Literary+Criticism+Unit+Plan

//**Context**: As an English Education major, one of the major assignments was to create a detailed lesson plan applying theory in a specific teaching situation along with writing an essay utilizing the same literary theory. For my lesson plan and subsequent essay, I chose The Giver by Lois Lowry as my text and Reader-Oriented as my theory. //

Reader-Oriented Lesson Plan
Goals/Objectives
 * Students will learn and apply the methodology and theory of Reader-Oriented criticism while reading and discussing the novel
 * Students will create connections from the novel to themselves using pre-reading activities
 * Students will be able to express their own worldviews about several different topics discussed in the novel
 * Students will analyze and synthesize information from the novel and apply it to certain situations in a formative and summative assessment that will be created by students with parameters set by teacher

Strategies
 * Mini-lecture/lessons
 * Reader-response journals
 * Individual silent reading
 * Whole group discussion
 * Small group discussion

Materials
 * Copy of The Giver by Lois Lowry
 * Reader-Oriented criticism mini-lesson
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pre-reading questions/journal entry prompts
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Student’s daybook (for writing responses)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reading schedule
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Discussion topic list


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reader-Oriented Mini Lesson (1 day) **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students will be introduced to the “meat” of Reader-Oriented criticism through a mini-lecture. Students will then receive the poem “Memory” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and complete the Reader-Oriented analysis guide sheet individually and then discuss in small groups. Once the small groups have completed a group analysis, the class will come together in a large discussion and talk about the different responses that each student and group had concerning the poem. Several points will be reiterated: there is not only one meaning of the text, but that meaning must be related to the text; a text has meaning once it is read; a reader brings his/her worldview to the interpretation.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Worldview Lessons (2 days) **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In order to prepare the students for several concepts within the novel, it is important for them to “discover” their worldview about these concepts. These four concepts of color association, equality, importance of memories and “perfect” society (utopia) will be covered through pre-reading writing activities via a teacher-made prompt or assignment for each concept. Student answers will be shared through a whole group discussion.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Teaching the Novel (7-9 days) **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students will be assigned a portion of the novel to read independently at home. During and after reading, students will write reader response journals based on the section of the novel assigned to them. Response journals must be at least 15 sentences in length and address at least two of the worldview topics discussed before beginning the novel and how the student’s worldview affects the reading of the text. Every day during class, students will be expected to participate in small group or whole group discussions concerning the novel and specific discussion topics that the teacher will have prepared that day. The teacher will refrain from inserting his/her opinion into the student discussion as much as possible. The teacher here acts as a mediator and re-director when necessary.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Assessments (2 days) **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students will be given a formative and summative assessment for the material covered in the novel and study of Reader-Oriented criticism. Students will be expected to utilize the theory and vocabulary while addressing certain ideas/concepts from the novel. Students will complete the formative assessment right after completing the novel. Students will be creating the summative assessment.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Att: Reader-Oriented mini-lesson <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> “Memory” worksheet (reader-oriented analysis practice) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Worldview Assignments/prompts <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Reading schedule/discussion topics <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Formative Assessment <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Summative Assessment


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reader-Oriented Criticism Mini Lesson **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A list of terms will be put on the LCD project for students to copy down and take notes on in their daybooks during the lecture portion of the lesson. Students will be expected to have a working definition for each term by the end of the lecture in order to proceed with the application part of the lesson.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Terms: transactional experience, horizons of expectation (Iser), gaps, worldview, interpretive community

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students will receive a brief history of reader-oriented criticism before getting to the methodology of using the theory. Students will be exposed to the ideas and methodologies of Iser and Fish in order to be well rounded in the ideas and thinking of reader-oriented criticism. During the lecture, students are expected to be taking notes and coming up with a working definition for each of the terms that they will be working with.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Once the lecture is over, students will break into pre-determined groups to discuss their working definitions and fill in any holes that they may be missing before participating in whole class discussion. Once the whole class has come together, the students will work as a unit to come up with class definitions for each of the terms as well as a working methodology from the lecture that will be posted on the wall in the classroom.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students will then receive a copy of the “Memory” worksheet (sans title and author) in which they will apply the classroom methodology. Students will complete their readings and interpretations independently, then break into small groups of 3-4 to come up with a group interpretation to present to the class.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Student Name

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Apply the class created definitions and methodology to the following poem. Notice that the poem does not have a name or author so that your ideas are not swayed in any way. Underline or circle words that illicit a response/thought while you are reading the text. Make sure you address all of the definitions (except interpretive community) in your analysis.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reader-Oriented Criticism Application Practice **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Oft I remember those I have known

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> In other days, to whom my heart was lead

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> As by a magnet, and who are not dead,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> But absent, and their memories overgrown

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> With other thoughts and troubles of my own,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> As graves with grasses are, and at their head

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> The stone with moss and lichens so o'er spread,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Nothing is legible but the name alone.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And is it so with them? After long years.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Do they remember me in the same way,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And is the memory pleasant as to me?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> I fear to ask; yet wherefore are my fears?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Pleasures, like flowers, may wither and decay,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And yet the root perennial may be.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">When you are done completing the first reading on your own and I tell you to, get into small groups (3-4) and create a group interpretation using the poem below. **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Oft I remember those I have known

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> In other days, to whom my heart was lead

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> As by a magnet, and who are not dead,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> But absent, and their memories overgrown

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> With other thoughts and troubles of my own,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> As graves with grasses are, and at their head

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> The stone with moss and lichens so o'er spread,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Nothing is legible but the name alone.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And is it so with them? After long years.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Do they remember me in the same way,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And is the memory pleasant as to me?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> I fear to ask; yet wherefore are my fears?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Pleasures, like flowers, may wither and decay,

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And yet the root perennial may be.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Be prepared to share your group’s interpretation with the whole class.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Worldview Assignments/Prompts **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Day 2 Journal <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How would you define equality? Based on your definition, is equality important? Explain. This should be at least 5-7 sentences in length and address all parts of the prompt.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Day 2 Activity <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">List the colors of the rainbow (skip indigo), plus white and black, in your daybook (leave at least two or three lines in between each one) and beside each color, assign 5-7 thoughts, feelings or emotions with that color. After you’ve completed that for all colors, go back and attempt to figure out the inspiration/reasoning why you associate that color with at least one of the emotions/thoughts/feelings you mentioned for that color. Be prepared to share!!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Example: BLACK – depression, sadness, loss, hopeless, fear, emptiness, loneliness, death, morning, wrath, confusion, failure. I associate black with death and loss through the idea of the ringwraiths from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Day 3 Journal <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The word memory has several connotations associated with it depending on the actual memory. Despite good or bad, why are memories important to us? What do memories allow us to do? How do they benefit us as individuals? As a culture? As a unified world?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Day 3 Activity <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Each student will choose a random number from 1-30 and write it down on in their daybook. Students will be “assigned” a job/occupation based on the following criteria:
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Double digit number ending with an even number = laborer
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Single digit odd number = caretaker
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Double digit number ending with an odd number = educator
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Single digit even number = law maker
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Same number as someone else = younger of the two is expelled from society

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Once students receive their “assignments,” they will answer the following questions in their daybooks: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1. How did it feel being assigned a job without a say? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2. What would you do if this is how our society functioned? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3. If there is any, what value would this kind of organization hold?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students will then create their own utopias. They are allowed to discuss any ideas/concepts, but the following items must be included: basis of law, type of government, allocation of jobs, monetary system (or lack thereof), presence/importance of technology, importance of family and moral values


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reading Schedule & Discussion Topics **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students are required to stay on schedule for reading assignments and are responsible for writing a 10-15 sentence response for each section of the novel. Students must address two worldview topics (journal or activity) and how their worldview impacted their reading in each response as well as discuss the changing horizons of expectation and the gaps that are present in the text. Students may do this through writing-to-learn or through creating questions.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 1 (Chapter 1-4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Importance of language (precision of language/sharing of feelings)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Concept of “release”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lack of knowledge about “simple” and ordinary things
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Structure of society
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s beginning understanding of rules/consequences being “odd”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 2 (Chapter 5-7)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rarity of dreams/significance of Jonas’s dream about Fiona
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Wanting”/Stirrings
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Interdependence within community
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Elsewhere
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Designation of maturity
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reflection of success/failure
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas being skipped at Ceremony of Twelve

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 3 (Chapter 8-10)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Receiver of Memory
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“alone and apart” from society as receiver
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Four qualities of a receiver
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s first time feeling “separated”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Why is Receiver most important job in community – concept of “past”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s new “rules”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s ignorance of basic worldly things – snow, speed, downhill, clean air

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 4 (Chapter 11-13) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Reading Schedule & Discussion Topics cont…
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Sameness”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">honor is not equal to honor
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s ability to see beyond
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s first glimpse of color
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Definition of wisdom
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Unfairness” – no choices, safety, Jonas’s ability to question
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Definition of knowledge
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s first startling and disturbing memory
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Without memories, it’s all meaningless”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 5 (Chapter 14-17)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Significance of pale eyes
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s giving of memory to Gabe
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s experience of war
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Precision of language
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Is this a “real” community?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Love = meaningless in Jonas’s community
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s sensitivity to emotions with receiving more memories

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 6 (Chapter 18-20)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Giver’s attempt at explaining experience of losing Rosemary
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Impact of anguish, poverty, loss, loneliness, hunger and terror
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Definition of disaster
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RELEASE
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s view of release vs. reality
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Giver’s direction/sternness
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s feelings about release
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s ability to express emotions
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Is sameness perfect or flawed?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Section 7 (Chapter 21-23)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Importance of Gabe in Jonas’s plan
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Elsewhere
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lack of religion in the community
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas’s plan – good or bad?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Change in Jonas’s opinion of the community from the beginning of the novel

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">At the conclusion of the novel, students will go back and revisit their response journals and write a process journal about their transactional experience while reading the novel as well as the gaps that they filled in throughout their reading and how their horizons of expectations changed from the beginning of the novel to the end. This will serve as their formative assessment to ensure that students are able to analyze/synthesize information as well as utilize and apply reader-oriented criticism to the novel.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">As a summative assessment, students will create four essay questions in small groups based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students will share their essay questions in a whole class discussion and the students will “vote” on the top 6 essay questions that will be on their summative assessment.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//The Giver// - Literary Theory Essay

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jonas and I: The Dual Discovery and Response of Release in Lois Lowry’s The Giver **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Many teachers and parents ask how adolescents can “relate” to classics such as Pride and Prejudice or Paradise Lost, and I believe that one of the answers to that question is through the teaching of literary theory in the classroom. A student’s ability to react, reflect and respond to literature is a powerful tool, especially concerning ideas such as euthanasia, cultural values, or social expectations. In Lois Lowry’s The Giver, a first-time reader being introduced to Jonas’s seemingly utopian society may expect the idea of “release” to be positive through the gaps and worldview the reader has with the text. It is through the changing horizons of expectation the reader experiences, and through Jonas himself that the reader is lead to the truth about release.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The reader is introduced to the idea of release in the very first chapter of the novel. There are three different types of release: the first is for members of the community who needed “a terrible punishment” (Lowry 3); the second and third were not considered punishment – “release of the elderly…and release of a newchild” (Lowry 7). When the reader reads about release, it may be associated with the action of letting something go without harm or malice. Because readers are not aware of what the actual procedure or action behind release entails, they are required to fill in that gap with prior knowledge and experiences. One of the indicators that release may be a tranquil and harmless event is when a woman, Larissa, at the House of Old relays that “’we celebrated the release of Roberto…it was wonderful’” (Lowry 31). Larissa goes on to tell Jonas about the Ceremony of Release and Jonas asks “’what happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?’” (Lowry 32). Jonas is not given an answer – Larissa does not know. She tells Jonas that she does not think anyone knows except the committee (Lowry 32). Jonas, like the reader, is left in the dark to later discover what release is.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The reader is later re-introduced to release and learns that “Release was not the same as Loss” (Lowry 44). This important bit of information tells the reader at first that unlike loss, there is no sadness or remorse in release. This becomes an important piece of information for later on in the plot when Jonas is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory. When Jonas receives his information for his job, he receives a folder with one sheet of paper in it with eight rules, the seventh being “You are not permitted to apply for release” (68). This can create serious confusion within the reader. If release is not a “bad” thing, then why can’t Jonas apply for it? What is it that makes release so inherently important in Jonas’s community? What is the difference between being released and applying for it? This realization for both the reader and Jonas require the changing of horizons of expectations to the complexity of the nature of release.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">As the novel goes on, the reader learns more about Jonas’s occupation as the Receiver of Memory and why he cannot apply for release. There is a dependant relationship between Jonas’s occupation and release – “memories would not be lost…memories are forever” (Lowry 144). Jonas is not allowed to apply for release because the memories would be released back into the community, creating chaos and havoc within the members of the community. Jonas and the reader both learn this information from the Giver at the same time, giving the reader an insight into the possibility that perhaps release isn’t what it was thought to be at the beginning.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> At this point, the reader may be desperately attempting to figure out what release actually is. However, the reader will soon discover that the answer lies in the very near future while Jonas is specifically asking the Giver to explain release to him. It is only with this epiphany that the reader and Jonas both discover what release truly is, giving the reader either a sense of relief, unexpected shock and/or great sadness.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In chapter nineteen, Jonas tells the Giver that his “’father is releasing a newchild today. A twin. He has to select one and release the other one’” (Lowry 146). The Giver responds “quietly, almost to himself” that he wishes “’they wouldn’t do that’” (Lowry 146). It is through these subtle pieces of information that the reader can finally start piecing together the negativity of release with Jonas as he requests to watch a release. Incidentally, Jonas watches the tape of the release of the twin he was telling the Giver about earlier. During the release, Jonas continually makes comments about the ceremony, like the reader, not knowing what is truly happening, completely unaware of the coming implosion of what the initial idea of release may have entailed. The Giver “commanded in a strange voice. ‘Watch’” (149). The Giver’s commandment transcends to the reader, silencing thoughts, inferences and inner conversations that attempt to figure out what is going on. It is only when Jonas watches his father insert a needle into a bottle, fill it and “direct the needle into the top of the newchild’s forehead, puncturing the place where the fragile skin pulsed” (149). Jonas and the reader both start to recall some of the other information from the beginning of the novel and start making connections as “the newchild, no longer crying, moved his arms and legs in a jerking motion. Then he went limp….then he was still” (150). It is only when Jonas realizes that this same motion and same face from a memory the Giver had given to him previously does he realize that “He killed it!” (150). Because the reader is discovering along with Jonas, it is natural that the same feeling, “a ripping sensation inside…the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward…” (151), may be felt by the reader as Jonas feels it in the novel.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">One of the greatest feelings by far from a reader is when everything in the text finally makes sense; however, the preconceived notions and ideas of the reader toward the text may be completely turned on their head by the end of the novel through the changing horizons of expectation. The reader’s reaction and experience during the reading of a text like The Giver is what gives the novel its meaning – the discovery of what release is by both Jonas and the reader simultaneously is what give the novel its value.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Works Cited

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York, NY: Laurel Leaf, 2002. Print.