Grace Anderson

Lesson Date: 3/15-3/16/2021

Grade level and Subject 11th grade; English Language Arts
Content and Standards Standard Area:
CC.1.3-Reading Literature

Standards:
CC.1.3.11-12.A: Determine and analyze the relationship between
two or more themes or central ideas of a text, including the
development and interaction of the themes; provide an objective
summary of the text.

CC.1.3.11-12.B: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to

support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences and conclusions based on and related to an author’s
implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs.

CC.1.3.11-12.D: Evaluate how an author’s point of view or purpose

shapes the content and style of a text.

CC.1.3.11-12.K: Read and comprehend literary fiction on grade

level, reading independently and proficiently.

Prerequisites Students should have prior knowledge of the historical period of

the 1920s
Students will have read chapter 9 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
Fitzgerald prior to class, finishing the book.
Essential Questions  What is significant about the last chapter of The Great
Gatsby?
 How can we interpret specific scenes from within The
Great Gatsby in order to explain why they are significant to
the greater meaning of the narrative as a whole?
 How does dialogue contribute to the theme of the novel?
 How can we identify specific symbols within The Great
Gatsby and what might they represent?

Instructional Objective At the end of this lesson students will be able to:
 Identify and analyze a minimum of 1 symbol from the last
chapter of The Great Gatsby
 Explain the importance of the ending of The Great Gatsby
and how it contributes to the overarching theme of the
novel.
  Create 2 original and thought-provoking discussion
questions based on The Great Gatsby

Instructional  Beginning of class: I will go over a brief recap of our in-class

Procedures from the previous class. We will then begin to discuss the
ending of The Great Gatsby and why it is important.

 Middle of class: For our in-class discussion of the last

chapter, I will guide the students through discussion by
asking leading questions. Some examples of questions
might be: Who attends Gatsby’s funeral? What is
significant about owl-eyes showing up? What do we find
out about Tom and Daisy in this chapter? What does
Fitzgerald think about the American dream?
The students will answer the questions verbally as an
entire group, as this is important because it is the last
chapter of the novel and everyone needs to have an
understanding of the ending.

 End of class: After our in-class discussion of chapter 9, I will

show the students the ending scenes of The Great Gatsby
film directed by Baz Luhrmann. Watching the film is a great
way to wrap up our discussion because the dialogue in the
movie is pulled directly from the novel. And really shows
the meaning of the green light as a symbol at the end. Will
also help students who are visual learners. After watching I
will then remind students that they need to create 2
original discussion questions for their Socratic seminar next
class.

Materials, Equipment,  Actively Learn (includes the book The Great Gatsby)
and Technology  Projector
 District provided laptops
 Zoom for the virtual classes
 Schoology

Assessment/Evaluation The students will be submitting their 2 original discussion

questions to a discussion board that is linked on Schoology. I will
be looking at their ability to create thought-provoking questions
that are related to the novel, in order to ensure their
understanding. I will also be using their participation in the
beginning of our in-class discussion to assess their understanding
of chapter 9.
 Individualized Activities For asynchronous homework students will be completing a
reflection worksheet and a vocab quiz that is due Sunday at 11:59
PM.

Reflection:

This lesson was more discussion based rather than activity based. The students have

been doing a lot of in-class writing activities and graphic organizers up until this point. I wanted

to take a whole class period to discuss the last chapter of the book in a more relaxed and

guided manner, and then watch the end of the movie (which is something the students really

enjoy doing as they all like the film). Taking an entire class to focus on discussion of the last

chapter is very important to ensure that they understand the events that happened and the

meaning of the book. This will also prepare them for their Socratic seminar that is occurring

later in the week.

I would say that my lesson plan definitely helped me prepare for the actual lesson itself.

Especially, writing out a few example questions prewritten. Having these questions prepared

truly helped me to guide the discussion and focus on what was important. I would say that my

expectations of how the lesson would go were pretty similar to what actually happened. There

was a little bit less participation from the students than I had hoped for, but this is common

with a first period class as it is still early in the morning and students tend to be quitter when

they are still tired.

As for modification, the only thing I would modify for future, would be having the

students participate in an exit ticket activity. I think this would have further allowed me to

assess the students understanding of our in-class discussion, aside from the 2 discussion

questions that they are creating over the weekend. Doing in-class exit activities are difficult to
do with our hybrid schedule because the online classes in the afternoon are much shorter than

the in-person classes, and they would not have time for an exit ticket.