Teacher Name: | Heather Tabeek | Grade: | Grade 9 | Subject: | Literature |

Topic: | African proverbs (in conjunction with the novel Things Fall Apart) | Content: | Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe African proverbs and how they are used to explain or teach | Goals: | Students will understand how proverbs are used by different cultures to simplify a philosophical belief or explain a basic life truth. Students will be able to compare sayings they're familiar with to some of the proverbs they will read. | Objectives: | TLW understand the meanings of selected African proverbs and their purpose. TLW plan and create an illustration of a chosen proverb. | Materials: | Several African proverbs (from textbook or Things Fall Apart) Poster board Markers, colored pencils, crayons (general arts supplies to be used at teacher's discretion) | Introduction: | Students have been introduced to the use of proverbs in Things Fall Apart. They will review by discussing the importance of proverbs in different cultures. | Development: | The teacher will read aloud a proverb, and then explain what the proverb means to him or her. Note that the proverb may be interpreted more than one way, but the class should try to come to a close agreement. | Practice: | Students should follow the teacher's example. Volunteers will read a proverb from the textbook aloud and offer their interpretations of the meaning. Several students should be given the chance to participate in this way. | Accommodations: | For students who need to see an example, the teacher may choose a proverb to discuss with the class. Once a meaning has been determined, the teacher will illustrate that meaning on the board using the students' suggestions. | Checking For Understanding: | The teacher should circulate around the room while students are working. This allows students to ask questions during the process and allows the teacher to see how students are thinking. | Closure: | Finished products are to be displayed. Students may wish to judge another class's posters and offer rewards. | Evaluation: | Evaluations should include whether students followed directions and how well the illustration shows the meaning of the chosen proverb. Neatness and originality can be taken into consideration. |

teacher Name: | Murphy & Goodlow-Walker | Grade: | Grade 9 | Subject: | Literature |

Goals: | 1. Students will learn to go beyond the text to find the subliminal messages or underlying meanings of the author who portrays his/her characters. 2. Students will come to understand why a certain character made the decision they did in a particular event in the novel. 3. Students get the chance to experience the type of pressure or feelings that the character may have had by being placed in the same predicament of the scene, to act it out either in accordance to what was already done or in a way they believe would have been more appropriate for the given factors i.e. time period, environment, consequences, etc. | Objectives: | 1. Pupils will be assigned a given character after being placed in groups. 2. After five - ten minutes of researching they will choose a passage from the novel that includes their character to analyze and reenact. 3. Students will be given 15 minutes afterwards to decide whether what actually took place was what was best for the character first and then for those who were affected as well. 4. Each group will present their views and motives as evidence and then act out their incident. | Materials: | 1. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Knowledge after it being read) 2. Notebook and Pen 3. Thinking Caps and an Imagination : ) | Introduction: | 1. Get into groups of threes or fours. 2. Assign tasks after a character is given to evaluate e.g. the searcher - one who finds the text, the writer - one who jots down notes for the presentation, and finally the leader - one who designates parts in the revision of the occurence, keeps everyone on task making sure the duties are completed, introduces the group and the process/steps taken for them to draw their conclusions. | Development: | 1. After everyone has their jobs, the group together, though inputting individual thoughts, gather information from prior information known and the book itself. 2. A passage is then chosen with relevance to a subject that may touch on a theme that, in the groups eyes, made the character act the way they did. | Practice: | 1. Reasons are written for why that passage was picked and why the group agreed or disagreed with what was done. | Accommodations: | 1. Make sure that things are the way you all want them to be and that the general idea will come across. | Checking For Understanding: | 1. Give a brief backgorund of the character so the class can maybe get an idea of why the character made the decision they did and why you all feel it was right or wrong. | Closure: | 1. Act out your presentation with enthusiasm and heart as if it were your life story and not the character themselves so your audience can feel, learn and experience the journey with you. 2. Concise synopsis is given, then questions can be asked by your peers and then you all can finally take a bow after a day of hard work and a job well done. | Evaluation: | 1. The students will have met the criteria for their determined topic of portraying the character in their natural (agreed) or supposed (disagreed) light. They will be graded at this point consistent with the passage chosen, the thoroughness of the scrutinizing of the character, proof of what was learned, and quality of prensentation (acting). | Teacher Reflections: | Students will be commended for their efforts and given pointers and suggestions on how to approach assignments such as this in relevance to the work studied for the time being. |

teacher Name: | Miss Anderson | Grade: | Grade 9 | Subject: | Literature |

Goals: | The goal of this lesson is to help students better understand important speeches that occur in Romeo and Juliet. | Objectives: | By understanding separate speeches that occur in the play, the students will be able to gain a better understanding of Romeo and Juliet as a whole. Also, the students will be able to gain a better understanding of Shakespearean language, and how Shakespeare's work can apply to today's world. | Materials: | In order to execute this lesson, the students will need a copy of Romeo and Juliet as well as access to a computer. | Introduction: | I will introduce this lesson by talking to students about how they feel in regards to reading Shakespeare. We will talk about how intimidating it can often be, and why. | Development: | I will move into a discussion of important, "turning point" speeches in Romeo and Juliet. We will have an open discussion as to why these speeches are important. Next we will move on to discuss the way in which these important speeches can relate to real life events, or events that take place in modern television or movies. | Practice: | As a class, we will take one of the important speeches that we discussed earlier in the class, and informally "modernize" it. We will translate the speech into modern day English, as well as attempt to give the speech a contemporary twist. For example, by using the informal language teenagers of today tend to use. | Accommodations: | In addition to the typed assignment, the students must include an additional component, which they themselves can choose. They could either draw the modernized scene they created, or they could choose to read the speech out loud to the class. | Checking For Understanding: | The students will be graded on accuracy of translation, and on the quality of the additional component they chose to create. This assignment will count as a project grade. | Closure: | As a class, we will have a supplementary discussion about how and why students can relate to Shakespeare, even though he wrote hundreds of years ago. We will talk about how teenagers have changed over time, and how they have not. |