Lesson Summary:For Pre-Assessment, students will write a brief description of a space within the school, and then critique for precision. After reading the selection from Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, students will note the meaning of invisible as a person that nobody pays attention to. Students will note how the language the author uses precisely develops the narrator’s assertion that he is a person with a mind. Advanced Learners will attempt a stylistic imitation of the piece and Struggling Learners will paraphrase key words and phrases and note the difference.
Lesson Objectives:
The students will know…
- the importance of precise language in writing.
- how language can develop character and theme.
- identify the precise vocabulary of an author’s style.
- note how that vocabulary works to develop character and theme.
Learning Styles Targeted:
x / Visual / x / Auditory / x / Kinesthetic/Tactile
Pre-Assessment: Spend fifteen minutes in which students write a brief description of some space within the school. Break them into pairs and ask partners to suggest words and phrases that could be more precise.
Whole-Class Instruction
Materials Needed: Selection The Invisible Man*; a dictionary; notebooks; pencils and pens.
Procedure:
1)Ask the class as a whole to read the passage silently. Then ask two or three students to read the selection aloud. Challenge them to concentrate on tone, and deliver their reading in such a way that it interprets what they feel the basic message is. Make certain that both boys and girls read.
2)Ask the students who read to comment on the tone they used and explain why they used it. Ask other members of the class if they had other interpretations of the author’s voice.
3)Ask students to summarize what it is that the author is trying to say and why it is important to him. Elicit that the author is a human being, but that he is ignored and treated as if he is invisible.
4)Ask students to point out words and phrases that best express the author’s message. Guide students through the sentence: “I am a man of substance, flesh and bone, fiber and liquid—and I might even be said to possess a mind.” Challenge students to define the word “substance,” and note how it can mean that both a material nature as well as a person of wealth.
5)Concentrate on the last part of the sentence “and I might be said to possess a mind.” Ask students how the author’s use of language proves that. Have them circle words and phrases that show the speaker is an intelligent person. Help them to find definitions through print or online resources.
6)Point out to students that precise language helps to establish character, pursue a theme, or develop key ideas in writing.
Advanced Learner
Materials Needed: Passage from The Invisible Man*; notebooks; pencils and pens
Procedure:
1)Challenge students to attempt an imitation of the author’s style. Have them write a paragraph that extends the passage, followed by a commentary in which they note specifics of their imitation.
Struggling Learner
Materials Needed: Passage from The Invisible Man*; notebooks; pencils and pens
Procedure:
1)Have students choose words and phrases from the passage and paraphrase them. Then have them swap with a partner and decide how changing the language affects the passage.
*see supplemental resources
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