Lesson Plan: Benjamin Hunter, CI 519, 12/8/2010

Date: _12__ /_8___ / 2010_ / Lesson: # 3 (of 15) / Unit: Things Fall Apart
Essential Question: How can we avoid judging entire cultures simply as good or bad, right or wrong? / Course/Time: 10th Grade English / 90 minutes
Standards:
SS.HS.HS.04 Understand how contemporary perspectives affect historical interpretation.
EL.HS.RE.02 Listen to, read, and understand a wide variety of informational and narrative texts, including classic and contemporary literature, poetry, magazines, newspapers, reference materials, and online information.
EL.HS.WR.02 Discuss ideas for writing with classmates, teachers, and other writers, and develop drafts alone and collaboratively.
Subject of the lesson: Guest Speaker & Culture Box Sharing
Materials/Resources required:
·  Culture Box (checked out from Global and Multicultural Resource Center)
·  Guest speaker from Nigeria (through International Culture Service Program at PSU)
·  Paper, pens for students
·  Overhead projector, document camera, computer
Background Knowledge :
·  Things Fall Apart (book) issued to every student, chapters 1-4 completed.
·  Preceding 2 lessons covered a basic outline of the history of Nigeria and the British Empire, as well as the life and times of Chinua Achebe. Students have already read a non-fiction literary essay by Chinua Achebe on why Africa needs its own literature.
·  Lesson 1 included brainstorming questions for our group speaker; during lesson 2, students were all given a handout consolidating/editing their questions so that the students will all have good questions already prepared for our speaker.
SWBAT (Student will be able to…):
·  Reflect and share a reflection on a photographic image.
·  Describe three cultural artifacts from Nigeria.
·  Meet, talk, and listen to a class guest from Nigeria. Ask higher level questions of a guest speaker.
·  Write a letter of thanks to a new friend.
Lesson Outline:
1.  Free write: Students are shown a photograph of a busy, modern, Nigerian marketplace scene and are asked to write for 5 minutes in their composition notebooks about that image. (5 min)
2.  Students are asked to share out interpretations/responses to the preceding photograph. Students enter learning log for the day in notebooks, including one specific thing they remember from last class, the answer to a question (Can you remember and describe one proverb encountered so far in Things Fall Apart so far?), and the SWBAT for the day. (5-10 min)
3.  Display and pass around ten selected artifact items from the Culture Box, giving background information on each. (Items include clothing, jewelry, games, and crafts). The overhead projector simultaneously provides brief corresponding textual information on all the items. (10-15 min)
4.  Leave artifacts on table at front of class, but turn off overhead projectors. Students take out a piece of paper and are asked to describe their three favorite cultural items on display, also explaining why they chose those items. Students turn in written work. (10 min)
5.  Guest speaker introduced. Allow the guest speaker to talk about life in Nigeria, answer questions, and discuss artifacts. (30-40 min)
6.  Show students an example of a thank you letter on the overhead and explain that they will now compose their own letter of thanks to our guest speaker to be mailed collectively next week. Students share possible things they might want to include in their letters out loud while the teacher writes those student contributions on the overhead. Students then write a rough draft of their letter and spend the last three minutes of class exchanging and reading someone else’s rough draft and making 3 brief marginal comments (2 positive, 1 suggestion). (15 min)
7.  Homework: Continue rough draft of letter (if necessary). Revise, rewrite, and turn in the final draft next class. Read chapters 5-6 from Things Fall Apart.
Assessments/Differentiation/Modification:
·  Formative assessments include the student descriptions of the artifacts and the thank-you letters to the guest speaker.
·  Can be shortened (if guest speaker runs long) by simply showing model for thank you letter and changing the composition of the rough and final drafts to homework.
·  Can be extended (if guest speaker runs short) by having students pair-share their experience with artifacts and guest speaker today and then share some results with the class (5-10 min) and/or students can begin writing final draft of letter in class instead of as homework.
·  Students will be allowed to include sketches of the artifacts to include with their written descriptions for extra credit.