Lesson Plan #2: Silent Scene with The Crucible

UTL 640E Your Name: Jimmy Elms

Amanda Pfeiffer/JBHS English III Academic/11th
Date: 10/12/18 Teach(es) # 2&3
Class Period & Time: 1st & 3rd period – 9:00 am & 1:18pm
Note: Reflections 1 and 2 are due within 72 hours of teaches 3 and 6, respectively. Reflection 3 is due within 7 days
of the final teach.

Lesson Frame:
Objective(s)
- Today, we will read through part of Act I of The Crucible as a class, discussing
the idea of characterization and how it is enhanced or possibly distorted
through a playwright’s use of stage directions.

Companion Concluding Task(s)

- I will create a silent scene for which I will write stage directions describing
the bedroom of one of the characters seen in Act 1 of The Crucible and the
character doing at least three character-like actions.

Unit Connection—Enduring Understanding(s) & Essential Question(s):

*EQ the whole course year: What is the true America? What is the true American?
o Stage directions help playwrights to develop a character’s personality in explicit and
unique ways, providing the reader with a better idea of the physical movement,
appearance, and personality traits of characters.
- F: What is the difference between direct and indirect characterization?
- C: To what extent are stage directions useful?

TEKS/SEs Addressed in the Lesson:

110.33. English Language Arts and Reading, English III
(5) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences
and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from
text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

(B) analyze how authors develop complex yet believable characters in works of fiction
through a range of literary devices, including character foils;

(4) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Drama. Students understand, make inferences

and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of drama and provide evidence from
text to support their understanding. Students are expected to explain how dramatic
conventions (e.g., monologues, soliloquies, dramatic irony) enhance dramatic text.
Resources/Materials:
A. “TO DO” before the day of the lesson:
o Make slides for lesson objective
o Print out direct vs. indirect characterization handout for all students (just the first page)
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson800/Characterizati
on.pdf (x30)
o Put this engagement video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-oOI0feOVo) into a
slide
o Create a slide showing the questions that students need to keep in mind while writing

B. For the lesson itself:

o Bring extra notebook paper
o Pull up lesson objective for students to be able to see with video and questions slide
after it.
o Bring direct vs. indirect characterization handouts
o Make sure “doc cam” is working in case I want to use it to show my examples of direct
and indirect characterization.

Steps in Lesson:
ENGAGEMENT— 3 minutes (Total Time Teaching: 57 minutes)
What the TEACHER will do / say— What the STUDENTS will do—
o Teacher will play a video for students o Students will try to guess which Disney
that has zoomed in pictures of Disney character is being shown while the
characters and asks the students to zoomed in picture is still on screen.
guess which characters they are.
o The video then shows which character it
actually was.

STATE THE “WE WILL” OBJECTIVE following the engagement.

ACTIVE LEARNING— 52 minutes
What the TEACHER will do / say— What the STUDENTS will do / may ask—
Explore- 35 minutes
o The teacher will ask students what they
know about characterization. o Possible responses:
o Teacher will ask two students to share. - Has to do with characters
o Teacher will explain that characterization - What the character is like
is the process by which the author reveals
the personality of a character.
o Teacher will explain that the author helps
take the characters from zoomed-in and
blurry (as in the engagement activity) to of
a high resolution allowing the reader to
better understand the character.
o Teacher will then hand out the direct vs. o Students will individually read over the
indirect characterization handout and characterization handout.
briefly explain what the difference is to
the students, letting them read over the
handout themselves for the most part.
o Teacher will tell students to be thinking
about this and writing down the line
numbers of direct and indirect
characterization examples as they read
the first part of The Crucible.
o Teacher will then ask students to open o Students will open textbooks to The Crucible
their textbooks to The Crucible and ask for and some will volunteer for different
volunteers to read as the different characters.
characters.
o As students read, teacher will stop o Students will read the play/ listen to others
occasionally to ask student what their read.
thoughts are on different characters seen
in the first part of the play. Questions such o Students will answer questions about the
as the following: characters.
- Do we trust Abigail? o Possible responses:
- What’s wrong with Betty? - No, she’s crazy
- Why would the girls try to avoid - She’s had a seizure
punishment given what you know about - She can’t move.
their society? - Because they would get in trouble.

Explain- 4 minutes
o Teacher will ask students to identify one
example of direct characterization and
one example of indirect characterization in
The Crucible.
o Students will individually identify one
example of direct characterization and
one example of indirect characterization.
o Students will check their examples with
a partner, making sure that they
o Teacher will have students discuss with a understand the difference between the
partner what they found, having the two.
partner check to make sure that they have
correctly identified direct and indirect
characterization. o A couple of students will provide
o Teacher will then ask for one example of examples of direct and indirect
each. characterization.
o Be ready to also share an example of each
type of characterization from your copy of
the play.
Apply- 10 minutes
o Teacher will point out the presence of
direct characterization in the stage
direction—some of the only sections in
the play in which the playwright is able to
speak directly to the reader. o Students will provide an example as to
o Teacher will ask students what they what they believe stage directions are
believe the use of stage directions is. used for.
o Teacher will explain that stage directions o Possible responses:
allow a playwright to add details about a - They are used to describe the setting.
character that is unable to be given - They are used to say what the people are
through the dialogue alone. For example, physically doing.
we see the direct characterization o Students will answer the question about
examples in the stage directions a lot. how the play would be different without
o Ask: How would the play be different if the stage directions.
stage directions weren’t there? o Possible responses:
o Teacher will have students get out a piece - We wouldn’t know where they are.
of notebook paper, giving a piece to those - We wouldn’t know what they are doing
who don’t have their own. physically.
o Teacher will tell students that this will be
taken up for a grade. o Students will get out a piece of notebook
o Teacher will have students write a “silent paper or ask for one from the teacher.
scene” that has the following details: o Students will write a silent scene that
- one of the following characters include the requirements given by the
(Spiderman, Elsa, and Harry Potter) teacher.
- students will have characters perform 2
actions in their directions
- students will include a description of the
setting as well
- students will make sure that the actions of
the character and the setting are used to
characterize the character. How do they
know these characters and how is their
characters similar to these?
o Teacher will tell students to be thinking
about how their character is represented o Students will share their work with their
in their stage directions, if their shoulder partner, also discussing the
representation aligns with how they are
 portrayed in their movies/novels, and how questions they were told to think about
the medium of stage directions helps a before writing.
reader access the personality of the
character.
Evaluate- 3 minutes
o After students are done, teacher will o Students will provide an answer to these
ask students to share their work or at questions.
least a section of it with their shoulder Possible responses:
partner. - Mine aligns because they are both crazy
o Teacher will ask them to also discuss - Mine aligns because they both are religious
the questions that they were told to
be thinking about. Possible responses:
o Teacher will ask for volunteers to - The stage directions helped me physically
explain how aligned their characters describe the character.
with the original characters and why. -
o Teacher will then ask for volunteers to
say how stage directions helped or
possibly hindered their ability to
describe the character’s personality

CLOSURE— 2 minutes
What the TEACHER will do / say— What the STUDENTS will do—
o The teacher will pass out slips of paper that o Students will fill out the exit ticket according
have on it a square, a circle, and a triangle. to the teacher’s instructions.
o Teacher will tell students to in the square o Students will give exit ticket to the teacher
put something that they’re square with from on their way out of the room.
this lesson, in the circle a question that they
still have, and in the triangle something they
would have changed from the lesson about
the structure or his or her performance.

*The concluding task, enabling students to execute the “I will” statement, will either fall within
‘apply/elaborate’ or ‘evaluate’ phase of active learning or function as the closure activity, depending.

Modifications/Differentiation Strategies:
o I will be following all IEPs.
o Students will have the text in front of them and be able to hear it audibly.
o I will provide instructions and questions to think about verbally and through a slide
presentation.
Evaluation Strategies:
o I will take up the stage directions written by the students, making sure that they have 3
actions included.
o Also, I will be evaluating to what degree the students took into account the questions I told
them to think about (how is this character aligning with Arthur Miller’s character, how can
stage directions help readers access a character’s personality in a unique way). I will see if
their writing reflects their understanding of these concepts.
Notes/Recommendations for next time:
o TBD
 Outline for Lesson 2

1. Independent Reading Workshop

2. Engagement activity

a. Play video

3. Characterization talk
a. What do you currently know about characterization?
1. Ask two students to share.
2. Characterization- the process by which the
author reveals the personality of a character.

4. Explain that the author helps take the characters from zoomed-in
and blurry (as in the engagement activity) to of a high resolution
allowing the reader to better understand the character.

5. Hand out the direct vs. indirect characterization handout and

briefly explain what the difference is to the students, letting them
read over the handout themselves for the most part.

6. Tell students to be thinking about this and writing down the line
numbers of direct and indirect characterization examples.

7. Read The Crucible, Act I. Ask for volunteers.

8. Questions about reading in book.

9. Find one example of direct and indirect characterization.

a. Talk with a partner and see if they think that you have
correctly identified each of these.
 b. One person to share
c. Share my own examples.

10. Use my own examples to show how direct characterization

ends up in stage directions a lot of time
i. Make sure students understand that direct
characterization is not exclusively found in state
directions
ii. Stage directions are unique because they are some of
the only times in the play when the playwright is
speaking directly to the audience. Other times it is
through the characters. A narrator that exists in our
universe.
11. Ask: How would the play be different if there were no stage
directions?

12. Tell students to take out a piece of paper AND that this is for
a grade and will be picked up.

13. Show instruction slide for silent scene.

14. Have students work.

15. Have them share with a partner.

16. Ask: How did stage directions help or hinder your ability to
characterize your character?

17. Pass out exit tickets an explain instructions.