Lesson Plan

Philippine Normal University

National Center for Teacher Education

College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature

Department of English

In partial fulfillment of the requirements in

S-ENG 23

Teaching and Testing of Literature

A Semi-Detailed Lesson Plan in Teaching Literature

Using the Epitaph and News Report Strategies

For Third Year High School

Submitted by:

Ann Kimberly B. Baltazar

Carmina M. Carillo

III – 13 BSE English

Submitted to:

Prof. Marla C. Papango

A SEMI-DETAILED LESSON PLAN IN TEACHING LITERATURE USING THE EPITAPH AND NEWS REPORT STRATEGIES FOR THIRD YEAR HIGH SCHOOL

I. Objectives

At the end of the 60-minute English class, the students are expected to:

A. arrive at the meaning of words through context clues

B. describe the characters of the story

C. examine the experience and actions of the characters to underscore the theme of the selection

D. distinguish worthwhile human values

E. participate collaboratively

II. Subject Matter

A. Topic: Following the Characters of a Short Story

B. Title: "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe (see attached file)

C. References:

• Enotes. (2011). The tell-tale heart. Retrieved at http://www.enotes.com/tell-tale-heart-text/the-tell-tale-heart?start=1

• Buehl, D. (2001). Classroom strategies for interactive learning. Delaware, USA: International Reading Association

D. Instructional Materials:

• Epitaph samples

• News report samples

• "Follow The Character" diagram

III. Procedure

A. Pre-Reading

The teacher introduces new words. She uses the words in sentences and provides context clues to aid the students in arriving at the meaning of the words.

1. When James put on his Superman costume, his dissimulation was complete for no one could recognize him.

2. He had the sagacity of a judge, but the cunning of a master criminal, which is a highly dangerous combination.

3. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness.

4. Christian tried saving Lisa from drowning but he could no longer hear the tattoo of her pulse.

5. The whole scaffold had been braced with mere scantling.

6. She lacked suavity to fit in at the elegant party.

7. The deputed head teacher, with the very effective support of the senior administration officer, managed the school budget very well.

8. The man had the audacity to bungee jump off the building.

9. A journalist whose story turns out to be inaccurate, unfair or untrue will justifiably earn public derision.

10. In a television interview, the politician tended to dissemble rather than to answer questions truthfully.

B. While-Reading

The teacher posts a Follow the Characters diagram on the board. This aims to organize information about the character/s. The resulting visual outline helps students decide on the author's theme or message in a story. The teacher divides the class into five. The following are the assigned works:

Group 1: What does the character do?

Group 2: What does the character say or think?

Group 3: What do other characters do or say about her?

' Group 4: How does the character change?

Group 5: How is the character involved in the conflict?

Follow the Character

Discussion questions:

1. The narrator claims that he is not mad. How can you prove that he is?

2. Why did the narrator want to kill the old man?

3. What did the narrator do with the old man's body?

4. Can you relate to any of these characters? If so, which and how? If not, what separates you from them?

5. What does the story's title mean?

C. Post-Reading

Using the same groups, the teacher assigns new tasks:

Group 1: news report

Group 2: news report

Group 3: epitaph

Group 4: epitaph

Group 5: epitaph

Philippine Normal University

Epitaph

Name: ________________________ Teacher: Baltazar & Carillo

Date : ___________________ Title of Work: ___________________

Criteria Points

1 2 3 4

Content The epitaph includes a few details from the short story. The information in the epitaph communicates only slight familiarity with the character and/or communicates incorrect details that show no understanding. The epitaph includes some details that relate to the character. However the epitaph needs more specific information to communicate the essence of the character and author's understanding clearly. The epitaph captures the essence of the character. The information in the epitaph communicates the author's understanding, however additional details would provide a more complete picture of the character. The epitaph captures the essence of the character through the use of details from the short story. The specific information in the epitaph clearly communicates the author's understanding of the character. ____

Language The epitaph uses few descriptive words, phrases or figurative language. The language does only one of the following: appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood, and sets tone. The epitaph uses some descriptive words, phrases or figurative language. The language does at least two of the following: appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood, and sets tone. The epitaph uses descriptive words, phrases and figurative language. The language does at least three of the following: appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood, and sets tone. The epitaph uses well-chosen descriptive words, phrases, and figurative language. The language appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood and sets tone. ____

Conventions (Grammar, Capitalization, Spelling and Punctuation) The epitaph includes more than 4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader. There are several errors in capitalization and/or punctuation that catch the reader's attention and greatly interrupt the flow. The epitaph includes 3-4 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader. There are a few errors in capitalization and/or punctuation that catch the reader's attention and interrupt the flow. The epitaph includes 1-2 errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader. There are 1 or 2 errors in capitalization or punctuation, but the epitaph is still easy to read. The epitaph includes no error in grammar or spelling that distract the reader. There are no errors in capitalization or punctuation, so the epitaph is exceptionally easy to read. ____

Presentation The design of the gravestone is general, with no explicit connection to the character. Images, if present, do not adequately relate to character's personality. The work needs more attention to appearance. The design of the gravestone only partially captures the spirit of the character. The piece includes 1-2 images that relate to character's personality. The work may need more attention to appearance. The design of the gravestone captures the spirit of the character. The piece includes some themes or images that match the character's personality. The work is polished. The design of the gravestone captures the spirit of the character. The piece reflects the themes and images that support the character's personality and station in life. The work is polished and well-matched to the epitaph. ____

____

Total----> ____

Teacher Comments:

________________________________________

Powered by TeAch-nology.com- The Web Portal For Educators! (www.teach-nology.com)

Philippine Normal University

News Report

Name: ________________________ Teacher: Baltazar & Carillo

Date : ___________________ Title of Work: ___________________

Criteria Points

1 2 3 4

Knowledge & Understanding - demonstrates limited understanding of form of news article - demonstrates limited understanding of materials read - demonstrates adequate understanding of form of news article - demonstrates adequate understanding of materials read - demonstrates considerable understanding of form of news article - demonstrates considerable understanding of materials read - demonstrates thorough understanding of form of news article - demonstrates thorough understanding of materials read ____

Thinking & Inquiry - demonstrates limited competence developing ideas, selecting, organizing, and explaining information - demonstrates moderate competence developing ideas, selecting, organizing, and explaining information - demonstrates considerable competence developing ideas, selecting, organizing, and explaining information - demonstrates a high degree of competence developing ideas, selecting, organizing, and explaining information ____

Communication - communicates information and ideas with limited clarity - limited awareness of audience and purpose - demonstrates limited control of form - communicates information and ideas with moderate clarity - moderate awareness of audience and purpose - demonstrates moderate control of form - communicates information and ideas with considerable clarity - considerable awareness of audience and purpose - demonstrates considerable control of form - communicates information and ideas with a high degree of clarity - thorough awareness of audience and purpose - demonstrates extensive control of form ____

Application - uses language conventions with limited accuracy and effectiveness - uses reading strategies with limited competence - uses the writing process with limited competence - uses language conventions with moderate accuracy and effectiveness - uses reading strategies with moderate competence - uses the writing process with moderate competence - uses language conventions with considerable accuracy and effectiveness - uses reading strategies with considerable competence - uses the writing process with considerable competence - uses language conventions with a high degree of accuracy and effectiveness - uses reading strategies with a high degree of competence - uses the writing process with a high degree of competence ____

____

Total----> ____

Teacher Comments:

________________________________________

Powered by TeAch-nology.com- The Web Portal For Educators! (www.teach-nology.com)

IV. Agreement

Research on the illnesses of schizophrenia and paranoia. Do you think the narrator suffers from either of these conditions? Why or why not?

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe

TRUE!—NERVOUS—VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously—oh, so cautiously—cautiously (for the hinges creaked)—I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights—every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers—of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back—but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out—"Who's there?"

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening;—just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief—oh, no!—it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself—"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney—it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel—although he neither saw nor heard—to feel the presence of my head within the room.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little—a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it—you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily—until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

It was open—wide, wide open—and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness—all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense?—now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!—do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me—the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once—once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye—not even his—could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out—no stain of any kind—no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all—ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock—still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart,—for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled,—for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search—search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct:—It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness—until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale;—but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased—and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath—and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly—more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men—but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed—I raved—I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now—again!—hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!"