STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

Student Teaching Lesson Plan Outline

Anna Bedillion
University of Richmond
I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance during t
he completion of this work.

Anna Bedillion
EDUC 510C
February 23, 2010
Student Teaching Lesson Plan Outline
Introduction
· The Great Gatsby is the lesson topic.
· The lesson should last one 90 minute block period for an 11th grade C l
evel American literature course.
· “Virginia Standard of Learning 11.3b.:
The student will:
Compare and contrast the development of American literature in its historical co
ntext” (Virginia Board of Education, 2003).
Learning Objectives
In this lesson, students will:
· Demonstrate analysis of the text of The Great Gatsby and critical think
ing skills (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).
· Identify class differences and issues in the beginning of the twentieth
century (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).
· Combine critical thinking skills, analysis of the text, and essay-writi
ng skills (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).
· Write a credo for the secret society depicted in The Great Gatsby (Nati
onal Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).
Teaching and Learning Sequence
· Introductory Video: I will first introduce a clip from the movie adapt
ation of the The Great Gatsby (1974) YouTube clip to the class as a great way to
begin class dialogue on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1974).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwggA61ISHI
A secondary video about the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald will then be introduced
to the class before the biographical web page is viewed by students.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHvmn7Fb05I
Then slideshare presentations introducing F. Scott Fitzgerald s life and The Gre
at Gatsby (1974):
http://www.slideshare.net/silvanarojas/great-gatsby
http://www.slideshare.net/chris1an/the-great-gatsby-powerpoint-3312781
· Introduction or Anticipatory Set: I will give the class a brief biograp
hy of F. Scott Fitzgerald using the biographical information available at the F.
Scott Fitzgerald Centenary web site. Students will then take a few minutes to
view the “Quotations” (1997) section at the site which will get them interested
and provide background for the upcoming lesson plan on Fitzgerald’s The Great G
atsby. I will direct students to pay special attention to this F. Scott Fitzgera
ld quote from a 1938 letter that he wrote: “ ‘That was always my experience— a p
oor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy s school; a poor boy in a rich
man s club at Princeton.... However, I have never been able to forgive the rich
for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works’” (Board of Trustees
of the University of South Carolina, 1997). Students will need to explain the
meaning of this quote in their own words. For example, “Are the rich and poor ‘d
efinitionally’ different from each other? Where in the first two chapters do qu
estions of class, wealth, and privilege come to the fore? Who s rich and who s p
oor here?” (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). While looking through
the text of chapters 1 and 2 of The Great Gatsby, students will be asked to vol
unteer the answers to these questions. If no students respond, I will call on s
pecific students. The introduction should take about 10 minutes at most, and I
should speed through these questions (National Endowment for the Humanities, 200
2).
· Lesson Development: Go over vocabulary words that are written on the wh
ite board for the first two chapters of The Great Gatsby and get students to cop
y them down for the end of the week quiz on all vocabulary for the chapters read
. The vocabulary words for chapters 1 and 2 of The Great Gatsby are (Pearson Ed
ucation, 2009):
1. Supercilious
2. Conscientious
3. Incredulous
4. Reciprocal
5. Wan
6. Complacent
7. Intimation
8. Infinite
9. Anon
10. Feign
11. Contiguous
12. Facet
13. Cower
14. Interpose
15. Apathetic
16. Languid
17. Imply
18. Strident
19. Deft
20. Clad
Students must look up the definitions of these words in Merriam-Webster’s Online
Dictionary (Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2010) and then use the word in a sentence sh
owing its meaning. Students will be encouraged to get creative and are also all
owed to provide non-examples. This will be part of their homework. We will go
over the sentences, definitions, and non-examples as a class the following block
period (Pearson Education, 2009).
· I will hand out the worksheet “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) to students
and ask them to work in groups of three or four on the potential characteristics
of this "secret society” (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Student
s will need to look at their texts to answer the questions on this worksheet, bu
t there are no real right answers here. “Much of this is necessarily speculative
—after all, they ve read only two chapters. Also, tell them that this sheet will
come in very handy for an exercise they ll be doing—writing the credo for this
"secret society’” (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). This will take
about 20 minutes. One person from each group will write on the white board the
group’s answers to the worksheet. I will lead a class discussion on the differe
nces in each group’s answers or how answers are similar (National Endowment for
the Humanities, 2002). This will take about 10 minutes. Students will then beg
in the analysis and writing portion of the lesson plan. I will explain the natu
re of a credo from to students and will then instruct them to create a credo for
this “secret society” completely based on the text of The Great Gatsby (Nationa
l Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). The “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) handout
s will be given to students to guide this writing activity (National Endowment f
or the Humanities, 2002). The credo must be between 250-300 words. The class w
ill be given 20 minutes to write their credos. Students will share their writte
n credos with the class and similar themes throughout the credos will be talked
about in class, specifically, “class, wealth, and status” (National Endowment fo
r the Humanities, 2010). This discussion will last about 10 minutes. Students
will then be asked to respond individually in a one-page essay, to be handed in,
 to the question: “What separates Nick from this wealthy secret society? How do
es Nick’s feeling of being an outsider, colors his view of the secret society?
Character and characterization should be brought up in this essay with emphasis
placed on the characters of Daisy, Nick, Jordan, and Tom” (National Endowment fo
r the Humanities, 2002). They will be given 10 minutes to write this essay and p
lace it on the teacher’s desk.
· Closure: The closure of the lesson plan will last 10 minutes, completi
ng the 90-minute 11th grade American literature block period. Students will be
asked to reiterate how the themes of inclusion and exclusion are themes for char
acters in The Great Gatsby with the reading they have done so far. I will walk
around the room and each student will be need to give his or her take on Nick’s
feelings of exclusion and how it affects the viewpoint from which Nick, as the n
arrator, gives the backdrop to the secret society and provides background for th
e events that occur in the novel (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).
Each student will need to identify his or her favorite character in the novel t
hus far and identify how the character relates to the secret society depicted, a
nd if he or she thinks this is an accurate depiction of 1920’s life.
· Homework: Students will read white board which has tonight’s assignmen
t listed and copy this down at the end of the class period. The homework listed
on the whiteboard is to read Chapters 3 to 5 of The Great Gatsby and type a two
-page, double-spaced essay response to the question: “How are the characteristic
s of the time period the ‘roaring twenties’ depicted in The Great Gatsby so far?
Do you think that Nick is impressed with Gatsby’s money and job? What is the
mystery behind Gatsby’s job, and what role has Daisy played in his life so far?”
(National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Students will be told that they
will be randomly called on by me during the next class period for an oral readi
ng quiz; this should help to keep them on task with their reading assignment for
the evening.
· Formative Assessment: I will be asking students and volunteers to respo
nd to the introductory questions, and groups of students will have to fill out t
he “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) worksheet and will present this in class (Nation
al Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Each student will be asked to write and
turn in their secret society credo essay to me after to minutes and these will
be graded to see if students paid attention during the group activity and active
ly listened the class discussion on the “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) handouts fi
lled out by each group (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). During th
e closure of the class, the themes of inclusion and exclusion will be re-iterate
d with each student being asked to respond to specific questions about Nick’s fe
elings of exclusion, his or her favorite character and if that character is a pa
rt of the secret society described, and whether Fitzgerald’s depiction of the “r
oaring twenties” seems to be accurate historically (National Endowment of the Hu
manities, 2002). Finally, students will need to copy down the reading homework
and will have to compose an essay based on the evening’s reading and will be giv
en an oral reading quiz the following block period in class.
· Summative Assessment: Students will be graded fairly and equally based
on if they fully filled out the “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) worksheet and if th
e answers were amended or changed based on class discussion (National Endowment
for the Humanities, 2002). Lesson objectives will be met by students for the se
cret society credo essay if they followed the descriptions in the “Shhh…Secret S
ociety” (2002) worksheet and tried to use good grammar in writing their credo.
Each student’s additional one-page essay on exclusion and inclusion as it relate
s to the characters of Tom, Daisy, Nick, and Gatsby in the first two chapters of
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby will be graded based on appropriate grammar being
used and thoughts being well-organized with an introductory paragraph, a few pa
ragraphs for the body of the essay, and a concluding paragraph (National Endowme
nt for the Humanities, 2002). The conceptual knowledge of exclusion versus incl
usion relating to the characters in the novel will be valued more in the grading
of this lesson than the grammar on the assignment (National Endowment for the H
umanities, 2002). Finally, the homework given has the students continuing their
reading of The Great Gatsby and responding in essay format. A random oral quiz
will be given to students the following block period on the reading, and this i
s written on the board with the homework assignment.
· Grading Rubric: This is the grading rubric for the in-class essay on
the themes of exclusion and inclusion in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
A=93-100
B=92-89
C=88-79
D=78-70
F=69-0
Students will receive an A is their grammar is excellent, their thoughts are wel
l-captured in compound-complex sentences, they use a five-paragraph essay format
with an introduction, body, and conclusion, and if they capture the main ideas
of exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a B if the grammar exhibited is good, their thoughts are o
rganized, they use a five-paragraph essay format, and they capture some of the m
ain concepts of exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a C if they exhibit average grammar skills with some mista
kes in usage and mechanics, if some but not all of their thoughts are organized
into paragraphs that flow well, if they use a five-paragraph essay format, and t
hey capture at least two relating main ideas to exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a D if they exhibit below-average grammar skills with many
problems in usage and mechanics, if their sentences and paragraphs are somewhat
disorganized, if they use a three-paragraph essay format, and they capture only
one relating main idea to exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a grade of F if their grammar is very poor with numerous m
istakes in usage and mechanics, if they use fragments instead of complete senten
ces, if their paragraphs are not organized, if they do not use at least a three-
paragraph essay format, and if do not express any main ideas relating to the the
mes of exclusion and inclusion.
References
Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina. (1997, January 27). Quo
tations. F. Scott
Fitzgerald Centenary. Retrieved from http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald
/quotes/quotes6.html
Bruccoli, Matthew J. (2003, December 4). A brief life of Fitzgerald. F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Centenary. Retrieved from http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (2004). The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2010). Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved fr

om
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
National Endowment for the Humanities. (2002, October 4). Shh…secret society.
EDSITEment. Retrieved from http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson_images/lesson432/Se
cretSociety.pdf
National Endowment for the Humanities. (2002, October 4). EDSITEment. Retriev
ed from
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=432
Pearson Education. (2009, June). The Great Gatsby vocabulary words. TeacherVi
sion.
Retrieved from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/vocabulary/activity/2883.html#c1
Virginia Board of Education. (2003). English standards of learning: Curriculum f
ramework:
Grade eleven. Retrieved from
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml
Virginia Board of Education. (2003). English standards of learning: Grade eleven
. Retrieved
from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/englis
h/index.shtml
Virginia Department of Education. (2004) English standards of learning: Enhanced
scope and
sequence for grades 9-12. Retrieved from
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml