In this lesson, students will continue to study Swift’s famous essay “A Modest Proposal.” Why did Swift write the essay as he did?
Students read and discuss “The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse”—a gentler type of satire, known as Horatian. Then they create concrete details to modernize the story.
In this lesson, students will study voice in the comedy of a contemporary satirist, this time in the comic’s writing. Then students will look at their own voice in a piece of writing.
In this lesson, students will start to think about the satirical videos they will create to end this unit. Students will sort through all the satirical pieces and videos they have considered and use them as a springboard for their own ideas.
In this lesson, students will continue to look at Seinfeld’s use of the word really and how its use is satirical. Students will also begin to create a basic plotline for their groups’ satirical video.
In this lesson, students finalize their storyboards with some peer advice from classmates. Students can also ask the teacher for help to revise their plans to sharpen their satire. Students begin to video-record their satires.
In our lives, we are constantly telling stories to ourselves and to others in an attempt to both understand our experiences and present our best selves to others. But how do we tell a story about ourselves that is both true and positive? How do we hold ourselves up in the best possible light, while still being honest about our struggles and our flaws? Students will explore ways of interpreting and portraying personal experiences. They'll read Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart , analyzing the text through the eyes of one character. They'll get to know that character's flaws and strengths, and they'll tell part of the story from that character's perspective, doing their best to tell an honest tale that presents their character's best side. Then they'll explore their own stories, crafting a personal narrative about an important moment of learning in his or her life.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Students read and analyze Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , viewing the events and conflicts of the novel through the eyes of one of the central characters.
Students write a two-part narrative project: one narrative told through their character’s perspective and one personal narrative about an incident in their own life.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.
How do our conflicts shape and show our character?
How can we tell a story about ourselves that’s both honest and positive?
How do definitions of justice change depending on the culture you live in?
What are ways individuals can react to a changing world? To a community that doesn’t accept us?
BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read
During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.
In this lesson, students will take the time to share their strongest work and to celebrate the writing of themselves and their classmates.
In this lesson, students will work to finish the revision of their personal narrative.
Contains plans for three lessons that use the popular television show "The Simpsons" to teach about satire and satirical techniques. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities. RL.11-12.6 Irony/Satire/etc
The text of Juvenal's Satire in English.
The text of Juvenal's Satire VI.
From the PBS series, "Culture Shock," this teaching guide deals with the controversies that have surrounded the teaching of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The guide is designed to help teachers find reasonable approaches to teaching about this controversy. It can also be used to encourage students to examine and understand the relationship between the arts and controversial subjects, as well as studying "Huck Finn" in more depth.
This site provides a literary analysis of Aldous Huxley's book "Brave New World". Check it out.W.9-10.9a Analysis, W.11-12.9a
This Cambridge History of English and American Literature entry is part two in a discussion of the life and work of John Skelton leading up to his poem "Phyllyp Sparowe."
An excellent source for this text, this site has a side-by-side translation into English accompanying the Latin. This site also includes hyperlinks to various subjects in the English to help understand the writing. An invaluable site!This page was created by Ann Raia of The College of New Rochelle.
Simple and compound machines are designed to make work easier. When we encounter a machine that does not fit this understanding, the so-called machine seems absurd. In this lesson, the cartoons of Rube Goldberg are introduced and engage the students in critical thinking about the way his inventions make a simple task even harder to complete. As the final lesson in the simple machines unit, the study of Rube Goldberg machines can help students evaluate the importance and usefulness of the many machines around them.
A good definition of satire, with links to related definitions and literary terms.
Jonathan Swift's 1729 pamphlet "A Modest Proposal" is a model for satirizing social problems. In this lesson, students complete multiple readings of Swiftĺĺs essay: a guided reading with the teacher, a collaborative reading with a peer, and an independent reading. The online Notetaker tool helps students restate key ideas from Swift's essay as they read and elaborate upon these ideas postreading. After independent reading, pairs of students develop a mock television newscast or editorial script, like those found on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update," The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or The Colbert Report, including appropriate visual images in PowerPoint.
This is a scholarly survey of Early Tudor literature by David Carlson, University of Ottawa.