UTL 640E, Haug Pflugerville High School/PISD Date of lesson: April 1, 2014

Molly Whiting AP English IV/12th grade Lesson Plan #4/Teach #6

Critical Analysis of The Big Cat

Objectives: After reading and discussing Louise Erdrichs short story The Big Cat as a whole class, students will work independently to write a brief (one paragraph) analysis of the authors use of imagery and organization that includes a thesis statement and one direct quotation from the text in order to practice analyzing how figurative and structural devices can shape a readers interpretation of a text. Enduring Understanding/Essential Questions: Focusing on an authors use of devices such as imagery and structural organization can serve to enrich literary analysis by providing concrete details from the text to support an interpretation. Factual: What is imagery? What are the dominant images from the short story The Big Cat? How is this story structured? Where in the story do you see shifts occur? Conceptual: How does Erdrichs use of imagery shape readers interpretations of the text? In what ways does the structural organization inform readers understanding of the text? How do skilled readers create meaning from a text by examining such devices? Resources/Materials: A. To Do Before: a. Read the short story The Big Cat multiple times for familiarity. b. Make handouts of the story for students. c. Identify dominant images in the text and how they inform my own interpretation of the text. d. Write an example of the type of analysis I am hoping students will be able to complete for my lesson to ensure that it is not too demanding. B. Needed on the Day of Lesson: a. Handouts of short story for students b. Students notebooks to complete written analysis c. Computer/projector to display image for engagement set TEKS: From 110.34 English Language Arts and Reading, English IV (2) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to: (A) compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme; (B) compare and contrast the similarities and differences in classical plays with their modern day novel, play, or film versions; and (C) relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time.

UTL 640E, Haug Molly Whiting Pflugerville High School/PISD AP English IV/12th grade Date of lesson: April 1, 2014 Lesson Plan #4/Teach #6 (5) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to: (A) analyze how complex plot structures (e.g., subplots) and devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks, suspense) function and advance the action in a work of fiction; (B) analyze the moral dilemmas and quandaries presented in works of fiction as revealed by the underlying motivations and behaviors of the characters; (C) compare and contrast the effects of different forms of narration across various genres of fiction; (7) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about how an author's sensory language creates imagery in literary text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to analyze how the author's patterns of imagery, literary allusions, and conceits reveal theme, set tone, and create meaning in metaphors, passages, and literary works. (12) Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. Students are expected to: (A) evaluate how messages presented in media reflect social and cultural views in ways different from traditional texts (15) Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are expected to: (C) write an interpretation of an expository or a literary text that: (i) advances a clear thesis statement; (ii) addresses the writing skills for an analytical essay including references to and commentary on quotations from the text; (iii) analyzes the aesthetic effects of an author's use of stylistic or rhetorical devices; (iv) identifies and analyzes ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text (24) Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to: (A) listen responsively to a speaker by framing inquiries that reflect an understanding of the content and by identifying the positions taken and the evidence in support of those positions (25) Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with

UTL 640E, Haug Molly Whiting Pflugerville High School/PISD AP English IV/12th grade Date of lesson: April 1, 2014 Lesson Plan #4/Teach #6 greater complexity. Students are expected to formulate sound arguments by using elements of classical speeches (e.g., introduction, first and second transitions, body, and conclusion), the art of persuasion, rhetorical devices, eye contact, speaking rate (e.g., pauses for effect), volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.

Steps in Lesson: A. Engagement5 minutes Display image from snoring prevention advertisement on the projector. (Snoring plays an integral part in the plot development of The Big Cat.) Lead students in a discussion of the image. How is the way we read images similar to the way we read texts? How is metaphor being used in the image? Do you think this image is effective in how it creates meaning for the viewer? Would using words to convey the same information be more or less effective? Why do you think this? After discussing the image, suggest to students that they can use these same critical skills to analyze the use of imagery in a written text; And that is exactly what we will be doing today! B. Stated Objective1 minute Today, we will be reading something very contemporary. This short story by Louise Erdrich was just published last week in the most recent issue of The New Yorker. As we read it together, I want you to pay attention to several things. First, try to notice the structure of the story and how it is put together. Secondly, pay attention to vivid images that jump out to you. We will use these two aspects as the starting-point for our discussion after we read. After our discussion, you will get a little practice for the AP test by writing a brief analysis (just one paragraph) of the way the structure and imagery informs your interpretation of the story. Any questions before we get started? C. Active Learning60 minutes As a class, read the short story The Big Cat by Louise Erdrich. Encourage students to make notes as we read regarding shifts in structure and use of imagery. (25 minutes) Modeling/Checking for Understanding: Begin the discussion by asking for students impressions of the story. What feeling are they left with at the end? What are their opinions of the main characters? Use these questions to assess whether or not students have a foundational understanding of the story. (5 minutes) Guided practice: Turn the discussion to the structure of the story. Where do students see shifts within the story? How does the movement back and forth in time effect readers interpretations of the characters and their actions? Have students mark on their handouts every time the story has a substantial shift. (8 minutes)

UTL 640E, Haug Molly Whiting Pflugerville High School/PISD AP English IV/12th grade Date of lesson: April 1, 2014 Lesson Plan #4/Teach #6 Now turn the discussion to the use of imagery in the story. Have students get out a blank sheet of paper, and tell them that they will have the next five minutes to choose one image from the story that strikes them as the most important. Ask students to render this image (through drawing or writing) on their sheet of paper. (5 minutes) Have students turn to a partner to share the image that they selected. (2 minutes) Ask for volunteers to share their image with the rest of the class. Use the images that students have selected to lead a discussion of how skillful readers can draw meaning from an authors use of imagery to help form an interpretation of the text. (8 minutes) Independent Practice: Give students instructions for writing a brief analysis of Erdrichs use of either structure OR imagery and how this device has informed their interpretation of the story. Instructions will be given verbally and displayed on the board or projector. Students analyses should contain a thesis statement and one direct quotation from the text to support this thesis. Remind students that this is valuable practice for the AP test they will be taking in a few weeks. (12 minutes) D. Closure6 minutes Collect students paragraphs. Call on several students to articulate the main idea of their analysis (at least one who wrote on imagery and one who wrote on structure.) Ask students who wrote about the same topic if they have anything to add. Read students Erdrich quotation from an interview about The Big Cat: - The snoring in the story seems, at first, a relatively benign misfortune. By the end, it has become something more malevolent: the sound of an animal destroying its prey. At the same time, our vision of Elida changes. Is there malevolence in her behavior toward the narrator? - As I was writing, Elida seemed to thwart my narrator at every turn, yet she exuded a scholarly ascetic quality that was irresistible to him. I decided to give in to her perhaps unconscious malevolence, and after many revisions I wrote the ending. I was genuinely disturbed by this ending and have no idea how to account for it. Suggest to students that images have a powerful life of their own: as Erdrich said, she has no idea how to account for the disturbing image at the storys end. Because of this, imagery can inform readers interpretations of a text in very diverse and highly subjective ways. Encourage students to remember that they can use imagery as an entry point into analysis of any text. Thank students for their attention and participation during the lesson.

Modifications/Differentiation: Follow the IEPs

UTL 640E, Haug Molly Whiting Pflugerville High School/PISD AP English IV/12th grade Date of lesson: April 1, 2014 Lesson Plan #4/Teach #6 Evaluation Strategies: Throughout the lesson, I will use questions to informally check for understanding. At the end of class, I will collect students paragraphs and review them to determine whether or not they were successful in analyzing the authors treatment of structure and imagery. During closure, I will ask several students to articulate their analysis to the rest of the class to evaluate whether or not they seem to have grasped the instructional objectives. Notes/Recommendations: The students really enjoyed this short story; the images were ambiguous enough that we had a meaty discussion about how to extract meaning from imagery. The activity worked great to get students to go back into the text and do some close-reading, and I was really impressed with what they came up with in both text and drawing. For the sake of pacing, I think this lesson would work better if it focused only on imagery; the discussion of structure was overshadowed by students interest in the imagery activity.