Be Careful What You Wish For: "The Monkey's Paw"

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  General Lesson Plan

• Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?

  
  

  The students will be able to:

  • Cite specific evidence from the text to answer text-dependent questions about the story.
  • Use specific evidence about characters, setting, and plot from the text to support the theme of the story, "Be careful what you wish for."
  • Write an original narrative that shares a common theme ("Be careful what you wish for), clearly establishes the introduction, uses appropriate narrative techniques and transitions, uses sensory language and vivid descriptions, and provides a clear conclusion.

• Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?

  
  

  Students should have

  • A working knowledge of the elements of fiction, such as:
  • Setting: the time, place, and circumstances in which something occurs or develops
  • the time and place of the action of a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work
  • the scenery used in a theatrical or film production
  • Plot: the plan of main story (as of a dramatic or literary work)
  • Point of View: in literary texts, the type of narration used (as in first-, second-, or third-person narration); a way of looking at or thinking about something
  • Theme: the underlying message or big idea of a talk, book, film, or other work
  • Elements of Narrative Writing.

• Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?

  
  
  1. What textual evidence supports the theme "Be careful what you wish for" in the story "The Monkey's Paw"?
  2. How does this theme develop over the course of the plot?

• Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?

  
  

  Part One:

  • Begin by asking students to write down their answer to the following question in their journals or on a sheet of notebook paper:
    • "If you were given the opportunity to have any 3 wishes come true, what would you wish for and why?"
  • After students respond to the prompt in writing, ask for a few volunteers to share what they wrote. Introduce the short story "The Monkey's Paw,"
  • Continue by providing the following definitions to students:
    • Placidly Pleasantly calm or peaceful .
    • Amiably Friendly; showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities.
    • Grimace Facial expression that indicates disapproval.
    • Solemnly Grave; somber, serious.
    • Enthralled Captivated or charmed.
    • Dubiously Unsettled in mind; uncertain; doubtful.
    • Credulity Gullibility; willingness to believe too readily.
    • Avaricious Greedy Furtively Stealthy, in secret.
    • Apathy Absence of passion, emotion, or excitement.
    • Aghast Filled with sudden fright or horror.
  • Post the vocabulary words on the board and/or have students mark them in their text before beginning the close reading.
  • Read the first section of the text aloud and model text marking for theme evidence.
  • Mark any text that supports the theme of “be careful what you wish for” by underlining, highlighting, circling, etc.
  • Then, using a sticky note, write the purpose/effect of the use of that particular piece of text as it supports the theme.

• Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?

  
  

  Part Two:

  • Students should continue to read the text and complete the text marking with a partner.
  • Circulate to check for understanding and redirect or correct any misconceptions.
  • Once student partnerships complete the reading, bring the class back together to share their findings.
  • Conduct a class discussion using the students’ text markings as a basis for questioning.
  • Distribute the text dependent questions (attached) and model the completion of the first two questions before students move back into their partnerships to answer the rest of the questions.
  • Revisit the journal entry students completed at the beginning of the lesson "If you were given the opportunity to have any 3 wishes come true, what would you wish for and why?"

• Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the lesson?

  
  
  • Review the definition of Narrative Writing:
    • Narrative Writing is a type of composition that tells a story, the elements of which may be fiction or nonfiction. Narration of the story may take various forms (first, second, third person, etc.). The story events may be presented sequentially or in an order that stimulates reader interest. Narrative writing includes the writer’s use of genre-specific elements, including but not limited to: characterization through dialogue, vivid description, sensory details, foreshadowing, and flashback.
  • Students will use their answer to the question to formulate a short story that models the theme from “The Monkey’s Paw.”
  • Provide students with the rubric (attached) and go over it with them before they begin writing so they know how they will be assessed.
  • Remind students that they can use their answer to the journal prompt as a springboard for their narrative.
  • Students should turn in a rough draft to the teacher, and the teacher should use the rubric as a guide to provide written feedback to students.
  • The students can then use that feedback to create a final draft. Be sure to give students timely feedback so they can complete their second draft.

• Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?

  
  
  • Time permitting, the teacher could allow time for students to share the final drafts of their stories with one another and compare/contrast how each handled the theme of "be careful what you wish for" in their stories.
  • Review narrative techniques students used in their writing.

• Summative Assessment

  
  
  • After reading "The Monkey's Paw," students will create an original narrative of their own. The narrative must share the same theme "Be careful what you wish for" as the short story. The student may invent their own characters, plot, and settings. The narratives will be scored using the narrative rubric.

• Formative Assessment

  
  
  • Assess students' basic comprehension of different aspects of "The Monkey's Paw" through the text-dependent questions.
  • Use students' narrative rough drafts as a formative assessment in order to determine if students need additional support

• Feedback to Students

  
  
  • Lead a class discussion and offer verbal feedback on the students' answers to the text-dependent questions.
  • Alternatively, collect students' work and provide written feedback.
  • Provide written feedback on the students' narrative rough drafts using the narrative rubric as a guide. Students can use this feedback to make revisions to their narrative to assist them with preparing their final draft for submission.

• Florida’s B.E.S.T. Benchmark Alignment Notes

  
  
  • For multi-day/part lessons, the focus and supporting benchmarks may change for each part depending on the task students are engaged in and the content covered.
  • The student task of writing in this lesson supports ELA.K12.EE.1.1. Cite evidence to explain and justify reasoning.
  • See BEST document for examples of narrative techniques