Sarah Debnam
SLM 521/Fall 2004
Lesson Plan Assign.

Lesson Plan Bibliography

 This lesson plan bibliography is designed for teaching American Literature.  The plans are appropriate for grades 7 - 12.  The search query that I used was "lesson plans american literature".  I rated these sites on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best.



lessonplanspage - This site contains a really good unit plan for teaching short stories.  It is appropriate for grades 11 and 12 and includes a good variety of authors (from Mark Twain to Stephen King) that should capture student interest.  The plans address the key elements of literature, such as, plot, theme, setting and characterization.  I would rate this site a 5 because it is thorough and includes such a variety of literature.    Date visited 10/1/04 
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/more/LAShortStory_UnitOverview1112.htm

teachers.net -  This site contains a lesson plan designed as a pre-reading activity on Edgar Allen Poe.  Students are to work in groups to do a "webquest' research on his life and then create a timeline for him.  This plan is designed for grades 8 -12.  I would rate this site a 3 just because I don't think the lesson paln is thorough.  The activity itself is good as it engages the students in cooperative learning, however,  I would have to tweak this to make it better.
Date visited - 10/1/04
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/2655.html

homonyms - This site contains a lesson plan on homonyms/homophones designed for grades 6-8 but can be adapted for 9th grade as well.  The lesson begins with a joke about a horse being hoarse and includes a cooperative writing activity as well as a closing activity. I rate this site a 5 because it is useful and it sounds like one of its goals is to make writing fun.   Date visited - 10/1/04
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/justalittlehorse.htm

Slavery/"Desiree's Baby" - This lesson plan is designed around Kate Chopin's short story "Desiree's Baby" and deals with slavery, race, women, and the South in the 1800's.  The site contains a link to the story, vocabulary, discussion questions, and post-reading activities.  It is designed to be used with secondary students.  I rate this a 5 as it is very thorough and useful as it deals with so many issues.  Plus  Chopin is one of my favorites! 
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/amliterature/amlit_lp_chopin.htm

The Scarlet Letter - This lesson plan contains some good writing activities such as writing a Dr.s letter, writing a scene, and writing a personal letter all based on the students' predictions of what kind of person Pearl would be at either age 14 or 18 years old.   It also has a rubric for assessing the writing and vocabulary words.  It also has links that would be useful to teachers to gain more background knowledge of the novel.  I rate this site a 3.5, maybe a 4, because the lesson lacks a motivating strategy and does not include any pre-reading activities.  Even though the plan has some good ideas it is not presented clearly.  Date visited - 10/1/04
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/thescarletletter/

Native American Literature -   This site contains the fourth lesson of a unit plan on Native American Literature.  This one deals with myths, legends, and storytelling elements.  The students create a mural on posterboard describing the story the teacher has read to them. The site contains a rubric for assessing the posters and also includes extensions to the lesson as well.  I rate this site a 5 because its lesson plan is clear and thorough and actively engages the students. It can be adapted for secondary students. Also, I like that it includes links for rubrics and extensions. 
 Date visited - 10/1/04
http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/seqlps/sudspres.asp?SUID=201&SSUID=200&SSTitle=Ame