Instructor: Tamara Watson

ELA (Language Arts)

Lesson Title: Allegory in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
November 17th

Grade and Subject: TAG 7 th grade

Date: November 14th and

1. LESSONCONTEXTANDRATIONALE
Culture and
Context

Identity and
Intellectual
Development

Lesson
Rationale

Management

2.

This activity is targeted for all students in the TAG advanced classes for
ELA or the on-level ELA classes
The content in this lesson deals with discrimination and othering by
British Imperialists in the 1800s. The students can relate to this lesson
because for most of them discrimination and othering happens on a
daily basis.
Students who must have an understanding of perspective in literature
and how the author uses literature to shape or alter history.
This lesson gives students a different perspective into the western
influence over other cultures in particular, India. This lesson is relevant
to all students, but its historical insight into India allows students of
that heritage/ culture to relate and students unfamiliar with the culture
to learn about a different culture other than American or Western
culture. This lesson gets students to critically think about the
implications/impact of colonial philosophy. This lesson also gives
students insight into analyzing a text or story.
It is important for students to have a global understanding and
awareness.
The lesson referred back to a story that the students have already read
called Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling. One of the standards is to
Find the authors bias through their writing. By analyzing the
allegory in the story the students will began to look differently at all of
the writing and literature they read.
By breaking apart the lesson into two days it adds the scaffolding the
students need to first understand symbolism in literature and to also
understand allegory as a symbol. Then by using their schema on
allegory they can analyze the text of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and relate it
back to British Imperialism. By contextualizing both Language Arts and
Social Studies the students have a broader analysis of the lesson
overall.
The purpose of this exercise is to deepen the level of analysis the
students put into a story or piece of writing.
I have a lot of different elements that go into these two lessons. Walking
around from station to station and asking the kids to do a matching
activity allows for differentiation and also allows for the socialization,
but in order to keep the classroom on task during the group activity, I
am walking around from station to station. Also, I intend to choose
students who I havent heard from.

STANDARDS&REQUIREMENTS

2. CCGSP or GPS
Standard(s)

ELACC7RL9:
Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character
and a historical account of the same period as a means or
understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.
ELACC7RL3:
Analyze how a particular element of a story or drama interact (how
setting shape the characters or plot)

Grade and Subject: TAG 7 th grade

Instructor: Tamara Watson

ELA (Language Arts)
Lesson Title: Allegory in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
November 17th

Date: November 14th and

SS7H3: The Student will analyze continuity and change in Southern and
Eastern Asia leading to the 21st century.

Describe how nationalism led to independence in India and

Vietnam.

Individual
Education Plan
Goal(s) and
Benchmarks

Describe the impact of Mohandas Gandhis belief in nonviolent protest.

There are three students that I am aware of that have either a 504 or
an IEP for one of them its an IEP for speech so therefore when I am
letting him respond to the answers I pose to the class I allow him time
to fully answer the question or I break the question apart into different
parts so that response wont be so long for him to answer all at once.
Another student has a 504 for ADHD so therefore, for that student and
the lesson as a whole I have broken the lesson apart to have many
different mediums there is a mini-lesson on allegory on the first day
and a mini-lesson on British Imperialism on the second day. The
student are pushed (challenged) to take copious notes on their own
and they must learn how to paraphrase in their own words. Some
scaffolding has been added in to where I provide a teacher set of the
notes to the students. After the mini-lessons the students watch a
short video clip on symbolism in film (on the first day) and a video clip
on British Imperialism in India etc. by adding multiple mediums for
differentiation the student with ADHD on their 504 will not have to
devote so much attention to one specific thing for too long. Also
allowed that student to get up and pass out note packets and sharpen
pencils which allowed them the flexibility to walk around a bit. The
final student with a 504 was absent from both days of my lesson (he
was suspended).
The classes that Ive taught/observe are TAG advanced students so a
bonus activity I added to my lesson in order to really challenge the
students thinking and awareness is to analyze the first stanza of
Rudyard Kiplings The White Mans Burden.

Modification(s) /
Accommodation
(s)
Differentiation

3. RESOURCES
Academic
Language

Language
Functions

Some examples of academic language that have been embedded into

my two say lesson is Schema and Scaffolding. By telling the kids why
I provided them with a teacher version of my notes on top of their
own notes, Paraphrase when they were taking notes on allegory and
symbolism.
Content area vocabulary : Allegory, symbolism, Sepoy, British
Imperialism, and Societal- Ills, Bias
Compare and Contrast is the first part of the standard. It is significant
for students to not only be able to compare and contrast, but they
also must be able to apply their analysis of the text. They must be
able to apply historical events behind the time period in which the

Instructor: Tamara Watson

ELA (Language Arts)
Lesson Title: Allegory in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
November 17th
Language
Vocabulary

Grade and Subject: TAG 7 th grade

Date: November 14th and

story was written. They will demonstrate or apply their schema on the
historical context behind the text by a matching activity.
One of the ways that I intend to increase the academic and content
level vocabulary of my students is by interweaving live and dead
words for example in this lesson instead of saying, The native
Indians silent agreed to the colonization of their lands. I would
teach the kids, The native Indians acquiesced to the colonization of
their lands.
Content area vocabulary: Allegory, symbolism, Sepoy, British
Imperialism, and Societal- Ills, Bias.

Materials

Technology

I am doing a read aloud of the Sneetches , we have two YouTube

clips both days and a matching activity on the second day of the
lesson. Pear Soap advertisement.
I have a Prezi on Symbolism and Allegory for the first day with a
short YouTube clip on Symbolism in film. On the second day, there
is short PowerPoint on British Imperialism (in periods 4-7) an
analysis of the Pear Soap advertisement. Also a short YouTube clip
on British Imperialism.
I chose these forms so that the students can easily see the notes
right in front of them while we are going over the handout. I chose
the short YouTube clips because they were interesting and engaging
to the students.

4. LESSONPROCEDURE
Enduring
Understanding

Essential
Question(s)

Students will understand that it is not only important to look into

symbols that can be found not only in literature but it can also be
found in film and in their everyday life. By finding the allegory in the
story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi students can then begin to analyze the
characters, plot and setting of other pieces of writing and find the
authors allusions to historical events. Students must have an indepth understand/analysis of Western imperialism and its effects that
remain present within our society today. By understanding, The
White Mans Burden figuratively they can understand the reasons
and treatment of different cultures outside of the American Culture.
What is symbolism? And where can it be found? What is allegory?
Why is it significant?
Where else can symbolism be found or spotted?
What is the allegory in Dr. Seusss, The Sneetches? What can
the story be related to?
How does British Imperialism play a pivotal role in the shaping of
modern day India?
Why is the historical context behind the White Mans Burden
important to understanding the bias that can be found in the
story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
What is the allegory in the story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi? What do each
of the characters represent?
Compare and contrast the story of the Sneetches to the RikkiTikki-Tavi what about these two stories and their underlying
messages are different? Did the author effectively get across a

Grade and Subject: TAG 7 th grade

Instructor: Tamara Watson

ELA (Language Arts)
Lesson Title: Allegory in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
November 17th

Date: November 14th and

moral or message?

Lesson
Objective(s)

Students will be able to define and understand the terms

Symbolism and Allegory.
Students will be able to analyze the text and the characters in the
text to find the underlying historical context and relate.
Students will be able to compare other texts from the author and
other authors and find the bias in his or her account of history
or historical events.
Students will be able to analyze the story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (the
plot, setting, and characters) and find the major components of
British Imperialism over India for the underlying allegory in the
story.
Students will be able to analyze a text and find symbols and
symbolism in the text. Then they will be able to compare and
contrast different allegorical stories and evaluate its accuracy to
actual historical events.

Assessment Link The students being able to match the characters, setting, and plot of

Introduction to
Lesson

Body of Lesson

Closure

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi to actual historical events (Physical matching activity).

Also there is a summative quiz on Friday of this week. Throughout
their lesson on Allegory and Symbolism the students will have to
apply their schema from the two mini lessons to the characters in
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and see how they relate directly to the different
aspects of British Imperialism.
After my lesson on allegory at the end of class I stated, So now that
youve learned about allegory I want you to go home and think about
what could possibly be the allegory in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Is there an
allegory at all? What if I told you that the story is not what it seems?
On day one we did a formative assessment I asked the class, Can
anyone tell or have you ever heard of symbolism? Or allegory? Based
on the students responses it allowed me to judge how much time I
would spend on different parts of the mini-lesson on allegory. On the
second day I started by asking the class, Who can tell me what we
went over last class? then there was a recap and the mini-lesson on
British Imperialism began. At the max both were only 10-15 minutes
long.
Teaching strategies: We will discuss the particular academic language
that the standards are addressing what the kids are being asked to do
specifically and how they are supposed to do them.
How did British Imperialism guide or inspire Kiplings portrayal of
historical events? How is Kiplings bias epitomized through the
characters, plot, and setting in the allegory of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi .
The body will take 20-25 minutes. The short video clip on British
Imperialism, the analysis of the Pear Soap advertisement and the
analysis/ close reading of the first stanza of Rudyard Kiplings The
White Mans Burden. And interpret the meaning and its relation to
the text.
After our discussion on the Pear Soap advertisement and the video clip.
We will move on to the matching activity to wrap up the lesson.

Instructor: Tamara Watson

ELA (Language Arts)
Lesson Title: Allegory in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
November 17th

Grade and Subject: TAG 7 th grade

Date: November 14th and

The students are given two sets of cards. One set has all the main
characters and the setting of where the Great war took place. The
second set has the historical events/ major people who had a hand in
the colonization of India. The students will work in groups of two-four
in order to assist each other in pairing the characters with their
respective European counterpart
The matching activity should only take 10 minutes
Then the Sum-it should take 2-5 minutes (this where the students tell
me what theyve learned in the lesson: What did you learn that was
surprising? What do you think I should do differently in my lesson?
What do you want more information on?

5. ASSESSMENT
As an extension of our sum-it I answer or respond to some of the things
Evaluation
that the students found surprising or wanted me to expand on during
(Assessment
the lesson.
Plan for IEP
The Friday after the lesson the students were told to review the
Goals and/or 504
information in their notes and that cheat sheet I had given them on
Plans)
the previous day to help them build on their own notes. The reason for
this was a quiz 5 question quiz ore assessment to see how much they
took away from the lesson and what I need to give them feedback on
or what I needed to clarify for them.
Throughout the lesson I would stop and ask the student if they
understood what I meant when I mentioned a certain word. For
example, one of the vocabulary words that were in the lesson was
acquiescence. During the quiz I asked, What did the character
Chuchundra represent by his acquiescence in the story? the students
had to understand the meaning of the word and also relate it back to
this idea of allegory.

6. REFLECTION
Analyzing
Teaching
Effectiveness

After doing this lesson, one of the first things that I added right after
going through it with the first period class was that I need a visual aid
to help the students such as a PowerPoint or Prezi. That way the
students can see the notes on slides as I went through them. So for
the subsequent periods I created PowerPoint slide to go through the
notes. Also, in retrospect, I would have the students actually read the
first stanza of the White Mans Burden so that they could grasp the
language that Kipling was using in the poem instead of me reading it
to them. I also after I did the lesson during the sum-it I should have
had the students make connections of Imperialism to whats going on
in the world today. Also towards the end of the lesson when the
students were working on the matching activity should have added in
something that made the kids remember what characters matched
with the different parts of British Imperialism. Maybe I should have
given them a set of notes after the matching activity with the correct
answers and the rationale behind those correct answers.