Students will begin class by reading a prompt on the board that will give them the instructions for their first activity, chaos drama. Students will act as though they had just given life to a monster of their own. After one minute of enacting their chaos drama, students will go back to their seats where they will be asked to pull out a blank sheet of paper. Students will have ten minutes to draw or “create” their very own version of Frankenstein’s “monster” based on what they know about Frankenstein. Students will then have a few extra minutes where those who want to share their drawings may do so. Next, students will watch a slideshow of different representations of Frankenstein’s monster to show how he has been depicted and perceive culturally/historically. Next, the conversation will transition to the first depiction of Frankenstein’s monster, Mary Shelley’s text. Here, students will remain seated for a ten minute lecture on Mary Shelley’s life and history. Next, students will be asked to fill out a handout with a few questions about ambition and the ways in which ambition has played a role in their lives/how they have related to ambition. The goal is for students to connect with the idea of ambition on a personal level. Students will fill these out in 10 minutes and before they are collected. Next, the class will split into groups of three and they will be tasked with the creation a poster representing an event or achievement (around Shelley’s time) linked with ambition. They will create a poster representing the event/achievement to share with their class. This will give students a better grasp of the time in which Shelley was writing. Lastly, students will have three minutes each to present their findings and “teach” the class about their chosen subject.
Content Standard(s) (include NC ELA Standards and NCTE Standards)
SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. L.11-12.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking; demonstrate proficiency within the 9-12 grammar continuum.
RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to construct specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its effect on the reader.
Additional Language Supports (e.g., vocabulary, discourse, syntax)
Essential Question(s) for Students to Explore
Unit EQs: What is the role of ambition in one’s life? Lesson EQs: What kinds of achievements/creations do we consider products of ambition? How can we see ambitions play out in earlier historical moments ?
Prior Knowledge
Students will be familiar with the concept of chaos drama. Students will be familiar, at least to some degree, with Frankenstein as a cultural entity. Students will have had prior experience and knowledge of how to work together in small groups to generate a single product. Students also will have had prior experience speaking in front of the class.
Assessment/Accommodation
21st Century Skills
Creativity and innovation Collaboration Communication Initiative and Self-Direction Productivity and Accountability
Learning Activity Types
Performance/Production: Students will perform a one minute chaos drama, embodying the given prompt and expressing freely with body language and oral language.
Doodling: Students will draw representations of their concept of Frankenstein’s monster.
Watching/Viewing: Students will watch and process visual images of Frankenstein’s monster as represented culturally.
Writing Nonfiction: Students will answer questions about their personal relationships to ambition.
Research: Students will research Mary Shelley’s historical moment in order to generate their posters for presentation.
Sharing : Students will share their research with the rest of the class.
Formative Assessment (attach specific instructions and/or examples) The create your own monster/depictions of Frankenstein activity will serve as a formative assessment, ensuring that students are engaged in the classroom atmosphere and adequately reflecting on their prior knowledge/experience with cultural depictions of Frankenstein’s monster. This activity will draw students into an active learning environment where they can take part in the creation of knowledge. Also, the handout with questions about ambition (as it relates to the students’ lives) will serve as a formative assessment, ensuring that students are engaging with and understanding the concept of ambition. Students will also make real-world connections with the concept. Lastly, students’ group posters/presentations will be used as a formative assessment. This will also demonstrate if students are engaging with Mary Shelley’s historical moment as a “living, breathing” point in history. Also, it will demonstrate how well students are capable of internalizing research information and, in turn, succinctly representing their findings.
Summative Assessment (attach specific instructions or examples; include connection to content/language objective)
The summative assessment will consist of a series of fictional correspondences between an imagined neighbor of Victor Frankenstein and any character in Shelley’s novel (real or imagined). Students will, over the course of the unit, generate four short letters from their created character. Their fifth letter, however, will be longer. I am looking for students to engage with the text in a way that demonstrates a deep understanding of the characters, themes, time period, and setting of the novel. The final product should represent a nuanced treatment of Shelley’s characterizations, demonstrating students’ abilities to engage with the novel’s characters as living, breathing subjects (i.e. understanding their hopes, biases, and ambitions). Students will then be asked to respond to a partner’s letter, thus engaging in the act of “listening” as well as “speaking.”
Lesson Plan Materials
Computer/Internet/ Projector
Paper/Pencils
Colored Pencils
Colored Markers
Laptops (one for each group)
Handout with questions about ambition
Organizational Structures (e.g., lecture, whole-class discussion, group work, individual work)
Individual work: Drawing their monsters and responding to the handout (about their personal connection to ambition). Lecture: On the life and times of Mary Shelley Whole Class Discussion: While sharing their “monster” drawings and reflecting on cultural representation of the monster Group work: Creating their posters/presentations
Bell Ringer/Review Activity
Chaos Drama: Students will be asked to read the prompt on the board as the teacher also states what is written on the board, which will read: “Imagine you’ve been working to create a monster and, one day, your work is finally complete. Your monster awakens, and you are alone in your apartment with the terrifying creature. How might you react?” Before students jump into the chaos drama, they will be asked to take two minutes to write down how their monster would be acting in this scenario (what it would be doing, saying, etc) and how they would react. Then students will freely enact this scenario for one minute.
Detailed Activities and Procedures (include transitions, time allocations, & supporting theories/principles)
Students will return to their seats. We will “give life” to their own monsters, using their prior knowledge/conception of Frankenstein to draw their own monster. (10 minutes) Once students have finished, the teacher will open up the floor for anyone who wants to share their drawings/their rationale for drawing their monster the way they did (5 minutes).
Next, the teacher will share a slideshow and a few brief video clips (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjogYUkO38) of cultural representation of Frankenstein’s monster to show students other representations of the monster. (5 minutes)
The teacher will then transition into a lecture on the life and times of Mary Shelley by bringing up the “original” Frankenstein. This will be a brief lecture meant to introduce students to a few key new historical details about Shelley and the times in which she lived. (10 minutes)
Next, the teacher will pass out a handout with a number of questions meant to enable students to think about their own relationship/connection to ambition. This will consist of no more than three questions. This is a way of engaging students, personally, with the questions that our unit will focus on. (10 minutes)
Next the teacher will give an explanation of the group activity that the student will work on for the remainder of the period. Students will choose one “event” or “achievement” around 1818 (in Mary Shelley’s historical era), do research as a group, and create a poster to “teach” the class about their chosen subject. Students will choose an event based on independent research rather than the teacher’s lecture prior. Each phase of this group activity will be timed. Students will have 10 minutes to find their event or achievement. Then they will have 15 minutes to create a poster with visual and/or written information about their subject. Students will be prompted to think about these events through the context of ambition, each event or achievement should be a product of the ages’ ambition . (25 minutes total)
Lastly, students will have three minutes each to present their findings to the rest of their class. (15 minutes total)
Closure (include review/reflection and independent practice)
Lastly, the teacher will bring the class back together and explain to them their assigned “homework.” Students will be tasked to use the same questions from the handout (about personal connections to ambition), interview any family member older than themselves (could be parent, sibling, etc) using those same questions, and record their oral responses in writing.
Alternate Strategies for Re-teaching Material
Rather than focusing on cultural representations of Frankenstein’s monster, the teacher could continue the student’s “creation” of their own monster by asking them to incorporate a song that represents their monster. This would give students who are more musically inclined a chance to explore characterization through musical instrumentation .