Literary Unit Theme:
Stages of Life
Essential Question:
What turning points determine our individual paths to adulthood?
Unit Skills and Concepts:
Students will site lessons/concepts they learn about humankind and themselves by studying the lives of others in literature.Students will identify thematic elements of the "stages of life" in short stories, drama, and poetry.
Students will demonstrate the ability to understand and analyze significant details of plot development.
Students will demonstrate understanding of the climax in plot structure.
Students will analyze characters in fiction and drama - their words, actions, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses.
Students will identify and explain how tone, figurative language, and sensory devices in poetry effect a thematic look at a stage in life.
Today's Skills or Concepts:
After a review of the discussion of Erik Erikson's "Developmental Stage - Old Age," the student will be able to discuss the stage's crisis, positive possible outcome, or negative possible outcome in Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill."
After a review of the discussion of Erik Erikson's "Developmental Stage - Youth," the student will be able to record the stage's crisis, positive possible outcome, or negative possible outcome in Frank O'Connor's "The Drunkard."
Mini-Lesson Outline:
A. The teacher will guide a class discussion of "Miss Brill," based on students' responses concerning their reading logs and written answers to critical thinking questions.
B. Students will read Frank O'Connor's "The Drunkard," pages 251 - 258 in the text. As they read, students will complete the "Stages of Life - Youth" reading log by utilizing the Erikson Stage of Youth.
C. In their notebooks, all students will answer questions #1 - 7 on page 259.
E. For homework, students will complete any questions that remain unfinished in the previous exercise.
