Jaimee Burris

Tom Marvin
English L508
24 February 2014
L390 Childrens Literature: Unit 1 Lesson Plan Winnie the Pooh
Overview
This unit is on Winnie the Pooh. As part of the historical foundations in the
childrens literature class, the main themes that will be highlighted in this unit are
the adult-child relationship, the psychologically complex child, the interactive
narrator, anthropomorphism and role playing. These aspects of the novel have both
differences and similarities with the novels we have read thus far in the semester.
As a representative text in the ongoing conversation about how societys views of
children have been shaped over the last few centuries, Winnie the Pooh represents a
time after World War I that is fraught with disillusionment, giving rise to childhood
nostalgia and the golden age of childrens literature.

Students are first asked to read the novel. A short study guide will be posted to
oncourse to guide students in their reading of the novel. Each major theme in the
study guide will have a brief bit of context relating it to texts students are familiar
with, and then follow with 2 to 3 discussion questions.

One student has chosen to do a response paper on this novel, and this will be used
as part of our discussion.

Instructor Preparation
Read the novel
Prepare study guide with low stakes critical claims on Winnie the Pooh,
providing discussion questions for some of the major themes in the novel
Prepare brief powerpoint to guide students through context and historical
setting of publication of the novel
Prepare reading quiz that will act as a low stakes writing assignment to get
students to start thinking about some of the issues that will be brought up in
discussion.
Instructional Plan
1. Introduction (make sure to introduce video is being taken, etc.) 5 min.
2. Short-response quiz 10 min.
3. Begin with context Powerpoint, pointing to similarities/differences from
other voyage and return narratives read so far in the semester (Alice in
Wonderland, Peter Pan, Shockheaded Peter) 10 min.
4. Begin with first reactions to Winnie the Pooh. Discuss interactive narrator,
childhood nostalgia, orality. See study guide for discussion questions. 20 min.
5. Allow student who wrote response paper to explain his/her argument and
present ideas drawn from book. Feedback from class on ideas, argument, etc.
10 min.
6. Proceed with discussion on realism and role playing by splitting into groups.
Each group will get a character. Every group will choose one or two passages
that best describe that characters role in Christopher Robins construction of
an imaginary community. After each character is shared with group, proceed
with discussion on the psychologically complex child. See Study guide for
discussion questions. (20 min.)
Student Assessment/Reflections
Informally assess learning by taking notes on who is participating and flow of
discussion
Informally assess students individually by noting what they draw from their
characters in the presentation activity
Short response quiz will demonstrate their ability to link this text with others
in the semester and draw on bigger concepts in the ongoing conversation of
defining childrens literature and its tropes.