Heading : Annotations in red

This lesson was a continuation of what we did last week (Thursday) so part of me was
worried that the three days off would make the students less likely to be able to pick up
where they left off. Unfortunately, this ended up being the case which is why the timing
for this lesson ending up changing. Students needed more time to go over what we had
done last week and they wanted clarification on the upcoming assignments.
Cristina Paluch
English, 8th grade
Monday, November 2, 2015
Period 2
48 minutes
Analyzing The Cask of Amontillado
Overview/Rationale
This lesson will be a continuation of the lesson last Thursday, October 29. The students
will begin working with the short story The Cask of Amontillado as a model for their
own stories and Poebills. They will work with plot, literary elements, and vocabulary in
order to get an idea of what they are looking for in their own stories. With any remaining
time, students will begin working in pairs to identify literary elements, vocabulary, and
plot in their chosen stories.
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand the importance of literary elements as used in literature,
specifically in The Cask of Amontillado.
Students will gain an understanding of how language shapes mood.
Students will understand how language serves specific functions.
The first enduring understanding is not beyond the content area but it can be applied
beyond just the story with which the students are working. It is something that is worth
learning as a way to read all literature with literary elements (and their importance to a
story) in mind. The second two enduring understandings could be considered broader,
because language is something that affects all content areas and being able to decide how
to use language can be an important skill in order to be properly understood by others.
The work with the Parisian catacomb pictures and the story about the man found in the
wall of an Italian church are connections to the real world and help the students better
understand the origins and connections to Poes story. Perhaps these could account for
another enduring understanding, one that aims at having students understand that real
world events affect the way stories are written and can provide inspiration for authors.
This can even be expanded to other subjects and contexts to show how real world events
can inspire people.
Goals/Objectives
Students will know various literary elements (irony, foreshadowing, allusion, symbolism,
similes/metaphors, etc.) and will be able to identify them in a short story.
Students will also be comfortable with the assignment and their designated story.
Students will be able to briefly summarize the main ideas of a short story.
Standards

CC1.3.8.C Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama

propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. E08.A-K.1.1.3
CC.1.3.8.K Read and comprehend literary fiction on grade level, reading independently
and proficiently.
CC.1.5.8.F Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to add interest,
clarify information, and strengthen claims and evidence.
The use of the projector and the pictures of the catacombs was a good way to help
students visualize the setting of the story, especially for this story because it is such a
unique setting that students may not be familiar with.
Materials
Poe books, literary elements worksheet, journal checklist, pictures of catacombs,
information on Poes inspiration for the story
Procedures
The way I originally wrote out the procedures happened, but not in the same time frame
that I originally put down. The opener became longer than it was supposed to be and the
body of the lesson was not completed. The closing of the lesson became an activity for
the next day because we ran out of time.
Opener: (15 minutes) As students walk in, they will turn in their journals on The
Pearl. We will then begin by making connections to the last class by reviewing the plot of
the story. Students will be asked to talk about the setting reading aloud that paragraph
from the story and will look at pictures of catacombs (projected from the computer) to
get a sense of the setting. They will also read the small blurb in the book about Poe being
influenced by the real life event of the man found in the catacomb walls in an Italian
church.
The opener was supposed to be a quick collection of the journals due that day, a short
discussion on setting with visual aids, and a short reading and discussion on real events
that may have inspired the events of the story. The first thing that the students wanted to
go over when they came in was the assignment that was due on Wednesday. I was not
anticipating this much confusion over the assignment, so I did not factor in time to talk
about it. Once we moved onto the actual lesson, the lesson went quite smoothly, but the
students were interested in the visual aids and the real story about the Italian church and
therefore instead of it taking only 15 minutes, it took about 20-25 minutes.
Body of the Lesson: (25 minutes) As a class, we will continue to discuss the short story,
answering questions such as: What do you think Fortunato might have done to make
Montresor want such a diabolical revenge? Do you think Montresor's crime will ever be
discovered? Why or why not? To whom and why, in your opinion, is Montresor telling
this story?
The lesson was much longer than it was supposed to be, so our lesson only made it
through this first part of the body of the lesson. We had a great discussion based off of
these questions and the students seemed engaged (although there were still students that
did not participate). The discussion took up the rest of the time so we did not move onto

the literary elements or independent work on the project.

After discussing the story, [At this point, I handed out the literary elements worksheet
that I made for the students so that they could have a better understanding of what they
need to look for in their own stories and in the model story. It was a good thing to pass
out at the end, so that they would have time to look it over before the next lesson.]
students will be given a journal checklist in order to keep track of the work for each story
in their journals. Literary elements worksheet will be passed out to students and as a class
we will begin looking through the story for each literary element. We will go over the
sheet together briefly to clear up any confusion. Students will look at a projected
storyboard picture about literary elements found in the story as an example (includes an
example of hyperbole, foreshadowing, and metaphor). Students will be given a few
minutes to individually look for sentences of the story that use various literary elements.
They will also be asked to look for vocabulary words they need to define. Students will
come up to the board to help write out what their peers share in class about literary
elements and vocabulary from the story. As a class we will discuss the vocabulary and
literary elements identified throughout the story.
Closure: (About 10 minutes) Students will begin talking to their partner about
their stories and project. Teacher will walk around and check-in with each pair as they
work. Remind students that Tuesday is a staff development day. On Wednesday, typed
introductory paragraphs for essay on The Pearl due.
Accommodations: The class will mostly be working as a whole group today,
therefore scaffolding will be provided in the nature of the teacher-led activity. The
activity as a whole is meant as a scaffold for the students who need a jumping off point
for their own projects. Once students begin working in pairs, I will go around and make
sure there are not lingering questions about the work we did today or about the project.
These plans may also not wrap up completely in one 48-minute period, which would then
mean that students would not begin work on their own stories until class on Wednesday,
November 4.
We did most of the work today as a whole class, so students were hopefully on the same
page. I did note in the lesson plan that this lesson may not have wrapped up in the 48
minute period, and I was right that we needed more time to get through everything.
Assessment/Evaluation
Students will be asked to informally prove their understanding of the story by
participating in the whole class discussion about the plot.
Students will be asked to define literary elements and give specific examples from the
text to ensure understanding of the elements.
Students will be asked, at the end of class, to ask any lingering questions about the
project or the literary element work done in class that day.
In our discussion about the model story, I was able to understand if students were
comprehending the plot and setting of the story. While this was a good way to understand
if certain students were understanding the story, it was difficult to tell if the other students

who did not participate were also on the same page. In the future, it would be helpful to
have another way to gauge if all students were understanding the lesson. This is a
problem I have been noticing in this class because there are a few students who are
always willing to participate and there are others who are not willing to participate at all.
Personal Reflection/ Notes
Monday, November 2 Lesson Reflection
The lesson today went well, but the timing of the lesson was very different from what I
imagined when I wrote the lesson plan for the day. The initial questions about their
paragraphs due Wednesday and their projects took longer than I had anticipated. They
also needed a little time to get back into the story, which is something I was concerned
about last Thursday because I imagined that having three days off would make some
students lose track of what we were talking about. Once we got into the discussion of the
story, there were many things I wanted to bring up with the students about the story, but
they were doing a great job discussing points amongst themselves based off of the
questions I posed. This, again, took longer than I thought it would and I was not sure how
much of the conversation to allow and when I should just switch gears into the next
activity. I was planning on doing more work with literary elements today, but they did not
get around to it. I am glad they got the sheet to take home, so that they can at least look it
over and bring examples to class on Wednesday. There is also still an imbalance between
the students who participate often and those who never participate. Certain students are
always willing to speak, sometimes too often, while others are content with listening
quietly. One way to make sure all students are on the right track is to ask them to write
down a response to the discussion in class so that I can see what they are thinking and if
they are following along with the rest of the class. Another way to engage the nonparticipants would be to call on them and ask them to make a connection to what their

classmates have said. I mentioned to a few of the boys who were not participating today
that they will start off the class on Wednesday. Hopefully this will give them time to
prepare something to say and will get them more engaged in the class discussion as a
whole. It might give them the chance to talk about something from the story that interests
them.