Teacher: Meg Strauss Date: January 31th,

2016
School: Holyoke Junior High School Grade Level: 8th
Content Area: English
Title: Themes and Topics Lesson #:_2_ of _16_

Colorado State Standards Addressed:

Standard 2.1.a.ii: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its
development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters,
setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
Standard 2.3.a.i: Select and employ strategies to persist when encountering
unknown or ambiguous words or difficult passages
Understandings:
Students will understand the importance of theme and topic within a personal
memoir.
Inquiry Questions:
What is the theme and topic in The Moment of the Sixties by Joseph Duffy? Why is
having a central theme and topic important in writing a personal memoir?

Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)

I can: discover the themes and topics located in The Moment of the Sixties by
Joseph Duffy.
This means: I can understand the importance of having a central theme in my own
personal memoirs.

List of Assessments:
- Students will work in partners to answer the questions about the short
personal memoir The Moment of the Sixties by Joseph Duffy.

Planned Lesson Activities

Name and Purpose of Lesson Name: Themes and Topics

Purpose: Students will learn the importance of having a cen

topic within a personal memoir.
Approx. Time and Materials
Duration of Unit: 50 minutes
 Materials: Review sheet on theme vs. topic, The Moment of
Joseph Duffy, questions about the story

Anticipatory Set Writers Notebook-

Prompt: Write about a time in which you learned a life lesso

Students will have the option to read their writing to the cla
review sheet of topic vs. theme given to the class, students
topic and theme evident in their classmates story.

Procedures Teacher Actions Student Actions

1. 5 minutes- 1. 5 minutes-
Announcements Actively listen
Question attendance: Whats announcemen
your favorite color? Answer attend

2. 15 minutes- Writers Notebook 2. 15 minutes- W

Have students write about a Write in your w
time in which they learned a about a time i
very importance lesson. This learned a very
must be in story form. lesson.
Hand out review sheet on Either share y
theme vs. topic actively listen
Ask volunteers to share their classmates st
writers notebook prompt Using the revi
With students, analyze the provided, help
themes and topics portrayed analyze the th
in their classmates stories evident in you
3. 10 minutes- stories
Pass out the short story and
questions to A Moment in the
Sixties by Joseph Duffy 3. 10 minutes
Read the story to the students Receive the sh
Pair students up and tell them questions
to start working on the Actively listen
questions on the bottom of Moment in the
the short story sheet Joseph Duffy
Get with the p
4. 15 minutes to you
Walk around the classroom
and help pairs answer the
questions located at the end
of the short story sheet
5. 5 minutes
Gather students question 4. 15 minutes
sheets With a partner
Have students write an exit sheet to help
 slip answering the question, questions loca
Why do you think its bottom of the
important to have a central 5. 5 minutes
theme or topic in a personal Turn in questio
memoir? On an exit slip
question, Wh
to have a cent
topic in a pers

Closure Students will be asked to write an exit slip that answers the
do you think it is important to have a central theme and top
memoir?
Differentiation Students will be put into pairs based on their data-collected
advanced students will be paired with students who are stru

Assessment Students will turn in a question sheet that answers question

theme and topics evident in A Moment of the Sixties by Jo
Students will also turn in an exit slip describing why having
and topic in a personal memoir is important.

Notes to Self - In order to further differentiation, maybe have studen

writing circles and each writing circle has a modified v
short story that better adheres to their level? I think i
read the text to the class for students who struggle w
Im not sure how I would incorporate this.

Themes and Topics

 Why are having themes

and topics in a story

important?

Themes and topics

provide centrality to
literature
Gives the reader something to take-
away from the reading
Keeps the writer on point

Theme vs. Topic

Theme Topic
Central message Subject discussed
in writing
Explains why text Explains what the
was written writing is about
Not directly stated Most often stated in
in work work
Often reflects an General as it is a
opinion subject
 The First Moment of The Sixties

By Joseph Duffy

I was sure when The Fifties would come to an end. They would end on December 31, 1959, at
the stroke of midnight. I was a young boy of eleven at that moment, and my twin brother Jim
and I were helping my Mom baby-sit for my sister Betty, who lived across tiny Agate Street
from us. It was a big deal, as the decade would be changing, something I had never
experienced, as I was too young the last time this happened. I couldnt wait to see what it felt
like; the end of The Fifties!

Midnight came, and Jim and I ran up and down Agate Street banging pots and pans together to
celebrate the new decade. I awoke the next morning, looked out my window, and...nothing was
changed. I was a bit surprised. Life just went on as if nothing had happened. I began to suspect
that decades were not real; they were an invention, and that one was just like every other. Is that
all there is to a decade? Banging Pots and Pans?

So, even though it was now 1960, The Fifties just...continued. I began High School a couple of
years later, and we had a new President, John F. Kennedy, and an Irish Catholic like me, whom
I had (sort of) met when he was campaigning for President. Freshman year at Northeast
Catholic High went pretty smooth for me, and, for Sophomore year, 1963, I was assigned to the
top section. I had Geometry, Latin II, Spanish II, Biology, World History, Religion, English
Composition, and Gym, three days a week. I also had the 11:30 lunch, which was considered
the best lunch.

After lunch came Religion class, with Father Godley (his real name). The trick in Father
Godleys class was to stay awake, especially after lunch. That went until 1:00, and then Spanish
II, with Father Cleary. 1:45 was English Comp, with Mr. Thaddeus Pianka. That class was held
in Room 114, on the corner of the first floor.

I remember a particularly warm Friday, late that Fall. It was 66 degrees and sunny;
unseasonably warm for so late in November. The windows in our classroom were open, and we
were doing a quiz, or deskwork, for Mr. Pianka. It was very quiet. I sat in the first desk, second
row. Then there was a loud voice, coming from outside our window.

Hey, thats my buddy Mike Dugan out there, I remember thinking. He was yelling to another
student, who must have been standing a hundred yards away.

Somebody just shot Kennedy.

What? said the other kid.

I said, somebody... just... shot... Kennedy!

There was a muffled response from the other kid.

Then Mike said, They dont know yet.

I thought, Wow. What if somebody HAD just shot Kennedy? I didnt believe it. It just didnt
seem like a possibility. Why would Mike say such a thing?

A few moments later our Principal, Father Corcoran, announced over the loudspeaker, May I
have your attention, please? The President has just been shot in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a
motorcade. His condition is not yet known, but reports are that it may be very serious. We
didnt know what to think about this. It was a physical blow.

And nothing was ever the same, from that moment. Something had ended. We were somewhere
completely new and foreign to us. It took only... a moment. We were, briefly, suspended, in
mid-air, between decades; silent, breathless, and peering down into the unknown; but only for a
moment.

And, in that moment, the nation, and the world, leapt the abyss between the decades. It was the
very last moment of The Fifties. The beginning of The Sixties was not about banging pots and
pans together, after all.

Questions on the text:

What is the moral of this story?

Why did the author feel that telling this story was important?

Provide two themes evident in this story:

Provide three topics evident in this story: