment procedures and customs during Regency England and have practiced close reading and analytical discussion as they have created character impressions of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Students have practiced the skills of surveying, analyzing, and synthesizing through the activities designed to prepare them to complete their Senior projects.

Curriculum Context:

Students will read excerpts from both historical and literary texts from both the early nineteenth century and the present day to provide historical and literary context to Pride and Prejudice and to explore answers to the essential questions guiding the unit:

1. What is “good” communication?

2. What is one’s “true” self?

3. How do actions speak louder than words?

4. What is “romance”?

The two historical, informational texts students will read are: Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” and Daniel Defoe’s “The Education of Women” (in Holt textbook, p. 638-650). These texts will be used to provide students with some understanding of the dialogue surrounding women’s rights and education at the time of Austen’s writing. Students will read these texts for insight into why Austen might have chosen to write a novel about women, why Austen chose to publish her books anonymously, how the women in Pride


and Prejudice are characterized, and how the roles of women have evolved since Austen’s time. These texts will also be used to explore the essential questions, “What is one’s ‘true’ self?” and “How do actions speak louder than words?”

Students will also read literary texts from the Romantic Era in order to address the essential question, “What is ‘romance’?” (Holt p. 713 for prefatory material about the evolution of the “romance” genre). Students will explore both the literary and culture evolution of the term “romance” and will consider how Austen’s novel is a romance and how she portrays romance in Pride and Prejudice. To explore the literary genre “romance,” students will read an excerpt from William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tinturn Abbey” (Holt p. 736) to gain an understanding of how Romantic poets turned to nature for referential images of beauty. Students will shift from a study of the beauty the Romantics found in nature to study of the beauty the Romantics found in human beings. Students will read George Gordon, Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” (Holt p. 795) to prompt a discussion about the type of “beauty” captured by Romantic poets in relation to the types of “beauty” Austen characterizes in Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Bennet. These poems will be used to pursue the essential question of “What is romance?” Students will explore how each of these poems addresses a different understanding of the term “romance.”

Students will also examine a cartoon version (found on Pinterest) of Pride and Prejudice and look at excerpts from the Marvel graphic novel Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Nancy Butler and Hugo Petrus. These texts will be read in exploration of the essential question “What makes ‘good’ communication?” Students will explore how language in Austen’s text either hinders or advances communication of action and dialogue among text characters and plot and theme to the reader. Students will also read Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” to explore the essential question “What is ‘romance’?” These short texts will be used to explore the essential questions “What is ‘good’ communication?,” “What is one’s ‘true’ self?,” and “What is ‘romance’?” These texts will also be read to challenge Austen’s text, to get students to consider whether or not Pride and Prejudice’s happy ending is trite and whether or not language today is more efficient at conveying emotion and meaning then language from Austen’s time.

Explanation of Lesson Connections:

This lesson encourages students to continue their development of character in Pride and Prejudice by introducing the influence that geographic and social location had on people during the Regency. In exploring the impact that geographic and social location has on characters in the novel, students consider the impact that their geographic and social location have on their own identity, connecting this lesson to one of the course goals, which is to get students to connect their literary characters and their problems to students’ own lives.


This lesson connects to students’ previous work with character development when students constructed Word Webs to represent their readings and understandings of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth during the beginning part of the novel. This lesson challenges students to elaborate upon these characterizations and consider the impact that geographic and social locations have on characters and their interactions. Students will be asked to continue to read the novel closely for character details and to build upon their notes taken in a previous class to practice the effectiveness of returning to previous material and revising for deepened understanding.

II. Desired Results

Lesson Description

Students will focus on the essential questions “What is one’s ‘true’ self?” and “What makes ‘good’ communication?” as they explore the impact that geographic and social locations have on identity. Students will explore these questions in relation to their own lives as they complete a DO NOW activity that asks students to name their desired place to live. This activity prompts students to consider what character traits influence their decisions about living locations. Students will be asked to consider why they want to live in a particular place and what this desire says about their identities.

Students will then transition from their DO NOW activity into the lesson which will challenge students to explore the geographic and social locations in Pride and Prejudice and connect character traits to these locations. The DO NOW is followed by a direct instruction, a historical overview that gives students some background about the geographic composition of the United Kingdom and situates students within the world created in Pride and Prejudice. The purpose of this direct instruction is to give students enough background information to talk about the logistics of the places they will be analyzing (ex. What places mentioned in the text are real? What places did Jane Austen make up? Where are these locations in relation to each other?, etc. ).

In this direct instruction, students will also be shown images of the types of houses that would be found in each of the locations in order to understand the class differences found in different locations. Students will be directed, through dialogue, to an understanding of which character reside in which home and location to clarify any confusion and will then be asked what they think the homes say about the characters—why certain characters live where they do and how characters are affected by their environments. This question challenges students to connect the same inquiry they conducted in their DO NOW activity in application to the characters in Pride and Prejudice. Students need to pay close attention to their understanding


of character (established through a previous lesson in which students indicated their first impressions of characters) in order to construct a meaningful rationale for why certain characters live in certain locations and how the locations in which these characters live impact characters’ identities.

Following the direct instruction, students will be split into eight reading groups. Each of these groups will be responsible for a location in the text. Each group will have to read a few small passages concerning their assigned location and will have to answer a series of five guiding questions that will help students identify ways in which the locations in the text influence character identities. Students will present the answers to their guiding questions in a “house” that is designed to resemble the group’s assigned location. Students will have the majority of class time to work on creating these “houses” and will then share their analysis of their assigned location with the class. Photos will be taken of each of the houses and will be uploaded to Schoology for students to review.

For homework, students will be asked to write a letter from one character in Pride and Prejudice to another. These letters must cross locations (go from one location to another) and might reference events in the text. The letters must be written in a voice reflective of the chosen character. This assignment challenges students to demonstrate their understanding of the impact that geographical and social location has on identity because students need to allude to the features of their character’s geographic and social location in the letter in order to construct a plausible character voice. Students should write with a voice that is the product of a particular geographic and social location in order for the letter to be believable. These letters will be assigned over the weekend and will be evaluated for demonstration of an understanding of the impact that location has on identity, believability, creativity, and mechanics.

Because of snow, this lesson had to be pushed back. Students are now closer to the end of their work with Pride and Prejudice, and they need a major writing assignment to demonstrate their understanding of the text. This letter-writing assignment will be combined with a short analytical essay that asks student to explore the essential question “What makes ‘good’ communication?” Students need to pick two characters from the text (one that demonstrates good communication and one that demonstrates poor communication) and compare and contrast their behavior in order to draw a conclusion in response to their exploration of the essential question. This essay should be 2-3 pages and should demonstrate students’ ability to reference and analyze the text in thoughtful, well-developed writing.

Each essay will be graded out of 15 points and each will be counted as a major paper grade, weighted at 20%. Students will have a week to complete the letter-writing essay. The analytical essay will be completed in class. Students will be given the analytical essay


question ahead of time and will be able to use their text and notes to complete the essay in class. Combined, these assignments assess students’ creative and analytical skills, providing them with the opportunity to exhibit their knowledge of the text and character in two different writing capacities.

Students tend to do well with their writing assignments, especially when given clear parameters of what to include in their writing. While both questions are focused, both also provide room for independent and creative analysis. It is my hope that these assignments will provide students with an opportunity to solidify and demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson Essential Question: What is one’s “true” self?; What makes “good” communication?

Lesson Goals

1. I want students to contemplate the essential questions, “What is one’s ‘true’ self?” and “What makes ‘good’ communication?” as they examine the influence that location has on individual identity and interactions among characters.

2. This lesson aims to help students continue to establish and chart character development throughout the novel. Students will further develop their impressions of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth as they refer to their previously-taken notes about their first impressions of these characters.

3. This lesson incorporates cooperative learning as a way to encourage student responsibility for their learning. Students will be responsible for analyzing specific locations in Pride and Prejudice and then using their close reading and critical thinking skills to construct insights into the relationship between character identity and geographic and social location.

Student Objectives

1. SWBAT identify and analyze traits of characters in Pride and Prejudice IOT further develop their understanding of character growth in Pride and Prejudice.

2. SWBAT understand the significance of country and urban environments in Regency England IOT construct insights into the relationship between geographic location and character identity in Pride and Prejudice.

3. SWBAT understand the significance of lower and upper class expectations and conventions in Regency England IOT construct insights into the relationship between social location and character identity in Pride and Prejudice.


4. SWBAT work cooperatively in groups to analyze Pride and Prejudice and present their analysis to their peers IOT strengthen independent close reading skills and support an environment of accountability and dependent community within the classroom.

State Standards Addressed1

(Reading Literary Texts) C.C.1.3.11-12A: Determine and analyze the relationship between two or more themes or central ideas of a text, including the development and interaction of the themes; provide an objective summary of the text.

(Reading Literary Texts) C.C.1.3.11-12.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on and related to an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs.

(Reading Literary Texts) C.C.1.3.11-12.1F: Evaluate how words and phrases shape meaning and tone in texts.

(Reading Literary Texts) C.C.1.3.9-10.K: Read and comprehend literary fiction on grade level, reading independently and proficiently.

(Speaking and Listening) C.C.1.5.11-12.A: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

(Speaking and Listening) C.C.1.5.11-12.D: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective; organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.

(Speaking and Listening) C.C.1.5.11-12.G: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English when speaking based on Grades 11-12 level and content.

Teacher Developmental Goals

1. Encouraging student-directed learning. I have noticed that many of my students are very dependent upon teacher direction for their learning. I appreciate students’ conscientiousness, but I need students to start taking responsibility for their own learning. The students are all capable of learning the material, but many do not trust themselves or are intimidated by the work required to access the meaning and understanding. I want students to learn how to approach text (both literary and informational) for deep

1 Pennsylvania Core State Standards: http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/PA%20Core%20Standards%20ELA%206-12%20March%202014.pdf

http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/PA%20Core%20Standards%20ELA%206-12%20March%202014.pdf

http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/PA%20Core%20Standards%20ELA%206-12%20March%202014.pdf


understanding, and I want students to feel the importance of cooperatively working together to access this meaning and then share it with each other. By placing value on student teaching, I hope to make students feel like they are contributing meaningfully to their own learning and encourage continued responsibility in student-directed teaching and learning.

2. Continue to diversify lesson format and teaching technique. As I grow more comfortable in my teaching and with my students, I feel myself developing teaching habits, some of which are constructive and some of which are not. My goal for myself (throughout my teaching career) is to continue to explore and experiment with different teaching styles and lesson formats. I have a tendency to slip into direct instruction, and it is at this point that students sometimes check-out. Students tend to wander off-task if they are given too much freedom in their classroom activities. My hope is that this lesson provides students with just the right balance of teacher-directed and student-directed responsibility. By providing clearly-identified questions for each of the groups, students are given enough of a framework to stay on task, but are still given the responsibility of helping their peers understand all of the necessary content. I hope that this balance helps students feel both supported and independent, that they can behave independently in a safe space where they can seek guidance if needed.

III. Evidence

Formal Formative Assessment

Students will receive a formal classwork grade for the “house” notes produced by their group. Students will be evaluated on their attention to the questions, their thoroughness in answering the questions, and their demonstration of critical thought in connecting their analysis of the text to their understanding of character development.

Students will also be asked to write a letter from one house to another (Longbourn to Netherfield, Netherfield to Pemberley, Meryton to Longbourn, etc.) for a homework assignment. Students should write a 1-page letter in the style of somebody living in one location that is sent to somebody living in one of the other locations. Students should reference the setting so as to demonstrate knowledge of the geographical and social location of somebody living in that house. The language in the letter should reflect the personality and reputation of the selected character and may reference actual events in the text. This assessment allows students to demonstrate their understanding of the influence that geographical and social locations have on character identity and development as students are asked to synthesize their understanding of the conventions of specific geographical and social


locations into an accurate representation of a character in Pride and Prejudice. This assessment also allows students to practice their creative writing skills, which are often placed secondary to students’ critical and analytical writing skills.

Students will also be given an analytical essay question that asks them to compare and contrast two characters in Pride and Prejudice (not Darcy or Elizabeth) and analyze their ability to communicate. Students will write a 2-3 page response, integrating reference and analysis of the text to explore the essential question “What makes good communication?” This question challenges students to analyze the text, to think about how and why the characters develop in the text. Students will have to consider the impact that location and setting have on characters’ actions toward each other and will have to consider dialogic exchanges between characters in relation to characters’ physical and social location. The creative writing piece is intended to help students write this analytical piece by challenging students to get inside a character’s head and think about how characters in the text would actually communicate.

The letter-writing assignment will be given as a take-home assignment. The analytical essay question will be given to students ahead of time, but they will be required to complete the essay in-class. Students will be able to use their text and notes to complete the essay in-class. Across the three classes, students struggle with handing assignments in on time. Most students do come to class, so, by giving the essay in class, I hope that most students will complete the assignment on time and that I will not have to hunt down as many students to hand in work.

Informal Formative Assessment

In addition to the formal assessment, students will be monitored to see how they work in their cooperative learning groups. Students will be encouraged to support their groups in meaningful ways based on the dynamic and needs of the groups. Students will also be evaluated on how seriously they take their responsibility to their peers and how clearly and accurately they present their information to their peers.


IV. Learning Plan

Rationale

Contextual Rationale

Students have finished their study of the British Renaissance and are more deeply involved in their Senior Research Projects (either mid-way through research and/or beginning the early parts of their paper drafts). Pride and Prejudice is the primary text in a unit covering texts from the Enlightenment/Regency period. Two of the essential questions surrounding this text are “What is one’s ‘true’ self?” and “What makes ‘good’ communication?” which are explored in this lesson. The activities in this lesson concerning character development are used to help students understand the culture and the attitudes toward class and gender roles in Regency society and how these roles/expectations influenced peoples’ conceptions of their “true” selves. The prevalence of epistolary communication in Pride and Prejudice will also be analyzed to explore how location influences communication and character development.

Influential Teaching and Learning Theory

This lesson is structurally modeled off of models of and theory behind cooperative learning. The learning procedures and activities are theoretically driven by Robert J. Marzano’s evidence on the use of visual aids as an effective tool for deepening understanding and Paulo Freire’s theory of learning through experiential connection to material.

Cooperative Learning: This lesson is constructed to be a cooperative learning experience. Cooperative learning activities support the collaboration of individual student strengths in order to complete a complex task.

Cooperative learning is a constructivist-influenced teaching model. Theorists including Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and John Dewey are notable constructivists who theorize that learning is an active process that requires student engagement with material in order for students to construct their own knowledge.2 Cooperative learning models transfer the teaching process from the teacher to the student. Students become their own teachers as they engage with material and negotiate their own learning through problem solving. Most cooperative learning models also encourage task-differentiation within small groups as students delegate responsibilities to students with aptitude in specific skill areas. The goal of many cooperative learning activities is for students to achieve complex learning through task delegation and then

2 Learningtheories.com: http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html


share this learning with other students. Cooperative learning encourages student accountability and can help create a classroom environment of collaboration and support.3

This lesson is structured around the cooperative learning activity in which students are assigned a particular location in Pride and Prejudice and asked to analyze the geographic and social location of this place for its influence on character identity. Though each group is given a different location and set of passages to read, each group must answer the same five questions in order to construct a product that provides the essential information about the assigned location to the rest of the class. Because the five questions are the same, the skills of analysis and interpretation of character are practiced by all students. Because each group is given a different location, each group is made responsible for presenting the specific information about the assigned location to the class. Students are made accountable for their work by ensuring that their finished product is of a quality that provides the essential information effectively to the rest of the class. Students will be encouraged to delegate tasks in their groups to ensure that the work gets done efficiently and effectively, further encouraging individual accountability and supporting student-directed learning and task management.

Visual Aids (Robert J. Marzano): Robert J. Marzano cites the effectiveness of visual aids and graphic organizers in his guide What Works in Classroom Instruction (2000). Marzano cites the evidence of dual-coding theory, which claims that knowledge takes a linguistic and an imagery (nonlinguistic) form. This theory claims that, through both sources of representation, content is more deeply understood and retained. In his text, Marzano provides evidence from a variety of studies that suggest the effectiveness of nonlinguistic representations of content.4

This lesson provides students with many visual aids (the Power Point, map handout, and images of different locations) that help students gain a deeper understanding of the features of particular geographic and social locations in Regency England and Pride and Prejudice.

Students are also asked to organize the information about their assigned location in a “house” that is decorated to represent the type of location the group is assigned. This visual is intended to help students demonstrate their understanding of the geographic and social location of their assignment in an artistic way. The “house” organizer also encourages students to group information in a way that is attractive and connected to the assigned location. This visual organization of information might help some students gain deeper understanding of the material by the act of verbal/visual association.

3 Cooperative Learning http://www.idea.org/blog/2006/06/01/cooperative-learning/ 4 Marzano, R. J. (2000). What Works in Classroom Instruction. http://www.peecworks.org/peec/peec_research/I01795EFA.3/Marzano%20What_Works.pdf

http://www.peecworks.org/peec/peec_research/I01795EFA.3/Marzano%20What_Works.pdf

http://www.idea.org/blog/2006/06/01/cooperative-learning/


Understanding through Experience (Paulo Freire): Paulo Freire theorizes that formal education is made meaningful by the informal education that occurs via natural human dialogue. Freire theorizes that education and social change are initiated through discussion-based collaboration among people and that different background can be united through discussion that leads to understanding. Freire champions individual experience and individual intelligences, or intelligences not conventionally recognized in formal education (intelligence of a trade, intelligence of emotion, intelligence of understanding and interpersonal skills, etc.). Freire’s call to create a pedagogy of the oppressed, or a recognition of those with unconventional intelligences who are oppressed by the value placed on conventional intelligences, champions unique experiences as equally valuable and meaningful to education and social improvement.5

This lesson draws upon student experiences and desires for an ideal living space and asks students to connect their thoughts about how their own living preferences influence their character to the impact that the geographic and social locations in Pride and Prejudice have on the characters in the text. In this lesson, students are asked to recognize what personal character traits influence their thoughts about where and how they like to live. Students will use this understanding of their own reactions to locations in order to consider how location influences the development of the characters in Pride and Prejudice.

This lesson also relies heavily on student-lead dialogue, which reflects Freire’s theory of the power of dialogue as a tool to yield understanding. As students work cooperatively, through discussion, to construct their analysis of their assigned locations, students negotiate their own learning. The dialogue in this lesson is also intended to support a community environment in which each student feels comfortable expressing his or her opinion and valuable to influencing the constructive environment of the classroom.

Differentiation

General Accommodations

Students seem to be engaged in discussion-based lessons and, while they express some dissatisfaction with the large amount of written assignments I have been giving, I think that students are (or will be) grateful for the amount of grades and feedback they have been receiving. I want to continue this structure of discussion-based lessons and written assignments because it enables me to get a holistic picture of students’ skills. This format also works well for

5 Smith, M. K. (2002). “Paulo Freire: dialogue, praxis, and education.” http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/

http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/

http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/


students who do need accommodation because I can easily tailor the lesson within the discussion.

Contrary to my expectations, my Fourth Period class has been very well-behaved and responsive to my teaching. I feel like I take extra steps to be overly responsive to the students in this class because there are many diverse needs, and I think that students appreciate the conscientiousness that I extend. I hope to maintain this level of support for this class and for my other classes. I now have a deeper understanding of student personalities and needs throughout my classes, and this helps me feel more comfortable responding to students and offering suggestions to them. My developing knowledge of my students helps me devise accommodations more quickly for students, enabling me to teach more actively.

I have been having some trouble with my First Period class. This class is almost a full-day behind my other two sections, and I am concerned that there is a growing hostility in the classroom. I am trying to remediate this by transferring more of the learning to students. I feel like I swoop in on this class because the period is often disrupted by students walking in late, announcements going on, breakfasts being eaten, etc. There are a lot of missing assignments in the class, so I have been extra conscious about giving students reminders (both group reminders and personal reminders) about how and when to submit missing materials. I think that students are feeling overwhelmed and babied, and I want them to feel like they are on top of and in control of their learning. I do not want them to feel like they are behind; I just want them to enjoy the learning. I think that engagement is lacking because of the behavioral issues that have been occurring.

I am trying to integrate more group and cooperative activities so that these students are shown that I want them to be responsible for their learning and that I value their contributions to class. I am hoping that the group activities put some distance between myself and the students, helping to clear the air and restore some balance (on the students’ side) to the classroom. I know that I give off the impression of organization and accountability, and I have continued to model this attitude by being super conscious about uploading materials to Schoology for students who miss class. I want students to feel like I expect much from them, but that I am always willing to help them succeed.

All students produce adequate work, but not all are accountable. I am putting my classroom structures in place to help students develop accountability, but I am concerned about some students not taking my expectations for accountability seriously and having negative grades as a result of not handing in assignments or coming to class. I think I need to wait out a little longer to let students know that I am holding them accountable for their work and that their grades will be affected if they do not complete the necessary assignments. I am


supporting these structures with personal student conferences to indicate that I want students to do well and that I have developed and implemented these structures for student benefit. I want to send the message that I support accountability, but that I also support flexibility through conversation. I want students to feel like I am willing to discuss deadlines and assignments and that I consider such conversations as a part of being accountable.

Specific Accommodations

First Period: There is one transgendered student in First Period. This student is very friendly and willing to participate in class discussions. This student requests that he be referred to by male pronouns, and the students and faculty are respectful of this student’s wishes. I am trying to be respectful of this student, while not seeming like I am being extra, overly conscientious (so as not to come across as demeaning). The only accommodations I need to make for this student are an awareness of my pronoun usage and sensitivity to issues concerning masculinity/femininity, if the topic is brought up in the course of discussion.

There is a student in First Period who chooses to behave as a select mute. This student will not speak, but will communicate via minimal body language. This student is very smart and capable, and should be alright completing the assignments. When there is partner/group-work in the classroom, this student usually chooses to work alone or observe what is going on in the groups. This student listens actively and takes notes on discussion, so this student should still have interest in the class discussion. After consulting with some school personnel about this student, I was encouraged to let this student come to me with any needs that this student has, rather than thinking actively about how to accommodate this student. I have mixed feelings about this approach, but I am going to act on this advice for a while and see what results it yields.

For the cooperative learning, I have created an assignment sheet (attached) that instructs the student to complete the house activity independently. This accommodation should be well-received by the student and will allow the student to more effectively demonstrate understanding of the material.

Fourth Period: There is a student in fourth period that receives emotional support. The student goes to the special education support during tests, and sometimes the student is able to opt out of certain assignments. The student is capable of doing regular class work, but the student might need additional coaching to help him synthesize and connect his thoughts.

This student rarely comes to class, and I have had to hunt the student down to distribute assignments that rarely come back completed. I have to hope that this student comes to class, then I can try to accommodate within the discussion. This student needs to be called


out, to be engaged actively because the student will not engage himself. He gets distracted easily, and he responds well to teacher prompting. It is difficult to support him as much as he needs because I have many other students to accommodate. If I do get him in class, I will try to engage him by standing near him and calling on him. Academically, the student should have no trouble completing the homework assignment. The issue is getting him to sit down and do it. If I give materials to the learning support teacher, he is more apt to complete the assignment because he has two teachers on his back about getting things done. This student tends to gravitate toward the learning support teacher, so I am going to pass copies of the assignments to her in the hopes that she will be able to remind him to do his work as well.

There was another student in Fourth Period who required some learning support. He had struggled with emotional issues throughout his high school career and benefitted from encouragement from teachers. He was capable of doing the work required of him, but he really thrived on a bit of extra attention. He needed encouragement to overcome the stress with which he was confronted. Unfortunately, this student decided to drop out of school. I am disappointed by his decision and I worry for him. As my cooperating teacher has reminded me, this sort of experience happens more frequently than not, and that I need to accept that I have limited influence over the actions of others.


Materials

Working computer with projector hookup

White board markers

Markers, colored pencils

Poster board

Power Point presentation on Austen

Pride and Prejudice (33)

DO NOW prompt on board

Map handouts (35)

Letters from Longbourn Handout (35) and on Schoology

Group assignment passages

Procedures (Including Temple Teaching Standards)

47-minute Regular Schedule

Pre-Class: Create Schoology announcement, pull up materials on computer, pull up DO NOW, pull up list of questions for cooperative learning

DO NOW: (10 MINUTES)

Written response: If you could pick any place in the world to live, where would you choose, and why? (5 minutes)

Field student responses. Ask students if they associate with a particular area, if they think that they feel “at home” or “at peace” in a particular area. (5 minutes)

Transition: Guide students to the importance of location on identity. Ask students what characteristics of their home contribute to their identity (point out features of the city, home composition, try to draw compare/contrast between two students’ examples)

***Temple Standard 3: Real-World Connections, is demonstrated in this DO NOW as students explore the connection between their own lives and the location in which they would prefer to live. Students begin to explore the impact that location has on identity as students match their own character traits with a selected location. ***

***Temple Standard 4: Active Learning, is demonstrated in this DO NOW as students are given the opportunity to ask questions about themselves and to write and respond freely and openly in a collaborative, non-threatening environment.***


Introduction and Input (2 MINUTES)

Provide Context

We have looked closely at the characters in Pride and Prejudice, specifically Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, and we have constructed impressions of these characters based on how the text characterizes them and depicts their interactions with others. We have also looked at the influence that marital customs and entailment had on people in Regency England and how these conventions influenced the “type” of person an individual was able to become. (1 minute)

Anticipatory Set

Today, we are going to look more closely at the impact that geographic and social location have on identity construction. We will consider the differences between upper and lower-classes and the types of places in which these people lived. We are going to consider how social location influences geographic location and how both social and geographic location influence the identities of and interactions between characters in Pride and Prejudice.

We will be working cooperatively in groups to identify and analyze specific locations in Pride and Prejudice and then we will create representations of these places and the types of people that lived in these places. You and your group members will be responsible for identifying significant features (following guided questions) about your specified location. You will then present your information in a “house” diagram (which you may decorate to reflect the location you are assigned) to the class and help contribute to the class development of characters in Pride and Prejudice. You will be responsible for teaching your classmates the significance of locations in Pride and Prejudice and helping your classmates further develop their understandings of characters in Pride and Prejudice.

The purpose of this lesson is to give you a refined understanding of the historical significance of social and geographic location in Regency England and will help you refine your understanding of character in Pride and Prejudice. (1 minute)

***Temple Standard 2: Coherence and Continuity, is demonstrated in this contextual explanation as the teacher provides students with an explanation of the lesson’s purpose in further constructing character in Pride and Prejudice.***

***Temple Standard 3: Real-World Connections, is demonstrated in this contextual explanation as the teacher tells students that their work will be valuable to the rest of the class,


that students will be responsible for ensuring that their peers received accurate, detailed information about the various locations in the text. ***

Direct Instruction: Providing Historical Context (18 MINUTES)Distribute map handouts to students.

Pull up Austen presentation (go to map section). Gather background knowledge about what students know of UK—ask what countries make it up, how the countries are divided, the differences between country and city life. (2 minutes)

Ask students the differences between suburban/city life—what are some stereotypes of people who live in each place? What does it mean to be a city person vs. a suburbanite? Connect back to DO NOW question about living any place in the world and why people choose to live in particular places (2 minutes)

Refresh students with images of houses from Regency period (specifically Pemberley and Longbourn)—reinforce the class differences and the importance of marrying within or up in one’s social class (1 minute)

Ask students how characters’ identities reflect the locations in which they live (The Benents, the Bingleys, the Lucases, the Darcys). Ask student to think outside of the text, to make implications about what characters’ lives would be like based on what you know about their social class/physical location. Field student responses. (5 minutes)

***Temple Standard #1: Deep Content Understanding, is demonstrated in this direct instruction as the teacher refreshes students about the context of Regency-era social and marital customs. Understanding is reinforced by visual aids (the Power Point and the images) and question and answer dialogue between teacher and students that help the direct instruction be more engaging and meaningful. ***

***Temple Standard #3: Real-World Connections, is demonstrated in this direct instruction as students are asked to think about the characteristics of people they know and how the places in which these people live shape the identities of these individuals. Students are asked to consider how the style and social conventions of Regency-era homes differ from those of today.***

***Temple Standard #4: Active Learning, is demonstrated in this direct instruction as students are engaged in discussion-based learning that helps students reason their way to understanding. The visual aids, combined with the teacher instruction and student-teacher dialogue provide multiple reiterations of the material that help students select the iteration of the material that works best for them. ***


***Temple Standard #5: Critical and Creative Thinking, is demonstrated in this direct instruction as students are directed to think critically about how geographic and social location influenced people during the Regency. Students are asked to consider how apparently “everyday” features (rooms in homes, everyday activities, etc.) were shaped by geographic location and social conventions and how these geographic and social limitations influenced the types of behaviors and identities Regency-era people could have adopted. ***

Independent Practice: Location Analysis (25 MINUTES)Each group will be assigned a location in the text. Students will be given a short passage and/or article to read that describes the assigned location. Students will then be asked to note answers to the following guiding questions:

1. Where are we? Locate the space on the map (as accurately as possible).2. Is this a country place or a city place?3. What characters reside in/frequent this place?4. How do these characters act in this place?5. Why do the people act this way? Do these characters act as they do because of social

conventions? Because of the people they are with?

Each group will be responsible for making notes on these 5 questions. The groups will put the answers to these questions in a “house”—a cardboard cutout that resembles the location and the people who live there. Students should be encouraged to be creative in arranging the information in the house so that it is memorable for other students. (20 MINUTES)

The groups will share their responses to inform the rest of the class. Photos will be taken of the houses and uploaded to Schoology to share with other peers. (5 MINUTES)

***Temple Standard 1: Deep Content Understanding, is demonstrated in this independent practice as students analyze different passages from the text for meaning specific to the lesson focus on the influence of location on identity. Understanding is also deepened as students work together to negotiate text and then share their materials with other peers. ***

***Temple Standard #4: Active Learning, is demonstrated in this independent practice as students are engaged in cooperative, discussion-based learning that helps students reason their way to understanding. The houses provide students with a visual representation of students’ findings and discussion that aids reinforcement and understanding of material.***

***Temple Standard 2: Coherence and Continuity, is demonstrated in this independent practice as students build upon their understanding of character in Pride and Prejudice and


continue to explore their previously-constructed impressions of characters in the novel as they return to their notes made in a previous lesson about character impressions. ***

***Temple Standard 5: Critical and Creative Thinking, is demonstrated in this independent practice as students are challenged to read the text closely to construct detailed notes about how characters connect to and are influenced by their geographic and social locations. Students are challenged to connect descriptions in the text to their historical knowledge about conventions in Regency England and then consider how the text commentates on these conventions through character development. ***

Closure and Assessment (2 MINUTES)

Transition: We have examined locations in Pride and Prejudice today to understand how geographic and social location influence identity. We have added to our characterizations of our Pride and Prejudice characters and have clarified our ambiguities about where we are in nineteenth-century Regency England.

As you reflect on the exploration we have taken today, consider how these characters are enabled or limited by their geographic and social locations. Think about the physical distances people had to walk to communicate with each other. What influence do you think physical distance would have had on communication and relationships?

To correspond with this lesson, you will complete two essays. Each will count as a major paper grade, weighted at 20%. The first essay is a creative assignment that you will complete at home. I would like you to write a one-page letter from one house to another—from Longbourn to Netherfield, Netherfield to Pemberley, etc. You should choose to personify one of the characters from the text and compose a letter written in that person’s style (Elizabeth would write smartly, Mr. Collins’s would be a brown-noser, Mr. Darcy would be reserved, Mr. Bingley would be genuine and friendly, etc.). You can write about anything you want (you may or may not reference events in the text), but you must write with accuracy, taking note of your location (both geographic and social). So, for example, Elizabeth would not be talking about the extravagant balls she would be attending and rich dresses she would be having made—Caroline Bingley might write about something like this, but Elizabeth will probably write more about her visit to her aunt and uncle’s house, her walk out of doors, her conversation with her father, etc. You need to get inside these characters’ heads and really place yourself in their geographic and social locations to understand more deeply why they behave the way that they do.

The second essay is an analytical piece. You will explore the question “What makes ‘good’ communication?” You will pick two characters from the text (not Elizabeth and Darcy),


one who is a good communicator and one who is a bad communicator, and you will compare and contrast their behavior. You will analyze their behaviors and draw a conclusion about these characters’ behaviors in order to answer the question, “What makes ‘good’ communication?” This essay will be completed in class on MONDAY, MARCH 30. You will be able to use your text and notes, but should plan how you will respond (maybe make an outline or a guided list of points you want to make) ahead of time.

Each paper will be worth 15 points and will count as a major paper grade. Your letters may be handed in as a hard copy or on Schoology on TUESDAY, MARCH 31.

***Temple Standard 1: Deep Content Understanding, is demonstrated through these assignments as students integrate their understanding of the influence that geographic and social location have on identity development as they write letters from a character voice that accurately references features of these locations and indicates a knowledge of the impact that these features have on identity and interactions with others. Students also demonstrate their understanding of the text as they analyze characters’ behaviors and explore in their analytical essays how characters communicate as a result of their geographical and social location. ***

***Temple Standard 4: Active Learning, is demonstrated as students are given two pathways to learning through two types of essays that supports their pursuit of understanding. ***

***Temple Standard 5: Critical and Creative Thinking, is demonstrated through these assignments as students creatively integrate their understanding of the novel and their understanding of geographic and social locations into a letter that connects students’ original ideas and writing style to the personalities of the characters in the text. Students need to have a deep understanding of the character they choose to write as in order to write a letter than is plausible, that fits within the understanding of the text and the Regency time period. In their analytical essays, students need to analyze the text and draw conclusions about how and why characters communicate the way that they do. ***


Lesson #3: Location Analysis—Reflection

**This reflection is in response to the lesson I taught Fourth Period**

1. How is the data you collected influential to your future planning/teaching practice development?

Students did an excellent job transcribing information into their houses. Students integrated the information creatively into their houses and made the connection between location and identity as they considered why characters behave the way that they do in their homes. I think that the creative project was a good break for students who have been heavily immersed in reading and writing in class. This activity allowed students to reflect on their understanding of character and location without the pressures associated with the daily Reading Check quizzes we have been doing. Groupwork also works well for my students because it enables them to learn from each other and earn valuable points for their grades. Groupwork also enables me to work with students more independently as I am able to frequent each group and assist personally and quickly.

I would consider expanding the house assignment to include a character profile. Students would have to highlight one character that lives in the location and say how that character is influenced by the location in which he or she lives and how that character interacts with others as a result of this geographic/social location. I think that this activity would have worked well if the lesson was given later in the unit (as it was because of the snow). Students in Fourth Period had a much better handle on character and location because we were nearly finished the book by the time they got the lesson. If given at this later point in the unit, students have a rich understanding of character that would help them construct accurate and thoughtful profiles of characters living in each location.

Students’ responses to the analytical writing assignment were not as sophisticated as I would have hoped. Every student demonstrated analysis, which is an improvement from students’ previous attempts at analytical writing, but not every student wrote with the same attention to detail as I would have liked to have seen. Even the students who wrote their essays ahead of time did not demonstrate exceptional analysis. What I did see was a lot of block quotes. I think that students panicked and felt that “Oh, if I put in a quote, she’ll mark it right because I referenced the text.” Again, this is a step in the right direction, as, in previous attempts at analytical writing, many students made no gesture toward the text, but an integration of text is not the same thing as an analysis of text. I found myself writing a lot of “Ok, but you need to contextualize and analyze this quote. And paraphrase where necessary! You need to show me what your take on these words are.”


Unfortunately, my time left with my classes is very limited. Students will have one more analytical writing assignment in response to the film that we watch to correlate with Pride and Prejudice, and I will provide a mini-lesson on analysis prior to implementing this assignment, but I would have liked to have had more time with my students to really get them writing with the level of sophistication I would like to see from Seniors.

Interestingly, my Juniors, who are reading Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, demonstrated on their test the type of analysis I would like to have seen from my Seniors. My Juniors are more on points in general (homework completion and attendance is much higher and more consistent in my Junior class), so this might contribute to the Juniors’ improved skills, but I wonder if the Juniors are a product of different teaching styles. I find the Seniors learning from my teaching, but they are learning slowly. This might be an effect of Senioritis, but it also might be the product of a different history of teaching goals and styles.

Students’ responses to the creative writing assignment were exactly what I had anticipated. The responses were creative and engaging. Some students wrote as “Austen-esque” as possible while others decided to update their character’s speech. I accepted both interpretations, as I think each choice demonstrates a different skill. Students who modeled Jane Austen’s language demonstrated their understanding of the language through mimicry. By writing coherently in Regency-era speech, they demonstrated their understanding of the difficult language in the text. Students who updated their character’s language demonstrated understanding of the complex speech by breaking down the tough language into more relatable speech. In order to write the relatable, contemporary speech, students needed to do some decoding to figure out what characters were saying in the archaic speech.

Most students received full credit for the creative writing assignment, which was my plan, to help balance students’ grades. I wanted to provide two pathways to performance, so that students who may have struggled with the analytical writing could show their knowledge of the language through the creative writing assignment. The intent was not to “sugar-coat” students grades, or to suggest that one assignment was less meaningful than the other, but to give students a greater pool of points so that the numeric grade they received would not be to discouraging, especially for those students who really struggled. Low grades can be discouraging, and I believe that a student will be more inclined to work harder and revise mistakes if the student feels like he or she can bounce back from a failure. A failing grade is discouraging grade that says that bounce-back is near impossible. A working grade, even a low one, sends the message that students can work harder next time and succeed. Also, providing two different types of assignments helps diversify the types of tasks students are required to complete which, I believe, helps many students accomplish what they need to do. I have found that small, diverse assignments help students accomplish more because they jump from task to task, keeping the learning engaging for students. Some students initially had trouble juggling


different types of assignments, but these students are learning the importance of being able to shift among different types of tasks. I plan to continue teaching this way, by frequently implementing diverse, small assignments to provide students with multiple pathways to learning and to help students hone the important life skill of task compartmentalization.

2. How did the lesson go? Were the assessments effective? How would you change the lesson if you taught it again?

Because of school cancellation due to weather, I taught this lesson to my First and Sixth Periods almost three weeks before teaching it to Fourth Period. For my Fourth Period instruction, I needed to revise the way in which I introduced the lesson.

I also needed to revise the assignment accompanying this lesson. Because students need a major writing assignment to wrap-up their work with Pride and Prejudice, I expanded the assignment into the two essays. I wanted to provide students with a creative assignment and an analytical assignment, so the timing actually worked out nicely as I was able to take the assignment from this lesson and elaborate it. Although I taught the lesson to First and Sixth Periods earlier in the unit, neither of these classes got to finish their houses and I did not get a chance to give them their writing assignment. These classes finished up their houses on the same day that I taught the lesson to Fourth Period, so everybody ended up back on track and all three classes were able to get the final writing assignments at the same time. Although the weather caused some stress in terms of planning, everything ended up working out quite beneficially.

The weather also benefitted the learning experience that Fourth Period received. Because Fourth Period received this lesson later in the unit, they had read much more of the text than the other classes had when they received the lesson. Students in Fourth Period had a deeper understanding of character and had been introduced to all of the locations in the text, unlike First and Sixth Period who had not met all of the characters or visited all of the places analyzed. I noticed that Fourth Period was much more capable of negotiating the assignment without my assistance and produced richer, more enthusiastic responses than students in the other two periods. I think that this is a result both of students’ deeper content knowledge and of my relationship with this class.

Students in Fourth Period also benefitted from the small analytical writing assignments we had been doing in class for the past two weeks. When I taught the lesson to First and Sixth Periods, we had not begun doing our small, short analytical response on our daily Reading Check quizzes. Students in Fourth Period had been practicing analytical skills for a while, so they were able to approach the analysis of their locations with a deeper understanding of how to


analyze. Students’ written assignments have not been submitted yet, but will be evaluated in light of students’ work with analytical writing over the past few weeks.

I would not change anything in terms of instruction, but I think that I would extend the house assignment to include a character profile. I was also prompted by my university coach to consider how I might modify this lesson for students who really had difficulty with the language in the text. I would probably split the lesson into two days, spending one day on really decoding the Location Analysis passages in relation to the film clips and Power Point resources I have compiled detailing character and location. I would have students make notes on all the important information before constructing their houses on the second day of instruction. I would make sure to really check-in with each group and focus on using close reading skills to match information from the resources with information in the text.

I think that the analytical writing assessment was effective in letting me see how much students have learned from my teaching. Students’ writing has improved since I began teaching them, but, again, not at the rate at which I had anticipated. I think that students were overwhelmed with work for the Senior Projects, and this might have contributed to students’ diverted attention and slow progress in learning. If I had more time with my classes, I would have students rewrite their test essays—do a second draft integrating my feedback so that they learned how to integrate feedback and understand what I was looking for in their papers. I might have students do this, if I have time. Students have been asking for another extra credit assignment, and this might be a way to integrate one. I will make this decision after I issue and grade students’ final analytical writing in response to the film we will watch to correspond with Pride and Prejudice. I don’t think this idea is going to happen, as I will be quite overwhelmed with the grading for students’ Senior Projects, but I might suggest the idea to my cooperating teacher as a potential extra credit assignment.

I think that the creative writing assignment was effective in helping the students personalize the text for themselves. I want students to recognize the relevance of this older text to their own lives. I think that, by embodying a character’s voice, students got an opportunity to translate and “old” character into a “modern” character. Many students wrote in contemporary language, explaining the problems and drama in the text in contemporary terms. This shows me that students are making those connections and internalizing the meanings within these characters and their situations, which is exactly what I wanted to see.

Location Analysis Groups and Passages

Group 1: Longbourn, the Bennet Family Volume 1, Chapter 2 p. 7-9 Chapter 13 p. 53-54 up to “‘…as you will hear.’”

Group 2: Lucas Lodge, the Lucases Volume 1, Chapter 5 p. 17-19 (Chapter 5 Bantam)

Group 3: Netherfield, the Bingleys Volume 1, Chapter 4 p. 15-16 from “Mr. Bingley inherited property to the amount…” to the end of

Chapter 4 Volume 1, Chapter 6 p. 21 from “Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s attentions…” to the end of

Chapter 6

Group 4: Meryton, the militia (Mr. Wickham, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. and Mrs. Philips) Volume 1, Chapter 15 p. 62-65 up to the end of Chapter 15 (Chapter 15 Bantam)

Group 5: Hunsford, Mr. Collins Volume II, Chapter 5 p. 133-136 up to “A lively imagination soon settled on all.” (Chapter 28 Bantam)

Group 6: Rosings, Lady Catherine Volume II, Chapter 6 p. 137-140 up to “…and the gentlemen did nothing but eat and admire” (Chapter

29 Bantam)

Group 7: Pemberley, Mr. Darcy and Georgiana Volume III, Chapter 1 p. 204-205 up to “…than the furniture of Rosings.” (Chapter 43 Bantam)

Group 8: London, Mr. Hurst and Louisa (the Bingleys in the winter time) Volume II, Chapter 1 p. 115-117 up to “‘…like regard and esteem for our cousin.’” (Bantam Chapter 24) Volume II, Chapter 2 p. 120-123 from “On the following Monday…” to “...of encouraging such an

attachment.” (Bantam Chapter 25) “Maneuvering London” abbreviated article

Maneuvering London's Streets in the Regency Era, Geri Walton, 2.16.15

London streets in the Regency Era were a nightmare to maneuver and at points nearly impossible to traverse. Part of the issue had to do with a population of more than a million people. Even if pedestrians attempted to escape congested foot passageways by traveling in a coach or a carriage, inevitably they found that solution no faster. Streets were narrow and often filled with thousands of wagons, carriages, and coaches, all of who were also attempting to hustle to reach their destination.

Added to the hustling and bustling traffic was a myriad of other factors. For instance, there were the elderly, who, of course, with their canes and aging gaits slowed everyone down as they shuffled along. There were rotund people who allowed no room for the hurried pedestrians to pass. There was also the inevitable street sellers whose carts and stools blocked sidewalks and sometimes roadways.

On narrow pathways and streets busy with traffic, it was inevitably that pedestrians would be trapped by admirers examining the latest prints displayed in a print shop's window.

Print shops were not the sole problem busy pedestrians faced. Slippery sidewalks caused by rain or snow were another common impedance to traffic and affected pedestrians and vehicles alike.

As pedestrians teeter and tottered on slippery passageways, they also found they had to deal with other elements of nature. Dense fog was one, and when it dropped, it cast a "funeral pall" that created mass confusion. This confusion was described by one witness, who asserted, "Pedestrian bore violently down upon pedestrian, and equestrian came in still more forcible contact with equestrian. Carts overturned cart—coach ran against coach—shafts were broken—wheels torn off—...passengers shouted and screamed."

Perhaps, a worse hindrance, however, was the daily traffic backups. For instance, on some well-traveled but narrow streets, when wagons stopped to deliver or pickup goods at businesses or shops, they not only impeded foot traffic but also created a major nuisance in the vicinity by blocking and backing up street traffic. At other times, pedestrians found themselves victims of columns of unmoving vehicles. In fact, traffic sometimes because so heavy, the columns of wagons, coaches, and carriages had "the pole of one...close to the hind wheels of another."

When not attempting to cross a street, pedestrians had to also be busy guarding against pickpockets. Pickpockets were adept and often indistinguishable from the sharp-dressed aristocrat. One writer pointed out that the pickpockets, "goodtoggery...[was] considered a necessary qualification for his calling, without which the Diver could not possibly mix in genteel company, nor approach such in the streets." Moreover, women pickpockets were as expert as the men pickpockets, and they also robbed "indiscriminately."

Blog post adopted from: http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.com/2015/02/maneuvering-londons-streets-in-regency.html

http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.com/2015/02/maneuvering-londons-streets-in-regency.html

Shirley-

I apologize for not giving you this on Wednesday when we started our Location Analysis activity. I would like you to read the following passage and construct your own “house” analyzing the location you are assigned. Make sure to provide the answers to the following questions in relation to your assigned location. Feel free to decorate your house in a way that suits the location.

Thanks. If you do not finish this today, you may finish during our next class period.

Ms. Gries

Location Analysis

Netherfield, the Bingleys Volume 1, Chapter 4 p. 15-16 from “Mr. Bingley inherited property to the

amount…” to the end of Chapter 4 Volume 1, Chapter 6 p. 21 from “Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s

attentions…” to the end of Chapter 6

Guiding Questions for House Notes:1. Where are we? Locate the space on the map (as accurately as possible).2. Is this a country place or a city place?3. What characters reside in/frequent this place?4. How do these characters act in this place?5. Why do the people act this way? Do these characters act as they do because

of social conventions? Because of the people they are with?

Final Writing Assignment: Location and Communication,Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

PART I: ANALYTICAL WRITING

One of our essential questions for our work with Pride and Prejudice is “What makes good communication?” We have explored this question as we have watched relationships develop among characters. Some characters are very good communicators (like Elizabeth), and some characters struggle with communication (like Mr. Darcy).

Explore this essential question, “What makes good communication?” in relation to Pride and Prejudice. Pick two characters (NOT Elizabeth and Darcy), one who communicates well, and one who does not communicate well. Compare and contrast them, using your analysis of their behavior to draw a conclusion about our essential question, “What makes good communication?”

You should develop your answer in a thoughtful response of 2-3 pages. This assignment is worth 15 points.

***You will complete this essay in-class on MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015.

You will be able to use your text and notes.***

PART II: CREATIVE WRITING

Choose a character in Pride and Prejudice and compose a letter from your selected character to another character in the text. Your example should cross houses (For example, Elizabeth could send a letter to Caroline Bingely, but Caroline Bingley could not send a letter to her brother, Charles Bingley).

Your letter should reflect the geographic and social location of your selected character (For example, Elizabeth would not be talking about extravagant balls and fancy dresses—they are outside of her sphere of social location. Similarly, Elizabeth would not talk about the shops in London because she lives in Hertfordshire. She might visit London, but she would need to specify that in her letter.). Pay careful attention to your writing persona and the details you mention in your letter.

Your letter should be 1 FULL page long. This assignment is worth 15 points.

***Your letters are due on TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015, on Schoology or in hard copy.***

Each essay will count as a Paper Grade (weighted at 20%).

Analytical Writing Rubric

***COMPLETED IN-CLASS MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015***

Response is 2-3 pages long /1

Response compares two characters other than Elizabeth and Darcy /2

Response demonstrates analysis of character behavior /3

Response draws conclusion in response to essential question, “What makes good communication?”

/1

Response references the text (using direct quotes or paraphrased examples) /3

Response organizes examples purposefully and develops examples thoroughly /2

Spelling, Grammar, Mechanics /3

TOTAL /15

Creative Writing Rubric

***DUE TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015***

Letter is 1-page long /1

Writing persona reflects geographic and social location of character /5

Letter crosses houses /1

Creativity in connecting characters and events /5

Spelling, Grammar, and Mechanics /3

TOTAL /15

FEEDBACK:

GROUP NAMES: __________________________________________________DATE:_______________ /12 POINTS

Location Analysis: Cooperative Learning Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Criteria

All 5 questions are addressed /5

Evidence of detailed text analysis (direct quotes, thoughtful paraphrasing) /2

Information neatly presented in “house” /1

Presentation to class is thoughtful and useful /2

(demonstration of content understanding, respect for group members and classmates)

TOTAL /10

Feedback:

DO NOW: MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

Written response: If you could pick any place in the world to live, where would you choose, and why?

English IV Thursday, 03.23.15 Lesson with Reflection

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Transcript of English IV Thursday, 03.23.15 Lesson with Reflection