10th Grade English Lesson Plan

Book: ​The Death of a Salesman ​ by Arthur Miller, ​02/10/1949

Grade Level: Secondary School 10th Grade

Principle 5: Motivation and Management, The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group
motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction,
active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

Principle 7: Instructional Planning Skills, The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject
matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

Objective: Students will be able to act out and display the emotions felt by the characters through a
dramatic reading of the play. (individual and group motivation)

Objective: Students will be able to identify the main theme of the play, and whether or not it fits to be
described as a tragedy. (planning level)

Objective:

P​rocedure:

1. Begin by reading the final scene and act of the book with the class, providing an auditory
recording of said scene to play for the students during the reading, and then pausing before the
final four pages to pick students to read a section of the passage before letting them pick other
students to read as well at the end of their section. Play the audio version of the book at the end of
the requiem to let students listen to the flute music that plays, then hold a discussion that covers
what message students had received when listening to the family members grieve, what they
thought about the book, and how they felt it could have ended differently.
2. Then, ask students to write down a short paragraph describing whether or not they believe ​The
Death of a Salesman​ could be considered a tragedy, and compare the book to other tragedies a
student may have read or watched in the past.
3. After collecting all of the student’s papers, ask students to look at the covers of their copies of the
book (this will be after the first lesson, where students had written down their initial thoughts of
the story by how they interpreted the cover art of the book) and ask several students whether their
assumptions about the story were right or not, and what they feel the cover of the book portrays
now that they have finished the text.
4. Then, inform students that they will now be acting out several scenes of the final act of the
play.The requiem of the play is short and all students will be expected to act out the entirety of
the final scene, and you will pick groups of four students each (adjust accordingly if not enough
students are present) to all pick their own characters out of Charley, Linda, Biff and Happy. Then,
students will do a dramatic practice reading their lines to each other in the groups. After
questioning the students if they are ready to present their dramatic rendition of the requiem scene
 of ​The Death of a Salesman​, pick the first group to raise their hands to act out the scene to the rest
of the class.
Closeure:
1. Have students individually write what they believe the main theme of the play is, and
create a bullet list of characters within the final act of the play. Students will then
describe and write out how they believe the characters felt in the requiem scene using at
least two paragraphs for each character.
2. Observe students and provide assistance when needed, but do not provide your own
opinion of the play.
Rubric:
Students answered with their own opinion whether or not they would consider ​The Death of a Salesman​ a
tragedy. 0/5
Students were able to compare the book to other tragedies the student may have known of. Students were
able to 0/5
Students were able to complete the paragraph requirement. 0/5
Tota: 0/15 points earned.

Students were able to cooperate with fellow members and participated in their initial group reading of
the final requiem scene. 0/20
Students were able to act out the final requiem scene to the class. Do not mark off for mispronouncing
words, stuttering, or being unable to maintain eye contact. This is an activity graded on
participation. 0/20
Total: 40/40.
 References

“10 Amazing Ideas for Death of a Salesman Lesson Plan.” ​Study Abroad High School​, 12

Apr. 2019, https://eduhup.com/blog/10-amazing-ideas-death-salesman-lesson-plan.

Fichandler, Zelda, and Arthur Miller. ​Death of a Salesman.​ 1976.