Lesson Plans
Discovering Our Sense of “Place” Through Eudora Welty’s Fiction
and
Margaret Walker’s Poetry
English 10
Tarasa R. Brierly
I.
Introduction:
During this four-week unit
plan, students will discuss and discover the meaning of “place” in literature.
Specifically, they will explore the work of two of Jackson’s most prominent
writers, Eudora Welty and Margaret Walker. Through close examination of
readings and through writing projects, students will consider their own ideas
about place.
The teacher will help students to humanize writers and their works through activities including discussion, film, music, photography, news media, use of archive documents, and role play.
City, and by extension, state and U.S. history and culture will also play a role in this lesson as students make connections between historical events such as Medgar Ever’s murder and the literature and opinions of Welty and Walker.
Throughout
the lessons, students will practice their skills in reading comprehension
(fiction, poetry, non-fiction), will develop creative and expository writing
skills, and will interpret the historical and cultural history of the area.
Students
should already have a working knowledge of literary terms and devices.
Grammar will be, for the most part, integrated into
writing assignments for this unit. However, daily grammar warm-ups or bell work
will continue in order to keep students in practice. Additional grammar
assignments may be supplemented as needed.
II.
Daily Lesson Plans:
(PART ONE: EUDORA WELTY)
DAY
ONE:
Objectives- Students will…
1.
Recognize
the meaning and importance of sense of place (specifically
Jackson)
2. Recall and apply details
from previous readings
3. Use a graphic organizer to
make an oral presentation
1. The teacher will
introduce “place” using quotations and leading questions.
2.
The
students will recall “places” from former class readings and discuss
them.
3.
Students
will sketch one important “place” for them and then describe and share
orally.
Evaluation-
daily grade for presentation
DAY
TWO:
1. Recognize similarities
and differences in point of view.
2. Listen to comprehend
facts
4.
Interpret
facts and ideas from Welty’s life as described in One Writer’s
Beginnings and interviews from Conversations
With Eudora Welty.
4. Compose a narrative
including dialogue.
1. The teacher will very
briefly describe Welty.
2. Students will remember
Richard Wright’s Jackson and judge how Welty’s Jackson might differ using
introductory knowledge.
3. The teacher will better
familiarize students with Welty by
a.
reading/paraphrasing excerpts from autobiography
b. circulating photographs of Welty, her family and home.
c. Having pairs of students
perform selected excerpts from interviews
or. viewing interviews on video
4. HOMEWORK: Students will compose a narrative with
a thesis, body and conclusion which describes a scene in which Wright and Welty
meet and have a conversation.
Materials- board, One Writer’s Beginnings, and
Conversations with Eudora
Welty.
Evaluation- Narrative=2 daily grades (mechanics and
content), unit test
*Previous Knowledge: Richard
Wright
DAY
THREE:
1. Publish assignments through presentation.
2. Consider how culture is a part of place.
3. Appreciate tone in fine art.
4. Understand expectations for upcoming project.
1. A few volunteers will read narratives.
2. The teacher will ask what culture is and how it
is a part of place (in
Jackson).
3. The teacher will display photography (including
Welty’s) and other art which is overtly cultural and students will write a
journal entry on one photo’s tone.
4. The teacher will distribute project requirements
from which students may choose, including oral interview, book of “cultural”
photography with captions.
Materials- art books, to include Welty’s One
Time, One Place, hand-outs
Evaluation-Observation
*Previous
knowledge: tone
DAY
FOUR:
1. Read for plot and theme.
2. Interpret and appreciate the dialect of a story.
1. Read aloud or listen to audiocassette of “The
Demonstrators”
Materials- story, cassette and player (optional)
Evaluation- observation, unit test
*previous
knowledge: plot, theme, dialect
DAY
FIVE:
1. Read for plot, characterization, and theme.
2. Interpret and appreciate the dialect of a story.
3. Recognize bias, fact, and opinion in a piece of
writing.
4. Compose an article avoiding bias and opinion.
1.
Read
aloud or listen to audiocassette (teacher recorded) of “The
Demonstrators”
2.
Discuss
story using guiding questions and reader response
HOMEWORK: Rewrite the newspaper write-up in the story in an
Objective way.
3.
Materials-
story, cassette and cassette player (optional)
Evaluation- observation, unit test, article=daily grade
*previous
knowledge of terms: bias, fact, opinion
DAY
SIX:
1. Enjoy a movie based on one of Welty’s novels
2. Recognize the importance of place in the film
3. Know characters, plots, setting, and theme(s).
1. Students will view The Ponder Heart.
2. Students will complete viewing guide including a
character chart, timeline, mapping
activity, etc. to demonstrate critical viewing of movie.
Materials- film: The Ponder Heart, viewing
guide, pencil
Evaluation- daily grade for viewing guide, unit test
DAY
SEVEN:
1. Enjoy a movie based on one of Welty’s novels
2. Recognize the importance of “place” in the film
3. Know characters, plots, setting, and theme(s).
1. Students will view The Ponder Heart.
2. Students will complete viewing guide including a
character chart, timeline, mapping activity, etc. to demonstrate critical
viewing of movie.
Materials- film: The Ponder Heart, viewing
guide, pencil
Evaluation- daily grade for viewing guide, unit test
DAY
EIGHT:
1. Understand political part of “place” (history)
2. Listen and know facts about Medgar Evers’ life and
death
3. Interpret newspaper and magazine articles,
speeches and documents from archives (copied by teacher).
4. Synthesize information
1.
The
teacher will lead a discussion of the political aspects of a place
(Jackson).
2. The teacher will lecture on Medgar Evers’ life
and death.
3. Students will make use of one source, read it and
respond to it in journal.
Materials-articles about life and death of Evers,
pencils, journals
Evaluation- journals
DAY
NINE:
1. Understand and appreciate Welty’s fiction
2. Recognize point of view, purpose, and tone
1. The teacher will introduce the story and explain
its historical context. The teacher may also explain how and why Welty changed
the names and places in the story (as seen in archives) and students may wish
to make notes on their copies i.e. Deacon Street=Farish Street,
Thermopolae=Jackson. What clues suggest it is Jackson?
2. Students will read “Where is the Voice Coming
From?” silently and take notes and paying close attention to the terms on the
board: p.o.v., purpose, tone.
3. The teacher will ask students to discuss
a. story
b.
three terms
c. politics surrounding
story
Materials- “Where is the Voice Coming From?”, paper,
pencil
Evaluation-observation, unit test
DAY
TEN:
This
day will be reserved for either
A. Summary and presentation of projects or
B. A trip to the home of Medgar Evers and driving
tour of historical sights in
Jackson
(PART TWO: MARGARET WALKER)
DAY
ELEVEN:
1. Interpret facts and ideas about Walker’s life and
sense of place.
2. Appreciate a poem about “place”
3. Express sense of place through creative writing
1.
The
teacher will introduce Walker and show movie about her; students take notes
2.
Students will listen to and analyze the poem
“Jackson”
3. Students will write and illustrate their own
Jackson poems
Materials-movie, T.V., V.C.R., “Jackson”, colored
paper, markers
Evaluation- daily grade for poem
DAY TWELVE:
1. Discover the meaning of place in poetry about
Jackson
2. Identify stylistic and figurative devices in
poetry about Jackson
3. Imagine or visualize the past through the reading
of poems about Jackson
4. Create a class quilt
1.
Students
will read aloud from “Farish Street” Poems and discuss with
teacher
guidance
2.
The teacher will ask students to identify
stylistic and figurative devices in
poems
3.
Specifically,
students will talk about quilt motif and be given quilt project requirement
Materials-poetry, board, art materials (for project
at home)
Evaluation-observation, daily grade for quilt
DAY
THIRTEEN:
1. Further apply politics to sense of “place”
2. Enjoy and analyze historical/political poetry
(irony)
3. Understand magazine article about event related
to poems
1. Students will read “Street Demonstration”, “Girl
Held Without Bail”, and “Sit-ins” aloud and discuss meaning and style as class with teacher guidance
2. Students will read related magazine articles and
take a quiz on it
Materials-poems on transparencies, overhead
projector, copies of magazine articles, quiz, pencils
Evaluation-quiz=daily grade, observation
DAY
FOURTEEN:
1. Recall details about Medgar Evers
2. Further apply politics to sense of “place”
3. Enjoy and analyze historical/political poetry
4. Understand a newspaper article related to event
and interpret any bias
5. Read a poem for meaning and stylistic and
figurative devices
1. Students will read “Michah”, “Medgar Evers”, and
“Jackson State University May 15, 1970” aloud.
2. The teacher will ask the students questions about
meaning and style.
3. Students will read a newspaper article about the
shooting at JSU and reflect on it in their journal.
4. HOMEWORK: Students will read one of Walker’s six
poems about historical figures and answer five brief questions.
Materials- poems, newspaper article (copies),
journal, pencil.
DAY
FIFTEEN:
1. Work in groups to further understand poems about
place
2. Work in groups to research a historical figure
3. Create and make a short presentation with a
visual aid
4. Take good notes
1.
In
six small groups, students will re-read and discuss poems together,
sharing
ideas.
2. Using supplemental materials provided by the
teacher, students will research the
person who is the subject of their poem.
3. Students will produce a short presentation with a
visual aid.
4. Students will take notes on presentations
5. Students will complete a “pop quiz” for homework
and use notes to
complete
it.
Materials-poems, paper, pencils, markers,
construction paper, glue, etc. for visual aids
Evaluation-quiz=daily grade, presentation=daily
grade
DAY
SIXTEEN:
1. Read poetry for tone and theme
2. Evaluate Walker’s ideas about her “place”
3. Analyze poetry through informative writing
Procedures-
1. Students will read poems “Litany For Black People” and “For My People”
silently and then selected students will read poems aloud.
2. Students will discuss poems’ themes
3. Students will create individual explications of
one of the two poems.
Materials- poems on transparencies, overhead
projector, paper, pencil.
DAY
SEVENTEEN:
1. Humanize an author or historical figure as
portrayed in writings studied
2. Write a dialogue between two of these people
based on facts and inferences
1. The teacher will pass around a box with several names
of figures in it for students to select from.
2. Using a provided worksheet as a guide, students
will
a.
make
notes from memory and/or research materials on their person
and begin to develop
plans for “becoming” that person at the
“symposium”.
b.
pair
up with at least one other student to create one short dialogue
between your two characters.
c.
brainstorm for ad lib conversations and question/answers
3. HOMEWORK: plan and devise simple costumes
Materials- worksheet, pencils, possibly research
materials, costumes
Evaluation-worksheet=daily grade
DAY
EIGHTEEN:
1. Humanize an author or historical figure as
portrayed in writings studied
2. Use cultural vocabulary/dialect
3. Make creative, accurate oral presentations of
chosen “person”
4. Further reflect on “place”
1. The teacher will host a symposium of many “great
minds” Topic: “Place”
2. Students will ask one another questions and interact
in character for the entire class period.
2.
Students
will also make some attempt to dress or somehow look like their
“person”
Materials-costumes, desks, video camera for
recording
Evaluation-daily grade on performance
DAY
NINETEEN:
Review
for unit test using review games such as jeopardy
DAY
TWENTY:
Unit
Test
III.
Project Descriptions
A. For the end of the Welty portion of the unit
students should choose between
1. An
oral history/interview of an older family member, neighbor, etc.
This should be at least one
typed page and questions should somehow deal with “place.” Students may want to use a tape recorder to make
their task easier,
2. Students should take at
least twelve photographs capturing what “place” is to them and provide a caption
in sentence form for each. These should be collected in a book of some sort.
3.
Student suggested, teacher approved project
B. For the Walker section of unit students should
create one piece of a class quilt. This can be done on construction or manila
paper and be approximately 8” square. These pieces may be visual designs, they
may show an event or story, they may portray a person or character, the options
are truly endless. The quilt piece should somehow say something about the
student and/or Jackson.
IV. Writing Assignments:
A. Narrative Essay will be graded according to the
MS state test rubric with the additional requirement that both Wright and Welty
act believably according to each’s social position in Jackson.
B. Newspaper article will be graded for the grammar
requirements outlines in MS state test rubric and must also be factual, free of
bias, and in third person throughout.
C. Explication of poem will be graded using the MS
state test rubric and will highlight at least three poetic devices used in
addition to theme, tone, point-of-view, and subject.
D. Journals will be given a 0-5, one point being
assigned for:
Being on topic, thesis, completeness, coherence, and
individuality (the student
showing genuine thought and not restating what has
been said before.) Grammar/
mechanics are not graded on journals. Average of
journal scores per term will be converted to letter grade and will count as one
test.