Unit Plan: Applying Critical Lenses to Fahrenheit 451€¦ · Final Unit Plan December 5, 2012 Unit Plan: Applying Critical Lenses to Fahrenheit 451 School and Classroom Context:

Kate Vosburg AED 541: Critical Literacy

Final Unit Plan December 5, 2012

Unit Plan: Applying Critical Lenses to Fahrenheit 451

School and Classroom Context:

I teach tenth grade language arts in a rural, mid-sized school district. The socioeconomic status of the area is slightly below average. The members of the school community provide a mix of various classes, ethnicities, and languages.

I have twenty students in my classroom. There are twelve females and eight males. There are six African American students (two males and four females), four Latino students (two males and two females), and one Chinese female. All of the Latino students speak at least some Spanish and speak a mixture of Spanish and English at home. The young Chinese woman is fluent in English, but speaks only Chinese at home because her parents speak almost no English. We are half-way through the year, so the students are familiar with me and one another. Most of the students do not seem to enjoy reading unless it has direct connections to their lives, so my prior instruction has focused on developing their literacies by drawing on their lives, interests, and forming senses of identity.

Conceptual Frameworks for Instruction and for Classroom Management:

One of my main goals as an Adolescent English teacher is to help students to practice and apply Critical Literacy to their reading of texts and to their own lives. I plan to show students that “all texts are positioned and positioning” (Janks, 61). In order to do so, I will lead students in questioning texts, drawing their attention to what and whose views the author is representing, what values undergird these views, whose views are absent, how these views are silenced, and what larger debate or power structure the work falls into. Students should certainly read many different types of texts, especially those which they may be resistant to in order to confront their own beliefs, assumptions, and concerns. However, students should also read texts that result from and support dominant discourses. In order to develop and practice critical literacy, students need to learn to question and critique texts and ideas that they are very familiar and possibly very comfortable with. McIntosh claims that in order to “redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions” (2). Students need to analyze the visible but also the invisible, the underlying beliefs and practices that support the text. Critical Literacy allows students to uncover such underlying beliefs, discourses, and power structures that shape the writing and reception of a text. These skills are absolutely necessary to helping students to lead healthy, productive lives. By learning to probe, question, and evaluate texts, we learn to apply these same attitudes and techniques to the world around us. Fecho advocates studying literature “not as an end in itself, but as a means for understanding the past, current, and future lives we lead” (374). In order to consistently support students’ practice of Critical Literacy, I will draw upon my three main frameworks for reading: reading for multiple perspectives, reading for identity construction, and reading as social practice.

Reading for multiple perspectives is the reading framework that I am most drawn to. One of the main reasons why literature is so interesting and valuable lies in the idea

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that through reading, we can enter the minds of other people. Reading with the purpose of understanding the thoughts and motivations of others can widen our perspectives and evoke a sense of humility and empathy, even with the most seemingly unsympathetic character. Nakkula and Toshalis emphasize “how little we can actually know about any individual life” (x); I would suggest that the study of literature is possibly the closest we can get to truly understanding another person. Through their study of texts, I want students to gain what Edmiston calls a “double consciousness” (58) with which they can try to understand perspectives, motivations, and experiences that may be very different from their own. Of the many ideas I have encountered, drama seems to be one of the most effective instructional techniques for the development of a double consciousness because it requires students to step into the role of another person or character. Students are forced to examine and react to a variety of issues from the perspective of the specific role that they are playing. Classroom dramas provide students with a safe space to try on new ideas, language practices, actions, and ways of being.

Including and examining a multitude of perspectives and values is very important because of the diversity of today’s classrooms. Throughout their lives, students are going to be faced with various kinds of difference. Students need to be able to navigate these differences, especially differences in culture and ideas. Studying these diverse perspectives and those who have been successful in promoting these views is a way of validating the people and the views being examined. Certainly, exploring another’s perspective on such a deep level is beneficial because it promotes understanding between parties. Once students gain the skills and motivations to try to understand others’ perspectives, they can effectively work and meaningfully interact with all different types of people. Furthermore, connecting with another person or even a character on such a meaningful level allows students to more clearly understand themselves. They can apply many of the same techniques used to explore others’ thoughts, motivations, actions, and perspectives to themselves. According to Young, Dillon, and Moje, “You don’t have an appreciation of who you really are until you understand others” (116). Students can not only understand but continue to construct their own identities based on their reactions to their study of others’ perspectives, thoughtfully gaining or rejecting the ideas they encounter. Reading for multiple perspectives undoubtedly intersects with reading for identity construction, which uses reading to aid students in constructing and validating their identities. Bob Fecho’s “Linguistic Diversity in Multi-Cultural Classrooms” brings up a very important idea that I believe in very strongly: At the end of each class, the students do not need to all take away the same thing; they just need to all find something worth taking with them. Every day, students have experiences, their reactions to which help to shape their identities. However, each experience will affect each person differently, so reading for identity requires that a variety of perspectives and methods are valued in the classroom. Sometimes, students need to read about people or characters that they see as similar to themselves. Students need models, and they need their various perspectives to be validated. However, students also need to be exposed to a variety of perspectives because by reading critically, students can examine and create their own unique identities by recognizing, evaluating, and accepting or rejecting specific perspectives and beliefs examined in texts. Barnhouse states that by examining texts critically, “We construct understandings not only of a text, but of

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ourselves and the world around us” (41). Students need to be exposed to other ideas in order to examine and evaluate their own. At all stages of our lives, our identities are in flux. However, adolescents are particularly flexible. It is very important that they are exposed to new ideas and are allowed to integrate these new ideas into their thinking. Students in my class will most certainly engage reading as a social practice. Almost all of the activities that I plan have a collaborative component. Our knowledge, opinions, and practices while reading are shaped by those whom we read with. Dialogue, inquiry, and problem-solving are critical to developing literacies. As Nakkula and Toshalis point out, students are only co-authors of their own stories. Other people are constantly shaping our own narratives. Students need to be conscious of other people’s influences on them, but they also need to be very conscious of how they are simultaneously shaping the lives of other people. Reading as a social practice helps students to realize these influences and learn to have more control over them. By reading socially, we realize all of the influences that are acting upon a text, our interpretation of the text, as well as our own lives. Students can learn to navigate and interrogate many different types of discourses by considering multiple perspectives, interrogating power, and adopting new ways of being. I have attempted to include each of these frameworks in my unit plan, specifically emphasizing the development and practice of Critical Literacy. I chose to focus on a single text for this unit in order to show how reading with different lenses or with different purposes can reveal many different aspects of a single text. I chose to focus on Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 because it lends itself to the critical interpretation of power. Upon examination, the text also reveals many how many different types of power function. The novel is also valuable for its dynamic characters and examples of many different types of resistance against dominant power structures. Prior to the unit, the students read the novel independently. I planned for the students to read the novel on their own before beginning the unit because I wanted them to experience the text in any way that they wished. I didn’t want them to constantly be steered in certain directions while they were still experiencing the novel for the first time. It also suited my purpose of showing the students how re-reading parts of novel through different lenses can reveal much more about a text than we originally notice. Therefore, I provided some structure and guidance for their reading (see “Pre-Reading Activities”) but allowed students to read, focus their attention, and reflect individually. During the unit, I have planned to begin and end each lesson with personal connections; my students are much more resistant to learning when they cannot see any connections to their real lives, so I have planned the structure and focuses of this lesson accordingly. My students are also very peer-oriented, so every lesson includes pair or group work. These activities are scaffolded and guided, but they are also student-led, which promotes agency. This unit is particularly appropriate for all of my students because it promotes agency through the interrogation of dominant power structures and ideologies. The unit centers on investigations of power and resistance, which are appropriate for all students but especially these who will face oppressive structures often in their lives—immediately and in the future. Through various activities, students are asked to uncover dominant power structures and their impact on the society of the text. Students examine various power relationships, as well as how their underlying dominant ideologies gain and maintain power. Students also study how other ideologies and discourses are

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disempowered. However, students not only examine how these structures function but also investigate how these structures are resisted. They gain agency by recognizing the structure of power relationships and evaluating methods of resistance. Most importantly, each of these investigations is meaningfully connected to examinations of power and resistance in students’ own lives. The unit is meant to be inclusive and supportive of all types of learners. First, every lesson, as well as the graded final assessment, draws on each student’s experiences. All experiences are valued and brought into conversation with the text through student reflections at the beginning and end of each class. When students’ experiences are valued and actually used in the classroom, learning becomes more “real,” and students become more invested, which is certainly one of my aims in this unit. Second, classroom activities change each day, but the basic structure of each lesson is the same. Every lesson begins and ends with a silent written reflection which gives all students a chance to make connections to their own lives as well as to reflect on prior and new knowledge. Between these beginning- and end-of-class reflections, students will participate in one to two different activities. Students are consistently working in pairs or groups so that they have the support of peers. Such group activities are especially helpful to those who may have trouble focusing for extended periods without opportunities for movement and peer interaction. This consistency in the structure of lessons is helpful to all students—but especially those who have specific types of learning disabilities—while diverse learning activities encourage engagement, experience, and growth. My planned lessons provide extensive opportunities for various types of group interactions. The unit is anchored by collaborative activities, such as the group creation of a Textual Features Guiding Chart, a choral reading, a drama showcasing characters’ resistance, a Chalk Talk, and group inquiries into language and gendered power relationships. These collaborative inquiries are supported by guiding questions but are mainly student-led. Most classroom management issues tend to arise when students are not engaged; by planning such varied classroom activities, building in consistent opportunities for reflection, connecting to students’ lives, encouraging peer dialogue, structuring student-led inquiries, and providing appropriate scaffolding, I hope to prevent many classroom management issues. However, encountering some problems is inevitable. Therefore, I will always be circulating, providing support and feedback during group work. During pair and group work, there will also be many opportunities for peer feedback. Finally, I will continually reflect on and adjust my planned lessons based on the needs that I perceive in my students. Personal connections and responses are emphasized throughout the unit. More importantly, lessons build in space for students to make meaningful connections to the content. Students are studying their own lives through studying the text. Students are examining the role of power structures, gendered power relationships, and various exercises of power in the text, and they are consistently applying this knowledge to the same or similar issues in their own lives using critical lenses and strategies. The unit’s final assessment reflects my commitment to creating meaningful personal connections by asking students to connect their investigations of power in the text to moments in their lives. Then, they will draw on their knowledge of each to make conclusions about power. While examining these power structures, students will make use of critical English Language Arts disciplinary skills, such as tracking textual patterns, investigating

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character development, recognizing and interpreting the use of specific textual features, and examining language uses. The application of the knowledge and skills gained in the unit will allow students to “read” their own worlds. In this unit, students are studying the language use of the “colonizers” in this text, specifically how language use can reflect and reinforce the power of the speaker while taking power away from others. The students will connect this knowledge to their own language uses or experiences of language use in which someone was enforcing his or her power. Language use is related to the context and culture of the text, which becomes clear in our investigation of where such language uses come from in the text. We also explore the impact of this language which lends itself to inquiry into how people are “othered,” or made to be different in a negative way, through language. Students will be reflecting on how their own or the language of others has caused them or another person to be othered. Throughout their discussions of language and power, students are constantly discussing textual patterns, features, and content. Much of the work is done through discussion in groups; students organize themselves, deciding on their own roles and procedures within given directions. The unit is based in inquiry and dialogue, not on memorization or repetition of facts. Textual features are explored in the service of making meaning in the novel. The inquiry into colonizers’ language is placed early in the unit. The inquiry into textual features that are used to communicate meanings also comes early in the unit. Over the course of these inquiries, students will learn and make use of English Language Arts vocabulary. I will reinforce or adjust students’ language uses by summarizing and repeating students’ speech back to them, introducing or emphasizing appropriate vocabulary. Students will also vary their language practices according to purpose. For example, in the choral reading and resistance drama, students will take on the language and speech patterns of specific characters. The unit’s assessments are based directly on the knowledge and skills that we are gaining in class. The unit will consist of multiple formative (ungraded) assessments prior to the final summative assessment. The assessments are all clearly labeled on each lesson plan, and graded assessments and homework will be posted on the school website (or the school has none, I will create one). Over the course of the unit, students have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate and add to their learning in class. Because most activities are guided but student-led, there are also plenty of opportunities for me to collect information and make any adjustments to further instruction. Students are monitoring their learning throughout. There are built-in spaces for student reflections on their learning at the end of each class. Furthermore, we will create and maintain a group chart that illustrates the classes’ learning about textual features. The last day of the unit is solely focused on students reflecting on their learning by first comparing their pre-unit thoughts recorded in their journals with their current knowledge. Then, students will participate in a Chalk Talk activity in which individuals reflect on their own and their peers’ learning, directly articulating individual and group learning. The final assessment is based directly on the topics that we have explored in class. Over the course of the unit, we have focused on power in many different contexts, and the assessment asks students to pick one scene to analyze. Then, students will pick one moment from their own life and write a narrative. The final component is an analysis and comparison of the textual and person situations which aims to answer the question “What did power look like in that moment?” Throughout the unit, students have

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prepared for this final assessment by examining power—who has it, why, and how it is exercised. The final assignment leads students to use their study of the text to “read” their own worlds.

Works Cited

Barnhouse, Dorothy, and Vicki Vinton. What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Making Meaning. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2012. Print. Edmiston, Brian. “Ethical Imagination: Choosing an Ethical Self in Drama.” Eds. J. Wilhelm and Brian Edmiston. Imagining to Learn: Inquiry, Ethics, and Integration Through Drama. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1998. 55-84. Print. Fecho, Bob. “Is this English?”: Race, Language, and Culture in the Classroom. NY: Teachers College Press, 2004. Print. Janks, Hilary. Literacy and Power. New York, Routledge, 2010. Print. McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.” Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, 1998. Print. Nakkula, M., and E. Toshalis. Understanding Youth: Adolescent Development for Educators. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press, 2006. Print. Young, J., D. Dillon, and E. Moje. “Shape-Shifting Portfolios: Millennial Youth, Literacies, and the Game of Life.” Ed. D. Alvermann. Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.

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Unit Essential Question: What constitutes power and how is it exercised in the society of the text and in our own lives?

Unit Long-Range Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to identify and explain the context and significance of specific textual patterns, such as patterns of language use, narrative, symbols, characters, dialogue, theme, and imagery.

Students will be able to use vocabulary that is appropriate to the study of language (including but not limited to tone, word choice, repetition, declarative and imperative statements, verb and pronoun usage, etc.).

Students will be able to read sections of Fahrenheit 451 in the context of colonization.

Students will be able to uncover the Colonial ideologies and practices found in a text.

Students will be able to articulate the beliefs and defenses of the colonizers.

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Students will be able to explain how the roles of “colonized” and “colonizers” are established and maintained in specific contexts.

Students will be able to examine how both colonizers and the colonized are impacted by colonization.

Students will be able to articulate why categorizing people and characters is not always easy or appropriate.

Students will be able to recognize and explain the context and influence of specific power relationships.

Students will be able to read with a Feminist lens in order to uncover gendered power relationships.

Students will be able to explain how dominant ideologies and power structures can be resisted or subverted.

Students will be able to articulate what acts of resistance reveal about the society in which the resistance takes place.

Students will be able to examine the interactions between colonization, gender, power, and resistance in the text.

Students will be able to communicate what they have learned about an author’s craft, power and power structures, resistance, cultural context, and identity formation.

Students will monitor and reflect on their learning in order to better understand themselves as learners.

Students will be able to apply their analysis of power in the text and in their own lives to their sophisticated writing. (see Final Assessment)

Short-Range Learning Objectives:

Critical Literacy o Students will be able to identify dominant ideologies in the society of

Fahrenheit 451. o Students will be able to explain where/how dominant ideologies present

themselves in the text. o Students will be able to examine the influence of dominant ideologies on

the society of the text and specific characters. o Students will be able to examine what types of power different people have

in different contexts. o Students will be able to examine how gender affects power relationships in

the society of the novel. o Students will be able to explain the role that literacy plays in various forms

of resistance. o Students will be able to identify instances in which youth subverted

dominant power structures.

Critical Lenses o Students will be able to provide an example which illustrates the concepts

of colonization, colonizers, and the colonized.

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o Students will be able to hypothesize how Fahrenheit 451 may be considered a novel of future colonization.

o Students will be able to determine when, where, and why women in the text have or lack power.

o Students will be able to reread the end of the text through a Feminist lens by examining how women are represented and positioned by male characters.

o Students will be able to examine what actions, contexts, and cultural practices contribute to unequal power relationships between men and women in the text.

o Students will be able to define “masculinity” and “femininity” in the context of Fahrenheit 451.

o Students will be able to draw connections between gendered power relationships and colonization.

o Students will be able to examine instances of individual and collective resistance against the dominant in Fahrenheit 451.

o Students will be able to articulate what characters’ acts of resistance reveal about the society of Fahrenheit 451.

o Students will be able to examine a character’s resistance in the context of colonization.

o Students will be able to articulate a connection between gender and resistance in the text.

Text/Textual Features o Students will be able to identify patterns contained in the novel. o Students will be able to explain the significance of the patterns that they

identify. o Students will be able to explain what textual features, specifically including

patterns of language, narrative, symbols, characters, dialogue, theme, and imagery, the author uses to communicate the patterns themselves and their significance.

o Students will be able to identify textual features and patterns that provide further evidence of the colonizers’ ideas and beliefs.

o Students will be able to examine Montag’s conflicting thoughts and motivations.

o Students will be able to examine how the author crafts the opening scene in order to set up specific conflicts.

o Students will be able to gather textual evidence of the character’s traits, descriptions, roles, and actions.

Language o Students will be able to identify patterns in language use during the choral

reading. o Students will be able to hypothesize the origin of or rationale for the

colonizers’ language. o Students will be able to articulate the impact of the colonizers’ language on

society and specific characters.

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Participation Structures o Students will be able to collect and articulate the significance of colonizers’

statements in the text. o Students will be able to group the colonizers’ statements in an appropriate

order, such as through theme or significance. o Students will be able to contextualize and evaluate specific acts of

resistance. o Students will be able to create and perform a drama which showcases a

specific character’s instances of resistance in the text. o Students will be able to interpret others’ performances in order to record

how each character engages in resistance, what the character is resisting, how the resistance influences other characters, and in what ways the resistance can be considered successful and unsuccessful.

Discussion/Dialogue o Students will be able to articulate the methods used to construct specific

types of people as “other.” o Students will be able to articulate why characters, specifically Montag, may

be difficult to label as either “colonizer” or “colonized.” o Students will be able to articulate who has power in a specific context, in

this case, the classroom. o Students will be able to articulate how power is exercised in specific

contexts.

Reading/Writing Strategies o Students will be able to use specific reading strategies in order to examine

specific narrative techniques that reveal how characters are positioned as “other.”

Student Reflection o Students will be able to reflect on how dominant ideologies impact their

own lives. o Students will be able to reflect on how they may at times be “othered.” o Students will be able to reflect on the gendered power relationships they

have experienced in their own lives. o Students will be able to reflect on the methods and impacts of their own

acts of resistance. o Students will be able to reflect on their own learning and growth over the

course of the unit. o Student will be able to write comments in response to what they and their

classmates have learned in this unit. o Students will be able to summarize their own and the class’ learning.

Final Assessment: Students’ cumulative project for this unit will be a writing project in which students apply their analysis of power in the text and in their own lives to their writing. Students will choose two moments to analyze, one in the text and one in their

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own lives. Students will analyze each moment, attempting to address the question: What did power look like in that moment? Finally, students will compare the moment in the text to the moment of their own life, attempting to unpack the power relationship. The project will be assigned at the beginning of the unit, and its due date will be set for a few days after the completion of the unit.

Pre-Unit Reading and Preparation:

The students were required to read Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 individually over the course of the last month. The reading took place outside of class because we have been immersed in another unit. In order to engage the students in reading, I began by asking the students about their own experiences. For example, I asked students about their experiences with firemen. I also asked if they have ever met someone who changed their outlook on life. Then, I show a very short movie clip from Fahrenheit 451 the movie, afterwards asking students to talk about their reactions. Finally, I moved into a Book Talk in which I gave a very basic introduction to the book and explained how students would be supported during their reading.

The students’ independent reading was supported by a chart and three required journal entries. The chart is meant to support students in noticing patterns in the text. It has three vertical columns: 1) “What patterns are you noticing? (ex: patterns of language, narrative, symbols, characters, dialogue, theme, imagery, etc.)” 2) “What questions are these patterns raising for you?” 3) “What could be the purposes of the patterns you have noticed?”. The students must also write a journal entry at the end of each of the three sections of the text—“The Hearth and the Salamander,” “The Sieve and the Sand,” and “Burning Bright.” They were given a different prompt for each section: 1) “Describe the context of the novel. What is society like? What seem to be the beliefs of this society? How do you know? How does the context of the novel influence characters’ actions? Compare this society to your own. How does society influence your actions?” 2) “What are the most significant patterns you are noticing? How is the author constructing these patterns? What purposes do these patterns serve? What patterns are still unresolved? What are you still unsure about?” 3) “What messages do you think the text is sending? How are these messages presented? What textual features, such as point-of-view, theme, symbolism, conflict, etc., help you to see these messages? What are your reactions to these messages? What do these reactions say about your identity?”

Students were required to read each of the three sections in the text and write the corresponding journal entries by specific dates. At the end of each section, we spent twenty minutes of class time discussing students’ charts and journal entries. A lot of this discussion has been done in groups while I circulate to listen to and assist groups and individuals. I have been supporting their reading efforts through the charts and journals as well as checking in periodically and addressing any questions individually or as a group. Furthermore, while reading and studying other texts in class, we have been examining literary devices such as figurative language, symbolism, imagery, irony, point of view, narrative structure, etc. We have paused periodically to briefly connect these elements to examples in Fahrenheit 451 which the students provide. These mini-lessons are meant to help students to notice patterns in the text and fill in their charts.

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Now the students have finished reading the text and have completed the required chart and journal entries. We are beginning a unit in which we reread and analyze sections of the text through specific lenses, drawing on specific textual features and patterns, in the hopes of uncovering power relationships in the text and in our own lives that we may not have noticed otherwise.

Day 1

Grade and Subject: 10th Grade English Language Arts Essential Questions

What are the possible significances of the patterns in the novel?

What textual features does the author use to communicate these patterns and their meanings?

What does it mean to be colonized or a colonizer?

What are the aims of colonizers and how do they accomplish their goals?

How can Fahrenheit 451 be viewed as a novel of future colonization? Short-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to identify patterns contained in the novel.

Students will be able to explain the significance of the patterns that they identify.

Students will be able to explain what textual features, specifically including patterns of language, narrative, symbols, characters, dialogue, theme, and imagery, the author uses to communicate the patterns themselves and their significance.

Students will be able to provide an example which illustrates the concepts of colonization, colonizers, and the colonized.

Students will be able to hypothesize how Fahrenheit 451 may be considered a novel of future colonization.

Long-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to identify and explain the context and significance of specific textual patterns, such as patterns of language use, narrative, symbols, characters, dialogue, theme, and imagery.


Students will be able to read sections of Fahrenheit 451 in the context of colonization.

Background Knowledge and Skills: In order for students to effectively participate in this lesson, students need to have completed all of the pre-unit reading activities. In order to effectively participate in discussions about textual features, students should have a knowledge of specific features, such as language use, symbols, themes, characterization, dialogue, and imagery. Students have been prepared for using these terms over the course of the year in the context of prior units. For this lesson, students

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should also have a basic understanding of colonization (and I have been assured by the History teacher they do). NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text

says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its

development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

11. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, aesthetically and ethically by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations.

Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas.

Language Standards 6–12 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in

different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: The first lesson of the unit immediately connects to students’ prior knowledge of colonization through a silent write. Then, students will share the results of their independent reading, specifically discussing textual features and patterns that they have noticed. Finally, we will set up the novel in the context of colonization. These students rely on personal connections, so I wanted to start by appealing to their prior knowledge and by welcoming students to the conversation who may usually favor history. Throughout the unit, we will draw on textual features, so this lesson is critical to setting up part of our focus. We will also continually connect our studies to the idea of colonization in this future, dystopian novel. This lesson also allows students to work collaboratively in guided activities that allow them to decide which directions to take in their studies of an issue. Because the

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rest of the unit is based on collaboration and inquiry, this lesson immediately sets up that structure. Procedure Essential Questions

What are the possible significances of the patterns in the novel? What textual features does the author use to communicate these patterns

and their meanings? What does it mean to be colonized or a colonizer? What are the aims of colonizers and how do they accomplish their goals? How can Fahrenheit 451 be viewed as a novel of future colonization?

Anticipatory Set (4 Min): Silent Write: What do you know about colonization?

Guided Practice: Textual Features and Patterns

Part 1 (5 Min): Pair Share: Students will share and explain to a partner the charts that they created while reading Fahrenheit 451 individually. They will also draw on their second pre-unit journal entry which specifically addresses this topic. Students will share the patterns they noticed, the questions these patterns raised, and what these patterns may mean in the context of the novel. Part 2 (15 Min): Group Chart: Using each student’s examples, we will fill out a group chart that includes each of the categories on the students’ charts. We will try to make explicit what textual features the author uses in order to present these patterns. We will also spend time attempting to determine the importance of each pattern in the context of the novel.

This chart will remain posted in the classroom and may serve as a reference of patterns and textual features for the rest of the unit.

Instruction: Colonized v. Colonizers

Part 1 (10 Min): Share results of silent write (What do you know about colonization?). Use these answers to address the following questions as a class:

-What is a colonizer? -What does it mean to be colonized? -Give an example of colonization, making sure to make clear who would be considered the colonizer and the colonized. -What are the aims of the colonizer? -How do they accomplish these aims?

Part 2 (7 Min): Pair Work: Could Fahrenheit 451 be considered a novel of future colonization? Why? Who may be considered the colonizers? Who may be considered the colonized?

Pairs volunteer to share answers with the class.

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Closure (4 Min): Reflection: Which of the patterns that we noticed relate to the theme of colonization? How do these patterns relate?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Make sure to take note of how students are handling textual patterns and where they may need further support since textual features are an integral part of the unit. Materials and Resources Needed: Students need to bring their charts and journals; supply chart paper for group chart. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: Students with special needs often rely on clear organization, so for the “Textual Features” activity, I am asking students to draw directly from their own charts. Then, the class discussion will take the form of creating a class chart that will be visible for reference throughout the unit. English Language Learners will also find this chart helpful. Furthermore, I attempt to set up the topic of colonization by first using an example, which often benefits students with special needs. Assessment of Student Learning: Results of group chart, discussion of colonization and preliminary discussion of Fahrenheit 451 in the context of colonization. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: Students did really well filling out their pattern charts individually as well as explaining their observations to the rest of the class. I found that it was most effective to introduce vocabulary or remind students of textual features while they spoke in their partner groups because they could then introduce this vocabulary to the rest of the class, gaining ownership over it. If I were to teach the lesson again, I would ask a student to record our discussion of colonization on the board in categories; providing a written summary of our conversation would allow students to have a model for any notes that they may be taking which can be referenced during the rest of the unit.

Day 2


Which statements in the text reveal the attitudes of the colonizers?

What is the significance of the colonizers’ statements in the context of the novel?

What would a group of colonizers from this text say and how would their statements sound?

Short-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to collect and articulate the significance of colonizers’ statements in the text.

Students will be able to group the colonizers’ statements in an appropriate order, such as through theme or significance.

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Students will be able to articulate the beliefs and defenses of the colonizers. Background Knowledge and Skills: Students have briefly discussed how the novel could be viewed as a novel of colonization. They have also briefly addressed who may be the colonizers and who may be the colonized. However, their ideas are not definite, and I have set it up this way on purpose in order to examine their assumptions later in the unit (see Day 6). In order to most effectively participate, students should have some idea of first, where to look in the text for quotes from the colonizers, and second, how to organize themselves to order the quotes most efficiently. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

b. Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussions and decision-making (e.g., informal consensus, taking votes on key issues, presentation of alternate views), clear goals and deadlines, and individual roles as needed. c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson begins with a personal connection to “colonizing the mind,” in a sense. The main activities consist of gathering and ordering quotes in order to perform a choral reading of the colonizers’ statements. Finally, students reflect on the impact the choral reading had upon them. Once again, this lesson begins by making an immediate personal connection to the topic at hand. Then, through the process of finding, evaluating, and ordering quotes, students are really engaging with the text and theme of colonization. The choral reading provides a deeper engagement by allowing students to take on the roles and speech of colonizers. Students’ thinking about the choral reading is organized by a chart, but not steered in any specific direction.

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Procedure Essential Questions

Which statements in the text reveal the attitudes of the colonizers? What is the significance of the colonizers’ statements in the context of the

novel? What would a group of colonizers from this text say and how would their

statements sound? Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: Has anyone ever tried to force you to adopt their opinions? What did the person say? How did he or she sound?

Guided Practice (35 Min): Choral Reading of Colonizers’ Language Part 1 (15 Min): Scavenger Hunt

Split students into pairs. Directions: We are looking at the text in the context of colonization. Search through the text to find as many of the colonizers’ statements as possible. These can be statements in which the colonizers are stating their ideas, defending them, or speaking against those who do not agree with them. For example, Captain Beatty says, “A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it.” Write each of these statements on a note card. On the back of the card, write a brief statement about why you think the quote is significant.

Part 2 (8 Min): Organization of Quotes Directions: Work as a class to somehow organize the quotes that you have chosen. You can create categories, show a progression, or organize them any way you would like, but the quotes need to have an order. The next step is to read the quotes aloud.

Part 3 (7 Min): Choral Reading Students will stand in a circle, each student reading a quote in the determined order. Students should be expressive and use any actions that they deem appropriate to the quote.

Part 4 (5 Min): Choral Reading Chart Immediately after the choral reading, students will fill out a three-column chart, answering the following questions -What is standing out?

-What questions does this raise? -What is my reaction?

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: How did you feel as the colonizer? How would you feel as the colonized? Did this exercise remind you of anything in your own life?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Encourage students to be as expressive as possible and interpret colonizers’ statements during the choral reading.

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Materials and Resources Needed: Note cards for recording quotes and significance. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: In this lesson, there is no right or wrong answers. Instead, students can record the quotes of their choice as long as they are able to explain their significance to the group during step two (organizing the quotes). Furthermore, students have the support of partners, so students can decide their own roles. For example, if a student struggles with reading, he or she can copy quotes out of the book or read quotes that their partner chose and explain their significance. Within partner groups, students may take on whatever roles that they wish. Finally, after the choral reading, which may seem overwhelming to some students, each person is provided with a chart that helps to organize their reflections. As usual, the day begins and ends with silent written reflections, so students have time to collect their thoughts. Assessment of Student Learning: Group Quote Organization, Choral Reading, Reflections Recorded in Charts Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: This lesson is one of my favorites because it allows students to engage with the text and then interpret quotes from the text in order to perform them. The choral reading is made and performed solely by students as well, so I am always interested to see where they will go with it. I think that the lesson worked very well today, and the students were really proud of their performances. However, we started to run out of time, so the next time I introduce this lesson, I may take less time on the beginning silent write if I choose to include it at all.

Day 3


What is the language of the oppressors?

Where does this language come from?

What is the impact of this language? Short-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to identify patterns in language use during the choral reading.

Students will be able to hypothesize the origin of or rationale for the colonizers’ language.

Students will be able to articulate the impact of the colonizers’ language on society and specific characters.

Students will be able to identify textual features and patterns that provide further evidence of the colonizers’ ideas and beliefs.

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Students will be able to use vocabulary that is appropriate to the study of language (including but not limited to tone, word choice, repetition, declarative and imperative statements, verb and pronoun usage, etc.).

Background Knowledge and Skills: The previous day, students performed a choral reading of the colonizers’ language, so this lesson draws directly upon that experience. Students are investigating language use in this text (for possibly the first time), so charts and guiding questions are provided for support. Students should already be more comfortable discussing textual features, and the end of this lesson will draw on this prior knowledge of the features. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Language Standards 6–12 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. 6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: During this lesson, the students use their observations about the choral reading to investigate origin and impact of the colonizers’ language in the text. Then, students connect this new knowledge to prior learning by revisiting the textual features and patterns that we have noticed. This lesson is very text-centered. In an English Language Arts classroom, students need to gain a knowledge of textual features, such as language use. However, I think that typical studies of language and textual features often seem superficial or decontextualized. By structuring our study of language as a guided, student-led inquiry, I hope to alleviate some of the pressure and make the learning more “real.” I also hope that the choral reading helped some of the language in the text to “come alive” for students because they could hear and see it being expressed. I chose to place this lesson directly after the experience of the choral reading so that students would have appropriate, powerful material to draw on while examining the language of the text. Furthermore, I wanted to extend students learning by not only allowing them to hear and reflect on the language but also to examine its origins in the specific cultural context of the novel. Students

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need to understand that all language is developed and has an impact of some sort. Finally, this lesson connects our study of language to our unit study of textual features. Procedure Essential Questions

What is the language of the oppressors? Where does this language come from? What is the impact of this language?

Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: Where do your language practices come from? Where do your beliefs that are expressed in your language come from?

Guided Practice: Language Analysis

Part 1 (5 Min): Individually, students will revisit their three-column charts from the previous day’s choral reading, reviewing and adding to their answers to the following questions: -What is standing out?

-What questions does this raise? -What is my reaction?

Part 2 (15 Min): In groups of four, students will draw on their charts and evidence from the text to discuss the following questions:

-What is the language of the oppressors? -Where does this language come from? -Why do the colonizers have the right to use this type of language? -What is this language’s impact?

Groups share their answers with the class. Part 3 (15 Min): Return to Textual Features and Patterns Within the groups, students should draw on the class chart to identify the textual features and patterns that Bradbury uses to represent the colonizers and the ideas of the colonizers. What can we add to the chart?

Throughout this section, I will repeat back to students what they are noticing, how they are noticing, and their vocabulary usage in order to reinforce these important points. I will also introduce any vocabulary in the context of student conversations that they may be describing without actually naming.

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: What are you learning about the connections between language use and beliefs in the text? What does this say about the connections between your own language and beliefs?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Take note of how students are talking about the language in the text and how they are making connections to textual features.

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Materials and Resources Needed: Copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each student, three-column charts from the day before. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: Students will draw on their organized thoughts from the day before, which provides connections to prior lessons, and they will also be guided by the class chart of textual features. The group work is a discussion, but the groups are made of only four people each, so all students will have an opportunity to share. This lesson does not make use of extensive reading and writing, so students will mainly have to focus on speech. However, the written charts provide guidance. Assessment of Student Learning: Group discussions and presentations of language examinations, Group chart of textual features. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: I think that the charts the students filled out after the choral reading are a good resource in which students can organize their thoughts. However, some of their thoughts aren’t necessarily related to the study of language. This is perfectly fine, but for those who have not really reflected on language at all, the group discussion becomes more difficult. The next time I teach this lesson, I need to consider whether I should adjust the questions on the chart so that they are more oriented toward language. I think doing so would be a good idea, but I would still want to leave space for other types of reactions. However, maybe I do not need to change the format because the group discussions and connections to textual features went very well.

Day 4


What is the difference between a belief and an ideology?

What are the dominant ideologies in the society of Fahrenheit 451?

What textual patterns or features reveal these beliefs and ideologies?

How do these dominant ideologies affect the society of the novel as well as individual characters?


Students will be able to identify dominant ideologies in the society of Fahrenheit 451.

Students will be able to explain where/how dominant ideologies present themselves in the text.

Students will be able to examine the influence of dominant ideologies on the society of the text and specific characters.

Students will be able to reflect on how dominant ideologies impact their own lives.

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Students will be able to uncover the Colonial ideologies and practices found in a text.

Background Knowledge and Skills: In order to understand this lesson, students will need to have some knowledge about ideologies. They should understand what an ideology is on a basic level, and they should be able to come up with some examples of ideologies. However, if students have no idea what an ideology is, this lesson will help them to understand the definition. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 11. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, aesthetically and ethically by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations.

Language Standards 6–12 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson draws on students’ lives and students’ prior knowledge in order to uncover the underlying ideologies of the colonizers in the text. First, students write about the influence of ideologies in their own lives, and then they brainstorm a list of ideologies that they now see in the text. After listing the ideologies, students search the text and the results of prior lessons in order to determine where the evidence of this ideology lies in the text. Finally, students will learn the difference between beliefs and ideologies as well as between dominant and non-dominant. This will help students to prepare for subsequent lessons. The content of this lesson is extremely important to students’ academic, civic, and personal lives. They need to be aware of the larger forces (ideologies) that are shaping their lives. They examine these powerful ideologies in the context of the novel and then apply their learning to the context of their own lives. Procedure Essential Questions

What is the difference between a belief and an ideology? What are the dominant ideologies in the society of Fahrenheit 451? What textual patterns or features reveal these beliefs and ideologies?

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How do these dominant ideologies affect the society of the novel as well as individual characters?

Anticipatory Set (3 Min): Silent Write: What beliefs and ideologies affect your life?

Guided Practice: Colonizers’ Beliefs/ Dominant Ideologies

Part 1 (5 Min): Brainstorming Beliefs and Ideologies -Drawing on the choral reading and language analysis we have performed, brainstorm a list of the colonizer’s beliefs and ideologies. -Share your list with a partner. Compile one long list.

Part 2 (10 Min): Evidence of Beliefs Drawing on the class Language Analysis chart as well as the class chart of Textual Features and Patterns, partners will determine how these beliefs and ideologies are communicated in the text. Where is the evidence for these beliefs? What language uses reveal these beliefs? What other textual features or patterns (conflict, theme, plot, characterization, point-of-view, etc.) reveal these beliefs?

Part 3 (17 Min): Beliefs v. Ideologies As a class, we will compile a list of beliefs and ideologies. As responses are given, partners will explain where they found the evidence of these beliefs. Then, we will work to determine which of those presented on the board would be considered a dominant ideology. Go over the difference between beliefs and ideologies, as well as between dominant and non-dominant. Students should come away with a list of some of the text’s dominant ideologies.

Part 4 (5 Min): Contextualizing Ideologies Looking at their first pre-unit journal entry, students should speak with a partner about how these beliefs and ideologies function in the society of Fahrenheit 451. How do they impact the structure of society? How do they influence individual characters?

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: How are the ideologies you described (or others you have now thought of) compare to those we discussed in Fahrenheit 451?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Students may need further instruction on what an ideology actually is. Take note of the results of the brainstorm and insert further instruction if necessary. Materials and Resources Needed: A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each student, Language analysis chart, Textual features chart, pre-unit journal entries. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: In this lesson, students again have the support of our language analysis and textual features charts which they can draw directly upon. Students also use their pre-unit journal entries and have the support of peers during this lesson. For English

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Language Learners, I may need to provide some direct, one-on-one instruction on the concept of ideologies while the other students are completing the silent write and/or brainstorming. Because of the difficult concepts being introduced, I will spend a lot of time circulating and assisting specific students. I will continuously gage students’ understandings and adjust instruction as necessary. Assessment of Student Learning: Brainstorm, discussion, class list, partner dialogue. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: This lesson is effective, but I wonder if there is a better way to set up the idea of dominant ideologies. I like the aspects of drawing on the text to uncover these ideologies, and I also like connecting these to our investigations of language and textual features. However, I wonder if the lesson should consist of a more central activity. I am just struggling to think of what activity would be appropriate or if I should leave the lesson as it is.

Day 5


What constitutes “otherness” in this society? (race, gender, nationality, or something else?)

How is the population, specifically those labeled as “other,” controlled?

How do specific textual features and patterns position specific characters as “other”?


Students will be able to use specific reading strategies in order to examine specific narrative techniques that reveal how characters are positioned as “other.”

Students will be able to articulate the methods used to construct specific types of people as “other.”

Students will be able to reflect on how they may at times be “othered.” Long-Range Learning Objectives


Background Knowledge and Skills: Students need to have some knowledge of textual features for this lesson, but the previously-created class chart and the direct instruction at the beginning of the lesson should support students. Students may also need strategies for making sense of the word “othered.” NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12

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1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 11. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, aesthetically and ethically by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations. Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas. c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.


Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson focuses on reading strategies by asking students to read a scene of the novel using a specific reading strategy. Students are again accessing and discussing how specific textual features function, which is critical to the English discipline. However, this lesson is also very important in the context of students’ lives because it helps them to see what specific strategies are used to set characters and people up as outsiders. Students will become more knowledgeable about situations in which they may have been “othered” or they may have positioned someone else as “other.” Procedure Essential Questions

What constitutes “otherness” in this society? (race, gender, nationality, or something else?)

How is the population, specifically those labeled as “other,” controlled? How do specific textual features and patterns position specific characters

as “other”?

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Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: When have you felt “othered,” unaccepted, out of place? Why did you feel this way?

Instruction (10 Min): Set Up Reading Strategies

We will use a small portion of The Ugly Duckling in order to understand and practice different reading strategies. As a class, we will examine how the story sets up the Ugly Duckling as other by examining internal thoughts, dialogue, physical descriptions, and characters’ reactions.

Independent Practice (25 Min): Groups Examine Characters

Divide students into four groups. Instructions: Reread the scene in which Montag first meets Clarisse (bottom of page 3 to top of page 9).

Group 1: Focus on the narrator’s comments and Montag’s internal reactions to Clarisse during the encounter. How does the narrator position Clarisse as “other”? How do Montag’s reactions position her as “other”? Group 2: Focus on the dialogue. What do Clarisse’s questions and responses say about her? Is her dialogue different from Montag’s? How does what Clarisse asks and says position her as “other” (in relation to Montag)? Group 3: Focus on Clarisse’s physical description. What does she look like? What words are used to describe her? How is she different from those whom we would typically picture as “colonized”? How does her physical description position her as “other”? Group 4: Focus on Montag’s thoughts and actions after meeting Clarisse (p.8-9). How does coming into contact with “the other” affect Montag? What does he realize about her? About himself?

Each group will share its task and conclusions with the class.

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: Language shaped Clarisse as “other.” How has language helped to make you feel “othered” or like an outsider?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Allow students to choose reading strategies. Make sure to provide specific help to those students who struggle with reading if they appear to need it. Materials and Resources Needed: The Ugly Duckling children’s story, A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each of the students. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: This lesson may be difficult for students with special needs and English Language Learners because the lesson has a heavy focus on reading and writing. I hope to alleviate some of the stress by providing direct instruction to the entire class about specific reading strategies right before the independent practice. I will also let students

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choose a reading strategy group so that they may choose the strategy that they are most comfortable with. Finally, I do not specify how groups should re-read the scene, so students who are uncomfortable reading out loud may pass if their group is taking turns. Other groups may read differently, such as by reading silently or asking only one student to read the whole section aloud. Assessment of Student Learning: Group presentations of reading strategies. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: I really liked having students apply specific reading strategies to the text. I am also glad that I allowed students to group according to the reading strategy that they would like to use because I think it allowed students to excel. However, if I were to teach the lesson again, I may make changes. I have considered allowing students to choose their own character to examine with a specific reading strategy, which would give students more freedom and the class a wider range of responses. However, I have not yet changed this activity because I also feel that examining the same scene using different reading strategies (much like examining the same novel through many different lenses) allows students to see how different meanings can be uncovered. Students can reflect on how the author has crafted a scene in order to convey meaning in many different ways. I’m not yet sure which is the better option.

Day 6


What divides a colonizer from those who are colonized?

Who suffers from the effects of colonization?

How do authors communicate characters’ internal conflicts? Short-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to examine Montag’s conflicting thoughts and motivations.

Students will be able to articulate why characters, specifically Montag, may be difficult to label as either “colonizer” or “colonized.”

Students will be able to examine how the author crafts the opening scene in order to set up specific conflicts.


Students will be able to examine how both colonizers and the colonized are impacted by colonization.

Students will be able to articulate why categorizing people and characters is not always easy or appropriate.

Background Knowledge and Skills: This lesson requires a knowledge of the meanings of “colonized” and “colonizer.” It also requires that students draw on their impressions of the protagonist in order to categorize him. Students need to understand

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what kind of evidence would place Montag in either category; in other words, students need to have some idea (even if they are wrong) of the characteristics associated with colonizers versus the characteristics of the colonized. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Language Standards 6–12 6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson is concerned with revealing the complexities associated with labeling others. First, students label themselves (as a character) as either a colonizer or one of the colonized. Then, students examine Montag using this binary. Students then study the beginning scene of the novel to uncover the conflicting descriptions and thoughts of Montag. Finally, students reflect on their prior categorizations of themselves and why these may or may not be appropriate. This lesson is extremely important in the context of the lesson, but also in the context of students’ lives. This lesson reveals why it is not easy or even appropriate to categorize people. Students learn this through examining a specific scene in the text and then confronting their prior assumptions. Procedure Essential Questions

What divides a colonizer from those who are colonized? Who suffers from the effects of colonization? How do authors communicate characters’ internal conflicts?

Anticipatory Set (3 Min): Silent Write: If you were a character in the novel, would you be considered a colonizer or one of the colonized? Why?

Guided Practice (37 Min): Blurring the Lines

Part 1 (7 Min): Think-pair-share: “If we view this novel as a text of colonization, would Montag, in this opening scene, be the colonized or the colonizer? Why?” Part 2 (10 Min): Blurring the Lines: Draw a chart on the board with two columns “Colonizer” and “Colonized.” Marshal reasons why Montag would be considered each of these.

Discussion: Is it easy to label Montag? Are the lines dividing colonizer and colonized always clear? Why or why not?

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Part 3 (20 Min): Read opening scene of the novel as a group, drawing attention to what Montag is doing, his feelings while doing it, his motivations for these feelings, his image. How does Bradbury craft this opening scene to reveal the conflicting influences on Montag and his conflicting thoughts?

Ask the question, “While Montag is burning these books, does he seem human? Why or why not?” Discuss conflicting images—human v. monster. What do his thoughts reveal? Are they conflicting? Does he enjoy burning?

In pairs, gather more evidence from the text of Montag’s very conflicting position. How does Bradbury communicate this evidence (through plot, point-of-view, conflict, symbolism, figurative, language, etc.)?

Has Bradbury crafted Montag to be a colonizer or one of the colonized? Or both? Is this conflicting depiction realistic?

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: Think back to your answer during the silent write at the beginning of class. Has your answer changed at all in the context of our study of Montag? Why or why not?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Only lead the students if they need it. While reading the opening scene, if students begin to discuss their labeling of Montag without prompting, allow them to do so, only contributing to the conversation when necessary. Materials and Resources Needed: A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each student. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: We are reading the text out loud as a group, so students need not struggle with trying to keep up with the class. They only need to focus on the descriptions and thoughts of Montag, which I will make clear prior to reading. Students can again view a graphic (colonizer v. colonized) written on the board in order to organize their thoughts about Montag. There is plenty of time in this lesson for flexibility as well, so I can help individual students or give group instruction or prompts as needed. Assessment of Student Learning: Chart categorizing Montag, Class discussion of distinctions between colonized and colonizer. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: This lesson went very well. I set up the chart in order to reveal to students that Montag could really be placed on both sides, depending on what evidence or moment we are examining. Students really responded to this graphic and began to get the point before we had even moved to the novel’s opening scene. Therefore, our discussion of the opening scene was much more enlightened. A few students even used the vocabulary of textual features (such as internal dialogue!) to discuss the opening scene. Then, students began reflecting on labeling in their own lives without prompting. If I were to teach the lesson again, I may try to include some sort of connection to the idea of labeling others in students’ own

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lives. Maybe this would be most effective in the beginning or end reflection, but I like the prompts that I am currently using as well, so maybe I could incorporate an examination of students’ experiences with labeling into one of the main activities.

Day 7


What is power?

Who has power?

How do you exercise your power? Short-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to articulate who has power in a specific context, in this case, the classroom.

Students will be able to examine what types of power different people have in different contexts.

Students will be able to articulate how power is exercised. Long-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to recognize and explain the context and influence of specific power relationships.

Background Knowledge and Skills: Students have been preparing for this lesson by first studying ideologies, which create power in the text. Up until this point, students have mainly been studying the colonizer as powerful and the colonized as lacking power, although this has not been explicitly stated. This lesson shifts this binary. Students already have most of the knowledge needed for this lesson because it is based on their own experiences in school and drawn directly from a drama that they will witness. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy



Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.

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Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson really focuses on students’ own lives to set the context for our study of power. First, students reflect on power in their own lives. Then, students move into an examination of a character, but this is interrupted by a drama in which I have a (previously agreed upon) confrontation with a student and send him to the office. This will spark a discussion of who has power in the classroom, drawing attention to student power as well. Then, students will return to the text to reexamine power in the context of power relationships. Finally, students will reflect on their own uses of power in school. This lesson really attracts the students because we are directly drawing on their first-hand experiences from this class as well as their day-to-day experiences in school. Students learn to recognize what kind of power they have and how they choose to exercise it on a daily basis. We then apply this to the text in which students are now prepared to connect with and examine more thoroughly and meaningfully. Since our entire unit is grounded in different types and uses of power, this lesson is critical to engaging students’ interest and experience. Procedure Essential Questions

What is power? Who has power? How do you exercise your power?

Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: Who is the most powerful person you know? How does this person exercise his or her power?

Instruction: What is Power? Who has it? Part 1 (10 Min): Powerful Characters

In pairs, choose the text’s most powerful character and defend your choice using textual evidence. Pairs will share their choices and rationales with the class. Part 1a. (During Part 1): Drama Showcasing Power Relationship I have already arranged a small drama with one of the students, but the other students do not know about it. The student will sit with his head on the desk, refusing to work on the pair work, and I will repeatedly ask him to sit up straight and participate. When he does not, I will send him to the office (but he will really just sit outside the door, listening). Part 3 (10 Min): Discussion on Classroom Power I will then ask the (probably shocked) students, “Who has power in this classroom?”--We will then discuss what power a teacher has and where he or she derives this power. If the students have not already brought up the topic of student power, I will then ask, “Is the teacher the only one who has power?” I will then call the student back into the room and we will discuss what kinds of power students have and how it is exercised (appropriately and inappropriately).

Power Relationships are never one-sided. Everyone has some sort of power, but they may or may not exercise it.

Part 4 (15 Min): Connection to Power in the Text

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In pairs, students should choose a character to study (can go back to character from part 1). Think about the power that this character has or lacks. Draw on the text to support your answers. Here are some guiding questions:

-What is power in relation to this character? (a specific ability, intelligence, strength, or many other options).

-When does this character seem most powerful? -Does someone else lose power when this character gains it? -When does this character seem least powerful? -Does someone else gain power when this character loses it? -How does context affect power?

-What seems to be the most significant power relationship in the character’s life?

If there is time, pairs may share their answers.

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: How do you exercise your power in school? What are your aims? Are your methods effective?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Remember to set up the drama with a student ahead of time! I also need to remember to keep asking the student to raise his or her head throughout the first activity. Materials and Resources Needed: A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each student. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: This lesson mainly focuses on students’ own experiences with power in their lives and in schools, so all students have something to contribute to the discussion. This lesson does not require a lot of reading or writing (other than the daily beginning and end reflections), so students who struggle with these tasks will not have to focus a lot of effort upon them. Students will also have the support of a partner for all of the parts of the lesson in which they discuss and draw on the text. If English Language Learners need any support with vocabulary, I will first defer to their partners and then provide instruction myself if necessary. Assessment of Student Learning: Class discussion of power in the classroom, Pair work on power in the text. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: The students were very enthusiastic in this lesson, particularly those students who do not typically “perform” well in school. Giving students conscious knowledge of their own power seems to add to their power, or at least their conceptions of it. After discussing their own lives and experiences in school, students seemed really prepared to tackle power examinations in the text. The results of the pair work revealed the students’ investment. Even though it worked really well, if I were to do this lesson again, I may expand upon the drama, asking students to reenact parts of it, perform interior monologues of each person, and offer suggestions for alternative actions on the part of each character.

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Day 8


What is the role of women in the society of Fahrenheit 451?

How are women controlled in this society?

What do we notice when we read in order to uncover representations of women and women’s power in the text?

What actions, contexts, and cultural practices in the text contribute to unequal power relationships between men and women?


Students will be able to gather textual evidence of the character’s traits, descriptions, roles, and actions.

Students will be able to determine when, where, and why women in the text have or lack power.

Students will be able to reread the end of the text through a Feminist lens by examining how women are represented and positioned by male characters.

Students will be able to examine what actions, contexts, and cultural practices contribute to unequal power relationships between men and women in the text.

Students will be able to reflect on the gendered power relationships they have experienced in their own lives.


Students will be able to read with a Feminist lens in order to uncover gendered power relationships.

Background Knowledge and Skills: In order to most effectively participate, students need to have been present and engaged in the previous day’s examination of power relationships in the texts and in students’ lives. The previous lesson directly prepared them for their examination of women’s positions and women’s powers in the novel. Students’ efforts in this lesson would also be aided if they had at least a very basic concept of the meaning of Feminism or Feminist study. However, if students do not have this knowledge, it will not disadvantage them because I tell students exactly what I am asking them to examine in the text when I say to read with a Feminist lens. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

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Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson begins our examination of power from a gendered perspective. By allowing students to examine women in their own lives and then in the text, I am hoping to show that power depends upon the person and context, especially the cultural context. After focusing on the representation and power associated with one female character, students will examine the same features in the end of the novel. Since each group presents its study of its female character and then all students are asked to examine the ending, students will notice the conflicting representations of and messages sent by the text about women. Students will also reflect on the unequal power relationships between men and women in the text and in their lives, which is very relevant in both. Through their female character studies and Feminist readings, students will recognize power relationships which they may not have noticed before. These realizations will reveal how reading the text from different perspectives allows us to access different power relationships, meanings, and portrayals in the text. Procedure Essential Questions

What is the role of women in the society of Fahrenheit 451? How are women controlled in this society? What do we notice when we read in order to uncover representations of

women and women’s power in the text? What actions, contexts, and cultural practices in the text contribute to

unequal power relationships between men and women? Anticipatory Set (3 Min): Silent Write: Think of a woman in your life (it can be yourself). What kind of power does this woman have? Where or when does she lack power?

Guided Practice (37 Min): Examining Gendered Power Relations

Examining Female Characters Part 1 (15 Min): Split students into three groups. Directions: Each group is assigned one female character. Follow these steps:

1. Brainstorm descriptions of this character. How do they look, feel, think, act, and speak?

2. What is the role of this woman in the text? 3. Choose three (or fewer) words that seem to represent the

“essence” of this character.

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4. Find 3 quotes from the text which provide evidence for your choice of words to describe the “essence” of your character.

5. Finally, decide what power this woman has in the text and what power she lacks. (In what situations does this woman have power? Who does she have power over? When does she lack power? How is this woman’s power controlled?)

Group 1: Mildred Group 2: Clarisse

Group 3: Woman who burns herself with her books (starts p. 35)

Part 2 (10 Min): Groups will present their findings to the class. Examining the Ending

Part 1 (12 Min): Directions: All of us will read a section of the text together out loud. We will reread the section from the top of page 150 to the bottom of 153. As we are reading, think about how women are represented and what kinds of power they seem to have. Think-Pair-Share: What is standing out to you? There are many themes and beliefs here that we can uncover by reading with a Feminist lens (by paying attention to women’s representation and power in the end of the text). What do you see? Where do you see this?

Discussion: What actions, contexts, and cultural practices in the text contribute to unequal power relationships between men and women?

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: What actions, contexts, and cultural practices contribute to unequal power relationships between men and women in your own life?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Remember to clarify what students are looking for during the Feminist reading if they need more direction. Materials and Resources Needed: A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each of the students. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: All of the work today, except the short introduction and conclusion will be done in a group or with a partner. Therefore, those who struggle with writing may not have to be the group’s recorder. When these students have to write during the introduction and conclusion of the lesson, the time is limited, so time of frustration will be limited as well. In the conclusion, there is only one question to answer, which will aid in students’ focus. For those who struggle with reading, during the guided practice, we will read the section out loud as a class so students will not have to struggle through it themselves in a short time period. In addition, students will not be required to read out loud. Finally, whenever students need to perform a task in groups or partners, the steps that they have to follow or questions they should answer are neatly organized and

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numbered. This clear order will help students because they will know exactly what to do at each step. Assessment of Student Learning: Group presentations, Class discussion of the ending. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: In the first activity, groups are rushed. If I were to teach this lesson again, I should consider splitting the lesson into two days or lessening the requirements of the first activity. Students may have had enough time to find all of the information asked for if they had not been asked to present, so I could also consider having groups complete the work without presenting it. However, I think it may be best to split today’s lesson into two days and add smaller activities in the extra time.

Day 9


How is gender defined in the context of the text?

How does gender afford and refuse characters power in specific contexts?

How do unequal power relations between genders serve colonizers? Short-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to define “masculinity” and “femininity” in the context of Fahrenheit 451.

Students will be able to examine how gender affects power relationships in the society of the novel.

Students will be able to draw connections between gendered power relationships and colonization.



Students will be able to examine the interactions between colonization, gender, and power in the text.

Background Knowledge and Skills: Students have been studying gender, power, and colonization, but the connections between these three may not yet be clear. Therefore, today I hope to scaffold an understanding of such connections through planning activities that build on prior learning and one another. Students need to have a conception of the meanings of masculinity and femininity in order to participate in the second activity. We have briefly discussed the terms before, and they have likely encountered these terms in History class or other contexts.

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NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 11. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, aesthetically and ethically by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations. Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. Language Standards 6–12 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: In this lesson plan, we connect to our prior study of gender, but today we connect our study of gender to our prior study of language and to our textual context of colonization. It is important that students connect their study of gender directly to themselves, such as in the silent write when students are asked how their gender affects them. For some, this may be obvious; for others, this question may help them to make the invisible effects visible. Students need to realize the effect that gender has upon both males and females, which is why I do not specify which gender students must study in the first activity studying language. Next, students are working to use their study of language and a character in order to define masculinity and femininity in the society of the text. The definitions may be different depending on the character or situation examined, which is also an important point: such definitions are not fixed. Again, this lesson focuses on power relationships, which fluctuate according to context. Finally, students are connecting their examination of gendered power relations to the concepts of colonization by hypothesizing how unequal power relations between genders may serve colonizers’ purposes. This lesson attempts to make connections among many different aspects of the students’ learning so far in this unit. Procedure Essential Questions

How is gender defined in the context of the text? How does gender afford and refuse characters power in specific contexts? How do unequal power relations between genders serve colonizers?

Anticipatory Set (3 Min): Silent Write: How does your gender affect you? Do you act or think differently? Does it affect others’ perceptions of you?

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Guided Practice (37 Min): Connecting Colonization and Gender Relations Part 1 (10 Min): Studying Language

Divide students into pairs. Each pair should choose a character to study. Students will use the text in order to answer the following questions “What language does the narrator use in relation to your character (does the narrator use gendered language or use some words more frequently when referring to one gender rather than another)? What language does your character use in relation to others of the same sex? What language does your character use in relation to others of the opposite sex?

Part 2 (10 Min): Defining Femininity and Masculinity Students will move back into their pair groups. The pair should attempt to answer the following questions:

1. In the context of the text, what seems to constitute masculinity? What constitutes femininity?

2. How does your character enact his or her masculinity or femininity?

3. In what contexts do their masculine or feminine actions give them power?

4. In what contexts do masculine or feminine actions deny them power?

Part 3 (10 Min): Pair Presentations and Discussion We will go over some pairs’ responses to the questions as a group. Then, we will discuss: “Do men or women seem to have more power in the novel? Why?”

Part 4 (7 Min): Connecting Gendered Power Relations to Colonization Discussion: How do these definitions of masculinity and femininity serve colonizers? How do unequal power relations serve colonizers?

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: How do unequal power relations between genders affect your life? Our society?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Remember to provide some students with direct instruction on the concepts of masculinity and femininity if necessary. Materials and Resources Needed: A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each student. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: The biggest difficulty for English Language Learners may be the activity which asks students to define masculinity and femininity in the text. I may need to provide a small group of students with some direct instruction on the meanings of these terms and how they may be communicated in a text. Students will also have peer partners to exchange ideas with prior to presenting information. Individual pairs may

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also determine their own roles. For example, those who struggle with writing do not have to be the recorder. Assessment of Student Learning: Language study, Peer presentations of masculinity and femininity definitions, Class discussion on colonization. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: I am worried that students are only superficially examining and defining the concepts of masculinity and femininity in the text. I am also not sure how to separate students from their own conceptions of these terms, whether these are conscious or unconscious conceptions. I am also not sure if this is necessary. Perhaps I should just try to incorporate some way for students to examine their own perceptions before examining the definitions in the text. I think this lesson is useful, but it could be more useful with some additions and rearranging.

Day 10


How do we subvert (or challenge) dominant power structures in our own lives?

What is the impact of our resistance?

How do we determine whether resistance is appropriate or inappropriate?


Students will be able to reflect on the methods and impacts of their own acts of resistance.

Students will be able to contextualize and evaluate specific acts of resistance. Long-Range Learning Objectives


Background Knowledge and Skills: Students need to have at least one experience with resistance. They definitely all have at least one example, but I may need to assist some students in remembering or choosing an instance to write about. Students also need to understand the basic rules or expectations of drama. Because I have used drama frequently throughout the year and give explicit instructions, students are prepared for this activity. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy



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Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 9–10 Language standards 1 and 3 on pages 68 for specific expectations.)

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students are asked to brainstorm their own acts of resistance, pick one to write about, and assist in acting out a classmate’s act of resistance. This lesson is critical in giving students a foundation of resistance which they can compare to our subsequent examinations of resistance in the text. Furthermore, this lesson makes use of a guided drama, and in the next two lessons, students will need to create their own dramas to showcase acts of resistance in the text. This lesson provides a model of an effective drama using students’ own experiences. In addition, now that students’ power has become visible, they need to reflect on their exercises of power in the form of resistance. Students are examining their own resistance to determine what methods are effective, as well as to understand the invisible motivations and perspectives of others involved. Procedure Essential Questions

How do we subvert (or challenge) dominant power structures in our own lives?

What is the impact of our resistance?

How do we determine whether resistance is appropriate or inappropriate?

Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Brainstorm: In any power structure, there are people, ideas, and actions which challenge the power structure. Examples of power structures include the government, the economy (Capitalism), the church, school, the home, etc. Create a list of ways that you have resisted a power structure. List as many as you can think of. (Ex: refusing to take out the garbage at home or leading a protest against animal testing) Independent Practice (8 Min): Writing Prompt: Choose one of these examples to write about. Explain the situation and your choices and actions. Guided Practice (27 Min): Share writing. After some have shared, we will work as a class to analyze one student’s resistance by creating a drama in order to answer the following questions.

-What power structures was he or she resisting?

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-How did this person resist? -Why did he or she challenge these structures? -What was the impact of his or her resistance (on him or herself, on others, on the situation, on the power structure?) -Was the resistance appropriate to the situation?

The drama will consist of the student and other volunteers reenacting the resistance. Then, other classmates will jump in to perform interior monologues and try out various alternative actions. We will analyze the impact and effectiveness of each action. We will also examine the motivations and experiences of each character.

We can do this with more than one example if there is time.

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: Is all resistance good? Are all power structures bad? When is resistance appropriate? What kinds of resistance are positive?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Remember to provide instruction on the idea of “resistance” to those who need it. Materials and Resources Needed: Space to enact a drama. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: English Language Learners may need some direct instruction on the meaning of resistance, which I will provide if I gauge it to be necessary. However, this lesson is well structured for these students as well as students with disabilities. Prior to writing, they are given an opportunity to brainstorm and then choose a topic. Then, students see a scene enacted instead of having to analyze it directly from the writing. Assessment of Student Learning: Results of individual writing, Personal resistance drama(s) Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: This lesson is very effective in drawing students’ attention. These students love to talk about themselves! Then, others acted out the situations that they described. The student chosen seemed very proud. The injection of humor by some students really helped others to relax. I think not asking everyone to share is a good structure because some students seemed hesitant to share their writing. The students’ use of personal knowledge to fill in the thoughts, perspectives, and motivations of others was very effective. Students addressed every question with very little prompting. I am always amazed at students’ creativity!

Day 11


How do characters in Fahrenheit 451 resist dominant power structures?

What role does literacy play in rebellions against the dominant power structure?

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What role do youths play in these rebellions?

What is the impact of specific characters’ resistance?

What do characters’ acts of resistance reveal about the society in which the characters live?


Students will be able to examine instances of individual and collective resistance against the dominant in Fahrenheit 451.

Students will be able to create and perform a drama which showcases a specific character’s instances of resistance in the text.

Students will be able to explain the role that literacy plays in these forms of resistance.

Students will be able to identify instances in which youth subverted dominant power structures.



Background Knowledge and Skills: Students have participated in various types of in-class dramas throughout the year, so they are growing more comfortable with performances. Students are also learning how to organize themselves effectively, such as dividing up group roles. Students have also become efficient at helping others to choose appropriate roles within the dramas and effectively problem-solving when there are conflicting ideas about roles or content. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative

discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

b. Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussions and decision-making (e.g., informal consensus, taking votes on key issues, presentation of alternate views), clear goals and deadlines, and individual roles as needed.

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c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.


Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson is dedicated to the preparation of group dramas in which students will showcase characters’ acts of resistance. Students are guided by specific questions but choice of characters, scenes, roles, language, etc. are left up to each group. These students are at an age which demands more independence, so although they are supported, students are allowed to take the lead. In order to effectively create and practice their dramas, students need a lot of preparation time, so I have given them the whole class period. I think it is very important that students really examine and try to understand the contexts of characters’ resistance in order to effectively take on their assigned roles in the dramas. Procedure Essential Questions

How do characters in Fahrenheit 451 resist dominant power structures? What role does literacy play in rebellions against the dominant power

structure? What role do youths play in these rebellions? What is the impact of specific characters’ resistance? What do characters’ acts of resistance reveal about the society in which the

characters live? Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: Think back to your own acts of resistance. How are they similar to or different from any of the characters’ acts in Fahrenheit 451?

Guided Practice (35 Min): Planning “Acts” of Resistance

Part 1 (5 Min): Character Brainstorm Brainstorm a list of characters that somehow resist the dominant order (ex: Guy Montag, Clarisse McClellan, Professor Faber, Captain Beatty, Granger and Group).

Part 2 (30 Min): Planning, Writing, and Practicing the Drama Directions: You have been split into five groups of four people. Each group needs to choose a character from the brainstormed list (First-come, first-serve). Each group is going to create a drama in

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which it acts out how its character resists the dominant ideologies and power structures. We are going to call our drama “Acts” of Resistance. You will have only this class to plan and practice your drama. Everyone should have a role in the drama, whether that is narrator or another character. The dramas should last no longer than five minutes. What you want to show through your drama is how your character resists dominant ideologies and power structures through his or her thoughts, dialogue, or actions.

Questions to consider: How does your character resist? What does your character resist? How does context affect your character’s resistance? What role does literacy play in his or her rebellion? What instances of resistance are most important to

showcase? What influence does this character’s resistance have?

Remember to practice, practice, practice! We will perform our dramas tomorrow.

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: What are you learning about your character’s resistance? What problems are you having?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Create the drama groups ahead of time. Keep reminding students to practice. Materials and Resources Needed: A copy of Fahrenheit 451 for each student. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: Students can choose their own roles within the groups for the planning as well as within the dramas. Therefore, students can concentrate on their strengths in order to contribute to the group. In addition, drama can be very helpful to students with special needs and English language learners because they can be creative and act out (instead of writing or describing) moments in the text. Because everyone is acting, and students have the support of the group, the atmosphere is more comfortable for these students to be expressive. Assessment of Student Learning: Brainstormed list, Group planning activities. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: I am really glad that I have dedicated the entirety of this lesson to planning. I originally considered performing the dramas within the same lesson but I am so glad that I waited. The quality of the students’ dramas will be much better with the extensive preparation and practice time. Students are also dealing very well with any problems that arise during the group work. They are collaboratively working on questions and dividing roles appropriately.

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Day 12




What role do youths play in these rebellions?

What is the impact of specific characters’ resistance?

What do characters’ acts of resistance reveal about the society in which the characters live?


Students will be able to examine instances of individual and collective resistance against the dominant in Fahrenheit 451.

Students will be able to create and perform a drama which showcases a specific character’s instances of resistance in the text.

Students will be able to explain the role that literacy plays in these forms of resistance.

Students will be able to identify instances in which youth subverted dominant power structures.

Students will be able to interpret others’ performances in order to record how each character engages in resistance, what the character is resisting, how the resistance influences other characters, and in what ways the resistance can be considered successful and unsuccessful.

Students will be able to articulate what characters’ acts of resistance reveal about the society of Fahrenheit 451.



Students will be able to articulate what acts of resistance reveal about the society in which the resistance takes place.

Background Knowledge and Skills: Students have participated in various types of in-class dramas throughout the year, so they are growing more comfortable with performances. Students have been studying power structures and cultural context throughout the unit, so they can draw on this knowledge in order to more effectively communicate characters’ resistance. Students have also been prepared to write about and connect to their own acts of resistance in a prior lesson. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 11. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, aesthetically and ethically by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations.

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Writing Standards 6–12 3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. c. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole. d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. f. Adapt voice, awareness of audience, and use of language to accommodate a variety of cultural contexts.

Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 9–10 Language standards 1 and 3 on pages 68 for specific expectations.)

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson is dedicated to the performance of and reflection on students’ resistance dramas. A drama is particularly appropriate for this part of the unit because students are literally acting out acts of resistance in the text. Drama is such an effective medium because students have to take on the actions, thoughts, and language of characters. It is very challenging, but students are very proud of their work after receiving enthusiastic feedback from their classmates. Furthermore, by using the reflection charts, students draw valuable conclusions about each character’s exercise of power. It is very important to balance a study of dominant power with an examination of those who are resisting this dominant power in some way. Students need to have the impression that power structures are constantly opposed and in flux; they are not static structures. The lesson is framed by reflections on students’ own acts of resistance which we studied previously. I also think it is very important that this lesson contextualizes these acts of resistance by leading students to examine what acts of resistance reflect in specific societies. Lastly, this lesson draws on and develops students’ creativity, which is certainly one of its greatest benefits. Procedure Essential Questions


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What role do youths play in these rebellions? What is the impact of specific characters’ resistance? What do characters’ acts of resistance reveal about the society in which the

characters live? Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: What was the specific impact of your own acts of resistance? Are these results similar to or different from your character?

Guided Practice (35 Min): “Acts” of Resistance

Part 1(25 Min): Performance of Dramas While groups are performing, the rest of the class will record what is revealed about how the group’s character engages in resistance, what the character is resisting, the importance of context to these acts, how the resistance influences other characters, and in what ways the resistance can be considered successful and unsuccessful. (There will be a chart provided that prompts students to consider each of these factors).

Part 2 (10 Min): Analysis of Dramas As a class, we will discuss what the dramas have revealed about characters’ resistance by compiling the audiences’ responses into a large chart. We will use this large chart to discuss what this resistance teaches us about the society in which it takes place (the society of the text).

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: What do your own acts of resistance reveal about the society that you live in?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Remember to hand out and review reflection charts prior to students’ performance of dramas. Materials and Resources Needed: Drama reflection charts, Chart paper for group discussion Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: Dramas can be very effective for students with special needs and English language learners. Each of these students may struggle with reading or writing, but drama allows them to express themselves more effectively, especially after they have been given time to practice. Additionally, viewing other groups’ dramas allows students to visualize aspects of the text. Furthermore, students’ reflections on others’ dramas will be guided by a chart which breaks the dramas down into categories for the audience to consider. On another note, if a student has a mobility disability, I will ensure that the student is assigned an appropriate role in the drama.

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Assessment of Student Learning: Resistance dramas, Reflection charts, Class discussion on resistance. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: This is certainly one of my favorite lessons in the unit. I love watching students take on roles and so effectively prepare such complex dramas. Students’ choices and performances were very helpful in showcasing instances of resistance in the text. Students were really engaged with performing and watching these dramas, as was shown by their enthusiasm and filled reflection charts. I think is one of the few lessons which I cannot think of any adjustments to make.

Day 13


What are the connections between colonization, gender, power, and resistance in the text?


Students will be able to examine a character’s resistance in the context of colonization.

Students will be able to articulate a connection between gender and resistance in the text.




Students will be able to examine the interactions between colonization, gender, power, and resistance in the text.

Background Knowledge and Skills: Students will be drawing directly upon the past two days in which they created and performed a drama about a character’s resistance. Students will also be drawing on their own experiences. Finally, students will be connecting resistance back to our original topic of colonization, so students may use any materials that they have in order to support them. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy



Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12

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1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This lesson plan is very important for two reasons. First, students are confronting their own interpretations of characters within their resistance dramas. Interrogating their own choices allows students to better understand the reasons behind their choices, including what personal views or experiences may shape their choices. Second, students connect the topic of resistance back to colonization as well as to gendered power relationships. The connections activity allows students to bring their learning “full circle.” In other words, students learn how the unit is connected. It is also important that students are practicing creating connections to prior learning. Students are learning to uncover connections between seemingly disparate topics. Procedure Essential Questions

What are the connections between colonization, gender, power, and resistance in the text?

Anticipatory Set (3 Min): Which character portrayed in the drama did you most identify with? Why?

Guided Practice: Confronting Interpretations

Part 1: Students should get back into their “Acts” of Resistance drama group. Students will work to confront their choices and interpretations by addressing the following questions:

-Why did you choose this character?

What about him or her drew your attention? What does your choice say about your group?

-Why did you interpret the character the way you did?

What textual details were you drawing upon? Which did you ignore?

-What life experiences of your own were you drawing on to represent the character in this way?

Part 2: Groups share their reactions to one another’s representations, commenting on what attracted them to the performances as well as what they could have done differently to capture different aspects of a character’s resistance. In order to do this, students can draw on their Reflection Charts from the drama.

Independent Practice: Connecting Resistance to Colonization Part 1: Impact of a Character’s Resistance

In their “Acts” of Resistance drama group, students should work to answer the following questions:

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-In the context of colonization, how was your character resisting the colonizers? -Did gender play a part in this resistance? How? -How did this resistance impact the power structure of the colonizers? -Why is your character’s resistance dangerous to colonizers? -How do colonizers attempt to prevent or control your character’s resistance?

Part 2: Presentation of Characters Students present to the class their answers to the questions above.

Closure (5 Min): How do your views and experiences shape your opinions on and representations of characters?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Make sure that students are commenting on one another’s performances meaningfully and constructively. Materials and Resources Needed: Drama reflection charts Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: There is very little writing or reading during this section. Students need to participate in group discussions, but they are drawing on their own experiences. Their reflection charts and the class chart of textual features should provide support as well. I will address individual problems as needed. Assessment of Student Learning: Results of confronting interpretations, presentation of characters in relation to colonization. Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: After a lot of thought, I decided to include the activity on confronting students’ interpretations of characters. I feel that the whole sequence of resistance has been really well planned to progress naturally. Today is the final day in our very extensive analysis of resistance. The students did very well with confronting their interpretations as well as connecting contextualizing characters’ acts of resistance in colonization. Were I to change anything, I may provide more guidance on how students should respond to one another’s dramas, but depending on the group, the reflection charts may be enough.

Day 14


What have you learned about author’s craft, power and power structures, resistance, cultural context, and identity formation through studying Fahrenheit 451?

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Students will be able to reflect on their own learning and growth over the course of the unit.

Student will be able to write comments in response to what they and their classmates have learned in this unit.

Students will be able to summarize their own and the class’ learning. Long-Range Learning Objectives

Students will be able to communicate what they have learned about an author’s craft, power and power structures, resistance, cultural context, and identity formation.

Students will monitor and reflect on their learning in order to better understand themselves as learners.

Background Knowledge and Skills: Students have been preparing for this lesson throughout the unit, studying language, textual features, critical lenses, power relationships, power structures, resistance, and cultural context. NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy

Reading Standards for Literature 6–12 11. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate narratives, poetry, and drama, aesthetically and ethically by making connections to: other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations. Speaking and Listening Standards 6–12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas. c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.

Language Standards 6–12 6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

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Summary/Rationale for Lesson Plan: This is the culminating lesson for the unit, so its focus is on helping students to examine what they and their classmates have learned. First, students reflect on their growth using pre-unit journal entries. Then, students participate in a “Chalk Talk” where they travel the room writing reflections on their own learning and responding to their classmates’ comments. The final reflection asks students to explain what in this unit they found to be most important. Often, after a unit of study, students are left asking, “What was the point?” Therefore, it is very important to have a day like this at the end of such a complex unit. Students have learned and done so much that they need to be able to reflect on and dialogue about their learning. Students’ reflections will also help them to complete their Final Assessment writing assignment. Overall, this lesson helps students to monitor their own learning, which is an overall goal of the course. Procedure Essential Questions

What have you learned about author’s craft, power and power structures, resistance, cultural context, and identity formation through studying Fahrenheit 451?

Anticipatory Set (5 Min): Silent Write: What part of this unit has made you think about something differently? Please explain. Independent Practice (35 Min): Pulling Together What They Have Learned

Part 1 (7 Min): Revisit students’ third pre-unit journal entry. Within groups, students will discuss the following questions:

-In your journal entry, what messages did you think the text was trying to convey? -According to your entry, how were these messages communicated by the author? -How have your understandings of the text expanded since you wrote this entry? -What other meanings have you uncovered in the text?

Part 2 (18 Min): Chalk Talk There will be seven posters hung around the room. Students will visit each of these posters at least once and respond to the questions they pose. Students may also respond to other responses that have been written on the poster. The posters will present the following questions:

-What have you learned about how an author crafts a text? -What have you learned about how critical lenses can add to our understandings of a text? -What have you learned about power and power structures? -What have you learned about characters’ resistance? -What have you learned about your own resistance?

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-What have you learned about cultural contexts (characters’, your own)? -What have you learned about identity formation in response to these power structures and cultural contexts?

Part 3 (10 Min): Read the responses on each poster aloud. Help students to summarize their learning and what they found most important in the unit.

Closure (5 Min): Reflection: What is the most important thing that you have learned during this unit?

Special Notes and Reminders to Myself: Allow students to take the lead in each of these activities whenever possible. Materials and Resources Needed: Pre-unit journal entries, Seven pieces of chart paper for student reflections (may need extra). Accommodations for Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners: This lesson gives students adequate time to reflect on their own learning after a complex, demanding unit of study. The first activity allows students to dialogue with a partner about their growth, brainstorming and organizing their thoughts before having to move to the public written reflections. The written reflections during the Chalk Talk are anonymous, so this will relieve some of the pressure associated with public writing. Assessment of Student Learning: Partner dialogues, Chalk Talk results, Final Assessment Project (due at the end of the week after the completion of the unit). Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson: I am very happy with the set-up and results of this lesson. It was wonderful to watch the students realize how much they had learned since writing their original journal entries. I think it is very helpful to pause to reflect on our growth as learners, and that is exactly what this lesson allowed students to do. I am very satisfied with the progression and activities in this lesson. I am also happy that I allowed students to once again end with a personal reflection because each student will have chosen a different part of the unit to be most relevant and important to him or her. This was a very appropriate, reflective, and personal ending to the unit.

Documents

Unit Plan: Applying Critical Lenses to Fahrenheit 451€¦ · Final Unit Plan December 5, 2012 Unit Plan: Applying Critical Lenses to Fahrenheit 451 School and Classroom Context: