Weblink Bibliography:
Valuable Web Pages
for Teaching
4 American Novels
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Biopoem
– The Biopoem is an effective but simple and fun fill-in-the-blank activity. It
forces students to examine characters closely, and in the case of this
particular assignment for The Scarlet
Letter, to link their characters to symbolism within the text. Writing
poetry can cause less creative students anxiety, but with the sentence starters
provided, all students can feel confident about their work. Students display
their knowledge of the text by describing the character; exploring the
character’s relationship with others; and concisely stating his/her feelings,
fears, and aspirations. Date Visited – 09/29/09
http://www.studyguide.org/bio_poem.htm
Enriched Classics
Curriculum Guide – The Enriched Classics Curriculum Guide for The Scarlet Letter features detailed
lesson plans for an entire unit revolving about the book – lesson plans which
have already been aligned with NCTE standards. Lessons cover vital topics such
as symbolism, character analysis, journal writing, and debating. The
thought-provoking contemporary relevance lesson asks students to think about
whether women must bear more shame for the birth of illegitimate children than
men. Date Visited – 09/29/09
http://www.simonsays.com/assets/series/860/CG1_860.pdf
ABC Content Activity – A
great wrap up or review activity, students can work independently or in
collaborative groups to complete the ABC Content Lesson for The Scarlet Letter. Students must
compose sentences based on story content that begin with each of the twenty-six
letters of the alphabet. For instance, “A is for the letter Hester wears upon
her bossom.” Date Visited – 09/29/09
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/749.html
Glencoe
Literature Study Guide – The Glencoe Literature Study Guide provides
ready-to-use student worksheets on small chapter groupings for the entire text
of The Scarlet Letter. All three
parts of the reading process are addressed: before reading materials with
background information and vocabulary, active reading materials with charts and
graphic organizers the students to complete during reading, and after reading
questions covering thought processes from basic recall to
interpretation/analysis, personal response, and creative extension activities.
Date Visited – 09/29/09
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/scarlet_letter.pdf
Advanced
Placement Strategies: Laying the Foundation –
Advanced Placement Strategies provides a comprehensive listing of 166
vocabulary words included in the text of The
Scarlet Letter. Students are given worksheets with the definitions
provided. They must contribute synonyms or antonyms. Testing materials are
included in the multi-page document for the teacher’s convenience. Best of all,
each of the words is commonly used on the SAT test, so acquiring these
difficult vocabulary words has added benefits for college bound students. Date
Visited – 10/25/09
https://secure.layingthefoundation.org/english/vocab/novels/Scarlet%20Letter.pdf
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Critical Ways of
Seeing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in
Context – This webpage provides a perfect lesson plan to introduce students
to the world of literary criticism. Students begin by writing their own
informal critique of the novel and then conduct a comparison study of two
published book reviews for the text. The lesson culminates in the students’
gaining knowledge of the cultural background of the reviewers to explore how
social and cultural context influence the presented stances of each
reviewer. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=447
Literary
Scrapbooks Online: An Electronic Reader Response Activity – The National
Council of Teacher’s of English provides a creative technological activity for assessing
students’ knowledge of the text Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn – digital scrapbooks addressing one particular facet of
the text such as author biography. The students may work independently or
collaboratively to design their scrapbooks in PowerPoint or another selected
digital medium. Students must foster their web page evaluation skills to locate
viable research and images. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=787
Quotation
Essay – Discovery Education proposes a thematic writing activity in which
the students select a powerful quotation from the text of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and detail how that one quotation
helps develop the greater meaning of the work. The web page includes tips for
ensuring that students pick high quality quotations and lays out exactly what
information the students should cover in each of the four paragraphs of the essay.
Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/greatbooks-huckfinn/index.html
Exploring the Controversy: the N-word
– This web page is meant to accompany a PBS Culture Shock program but can be
used independently as a teacher resource. Addressing the elephant in the
room with the culturally sensitive work Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn, the page provides etymological information on the origin
of the N-word and includes recommendations, discussion questions, and
activities for addressing its use in the classroom. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/section1_2.html
Enriched Classics
Curriculum Guide - The Enriched Classics Curriculum Guide for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn features
detailed lesson plans for an entire unit revolving about the book – lesson
plans which have already been aligned with NCTE standards. Lessons cover vital
topics such as irony, dialect, moral conflict, and race relations. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://www.simonsays.com/assets/series/860/CG2_860.pdf
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The American Dream –
Essential to the study of the Modernist work The Great Gatsby, is discussion of the American Dream. The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame has produced a valuable, highly engaging activity that allows
students to explore the concept of the American Dream through music. It all
begins with listening to a Neil Diamond song and involves listening to songs by
various artists, viewing the cartoon An
American Tale, and engaging in multiple
interactive projects. Projects include the creation of 3-D projects depicting
the students’ own American Dreams and interviewing of elderly relatives and
neighbors. What a fun, interactive way for students to explore a complicated
concept around which the country has developed. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://www.rockhall.com/teacher/sti-lesson-12/
The Great Gatsby: The Big Read
– The National Endowment for the Arts provides multiple resources for use in the
teaching of The Great Gatsby as a
part of their initiative, The Big Read. Included are a brief preface for the
text provided basic background information and both student and teacher guides
to the work, which include invaluable timelines and discussion questions. Best
of all is the ˝ hour Podcast radio show which features numerous scholars and
authors reading excerpts and discussing pertinent topics such as the Jazz Age.
Written transcripts of the radio show are provided for added teacher
convenience. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://www.neabigread.org/books/greatgatsby/
Multigenre
Writing Prompts – Designed by a teacher, this listing provides ten great
ideas for outside-the-box journaling while reading the text, The Great Gatsby. The prompts are highly
imaginative and engaging, often asking the students to relate their own lives
to topics and themes featured in the text. One even asks students to right
their own fictitious recipe for the American Dream. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://staff.norman.k12.ok.us/~pmayhew/Ten%20Multigenre%20Prompts.doc
The
Gift of Gatsby – In a world of ever-growing emphasis on the acquisition of
skills directly related to employment, it has unfortunately become necessary
for teachers to defend the importance of learning how to think deeply. English
teachers in particular must strive to make the relevance of the works they
teach. This lesson from the New York Times allows students to uncover exactly
how and why The Great Gatsby remains
relevant today. Multiple handouts are provided via weblinks, including the New York Times article around which the
lesson is based. Date Visited – 10/25/09
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/the-gift-of-gatsby/
Connotation,
Character, and Color Imagery in The Great Gatsby – The National Council of Teachers of
English provides a cohesive lesson that covers several essential topics
involved in unlocking the meaning of The Great Gatsby. Students examine
the symbolic nature of colors prevalent in the novel by brainstorming associations
and exploring both the connotation of the words. They chronicle instances of
color imagery in a log while reading the text, then track
a particular color and its character associations throughout the entire text.
The multi-day lesson culminates in a formal written essay. Date Visited –
10/25/09
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=831
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Tea with Aunt Alexandra –
Designed by a teacher, this activity allows the students to not just explore
but fully embrace characters from Harper Lee’s critically acclaimed novel To Kill a Mockingbird. They must assume
and maintain the role of their selected characters throughout a “tea” with Aunt
Alexandra, complete written character analysis, and discuss the analysis orally
with Aunt Alexandra (the teacher). This activity is a particular winner with
lower level students, as it is highly interactive and provides an excuse to eat
in class! Date Visited – 10/02/09
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/maycomb.doc
Creating
Psychological Profiles of Characters in To
Kill a Mockingbird – Designed by the National Council of Teachers of
English and made available for use on their Read, Write, Think website, this
lesson requires students to step inside the minds of To Kill a Mockingbird characters and undercover their motivations
for their actions. The final product is a psychological profile poster for a
particular student-selected character. All necessary worksheets and graphic
organizers are provided. Date Visited – 10/02/09
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1184
Film
Study Guide (Symbolism) – This website features activities and insights
into viewing the classic film version of To
Kill a Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck. While some of the segments may be
a bit beyond the scope of high school comprehension or necessity, the page
concerning symbolism is an excellent resource. The reading of To Kill a Mockingbird must always
include a focus on symbolism, given the meaning of the title. The featured
activity involves analyzing the objects seen in the opening credits of the
movie for their symbolic significance – a great activity to make students more
engaged in film viewing. Date Visited – 10/02/09
http://www.frankwbaker.com/tkam1.htm
Scottsboro:
An American Tragedy – This website was created by PBS to accompany a
documentary (though it can certainly be used separately) on the Scottsboro
Trial of 8 young African American “men” for the rape of two women of very
questionable morals. It contains a full transcript of the program, ideal for
teachers to prepare engaging worksheets or pinpoint snippets they wish to show.
It also features a detailed timeline of the events surrounding the trial, related
resources such as biographical information on the accusing women, and primary
source documents such as interviews with the boys and a Langston Hughes poem
inspired by the trial .
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/filmmore/index.html
Growing up in the 1930s South White Perspective and Black Perspective–
This set of two web pages contains interview transcripts with women who grew up
in the 1930s South, the same time period in which the
character Scout Finch begins her journey to maturity. Given that the issue of
race is so prevalent in the novel, these factual interviews are perfect for
comparing and contrasting: what was life like during the Great Depression for a
white child vs. a black child. Date visited – 10/02/09
http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/girl.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/mculley.html