I have to do a five minute presentation tomorrow (Dear God please let me be coherent) and I plan to do one minute of introduction and then have them prewrite for two minutes and then we will discuss the results as a group. This is the overall lesson plan that I will be turning in. It will be one of the last lessons as we cover Hamlet which will be the last play in a larger unit focusing on tragedy. The point of this lesson plan is how do we integrate health topics into general subject matter teaching. My topic is suicide. (That’s obvious awfully fast.)
Daily Lesson Plan Form
Subject: English
Grade Level: 11
Skill or Concept: The students will be working on the ability to do short, timed writing assignments; also, the class will be examining suicide and analyzing it’s value as a tragic circumstance especially using the example of Hamlet’s Ophelia.
Standards Addressed: (Health) Expectation 1: Mental Health. Strategies for coping with and overcoming feeling of depression and suicidal urges.
(Reading) 3.1 Analyze characteristics of subgenres (e.g., satire, parody, allegory, pastoral) that are used in poetry, prose, plays, novels, short stories, essays, and other basic genres.
Materials Needed: Paper and pen.
Tasks Before Class: The class will have finished Hamlet.
Learning Objectives: TSWBAT: write a coherent essay in approximately 43 minutes that is distinctively in their voice and well organized via the Toulman system.
Step 1- Introduction Expected Minutes: 2 minutes
Welcome class and let them know that they will be working individually today.
Step 2- Instruction Expected Minutes: 5 minutes
trag·ic
1. Relating to or characteristic of dramatic tragedy or tragedies: tragic plays; the tragic hero.
2. Writing or performing in tragedy: a tragic poet.
3. Having the elements of tragedy; involving death, grief, or destruction: a tragic accident.
sad
1. Affected or characterized by sorrow or unhappiness.
2. Expressive of sorrow or unhappiness.
3. Causing sorrow or gloom; depressing: a sad movie; sad news.
4. Deplorable; sorry: a sad state of affairs; a sad excuse.
5. Dark-hued; somber.
Today we will be going back to Act 4 Scene 7 to where Ophelia commits suicide. You will all recall that I told you we would be coming back to this. Today we will do a little bit of discussion and then we will work on short timed response essays. You remember, those essays you need to be able to crank out for exams? First we will brainstorm individually, then discuss it as a group to help you get your ideas together.
Was Olivia’s suicide tragic or was it sad? Do you all think that her response is something that would happen if the play was set in modern times? The CDC says that 12% of deaths of people between the ages of 10 and 24 are from suicide. That seems to show that in the modern day Ophelia might have responded this way. Questions for quick write: Tell me if Ophelia would still react this way in modern culture. If Ophelia felt like she was suicidal, what could she have done to deal with those feelings. Do you think that the people around Ophelia would still behave the same way in modern culture? Why was Ophelia willing to commit suicide and Hamlet wasn’t?
You have two minutes to quick write and then we will talk about it for two minutes. Then you will have the rest of the period to do an outline and a coherent essay. Everything will be turned in as you leave the class.
Step 3- Guided Practice Expected Minutes: 47 minutes
Quick write, discussion, silent working on papers.
Step 4- Closure Expected Minutes: 2
Thank them for their cooperation and remind them that they need to turn in their Word Master Paragraphs the following day.
Step 5- Independent Practice; Assessment Expected Minutes:
Assessment will be an evaluation of the papers they produced. For this assignment I will be looking at voice and organization.
Resources:
http://www.yellowribbon.org
http://www.save.org
http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/shpps/factsheets/pdf/suicide.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdfs/trends-suicide.pdf
Suicide Prevention of the Central Coast
Santa Cruz County: (831) 458-5300 or Toll Free 1 (877) 663-5433
Monterey County: (831) 649-8008 or Toll Free 1 (877) 663-5433
(I need a better “school” icon. And to echo the theme that came up a few weeks ago I want to announce that I put this lesson plan together WHILE SUFFERING FROM MONO. Either you get that reference or you don’t. 🙂
“Was Olivia’s suicide tragic or was it sad?” – Who’s Olivia?
doh! thank you soooooooooooo much!
You’re welcome. 🙂
Overall an excellent lesson plan, just reading that got me thinking and automatically wanting to write up essays to answer all those questions. Then I remember, oh, yeah, I’m supposed to be working…
If I were in your class I would think that this is a very cool class day…
I like the 2 minute write up and then discuss…*it will lead to a better over all essay…*I believe.
Kids are really intimidated by the idea of organizing an essay and timed essays are *terrifying* to most kids. I think that having other people say stuff out loud will help kids get their thoughts organized and let them feel that really, they are on the right track! 🙂 This lesson plan is for fairly late in the year. Earlier in the year we will have more time to talk about it and less time for the actual essay. I will be moving them towards being able to write an essay on their own cold.
I think it’s fantastic…and on one of my favorite subjects, too!
I like how the questions might make people think about various changing roles in society.
What’s the Toulman System?
It’s just a fancy way of saying the logical way to write a paper. Toulman was a guy who started formally teaching that in each body paragraph you need to have a topic sentence, then a claim, then evidence/a reason to support your claim. It really isn’t anything special.
I catch the reference. It sucked when I had to drop two courses because I basically slept for two weeks…