Context:

Course name: Standard English

Grade level: 9th
Length of lesson: 80 minutes
Description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual
characteristics:
This lesson will be taught in a ninth grade Academic Advanced (standard) level
Collaborative English classroom. The class is comprised of 20 students, each of whom is
seated in assigned groups of four or five. Eight of the students are girls, and twelve of the
students are boys. The class is predominantly (two thirds) white, but there are two African
American students, two Latino students, and two white and African American mixed
students. Every student in the class speaks English fluently, though a few students speak
other languages, such as Spanish. Seven of the students in this class have an IEP, and two of
these students have case managers for behavioral issues and severe emotional baggage.
Accommodations must be made for one of our students, who has Autism; four of our
students, who have learning disabilities; and our two students who, due to emotional issues,
have trouble focusing in class. There is a collaborative teacher in the block, and various TAs
come into the room to support our students with IEPs.
Objectives:
SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
Students will know what irony is, as well as the definitions of verbal, dramatic, and
situational irony.
Unit Objective 4: Students will understand that there are universal elements of
Authors Craft that form narrative fiction.
f. Students will understand that writing can juxtapose reality and unreality to
elicit or convey a response from the reader.
i. Students will know that irony is a situation or use of language that
captures some kind of discrepancy.
g. Students will understand that plot, setting, characterization, irony, and
figurative language work together to construct a central idea (theme) in a
narrative.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
N/A
Performance (do):
Unit Objective 7: Students will be able to fluidly identify and analyze the effect of the
elements of Authors Craft in specific examples from class texts.
Unit Objective 8: Students will be able to identify figurative language and sensory
language, tone and mood, allusion, foreshadowing, flashback, diction, syntax, theme,
setting, characterization, conflict, plot, point of view, and irony in mentor texts.
SOLs:
9.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze a variety of literary texts including
narratives, narrative nonfiction, poetry, and drama.

b) Summarize text relating supporting details.

c) Identify the characteristics that distinguish literary forms.
d) Use literary terms in describing and analyzing selections.
CCSs:
CCSS.ELALiteracy.RL.910.1
Citestrongandthoroughtextualevidencetosupportanalysisofwhatthetextsaysexplicitlyas
wellasinferencesdrawnfromthetext.
Assessments: Methods for evaluating each of the specific objectives listed above.
Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know about by
Before the class gets into the activity, the teacher asks if anyone knows what irony is.
As students share out, the teacher assesses students background knowledge of irony,
and adjusts her explanations of the concepts accordingly.
Formative: Students will show their progress towards by
All throughout the lesson, students are sharing out about their understandings of
irony. The teacher is constantly checking in with tables of students, pairs, and
individual students to determine if they understand the various concepts of irony.
Students will apply their knowledge of irony to The Fault in Our Stars by analyzing
how John Green uses it in the novel. They will give an example of irony in the novel
and state how it affects the story and characters. Students will then answer questions
about irony and its relationship to theme. The teacher will be monitoring students
answers here, for the purpose of analyzing how well students are able to apply their
knowledge about what irony is.
Summative:Studentswillultimatelybeassessed(todayorinafuturelesson)onby...
Analytical paper: students will ultimately demonstrate their understanding of the
effect of irony, as well as how it works in relationship to other elements of authors
craft, when they use it to support the points they make about theme in their analysis
papers. That paper will be the ultimate test of students ability to analyze theme.
Materials Needed:
Activator slides
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRUe-gz690 (start at 2:06)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFatVn1hP3o (start at 15 seconds)
Students will need: SSR books, ABCDs of thesis writing notes, loose leaf paper,
pencils/pens
Technology: computer, projector, internet, Google slides
BeginningRoomArrangement:

Students will arrive to class and sit in their usual assigned seats in small groups.
Instructional Steps (Procedures): Detail student and teacher actions, discourse, and
behaviors.
1. [17 min.] Greeting and SSR

Studentsreadforfifteenminutesandsummarizewhatthey'vereadfor12minutes.
2. [10 min.] Activator: Sentence Revision
Studentscorrecttwosentencesandthengooverasaclass.
3. [50 min.] Irony Activity
[5 min.]
Introduce the term irony. Ask students if they know what irony is, and have them voice their
definitions. Then, give a working definition: when the exact opposite of something expected
happens. (Or: a situation or use of language that captures some kind of discrepancy;
juxtaposition of reality and unreality to elicit or convey a response from the reader).
[15 min.] Verbal Irony
[5 min.]
Go to the first example of irony: verbal. Watch the "Just a flesh wound" clip from Monty
Python. Warn students that the clip is bloody.
As the clip plays, have students pay special attention to what is being said, and how that
might clash with what they think will be said.
[4 min.]
After the clip plays, have students talk to their table mates and write down the following in
their graphic organizers (ask them to write specific examples down):
a. what is going on in the scene.
b. what they expected the Black Knight to say.
c. what the Black Knight actually said.
d. what they think verbal irony is.
[3 min.]
After students fill in the organizer, walk through the answers to the questions as a class.
Arrive to the understanding that verbal irony is when what is said is the opposite of what is
meant.
Get into some other examples of verbal irony: sarcasm, overstatement.
[2 min.]
Have students answer the question: is all sarcasm verbal irony? Why or why not?
[15 min.] Dramatic Irony
[4 min.]
Watch "In Summer" clip from "Frozen." As students watch, have them pay attention to what
you would expect to happen, and how that might be different from what is portrayed in the
clip.

[4 min.]
Have pairs write down (using specific details from the clip):
a. what is going on in the scene.
b. what Olaf expects his experiences in summertime to be.
c. what we know his experiences will be.
d. what they think dramatic irony is.
[4 min.]
Go over these answers as a class. Arrive at the understanding that dramatic irony is when a
character says, thinks, or does something they believe is true, but which the viewer/reader
knows is not true.
[2 min.]
Ask pairs to think about what the effect of dramatic irony is. Students write this in their
organizers.
[1 min.]
Go over what the effect of dramatic irony is (in this example, but also in general).
[15 min.] Situational Irony
[4 min.]
Introduce the Stardust clip by giving context for the movie and characters (the two main
characters have been captured by pirates, and they are about to be interrogated by the pirate
captain). Watch Introduction to Cpt. Shakespeare clip from "Stardust" (on Netflix, start when
1 hr 4 min and 15 seconds into movie). Have the students think specifically about what they
think will happen to the main characters.
Pause the video right before Cpt. Shakespeare "throws Tristen off the ship;" have students
predict what they think will happen to Tristen and Yvaine.
[4 min.]
After clip is done, have pairs write down (using specific details):
a. what is going on in the scene.
b. what Olaf expects his experiences in summertime to be.
c. what we know his experiences will be.
d. what they think situational irony is.
[4 min.]
Go over these questions as a class. Get at the understanding that situational irony is when
what happens in a situation is the exact opposite of what you would expect to happen (there
is a discrepancy between appearance and reality, expectation and fulfillment, and a situation
and what would seem appropriate).
[2 min.]

Ask pairs to think about what the effect of situational irony is. Students write this in their
organizers.
[1 min.]
Go over what the effect of situational irony is (in this example, but also in general).
4. [8 min.] Closure: Irony in TFIOS
Students individually identify an example of irony in The Fault in Our Stars. They must find an
example, indicate where it is in the text, and then explain the effect of irony in TFIOS. They give
at least one example in their graphic organizer.
If students finish early, they answer the questions: Why is it important for an author to take the
reader's expectations into account when he/she is telling a story? How can an author enhance
storytelling by meeting or disrupting readers' perceptions and expectations? How does the use of
irony relate to theme?
Attention to Individual Student Needs: (Differentiation):
Printing out the Activator for students with disabilities in the class provides them with a
visual reinforcement of what is expected of them.
A graphic organizer helps students who are easily distracted stay on task, and it gives
them a clearer idea of what they need to be doing throughout every aspect of the lesson.
Technology Use:
Detail specific technology being used in the lesson with explanation for why it is being used.
Multimedia video clips
Google slides
Overhead projector

Materials Appendix:
**SeeWeeblyforIronyGraphicOrganizer: