Diverse Text Set Annotated Bibliography

Liz Darling

Diverse Text Set Annotated Bibliography

This text set is intended for a ninth grade, British Literature class. The unit is titled: “Write What You Know: How author’s lives and times are represented in their works.” The specific time period we will be focusing on is Victorian Literature, the mid nineteenth century. Students have varying levels of reading ability. Some students read above grade level, while others read below or average. There are a few students with IEPS for reading comprehension problems.

A. Print Resources

Applebaum, S. (Ed.). (1997). Best Poems of the Bronte Sisters. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Summary: This book is a collection of poetry by the Bronte Sisters. It includes some of the best known poems of the Bronte sisters, including “Passion,” “A Day Dream,” and “Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day.”

Rationale: I chose this selection of poetry because it is comprehensive, and it includes poems that both explicitly seem to be drawn from influences in life, such as Charlotte Bronte’s “On the Death of Emily Bronte,” and others such as “Passion” that students would have to make inferences about using their background knowledge about the Bronte’s lives to connect and hypothesize what they may be referring to.

Use: Students will be able to use the poems to develop the skill of making inferences about the influence of the author’s lives on the text for the poems that are not obviously connected to an event in the author’s lives.

Bronte, C. (2006). Shirley. London: Penguin Classics.

Summary: This novel

Rationale: I chose this novel because it shows how Charlotte Bronte’s work reflects the social struggles of the time period, whereas her other works I chose mostly reflect her personal life. This text enables students to see how her work meets both aspects of the unit. Also, it is a more difficult text than the others, and is useful in challenging the higher level readers, who can scaffold the learning of the lower level readers to help them understand.

Use: I would give students an excerpt of this work after they have gone through the interactive Victorian Website, and learned more about the social issues of the Victorian era. I would have them identify the issues they learned about that are presented in the excerpt to test their comprehension and understanding of the history, and also test their connection making skills.

Dickens, C. (1981) Hard Times. New York: Bantam Classics.

Summary: Charles Dicken’s Hard Times is based around the life of Thomas Gradgrind, a Utilitarian, who believes in logic more than emotion. His character is based around a real figure, the Utilitarian leader James Mill. It takes place in a fictional Industrial town, and provides an in depth look at the Industrial Revolution period in Britain and makes social commentary.

Rationale: I chose this novel because it is a typical 9th grade novel, and also because it proves how one’s work reflects the time period he lives in. Hard Times directly comments on the social situation of Dicken’s time period.

Use: I would have students read the text after they’ve finished the Industrial Revolution web quest, and looked at the pictures on the website to help them visualize what they’re reading about in Hard Times. I would at first model the comprehension and connection strategies presented in the textbook, then ask them to make the connections between real life and the text in groups. Each group would have a different section of the novel.

McDougal & Littell. (2007). The Language of Literature. New York: Pearson.

Summary: This is a British Literature textbook that is ordered chronologically and thematically, into the Anglo Saxon and Medieval Periods, the English Renaissance, the Restoration and Enlightenment, The Flowering of Romanticism, The Victorians and Emerging Modernism. Each time period is divided up into thematic units, such as “Personal Relationships,” or “New Voices, New Directions.” The text also provides a wealth of background information and skills training.

Rationale: I chose the text because it includes numerous works by the authors of the unit, and background information about them. Furthermore, it also provides special features such as the “writing workshop” component and reading skills section.

Use: I would use the text in the beginning of the unit, after I show clips of the film to introduce the idea, but before the class begins any reading of the texts. I would use the reading comprehension skills section of text to show them how they should approach the texts in the section.

Ross, S. (1997). Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre. New York: Viking Juvenile.

Summary: The trade book provides background about Charlotte Bronte’s life at Haworth, and how it influences her works. The book discusses Charlotte Bronte’s work as a governess, and how it influenced the character of Jane Eyre. The book is colorfully illustrated, and its aim is to illustrate “the process that transform life into literature.

Rationale: I chose this trade book because it provides a readable account of Charlotte Bronte’s life, and will appeal to lower level readers. Also, it includes numerous between Charlotte Bronte’s life and works, which is a key part of the theme.

Use: I would use this book at the beginning of the unit about Charlotte Bronte to enable students to directly see how her life is represented in her works, and use the illustrations to help them visualize the time period, which will be useful when they read the excerpt from Shirely, a difficult text.

Satron, P. (2008, February 22). Inspiration Live on Where Writers Dwell. New York Times Online. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/travel/escapes/22rituals.html?scp=5.

Summary: This article, included in the Escape section of the New York Times, chronicles the writer’s journey to famous British and American authors’ houses to see the places they lived in, and gained their inspiration from. The author visits the houses of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain, among others. The article also conveys the idea that a modern writer can gain inspiration by visiting their favorite authors inhabitance.

Rationale: I chose this article because it articulates the idea of writer’s inspiration from their surroundings and the time period they live in, which relates well to the theme of the unit.

Use: I would use this article as a prompt for a journal response at the beginning of the unit, in which I would ask students to write about where they gain inspiration, before we watch the film Becoming Jane.

B. Media Resources

Bernstein, R. (Producer), & Hood, K. (Writer) & Austen, J. (Letters). (2007). Becoming Jane [motion picture]. (Available from 2 Entertain, London)

Summary: In this film, the biographical influences on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice are portrayed. The film chronicles a supposed failed romance between Austen and Tom Lefoy, as a result of famililial influences and situations. The movie proposes that Jane Austen did not initially like Lefoy as a result of his supposed pride, just as Elizabeth Bennet does not initially like Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Numerous parallels are made between in the film between the relationship between Ms. Bennet and Mr. Darcy and the relationship between Jane Austen and Tom Lefoy.

Rationale: I chose this film because though Jane Austen’s works slightly predate other Victorian literature we will be studying, the film illustrates well the theme of the unit: how writer’s lives influence their works.

Use: Clips of the film can be used in class to introduce the unit, as a way to bridge student’s learning from the previous time period they had studied, to the new time period they are about to embark on learning about. Furthermore, the film portrays the thematic concept students must learn to grasp by the end of the unit: how one’s time period and life influences his or her works.

Photos of the Industrial Era. Retrieved February 28, from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/ind_rev/images/images-ind-era.html.

Summary: This site provides numerous hand drawn pictures and photos of the Industrial Era in Great Britain. The opening page is a collage of four photos in the background, with one large photo in the center the student can click on to gain access to more photos. It is an artfully constructed website that clearly portray the Social tone of the Industrial Era through it’s incorporation of photos.

Rationale: I chose this website because it does not have citations for the pictures in it, and therefore enables students to form their own opinion about what the photos are showing, what they think is going on, and what the overall tone and mood are of the picture. I also chose the site because it includes pictures of both workers and cities to provide a comprehensive view of the time.

Use: I would use the website as a tool for developing inference skills based on prior knowledge about the Industrial Revolution gained from the web quest site, so students will have a mental image of the time in their heads before reading Dickens’s work, Hard Times.

C. Online Interactive Resources

Cambell. Industrial Revolution Web Quest. February 26, 2008, from http://www.42explore2.com/industrial.htm.

Summary: This web quest site asks students to place themselves in the role of “Sherlock Holmes” and “Dr. Watson.” It is designed to provide students with more information about the Industrial Revolution, including history of the inventions and machines, and pictures of the inventions.

Rationale: I chose this site because it is easily accessible to all levels of readers, and also appeals to visual learners because it includes links to pictures of the inventions.

Use: I would use this site to enable students to activate prior knowledge students have about the Industrial revolution in a visual way. Much of the information included they were probably introduced to at one time or another, but it will serve as a visual reminder of what they previously learned, and will need to keep in mind while reading the texts.

University Scholars Program. (n.d.) Retrieved February 26, 2008, from The National University of Singapore, Victorian Studies Web site: http://www.victorianweb.org/

Summary: This website is an interactive website about the Victorian era. Students can click on any number of icons on the website, including: The Victorians, Political History, Social History, Gender Matters, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Technology, Authors, Visual Arts, and many more, to get relocated to pages with further information and links students can click on providing a multitude of information and articles about the subject. It provides an in depth look, and access to information about all aspects of the Victorian era that will be useful to students for this unit.

Rationale: I chose this website because not only is it easy to use and attractive, but it provides much of the information students will need to know about the Victorian authors we will be studying and the time period they lived in.

Use: Since this is a comprehensive website with access to many articles, scholarly and otherwise, I would use the website for an inquiry project. I would ask students to come up with their questions about the Victorian era, before we learned anything about it, and then have them navigate through the website and read the articles to find their answers.

D. Instructional Resources

The Library of Congress. (n.d.) The Learning Page…especially for teachers.. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/

Summary: This website provides lessons plans, connections, activities, and games for students, as well as professional development techniques all related to using primary source documents in the classroom, specifically for the Industrial Revolution. Although it deals with the Industrial Revolution in America, the ideas and concepts for the lesson, as well as the primary source document links, are still useful

Rationale: I chose this website because it provides a wide range of assistance for teachers about how to implement primary sources in the classroom, where to find them, and aid for professional development. I also figured the website would provide valuable ideas about how to incorporate the primary sources of the letters and the photos into a lesson.

Use: As an instructor, I would use this website to gain ideas about how to implement the photos of the Industrial Revolution into my lesson.

I would use these texts together as a way to teach students the critical reading comprehension skills of making connections, using inquiry, and making inferences. On a content level, I would use them to teach students about the lives of authors, the time periods that influence their works, and the classic texts themselves. The students would need to read all of the texts, because they all connect to each other, and it is imperative that students read the texts in order to make the connections between the author’s lives and their works, and the time period and their works.

Objectives:

1.  Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

2. R–8–13
Uses comprehension strategies (flexibly and as needed) before, during, and after reading literary and informational text. (Local)
EXAMPLES of reading comprehension strategies might include: using prior knowledge; sampling a page for readability; summarizing; predicting and making text based inferences; determining importance; generating literal, clarifying, and inferential questions; constructing sensory images (e.g., making pictures in one’s mind); making connections (text to self, text to text, and text to world); taking notes; locating, using, and analyzing text features (e.g. transition words, subheadings, bold/italicized print, parts of the book); or using text structure clues (e.g. chronological, cause/effect, compare/contrast, proposition and support, description, classification, logical/sequential)