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
EDUC 510C
February 23, 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 11 grade C level
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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

• 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 (1974).
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

Then slide share presentations introducing F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and The Great Gatsby
(1974):

http://www.slideshare.net/silvanarojas/great-gatsby

http://www.slideshare.net/chris1an/the-great-gatsby-powerpoint-3312781

• 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
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
15. Apathetic
16. Languid
17. Imply
18. Strident
19. Deft
20. Clad
Students must look up the definitions of these words in Merriam-Webster’s
Online Dictionary (Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2010) and then use the word in a
sentence showing its meaning. Students will be encouraged to get creative and
are also allowed to provide non-examples. This will be part of their homework.
 We will go over the sentences, definitions, and non-examples as a class the
following block 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 have 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 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 11 grade American literature block period. Students will be asked to
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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
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 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
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.

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
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