Wednesday

This lesson takes students into the heart of the book, where understanding is necessary for them to truly comprehend its significance. What is greed? How is it different from ambition and addiction? How can one evaluate differences or degrees of greed? How does it compare to self-centeredness? How does it compare to other-centeredness? Which characters are greedy? Do any characters resist greed and choose to be other-centered? Students will warm up with reflective questions about greed. The class will then follow a teacher-led discussion about the questions above, defining the terms. The class will briefly explore the Langston Hughes poem, I Dream a World. The words to the poem will be in the packet. On the screen the poem will be recited accompanied by music. The students will work within their assigned groups to fill in their charts with data and conclusions about the characters from the book, and with citations from the book supporting the students’ conclusions. This lesson is a quality collaborative, student-led exploration of themes in the book. It also encourages students to begin to systematically explore the text for statements which will support the summative assessment, as each student must document his or her work, whether Artisan or Scholar. The teacher must be ready to support a Clan whose leader or Clan members need aid in research or in cooperating as group members.

Curriculum Standards Addressed

MCPS 8^th Grade ELA Honors Inclusion

Indicator

3. Analyze and evaluate elements of narrative texts to facilitate understanding and interpretation

Objectives

4. Analyze characterization

Assessment limits:

Character's traits based on what character says, does, and thinks and what other characters or the narrator says

Character's motivations

Character's personal growth and development

Indicator

4. Analyze and evaluate elements of poetry to facilitate understanding and interpretation

Indicator

6. Analyze and interpret important ideas and messages in literary texts

Objective

4. Reflect on and explain personal connections to the text

Assessment limits: Connections between personal experiences and the theme or main ideas

5. Explain the implications of the text for the reader and/or society

Assessment limits: Ideas and issues of a text that may have implications for the reader

Indicator

7. Locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose

Objectives

3. Use a systematic process for recording, documenting, and organizing this information 4. Synthesize information from two or more sources to fulfill a self-selected or given purpose

5. Use a recognized format to credit sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism

NCTE-Standards

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Objectives

• • The student will derive evidence to support an understanding of themes through reflection, watching video and PowerPoint, and through small group interaction.

  • The student will begin to explore the new poem by watching and listening to the musical video version and reading along with it.

  • The student will build an understanding of universal themes between texts.

  • The student will extend the understanding of the Epic Hero and poetry to an understanding of faults within heroes and others, and the importance of resisting the faults.

  • The student will participate in small group (Clan) discussion.

  • The student will associate plot features and elements of the poem with the positive and negative traits of the characters in the book.

  • The student will work with those of other racial, cultural, and interest groups to accomplish the purpose of the Clan.

  • The student will cooperate in the class and Clan activities, and will help others willingly.

Materials

• • The Hobbit Text

  • Highlighters

  • Student Reflective Journals

  • Writing Utensils

  • PowerPoint Slides

  • Promethean Board

• Project Packet

Proactive Behavior Management

Please refer to Unit Plan Header under “Proactive Behavior Management.”

Provisions for Student Grouping:

Please refer to Unit Plan Header under “Provisions for Student Grouping.”

Procedures

Students have handouts; extra copies of today’s page must be requested. Warm-up and small group procedures are established.

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

The warm-up is a series of three questions about greed, including a reflective question about personal greed. The warm-up is on the first PowerPoint slide, before the Hobbit Day 3 introduction.

Motivator/Bridge (8 minutes)

a) Review prior learning.

The teacher will go over the previous night’s reading to ensure that the students understand it. We will discuss greed in the context of the homework and the warm-up.

b) Tie new learning into students’ prior knowledge.

Students know that the motivation for the journey was the gold of the dragon, Smaug. They know the attitude of the dwarfs and some of the characters. The new knowledge will be tied to that. Tie greed and the other attributes into the homework. The poem introduces the concept of the world without greed and cultural animosity, which we will tie into the previous day’s mention of the cultures and the poem.

c) State the goal(s) and objective(s) for the lesson.

Students will see these objectives as a part of the class introduction on the Promethean Board:

• • Define terms: greed, ambition, addiction, self-centeredness, other-centeredness

  • Identify the motivations and actions of characters in The Hobbit which demonstrate these characteristics

  • Work well with your Clan to find the answers and evidence

  • Use your strategy Making Connections

The PowerPoint presentation continues, showing the day’s objectives and linking the theme and the character groupings of Middle Earth. The poem is introduced in the presentation, in both word and song.

Procedural Activities

Take attendance and take care of any problems during Warm-up.

Model for Teaching: