First-Day Lesson
Date: Day 1 of Unit
Lesson Title: Intro - Historical Book Burning - Kurt Vonnegut's Letter "I Am Very Real"
Content Standard: Speaking and Listening Standards (Grade 9-10) 1d - Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Content Objective: After reading and analyzing a letter about censorship, students will be able to initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (with partner and with class) using their own opinions and building on those of others regarding censorship.
Language Development Standard: ELD, Collaborative, 1 (Expanding Level) - Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining conversations on a variety of age and grade‐ appropriate academic topics by following turn‐taking rules, asking and answering relevant, on‐topic questions, affirming others, providing additional, relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas.
Language Development Objective: After reading and analyzing a letter about censorship, students will be able to contribute to class and partner discussions by paraphrasing key ideas and asking and answering questions relevant to the topic of censorship.
Anticipatory Set: Have an animated picture of burning books on the board as students walk in. Once the bell rings, I would launch into some questions for my class like, "Have you ever heard of the concept of burning books?" and "Why do you think some people would wish to burn books?" Then after some discussion is sparked, I would have students get their Chromebooks and I would pull up the same website I expect them to browse on the projector.
Strategies/Activities: The website mentioned above pertains to Nazi book burning and the history of burning books. I would read the introductory paragraph aloud to students and from there allow them to roam freely on the website and explore the readings, maps, pictures, and videos. I would require them to write at least five interesting facts/ideas they come across on the site. We would have a little discussion about censorship before I transition to our analysis of a letter written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. called "I Am Very Real." It has a Lexile level of 1130 which is below grade level for 10th graders. A lower level may help EL students grasp the concepts a bit more as it is at the higher end of a seventh grade reading level according to Lexile's website. I would pass out copies of the letter to every student so they could feel free to annotate the document. I would read the first two paragraphs of the letter before turning it over to students to work in pairs. In their pairs, students would take turns reading aloud to practice their reading, speaking, and listening skills. After they finish the letter, I would have them work together to answer questions on the back of the letter and then call on pairs at random to share with the class what they wrote down for each question.
Assessment: The assessments this day would be all informal as it's an introductory lesson and we have yet to delve into the novel itself. I would use questioning, Think-Pair-Share, and monitor their completion of the questions on the back of the letter. As we close the lesson, I would do a recall with the class and summarize what we discussed.
Purpose of Lesson: The purpose of this lesson would be to introduce students to the concept of censorship which is a large theme of Fahrenheit 451 and is ever-present in the world today. Establishing this knowledge of what censorship truly is and its different forms would set students up for success in reading the novel and understanding its underlying theme.
Notes/Ideas/Reflection: This would be a fun lesson to do. I really love Bradbury, Vonnegut, and studying authoritarian governments in general so it would be a joy to touch on all of them in one go. I would hope that students grasp the concept and know that censorship isn't just in an explicit form like burning tangible books, but can take lots of different forms in our digital age.
Lesson Title: Intro - Historical Book Burning - Kurt Vonnegut's Letter "I Am Very Real"
Content Standard: Speaking and Listening Standards (Grade 9-10) 1d - Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Content Objective: After reading and analyzing a letter about censorship, students will be able to initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (with partner and with class) using their own opinions and building on those of others regarding censorship.
Language Development Standard: ELD, Collaborative, 1 (Expanding Level) - Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining conversations on a variety of age and grade‐ appropriate academic topics by following turn‐taking rules, asking and answering relevant, on‐topic questions, affirming others, providing additional, relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas.
Language Development Objective: After reading and analyzing a letter about censorship, students will be able to contribute to class and partner discussions by paraphrasing key ideas and asking and answering questions relevant to the topic of censorship.
Anticipatory Set: Have an animated picture of burning books on the board as students walk in. Once the bell rings, I would launch into some questions for my class like, "Have you ever heard of the concept of burning books?" and "Why do you think some people would wish to burn books?" Then after some discussion is sparked, I would have students get their Chromebooks and I would pull up the same website I expect them to browse on the projector.
Strategies/Activities: The website mentioned above pertains to Nazi book burning and the history of burning books. I would read the introductory paragraph aloud to students and from there allow them to roam freely on the website and explore the readings, maps, pictures, and videos. I would require them to write at least five interesting facts/ideas they come across on the site. We would have a little discussion about censorship before I transition to our analysis of a letter written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. called "I Am Very Real." It has a Lexile level of 1130 which is below grade level for 10th graders. A lower level may help EL students grasp the concepts a bit more as it is at the higher end of a seventh grade reading level according to Lexile's website. I would pass out copies of the letter to every student so they could feel free to annotate the document. I would read the first two paragraphs of the letter before turning it over to students to work in pairs. In their pairs, students would take turns reading aloud to practice their reading, speaking, and listening skills. After they finish the letter, I would have them work together to answer questions on the back of the letter and then call on pairs at random to share with the class what they wrote down for each question.
Assessment: The assessments this day would be all informal as it's an introductory lesson and we have yet to delve into the novel itself. I would use questioning, Think-Pair-Share, and monitor their completion of the questions on the back of the letter. As we close the lesson, I would do a recall with the class and summarize what we discussed.
Purpose of Lesson: The purpose of this lesson would be to introduce students to the concept of censorship which is a large theme of Fahrenheit 451 and is ever-present in the world today. Establishing this knowledge of what censorship truly is and its different forms would set students up for success in reading the novel and understanding its underlying theme.
Notes/Ideas/Reflection: This would be a fun lesson to do. I really love Bradbury, Vonnegut, and studying authoritarian governments in general so it would be a joy to touch on all of them in one go. I would hope that students grasp the concept and know that censorship isn't just in an explicit form like burning tangible books, but can take lots of different forms in our digital age.