9th Grade English

Rationale:
During this unit 9th grade students will begin reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The
historical components of the novel align with the material being covered in students' history class
on World War II and the start of the Holocaust. I chose The Book Thief over Night by Elie Wiesel
since students read Night in a previous class. This novel also uses the perspective of many
different types of people living in Germany during this time period: a Jew, Jewish sympathizers,
children, adults in power, and people who lose their loved ones to war. The Book Thief is an
appropriate novel for the ninth grade classroom based on the maturity and style of the writing.
Death and racial discrimination are major themes within The Book Thief that will allow for open
discussions about these two topics and others.
Markus Zusak uses a lot of figurative language in his writing to evoke an emotion. Today
students will be reviewing language terms and identifying them in an excerpt from The Book
Thief. The purpose of today's lesson is to re-familiarize students with different types figurative
language and find examples within the text. The goal is to prepare students for the poetic writing
of The Book Thief and for students to independently annotate a text specifically looking at the
figurative languages and define different language terms.

Standards:
LAFS.910.L.3.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances in word meanings.
a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in context and analyze their role
in the text.
b. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
LAFS.910.SL.1.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 910 topics, texts, and
issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Objectives:
Students will be able to identify figurative language in a passage.
Students will be able to interpret the meanings of figures of speech.

Materials:
Poster paper
Markers
Grammar books- class set under desks
Computer with projector
Highlighters
"What Good are Words?" excerpt- class set

Anticipatory Set:
The students will come to class and sit in assigned seats. The teacher is greeting students and
asking them to take out their journals. During this time the teacher is also taking attendance.

Procedures:
X Time
10 Minutes
(Pre-Activity)

The students are doing

Students will take out their
journals and respond to the
prompt on the board.

After 8 minutes of writing or

less, students will do "Think,
Pair, Share" with a partner.

5 Minutes

Students will be sharing their

responses. Students should be

The teacher is doing

The teacher is giving students
a writing prompt to respond
to: "Have you ever heard the
phrase "words are power"?
Think about a time when
written or spoken words had
an impact on you. Write a few
sentences about those words,
who said or wrote them, and
how these words affected
you."
Students will be told they have
no more than 8 minutes. After
this time students will pair up
for "Think, Pair, Share".
The teacher will also share her
writing and experience. The

actively listening.

2 Minutes

10 Minutes

2 Minutes

teacher is asking students to

share. This will not exceed 5
minutes.
The teacher will ask follow up
questions for clarification or to
expanding thinking.
The students will listen to why The teacher will explain why
we did this activity and
we did this activity: A large
transition into the next one.
part of the novel, The Book
Thief, is about the power of
words. Liesel begins to steal
books and realizes the role of
words in the tragedies of her
life (i.e. Hitler).
We will also transition into the
next part of the lesson on
figurative language.
In small groups students will
The teacher will be issuing
receive a language term. These poster paper and markers to
groups will be instructed to
groups. When groups have
write the word, the definition, arranged themselves, the
and, if time permits, a visuals
teacher will provide
representation or example, of
instructions: "Your group is
the language term on a poster
going to receive a language
they will receive.
term, these are figures of
speech we have done in class.
On your poster, write the term,
the definition, and provide an
example or a picture. You have
10 minutes. Use your grammar
books to help you*"
The teacher will give each
group a term: syntax,
repetition, simile, metaphor,
and personification.
*Grammar books are under
desks.
Students will be showing the
The teacher is listening to
class their language term
groups and making corrections
poster. After they are done,
as needed. The teacher will
one member of each group
facilitate groups talking and

will hang the poster on the

board.

2 Minutes

5 Minutes

Students are listening to

instructions and receiving
materials: excerpt and
highlighters (1 per student;
each group member should
have a different color).
The students will follow along
with the teacher modeling:
underline the syntax in the
excerpt.

5 Minutes

Group members will highlight

all examples of repetition.

5 Minutes

Group members will trade

highlighters and highlight all
examples of similes,
metaphors, and
personification.

help move posters to the

board. The teacher is telling
students to remain sitting in
their groups.
The teacher will give
instructions: "You will receive
an excerpt from The Book
Thief about the importance of
words. I want you to read it to
yourself or as a group now."
The teacher will be asking
students to identify syntax in
the passage. The teacher is
underlining all of them on the
board via projector.
The teacher is instructing
students to mark the repetition
in the passage.
The teacher is instructing
students to get a different
colored highlighter and mark
the similes, metaphors, and
personification in the passage.

Closure: (last 4 minutes of class)

The class responds to the passage on the board, telling the teacher what to highlight as a group.
The teacher will identify any missing highlight or underlining. Students can also correct their
own work or add in any missing information.

Assessment:
Formal: Students will receive a participation grade for their posters and a completion grade for
their highlighting and underlining of the passage.
Informal: Informal assessment will occur when we underline and highlight together at the end of
class.

Homework:

The students will be finding a picture of a rainbow to bring to class the next day. This can be
taken from the Internet, hand drawn, or a detailed description.

Accommodations:
Student with ADHD- This student will have preferential seating and act as my door greeter and
helper.
Student with ADD and anxiety- This student sits closest to my desk. This student will receive
written instructions for each assignment before we begin. Student is also placed in a group with a
buddy.
Student with Mild-Aspergers- This student has preferred seating. Student is placed in a group
with a buddy.
LEPs- These students will receive a simplified version of the instructions and both have access to
a language dictionary under their desk.

Plan B:
If there is extra time at the end of the lesson, students may begin reading in class. If we run out
of time, students will finish lighting on their own and we will review it next class.

Attachments:

Name: ______________________

What good are the words?

Directions: Read this excerpt from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak a total of four times (the
first silently as your teacher reads aloud.) Mark the text by underlining notable syntax,
highlighting repetition in one color, and highlighting figurative language in a second color.
On Munich Street, she remembered the events of the previous week there. She saw the
Jews coming down the road, their streams and numbers and pain. She decided there was a word
missing from [the books] quote.

The world is an ugly stew, she thought Its so ugly, I cant stand it.
Liesel crossed the bridge over the Amper River. The water was glorious and emerald and rich.
She could see the stones at the bottom and hear the familiar song of water. The world did not
deserve such a river.
She scaled the hill up to Grande Strasse. The houses were lovely and loathsome. She
enjoyed the small ache in her legs and lungs. Walk harder, she thought, and she started rising,
like a monster out of the sand. She smelled the neighborhood grass. It was fresh and sweet,
green and yellow-tipped. She crossed the yard without a single turn of the head or the slightest
pause of paranoia.
The window.
Hands on the frame, scissor of the legs.
Landing feet.
Books and pages and a happy place.
She slid a book from the shelf and sat with it on the floor.
Is she home? she wondered, but she did not care if Ilsa Hermann was slicing potatoes in
the kitchen or lining up in the post office. Or standing ghost-like over the top of her, examining
what the girl was reading.
The girl simply didnt care anymore.
For a long time, she sat and saw.
She had seen her brother die with one eye open, one eye still in a dream. She had said
goodbye to her mother and imagined her lonely wait for a train back home to oblivion. A woman
of wire had laid herself down, her scream traveling the street, till it fell sideways like a rolling
coin starved of momentum. A young man was hung by a rope made of Stalingrad snow. She had
watched a bomber pilot die in a metal case. She had seen a Jewish man who had twice given her
the most beautiful pages of her life marched to a concentration camp. And at the center of all of
it, she saw the Fhrer shouting his words and passing them around.
Those images were the world, and it stewed in her as she sat with the lovely books and
their manicured titles. It brewed in her as she eyed the pages full to the brims of their bellies
with paragraphs and words.
Dont make me happy. Please dont fill me up and let me think that something good can
come of any of this. Look at my bruises. Look at this graze. Do you see the graze inside me?

Do you see it growing before your very eyes, eroding me? I dont want to hope for anything
anymore. I dont want to pray that Max is alive and safe. Or Alex Steiner.
Because the world does not deserve them.
She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half.
Then a chapter.
Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her.
The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldnt be any of this. Without
words, the Fhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or
wordly tricks to make us feel better.
What good were the words?
She said it audibly now, to the orange-lit room. What good are the words?