Lesson Plan #6: Context for The Great Gatsby

UTL 640E
Andrea Khawaja/Anderson HS
Date:
October 20, 2015
Class Period / Time: 8th period (Bday) 2:55-4:25

Chrissy Hinkle
English I PreAP/ 9th Grade
Teach(es) #7

Enduring Understanding(s) & Essential Question(s):

EUs:
Learningmoreaboutanauthorslifeandtimeperiodenablesreaderstobetterunderstandthe
culture,characters,andallusionsinapieceoffiction.(i.e. The Roaring 20s, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, and The Great Gatsby)
Understanding the culture, characters and allusions in a novel enables readers to ask deeper,
thematic or philosophical questions about the piece and society, since they arent preoccupied
with anachronisms.
EQs:
(F) What was the political and economic climate in the 1920s?
o What policies may have been in place that contributed to the atmosphere of the
Roaring twenties?
(F) What was F. Scott Fitzgeralds background?
o Where did he come from?
o What was his family like?
o What was he like as a young man? As an older man?
o What was his relationship with his wife like?
(F) Who were Fitzgeralds contemporaries?
o Authors? Poets? Cinematographers? Visual artists?
(F) What similarities are there between Fitzgerald and Gatsby?
(C) How would you characterize the jazz era?
(C) What is the difference between pleasure and overindulgence?

Lesson Objective(s):
In groups of 5-6, students will create a visual aid (PowerPoint, Poster, Word Doc, etc.)
about one element of the roaring twenties culture (music, politics, art, fashion,
literature, or influential people from different areas in society) and present it to the class
in order to better understand the time and culture in and about which Fitzgerald was
writing.

Resources/Materials:
A. TO DO before the day of the lesson
Agenda Prezi including instructions for internet scavenger hunt (Slides 4 and 5 of
http://prezi.com/2fx2fkhatfxa/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy)
o I copied the Prezi from the planning team and only edited my version

Create slips of paper with each of the topics (music, politics, art fashion, literature, and
people) for the groups to randomly draw from
Make copies of Reading Check Quiz (attached to email)
B. For the lesson itself:
Have reading checks ready to pass out on the tech cart
Have Prezi agenda on the screen

TEKS/SEs Addressed in the Lesson:

(2) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make
inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and
contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
Students are expected to:
(C) relate the figurative language of a literary work to its historical and cultural setting
(8) Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make
inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and
contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
Students are expected to explain the controlling idea and specific purpose of an expository text
and distinguish the most important from the less important details that support the author's
purpose
(15) (D) produce a multimedia presentation (e.g., documentary, class newspaper, docudrama,
infomercial, visual or textual parodies, theatrical production) with graphics, images, and sound
that conveys a distinctive point of view and appeals to a specific audience.

(21)Research/GatheringSources.Studentsdetermine,locate,andexplorethefullrangeofrelevantsources
addressingaresearchquestionandsystematicallyrecordtheinformationtheygather.Studentsareexpectedto:
(A)followtheresearchplantocompiledatafromauthoritativesourcesinamannerthatidentifiesthemajor
issuesanddebateswithinthefieldofinquiry;
(B)organizeinformationgatheredfrommultiplesourcestocreateavarietyofgraphicsandforms(e.g.,notes,
learninglogs)

Steps in Lesson:
ENGAGEMENT (10 minutes)
Reading check quiz over chapters 2-3 that students were supposed to read for homework
over the weekend
Remember, youre using the Schaffer method to answer these. So youll need a topic
sentence, concrete details (quotes from the text), commentary, and a closing sentence.
You can look at your notes if you would like to.
STATED OBJECTIVE (1 minute)
Today, were going to watch a 20-minute video about F. Scott Fitzgerald and his life so
that yall can get a little more information about who he was. Then, youll get into your
symbol project groups and do an internet scavenger hunt about a topic youll draw from
my hat and create a 3-4 minute presentation about that topic with your group. This is to
help yall learn more about the time period were talking about when we read Gatsby and
so youre not caught up on some of the cultural differences.

ACTIVE LEARNING (75 minutes)

Introduction/Explanation (25 minutes)o (20 minutes) Students will watch an A&E special, The Great American
Dreamer, made about F. Scott Fitzgerald.
o While they watch students will write 8-10 things they learn about the author in
their journal. Four to five will be from the first half and four to five from the
second half.
o (5 minutes) Some students will share what they thought to be the most interesting
thing that they wrote down.
Application (30 minutes)
o (5 minutes) Students will move so that they are sitting in their groups, and two of
the students in the group will get Chrome books while one other person comes up
to me and pulls a topic slip from the hat.
Topics shown on the available slips = politics/economy, fashion, literature,
visual arts, and top influential people.
o (25 minutes) Students will create their visual aid for their presentation
Some suggestions for how you might want to work on this: I would
delegate 2 or 3 of the people in your group to be the researcher(s), some
2 to be the crafter(s), and the remaining 1-2 group members can be in
charge of communicating information between the researchers and
crafters.
You dont have to share the work in exactly that way, but I want yall
working as cohesively as possible. We dont want just two individuals to
be do all the work while 2-3 people sit around talking about other stuff
like the Democratic debate that Im sure you all watched to be better
informed citizens of this great country.
Evaluation (20 minutes)
o Student groups will make 3-4 minute presentations to their classmates about their
topic
While students are listening to their classmates, they will copy two main
ideas from each of their peers presentations on the same journal page
where they recorded 10 items from the video.
CLOSURE (4 minutes)

Parking lot/Exit tickets- Students will write something that they learned about from their
classmates presentations that they identified in The Great Gatsby.

TOTAL TEACH TIME: 90 MINUTES

Modifications/Differentiation Strategies:

Applying IEPs
Visual learners will be able to read about their topic and their classmates are presenting a
visual aid.

Auditory learners will be able to talk about their topic to their classmates and listen to the
other presentations.
Kinesthetic learners are able to create a visual representation of their topic to show the
class.
Converger learners are going to be able to manipulate the information for only the main
ideas of the topic and will (ideally) only be introduced to the key points from the other
groups as well.
Assimilator thinkers will be able to research their topic and learn more about it.
Diverger thinkers will be able to discuss with their groups what they think the main
ideas are.
Interpersonal intelligent students will be able to work with others in groups.
Visual/Spatial intelligent students will be able to create a visual representation.

Evaluation Strategies:

The reading check quiz is a formal evaluation of the students readiness.

Students journals will be collected to be sure they participated in the video activity.
Students will be evaluated on the completion of their presentation.
Students journals will be collected to be sure they completed the listening activity while
their classmates were presenting.

Notes/Recommendations for next time:

The presentation creation took longer than I planned, so the presentations were made the
next class day.