All Summer in a Day - Short Story Unit

2nd Day

Introduction: Create your own version of planet Venus. What does it look like? What is the weather? Can people live there?

Review: Discuss first half of the story, characters' feelings, conflicts, etc.

Reading: Finish reading the story together.

Ending: Discuss immediate reaction to ending of story. — What questions do you have about the ending?

Theme: A theme is the central idea or the message found in a story. Themes are usually expressed as generalizations about life. Authors want readers to think about what they have read and personalize it to their own experiences. Universal themes are when these generalizations cover different cultures, places, or periods in time.

Q: What is the central idea or theme of “All Summer in a Day”?

Discussion Questions:

• Who was responsible for bullying? 
• Who could have supported Margot and stopped the bullying? 
• What could have been done? 
• How often do you think about whether something is right or wrong before you decide to do it? Do you think you usually know right from wrong? How? What are your guidelines? 
• Real or imagined experience --act of caring / purposeful act of unkindness. How did you feel about yourself after each incident? 
• Have you ever regretted doing something wrong? What have you learned from it?

Role-play: take turns being Margot as the closet door was opened. Discuss how different people have different reactions.

Independent: Based on what we know from the characters from the text,

· How do you think Margot will treat the children after she missed the sun?

· What do you think the children are thinking once they realize that Margot missed the sun?

Write short (reasonable) ending to the story to what happens after.

Closure:

What is a theme? How did we find a theme in our story?

Extension Activity:

Students can examine or create scenarios that involve bullying and develop intervention strategies. Use to teach others how to prevent bullying.

The Truman Show: Film as Lit

*This lesson plan is still in the works.*

Anticipation Guide:

• How do we know what is real?
• Are we responsible for our own life and the lives around us?
• What is the role of society?
• How do we determine truth?
• Does society have the right to decide a person's destiny?
• Why are we so fascinated with "reality TV"?
• Is it better to have security or freedom?
• How do you know what you know is true?
• Should people have the option to make wrong choices?

Symbolism in The Truman Show (source)

Adam and Jesus | Truman:  Truman is the "True Man" in Paradise. Entire story can be seen as a parallel to the Garden of Eden story. He can also symbolize Jesus, as he is "crucified" on the boat through which he redeems himself. He is knocked out of the boat in the shape of a cross.

Garden of Eden/Paradise: Truman leaves the illusory "paradise" at end of movie.
Alternate Reality | the "door": The door represents another reality toward end of movie.

Baptism or death to the old life and re-birth to a new one: Since he must go through the water to reach "real" life. Note that the water is always there, calling to him in the film, but his fear holds him back. In his final surrender to the water, he finds life.

Difficulty Recognizing Evil: At the conclusion of the movie, Christof (Truman Show creator) tries to convince Truman to stay in the imaginary world Christof has created. The setting (a voice from the sky) and the words being said sound a lot like God at first. Upon further reflection, however, it's clear that the show's creator is trying to coax Truman to remain in slavery and is only interested in himself, not in Truman.

Evil/Social manipulation: Christof exerting God-like control. (Christ "off" – absence of Christ)
Slave to Sin | New life in Christ: Truman lives his life believing he is free. However, what he thinks he knows to be freedom is actually slavery. When Truman becomes aware that his "paradise" is really entrapment, he begins searching for a way to escape. Ultimately, he has to leave behind his old life in order to find a new life full of truth, freedom, and reality.

John 8:32 | "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Love: The love Truman feels isn't in the scripted life Christof writes for him, compels Truman to leave his "paradise."

Resurrection | Overcoming inner fears to get to know the truth: The friend went to the basement to find Truman (The empty tomb). He was not there! He was on a boat on the water. Notice the drowning scene when he is lying on the boat with arms spread out and left for dead. However, he survives the storm. Notice his gasp for air, his new life, resurrection? When he reaches the end of the set and notices the sky is only a painted canvas, Truman ascends the stairs. He then goes forth into the unknown darkness of the world to live in the world!




http://education-for-solidarity.blogspot.com/2012/01/lesson-plan-based-on-truman-show.html

http://xolotl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/truman_show.pdf

http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/TrumanShow.pdf


Short Answer Assignments

1.  Twice in the film, once during the opening credits and once on the morning of his escape from Seahaven, Truman addresses both himself and, by extension, the audience, talking to the bathroom mirror.  In a well-organized paragraph or two, discuss the importance of these two scenes to the overall themes of the movie.  Obviously, these scenes are meant to “mirror” each other; is there a progression in Truman’s character evident?  How does Weir construct the mise-en-scene in these scenes?  To achieve what purpose?  What does Truman talk about, and do, in these scenes that reveals his character?

2.  One key sequence in defining Truman’s character occurs early in the film (chapter 7) when he retreats to the basement to find solace in his chest of memories.  In a well-organized series of paragraphs, discuss the symbolic importance of the chest and its contents.  Why does Truman keep this chest and its contents in the basement, locked away?  What do the contents of the chest reveal about Truman’s character?  What is, in your opinion, the most important item in the chest for Truman?  Watch the scene carefully, several times--careful scrutiny reveals much….

3.  In the flashback sequence (Chapter 7), Christof approximates Truman’s musings (despite Truman’s later declaration that “You never had a camera in my head!”) as he reflects on his meetings with Lauren/Sylvia as a teen.  During the sequence at the dance, the characters dance to Marc Bolan’s “Twentieth Century Boy,” which contains the lyric “I’m your boy, twentieth century toy…I’m your toy, twentieth century boy.”  In a short paragraph, consider the implications of this lyric to the film, both in the context of this scene, and as a whole.

4.  In a series of well-organized paragraphs, discuss Weir’s use of water imagery throughout the film; in class we’ve discussed water as a symbol before—does that symbolic reading apply here?  Throughout the whole film?  How might Weir’s use of water symbolism be considered paradoxical?

5.  In a series of well-organized paragraphs, discuss Weir’s use of bridges throughout the film.  What do bridges archetypically represent?  Consider the various bridges in the film; there are many different kinds….

6.  Media, in all forms, permeates the movie:  magazines, television shows within television shows, advertisement, product placements, etc.  Construct a well-structured thesis statement that responds to the following question:  ultimately, what does Weir suggest about the media in his film The Truman Show?

Macbeth - Unit Plan

*This lesson plan is still in the works.*

Resources

Thematic Unit: Fate vs. Free Will — Introctuction PPT
Thematic Unit: Fate vs. Free Will — Lesson Plan Overview
Macbeth Study Guides
Film used: Patrick Stewart version (PBS)

Essential Questions 

1. What role, if any, does fate have in our lives?
2. Are good people capable of doing terrible things?
3. How far would you go to have power?

Historical Background

• End of 16th and beginning of 17th century - Witchcraft was a hot topic.
• 1597 - James I hunted down witches and wrote a book about it (Daemonolgie).
• 1605 - Gunpowder Plot (think: Guy Fawks and V for Vendetta)

Shakespeare writes Macbeth during this time (not a coincident). The themes, ideas, and situations that occur in Macbeth were consciously and deliberately included by Shakespeare to create a play that was relevant and current.

Themes Encountered in Macbeth

Fate vs. free will

Destiny

Good vs. evil (and how is it determined?)

Things are not what they seem

Power corrupts

Blind ambition

Superstition affects human behavior
Mental illness

Pairing Texts

"Rules of the Game" (Amy Tans) - 

"Psychology of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things" (NPR)

"Ambition Doth Curse All Makes of Men" (NYTimes)
"The Heart's Ambition"

"Ambition: Why Some People Are Most Likely To Succeed" (Time)
"Historians and Scholars Produce New Picture of Witches and WitchHunts, but Questions Remain"

The Witch of Blackbird Pond - how superstition affects human behavior.

Blind Ambitions: The White House Years (John Dean) - ambition

All the King's Men (Robert Penn Warren) - ambition

Lord of the Flies - power, ambition, human nature
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (modern YA novel)

Also look at:

Power couples in history

Health consequences of extreme guilt

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

• What is Lincoln suggesting about the relationship between character and power?
• What is he suggesting about the importance of "adversity?"

Journals

Students will keep journals throughout the unit. Several times a week, students will be given a writing prompt that relates to the themes being encountered in the unit. Students will be expected to answer in complete sentences with enough content to deeply and fully answer the question. (Answers should show thought as well as connections to what has been discussed in class.)

Discussion Questions by Act

ACT 5

3-4

• In what ways has Lady Macbeth turned into a dynamic character? 
• How does Macbeth’s order; “Let every soldier hew him down a bough/ And bear’t before him. Thereby shall we shadow/ The numbers of our host, and make discovery/ Err in report of us,” recall the prophecy made to Macbeth? 
• Why doesn’t Macbeth meet his enemies in battle, rather than let them lay siege to his castle? 

5-6

• In what ways does Act 5, Scenes 5 and 6 foreshadow the ending of the play? 
• “Things bad begun make strong themselves ill” --> How is this theme true in Macbeth’s life? 
• Macbeth’s response to hearing a scream from within the castle is best explained in lines 10- 16. Interpret these lines. 
• Why are the women screaming? 
• Explain Macbeth’s reactions when he hears Birnam Wood is moving toward Dunsinane. 
• How does Macbeth react to his wife’s death? Why is this significant? 

7-8

• How can we analyze the resolution in the play to draw conclusions about Shakespeare’s purpose in Macbeth? 
• Think of a fictional or real life character whose life parallels Macbeth’s in some way 
• Why is it so easy for Malcolm and Slward to enter Macbeth’s castle? Why is Macbeth somewhat relieved after he kills young Slward? 
• When Macbeth and Macduff finally meet on the battlefield, Macbeth says to Macduff; “But get thee back! My soul is too much changed? With blood of thine already.” To what is Macbeth referring? 
• How does Macduff crush Macbeth’s final hope of winning the battle? 
• Explain Macbeth’s lines and what they say about his character. “Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane./ And though opposed, being of no woman born, yet I will try the last./ Before my body/ I throw warlike shield./ Lay on Macduff, And damned be him that first cries, Hold, enough!” 

Sound and Symbols in Soliloquy *

Literary Terms Covered: Soliloquy, Symbolism, Staging/Acting Section of Play: (5.5.20-31)
Speaker: Macbeth

Writing Prompt: One of the most well known soliloquies in all of Shakespeare’s plays is the one delivered by Macbeth in Act 5 after learning of Lady Macbeth’s death (5.5.20-31).
Who is Macbeth talking to (himself, the audience, Seyton)? What is Macbeth saying in this speech? What is Macbeth’s state of mind at this point in the play? What is the symbolism of the candle?

Activity: How would you suggest an actor deliver these lines (tone of voice, physical movement, etc.)? Break the class up into groups. Each group will choose an “actor.” The rest of the students will direct the actor. Each group will be given an expression (angry, sad, defeated) that their actor will convey as they perform this part for the class.
Which way was most effective?

Writing Prompt: (Folger Post-Performance 6) What implications does the play have for today’s world where tyrants and dictators cause chaos in their countries? Think of ways a director could “politicize” a production (use of crowd scenes, uniforms, national flags, etc.).

http://www.achieve.org/files/EnglishIIIUnit3SampleModuleMacbeth_1.pdf

http://mnliteracy.org/sites/default/files/macbeth_curriculum.pdf

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/soliloquies/diedhereafteranalysis.html

http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/BBCiLessonPlans.html

  

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/shakespeare_unlocked/macbeth.pdf

http://www.lct.org/media/filer_public/b1/9c/b19cb77d-63c1-4a35-a8cb-8ca7c9ba358d/shakespearesmacbethstudyguide.pdf

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/teaching-shakespeare-with-the-new-york-times/