The most challenging aspect is that when this novel is commonly taught, most students have not completed U.S. history and have a pretty vague understanding of The Great Depression.  As a pre-reading activity, I put students into groups and have them read an informational article about the era and either present an oral summary, or make a poster for a gallery walk.

The summative assessment of the unit is an essay requiring students compare the social stratification so apparent in the novel to our current society.  I ask students to provide specific examples from current events to support their claims.  This year, we discussed BLM, the Women’s March, marketing of products to extend youth and beauty, assisted suicide and other issues that parallel to the novel.

Included in the packet:

• Pre-reading texts to build background and historical context of the time period

• Vocabulary charts for pre-teaching key words

• Chapter reading questions that include comprehension questions, interpretation questions, and a written response requiring textual evidence

• Character graphic organizer

• Dialect decoder for reference

• Summative assessment prompt and rubric

• Cover page in case you want to bind it all into a packet

Here’s an example of Chapter 1 reading questions:

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// INSTRUCTIONS: array(“url”,”title”,”type”,”size”),
// AND only the last array() line does NOT have a comma at the end
$downloads = array(
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/omam-pdf.zip”,”Download all documents as PDF”,”zip”,”2mb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/omam-msword.zip”,”Download all documents as MSWord”,”zip”,”6mb”)
);
insertDownloads($downloads);
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I’ve also had pretty good success with the movie adaptation, even though it’s from 1992.  With some classes, I’ve had students enjoy the movie Cool Hand Luke; however, I’ve never had students write an essay analyzing and comparing the two stories. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try, and when I do, I’ll share the results!

The post Of Mice and Men Unit Reading Packet and Activities appeared first on The Teachers' Library.

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[insert_php]
// INSTRUCTIONS: array(“url”,”title”,”type”,”size”),
// AND only the last array() line does NOT have a comma at the end
$downloads = array(
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/creative-writing.pptx”,”Download PowerPoint introduction to creative writing”,”pptx”,”2mb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/character-development-outline-2.pptx”,”Character Development Outline – Download printable PowerPoint with graphic organizer, plot chart, and storyboard”,”pptx”,”154kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/writing-workshop-checklist-1.pdf”,”Download creative writing checklist”,”pdf”,”363kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/writing-workshop-checklist-1.docx”,”Download creative writing checklist”,”docx”,”86kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/peer-review-1.pdf”,”Download peer review handout”,”pdf”,”774kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/peer-review.docx”,”Download peer review handout”,”docx”,”256kb”),
);
insertDownloads($downloads);
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The post Creative Writing Workshop Unit appeared first on The Teachers' Library.

We begin by analyzing the historical context of the genre, as well as identifying common Gothic Horror motifs.  We focus heavily on identifying and interpreting uses of imagery, and using mentor sentences to write descriptively.  To hit on some grammar objectives, we also use the mentor sentences to expand simple sentences into compound and complex sentences, with a focus on punctuating simple, compound, and complex sentence  accurately.

As a summative assessment, students workshop their own creative writing piece inspired by Gothic Horror to showcase what they have learned about the motifs and conventions of the genre.

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// INSTRUCTIONS: array(“url”,”title”,”type”,”size”),
// AND only the last array() line does NOT have a comma at the end
$downloads = array(
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/gothic-horror-unit-plan-1.xlsx”,”Download the Gothic Horror unit plan”,”xlsx”,”12kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Gothic-Horror.pptx”,”Download PowerPoint introduction to Gothic Horror genre”,”pptx”,”3mb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/5-petal-foldable.docx”,”Download Word doc of 5 petal foldable for imagery resource definitions”,”docx”,”21kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Excerpt-from-The-Castle-of-Otranto.pdf”,”Download PDF excerpt of The Castle of Otranto“,”pdf”,”188kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-Tell-Tale-Heart-1.pdf”,”Download PDF excerpt of The Tell-Tale Heart“,”pdf”,”112kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-Red-Room.pdf”,”Download PDF excerpt of The Red Room“,”pdf”,”241kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/frankenstein.pdf”,”Download PDF excerpt of Frankenstein“,”pdf”,”265kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Excerpt-from-Dracula.pdf”,”Download PDF excerpt of Dracula“,”pdf”,”193kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Two-Excerpts-from-The-Legend-of-Sleepy-Hollow.pdf”,”Download PDF excerpt of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“,”pdf”,”295kb”)
);
insertDownloads($downloads);
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*Note: Many of these 18th and 19th century texts have copious sophisticated vocabulary, so if you plan to have students reading these texts independently, try this handout for reading for vocabulary.

The post Gothic Horror Complete Unit appeared first on The Teachers' Library.