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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

Student Teaching Lesson Plan Outline

Anna Bedillion

University of Richmond

I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance during the
completion of this work.

Anna Bedillion
Technology Integration
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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
March 3, 2010
Student Teaching Lesson Plan Outline

Introduction

• The Great Gatsby is the lesson topic.

• The lesson should last one 90 minute block period for an 11th grade C level

American literature course.

• “Virginia Standard of Learning 11.3b.:

The student will:

Compare and contrast the development of American literature in its historical

context” (Virginia Board of Education, 2003).

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, students will:

• Demonstrate analysis of the text of The Great Gatsby and critical thinking skills

(National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).

• Identify class differences and issues in the beginning of the twentieth century

(National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).

• Combine critical thinking skills, analysis of the text, and essay-writing skills

(National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).

• Write a credo for the secret society depicted in The Great Gatsby (National

Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).

Teaching and Learning Sequence

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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
• Introductory Video: I will first introduce a clip from the movie adaptation of the

The Great Gatsby (1974) YouTube clip to the class as a great way to begin class

dialogue on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwggA61ISHI

A secondary video about the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald will then be introduced to

the class before the biographical web page is viewed by students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHvmn7Fb05I

• Introduction or Anticipatory Set: I will give the class a brief biography of F.

Scott Fitzgerald using the biographical information available at the F. Scott

Fitzgerald Centenary web site. Students will then take a few minutes to view the

“Quotations” (1997) section at the site which will get them interested and provide

background for the upcoming lesson plan on Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. I will

direct students to pay special attention to this F. Scott Fitzgerald quote from a

1938 letter that he wrote: “ ‘That was always my experience— a poor boy in a

rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at

Princeton.... However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich,

and it has colored my entire life and works’” (Board of Trustees of the University

of South Carolina, 1997). Students will need to explain the meaning of this quote

in their own words. For example, “Are the rich and poor ‘definitionally’ different

from each other? Where in the first two chapters do questions of class, wealth,

and privilege come to the fore? Who's rich and who's poor here?” (National

Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). While looking through the text of

chapters 1 and 2 of The Great Gatsby, students will be asked to volunteer the

answers to these questions. If no students respond, I will call on specific

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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
students. The introduction should take about 10 minutes at most, and I should

speed through these questions (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002).

• Lesson Development: Go over vocabulary words that are written on the white

board for the first two chapters of The Great Gatsby and get students to copy

them down for the end of the week quiz on all vocabulary for the chapters read.

The vocabulary words for chapters 1 and 2 of The Great Gatsby are (Pearson

Education, 2009):

1. Supercilious

2. Conscientious

3. Incredulous

4. Reciprocal

5. Wan

6. Complacent

7. Intimation

8. Infinite

9. Anon

10. Feign

11. Contiguous

12. Facet

13. Cower

14. Interpose
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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
15. Apathetic

16. Languid

17. Imply

18. Strident

19. Deft

20. Clad

Students can look up the definitions for these vocabulary words in Merriam-

Webster’s Online Dictionary (Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2010) at home and create

sentences that are examples, or even non-examples, of what the word means in

the correct context. We will share these during the next block class period

(Pearson Education, 2009).

• I will hand out the worksheet “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) to students and ask

them to work in groups of three or four on the potential characteristics of this

"secret society” (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Students will

need to look at their texts to answer the questions on this worksheet, but there

are no real right answers here. “Much of this is necessarily speculative—after all,

they've read only two chapters. Also, tell them that this sheet will come in very

handy for an exercise they'll be doing—writing the credo for this "secret society’”

(National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). This will take about 20 minutes.

One person from each group will write on the white board the group’s answers to

the worksheet. I will lead a class discussion on the differences in each group’s

answers or how answers are similar (National Endowment for the Humanities,

2002). This will take about 10 minutes. Students will then begin the analysis and
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writing portion of the lesson plan. I will explain the nature of a credo from to

students and will then instruct them to create a credo for this “secret society”

completely based on the text of The Great Gatsby (National Endowment for the

Humanities, 2002). The “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) handouts will be given to

students to guide this writing activity (National Endowment for the Humanities,

2002). The credo must be between 250-300 words. The class will be given 20

minutes to write their credos. Students will share their written credos with the

class and similar themes throughout the credos will be talked about in class,

specifically, “class, wealth, and status” (National Endowment for the Humanities,

2010). This discussion will last about 10 minutes. Students will then be asked to

respond individually in a one-page essay, to be handed in, to the question: “What

separates Nick from this wealthy secret society? How does Nick’s feeling of

being an outsider, colors his view of the secret society? Character and

characterization should be brought up in this essay with emphasis placed on the

characters of Daisy, Nick, Jordan, and Tom” (National Endowment for the

Humanities, 2002). They will be given 10 minutes to write this essay and place it

on the teacher’s desk.

• Closure: The closure of the lesson plan will last 10 minutes, completing the 90-

minute 11th grade American literature block period. Students will be asked to

reiterate how the themes of inclusion and exclusion are themes for characters in

The Great Gatsby with the reading they have done so far. I will walk around the

room and each student will be need to give his or her take on Nick’s feelings of

exclusion and how it affects the viewpoint from which Nick, as the narrator, gives

the backdrop to the secret society and provides background for the events that
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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
occur in the novel (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Each student

will need to identify his or her favorite character in the novel thus far and identify

how the character relates to the secret society depicted, and if he or she thinks

this is an accurate depiction of 1920’s life.

• Homework: Students will read white board which has tonight’s assignment

listed and copy this down at the end of the class period. The homework listed on

the whiteboard is to read Chapters 3 to 5 of The Great Gatsby and type a two-

page, double-spaced essay response to the question: “How are the

characteristics of the time period the ‘roaring twenties’ depicted in The Great

Gatsby so far? Do you think that Nick is impressed with Gatsby’s money and

job? What is the mystery behind Gatsby’s job, and what role has Daisy played in

his life so far?” (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Students will be

told that they will be randomly called on by me during the next class period for an

oral reading quiz; this should help to keep them on task with their reading

assignment for the evening.

• Formative Assessment: I will be asking students and volunteers to respond to

the introductory questions, and groups of students will have to fill out the “Shhh…

Secret Society” (2002) worksheet and will present this in class (National

Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Each student will be asked to write and

turn in their secret society credo essay to me after to minutes and these will be

graded to see if students paid attention during the group activity and actively

listened the class discussion on the “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) handouts

filled out by each group (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). During

the closure of the class, the themes of inclusion and exclusion will be re-iterated
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with each student being asked to respond to specific questions about Nick’s

feelings of exclusion, his or her favorite character and if that character is a part of

the secret society described, and whether Fitzgerald’s depiction of the “roaring

twenties” seems to be accurate historically (National Endowment of the

Humanities, 2002). Finally, students will need to copy down the reading

homework and will have to compose an essay based on the evening’s reading

and will be given an oral reading quiz the following block period in class.

• Summative Assessment: Students will be graded fairly and equally based on if

they fully filled out the “Shhh…Secret Society” (2002) worksheet and if the

answers were amended or changed based on class discussion (National

Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Lesson objectives will be met by students

for the secret society credo essay if they followed the descriptions in the “Shhh…

Secret Society” (2002) worksheet and tried to use good grammar in writing their

credo. Each student’s additional one-page essay on exclusion and inclusion as it

relates to the characters of Tom, Daisy, Nick, and Gatsby in the first two chapters

of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby will be graded based on appropriate grammar

being used and thoughts being well-organized with an introductory paragraph, a

few paragraphs for the body of the essay, and a concluding paragraph (National

Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). The conceptual knowledge of exclusion

versus inclusion relating to the characters in the novel will be valued more in the

grading of this lesson than the grammar on the assignment (National Endowment

for the Humanities, 2002). Finally, the homework given has the students

continuing their reading of The Great Gatsby and responding in essay format. A
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random oral quiz will be given to students the following block period on the

reading, and this is written on the board with the homework assignment.

• Grading Rubric: This is the grading rubric for the in-class essay on the themes

of exclusion and inclusion in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

• A=93-100

• B=92-89

• C=88-79

• D=78-70

• F=69-0

Students will receive an A is their grammar is excellent, their thoughts are well-

captured in compound-complex sentences, they use a five-paragraph essay

format with an introduction, body, and conclusion, and if they capture the main

ideas of exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a B if the grammar exhibited is good, their thoughts are

organized, they use a five-paragraph essay format, and they capture some of the

main concepts of exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a C if they exhibit average grammar skills with some

mistakes in usage and mechanics, if some but not all of their thoughts are

organized into paragraphs that flow well, if they use a five-paragraph essay

format, and they capture at least two relating main ideas to exclusion and

inclusion.
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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
Students will receive a D if they exhibit below-average grammar skills with many

problems in usage and mechanics, if their sentences and paragraphs are

somewhat disorganized, if they use a three-paragraph essay format, and they

capture only one relating main idea to exclusion and inclusion.

Students will receive a grade of F if their grammar is very poor with numerous

mistakes in usage and mechanics, if they use fragments instead of complete

sentences, if their paragraphs are not organized, if they do not use at least a

three-paragraph essay format, and if do not express any main ideas relating to

the themes of exclusion and inclusion.

References

Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina. (1997, January 27). Quotations. F. Scott

Fitzgerald Centenary. Retrieved from http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/quotes/quotes6.html

Bruccoli, Matthew J. (2003, December 4). A brief life of Fitzgerald. F. Scott Fitzgerald

Centenary. Retrieved from http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (2004). The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2010). Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from

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STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
http://www.merriam-webster.com/

National Endowment for the Humanities. (2002, October 4). Shh…secret society.

EDSITEment. Retrieved from

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson_images/lesson432/SecretSociety.pdf

National Endowment for the Humanities. (2002, October 4). EDSITEment. Retrieved from

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=432

Pearson Education. (2009, June). The Great Gatsby vocabulary words. TeacherVision.

Retrieved from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/vocabulary/activity/2883.html#c1

Virginia Board of Education. (2003). English standards of learning: Curriculum framework:

Grade eleven. Retrieved from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml

Virginia Board of Education. (2003). English standards of learning: Grade eleven. Retrieved

from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml

Virginia Department of Education. (2004) English standards of learning: Enhanced scope and

sequence for grades 9-12. Retrieved from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml