STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Teacher: Mr. Sanderlin Date:

4/14/17
School: Kinard Middle School Grade Level: 7th Grade
Content Area: English
Title: The Weight of Trickery

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson: (Write Content Standards

directly from the standard)
2.2.B.iii: Interpret a variety of graphical representations and connect them to
information in the text.
4.1.C: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of
instruction, select applicable questions from standard)
How do secondary characters shape the reader/viewers perception of the main
character?
How do secondary characters portray the culture and setting in a story?
Concepts and skills students master: (Understandings, Big Ideas, Unit
objectives)
I can analyze information from Act I Scene I to understand the society and context
of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Evidence Outcomes: (Knowledge/ Skills, Lesson Objectives)
Every student will be able to:
1. Read the first Scene from Cyrano and comprehend all the other characters.
2. Analyze the types of characters and categorize them as tricksters or being
tricked.
3. Infer what might happen in the future during this play, and reflect on the type of
culture/society that Cyrano inhabits.
Assessment of Evidence Outcomes: (How will you assess the selected lesson
objectives (general explanation, you will go into more detail at the end of the lesson
plan)
I will assess students based on how they fill out their ISNs, the numbers of
characters they produce in their analysis, the reflection question they write at the
end of class, and the conversations we have in class as we take notes on Act 1
Scene 1.

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Planned Lesson Activities

Activity Name The Weight of Trickery

Approx. Time How long do you expect the activity to last?

78 Minutes
Anticipatory Act in front of the class and give them a scenario that is similar
Set to the introduction to Cyrano de Bergerac.
Teaching/ First 5 Minutes:
Presentation: Talk to students about the play we are about to start. In a warm-
up ask them:
What was the last big event you went to and how long did you
have to wait beforehand? What did you do while you were
waiting? Was it crowded?
Ask students to share their answers.
Next 15 Minutes:
Read the stage directions of the play after you have discussing
the warm-up question. Walk through the information in the
stage directions step by step explaining the different details of
the setting. Explain the different elements of the set such as
wings, galleries, lighting, stage, and location. Once you have
read and discussed this first section, as the students to fill out a
page in their ISN with the following information:
In the three spaces above, write down three facts you learned
from the stage directions. Make sure to draw a picture along
with these facts so you can remember it in the future.
Have students share one of their responses with a neighbor and
then ask for volunteers to share their answers to the class
(Think Pair Share).
Next 15 Minutes:
Take the next 15-20 minutes to read through the entire scene.
Explain each character, and the definitions for words. Take time
every page to ask 1-2 questions to check for understanding:
What do the men replace the money with in this opening
scene?
What does this tell us about the setting/people of this play?
What are the two types of characters we have seen in this
scene so far?
Next 20 Minutes:
After asking these questions and providing context for different
aspects of this scene (See annotated notes on the first scene)
and the power point with pictures. Have students copy a list of
every single character from Scene I (25 characters). Once they
have made the list, have them split the characters into two
sections: trickster and being tricked. They will label each
character this way.
On the next page in their ISN, they will draw a scale leaning
towards one side. The two sides of the scale will say: # doing
the tricks, # being tricked. I will have the students place the
higher number on the side that is close to the bottom.

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Once they have labeled each side properly, they will then
examine what this means for the setting of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Next 15 minutes:
Ask students to answer the following question in their ISNs:
Based on your finding and analysis, what can you infer about
the culture and society that Cyrano will inhabit? How do these
characters foreshadow the events and themes that will be
present in this play?

Have students think pair share with this activity.

Once students have written their answers down, talk about why
these characters almost act as props for Cyranos character.
They are secondary and only provide a small window into
Cyranos world.
Last 8 minutes:
End the lesson by introducing concepts about blocking. Explain
that blocking is the placement of props, characters, lights, and
stage directions in a scene. Tell the students that next class we
are going to design a part of a scene tomorrow:
First ask the students to think about all the props they think
belong in the setting and to write them down. Have them look
back at the stage directions as a guide.
Once students have made this list, tell them that we will
continue this work next class.
Teaching Weighing scale activity.
Strategy: Walk around and see how the students are analyzing the
Guided Practice characters and talk to them about what category each
& character might fit into. After talking to each group, bring
Differentiation everyone back together as a class and discuss the findings of
this experiment and categorization of characters.
Teaching After walking through context and ideas with the students
Strategy: regarding the Scene, we will move on into another stage of
(Independent analysis. This involves blocking a scene. We will read another
Practice) Scene next and talk about how this detailed analysis helps us
construct and build the scene from the ground up. This will be a
visual construction through drawing and creating detailed
positions for characters and props to be in at a given time.
These visual and tactile elements will lead the student to
understand the scene in every aspect, once we finally act out
the scene.

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STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Materials What do you need to do the activity?

ISN notebooks
PowerPoint
Copies of the Play
Pen or Pencil for Notes
Accommodati Accommodations:
ons Pictures from the power point
& Definitions in the power point
Modifications Graphic Organizers
Print out of the power point if students need it to reference
Modifications:

Have students just think about how these characters help

foreshadow future events in the play if the final question is too
difficult.

Have students zoom in on parody, by talking about the stage on

the stage, and the play within a play. Really dig into these
concepts if the final question was too easy for them.

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