Narration
The Crucible Unit was a unit I first planned in one of my unit developing classes in the fall of 2012. The scope of the unit was originally considerably ambitious for the class and time frame in which I needed to teach it during my teaching internship. It went through several modifications in order to narrow its scope.
The unit was taught beginning on February 4, 2013 and ended six weeks later, on March 15. The unit was given a week extension due to the numerous (4) snow days. Additionally, while the two days for mid-winter break and the three days for standardized testing were taken into account when planning this unit, the addition of 4 snow days yielded in four school-day weeks for five weeks in a row.
The unit included reading the play, studying key concepts from the play, literary concepts used in the play, and connecting the play to “the big picture”. The unit began with the simultaneous reading of the play and studying of key concepts. The first and fourth acts were read in class via audio recording and the second and third acts were read by the students outside of class. There were numerous formative assessments of key concepts, literary concepts, and vocabulary throughout the month before the students took a summative test on the play. After the test, students further explored the concept of theme, a very difficult concept for most students, and then wrote a theme analysis paper on a theme from The Crucible.
The unit was taught beginning on February 4, 2013 and ended six weeks later, on March 15. The unit was given a week extension due to the numerous (4) snow days. Additionally, while the two days for mid-winter break and the three days for standardized testing were taken into account when planning this unit, the addition of 4 snow days yielded in four school-day weeks for five weeks in a row.
The unit included reading the play, studying key concepts from the play, literary concepts used in the play, and connecting the play to “the big picture”. The unit began with the simultaneous reading of the play and studying of key concepts. The first and fourth acts were read in class via audio recording and the second and third acts were read by the students outside of class. There were numerous formative assessments of key concepts, literary concepts, and vocabulary throughout the month before the students took a summative test on the play. After the test, students further explored the concept of theme, a very difficult concept for most students, and then wrote a theme analysis paper on a theme from The Crucible.
Unit Reflection
As a whole, I believe this unit was successful. It was not as successful as I had planned or hoped; however, it did not fail. I would rate the unit as a B, a solid 85%. It had the potential to be much more—and it will be if I teach it again—but there were some issues that prevent it from being stellar. Students did complete all assigned tasks with fairly positive results. There are several lessons I would keep, a few I would tweak, and a couple I would revamp.
Keep
Characterization Techniques – this lesson I have taught a few times in several forms and have tweaked it several times already. This lesson was delivered well; I was confident when I delivered this lesson to students. The hook, using The Breakfast Club, was received well, although I’m not sure how many more years I can use the film before it is out of the students’ repertoire. I may have to look to other, more recent movies that are similar for a reference in a few years. My analogies were well received, as well as my movie references.
Irony – This lesson took me several attempts to write. Irony is something I know, but had trouble verbalizing. I found some excellent handouts on www.4secondarysolutions.com that not only explained each type of irony succinctly and in an easy-to-understand format, but the examples came with an answer guide that not only gave the answer, but an explanation as well. It was very beneficial to me because it solidified my confidence. And, to top it off, the last example on the handout used The Crucible. It was perfect! The students took well to the definitions and my analogic explanations solidified the concepts.
Theme – I struggled with writing a lesson on theme. In fact, my cooperating teacher rejected my first set of plans. I knew this concept was too important for the students to understand, so I asked my cooperating teacher for help. She wrote a scaffold that I could work with and then we team-taught the lesson. The students still had difficulty understanding the concept; however, theme is a difficult concept to grasp and is often confused with “moral of the story”. It finally clicked for me to say that “moral of the story” is the first step in identifying a possible theme; however, it’s an elementary-level skill. The second step is the secondary-level skill. This explanation validated both the students’ previous knowledge but helped them recognize that they should not dismiss this lesson because it builds upon their previous knowledge/skill.
Specific Examples – This short mini-lesson during writing workshop went well. It was detailed, specific, and succinct. It helped explain to students what the definition of “specific example”.
Transitions – This short mini during writing workshop went well. Students already knew transitions from prior lessons in middle school; however, I wanted to review the categories/types of transitions and challenge them to use more high-school level transitions rather than middle-school level transitions.
Irony – This lesson took me several attempts to write. Irony is something I know, but had trouble verbalizing. I found some excellent handouts on www.4secondarysolutions.com that not only explained each type of irony succinctly and in an easy-to-understand format, but the examples came with an answer guide that not only gave the answer, but an explanation as well. It was very beneficial to me because it solidified my confidence. And, to top it off, the last example on the handout used The Crucible. It was perfect! The students took well to the definitions and my analogic explanations solidified the concepts.
Theme – I struggled with writing a lesson on theme. In fact, my cooperating teacher rejected my first set of plans. I knew this concept was too important for the students to understand, so I asked my cooperating teacher for help. She wrote a scaffold that I could work with and then we team-taught the lesson. The students still had difficulty understanding the concept; however, theme is a difficult concept to grasp and is often confused with “moral of the story”. It finally clicked for me to say that “moral of the story” is the first step in identifying a possible theme; however, it’s an elementary-level skill. The second step is the secondary-level skill. This explanation validated both the students’ previous knowledge but helped them recognize that they should not dismiss this lesson because it builds upon their previous knowledge/skill.
Specific Examples – This short mini-lesson during writing workshop went well. It was detailed, specific, and succinct. It helped explain to students what the definition of “specific example”.
Transitions – This short mini during writing workshop went well. Students already knew transitions from prior lessons in middle school; however, I wanted to review the categories/types of transitions and challenge them to use more high-school level transitions rather than middle-school level transitions.
Tweak
Introduction – I rushed through the introduction and just slammed the students with several on-going assignments all at once. I purposely did this because I wanted to focus more on the play and not on all the on-going assignments. Routinely in college students are given everything up front, all at once, and the ability to digest it without “freaking out” is knowledge that students should not wait until college to learn. This knowledge is crucial in understanding the feeling of being overwhelmed at the beginning and knowing it will pass. The lack of this knowledge is, in my opinion, one of the major reasons college freshman drop out after one semester. They think they cannot handle the rigor of college, so they abandon it. In high school, students are used to lengthy introductions and plenty of time to digest little bits of information before doing it all the night before. I was attempting to introduce this knowledge as well; however, I think I need to prep them before I overwhelm them. The actual content from this lesson I think was helpful—but it was only background information and the assigning of on-going assignments.
Witchcraft and Paranoia – I thought my discussion idea of writing something down on a Post-It note—words, phrases, sentences—that come to mind when they hear the terms was a good idea. However, in practice…it wasn’t as successful as I had hoped. I was trying to use it as a method to involve everyone’s opinion without the embarrassment of speaking it in front of the whole class (there were some shy students in the class). I think I need to model the technique before I use it. I didn’t think it needed to be modeled because it seemed self-explanatory. Write what comes to mind, and come stick it on the board. The problem was that students began to share ideas before writing them down, so half the class wrote the same thing. They also put up comedic responses that were meant to derail the class discussion. Additionally, I might choose another activity instead of discussion to explore the topics of witchcraft and paranoia to yield a more thorough understanding of the key concepts.
Mass Hysteria – This would have worked…but the one day I try to create hysteria, it did not work. Usually the classroom is filled with one student asking a question and then four or five chiming in at the same time. Perhaps it was because I’m not a good liar or because explanation of how the “quiz” would work was so over-the-top that the students just didn’t believe me. When I asked some students later about why they had no reaction, they claimed they were just in shock. However, they did like the idea, that the “quiz” was actually the study guide. I will definitely tweak my approach/directions for the “quiz”.
Witchcraft and Paranoia – I thought my discussion idea of writing something down on a Post-It note—words, phrases, sentences—that come to mind when they hear the terms was a good idea. However, in practice…it wasn’t as successful as I had hoped. I was trying to use it as a method to involve everyone’s opinion without the embarrassment of speaking it in front of the whole class (there were some shy students in the class). I think I need to model the technique before I use it. I didn’t think it needed to be modeled because it seemed self-explanatory. Write what comes to mind, and come stick it on the board. The problem was that students began to share ideas before writing them down, so half the class wrote the same thing. They also put up comedic responses that were meant to derail the class discussion. Additionally, I might choose another activity instead of discussion to explore the topics of witchcraft and paranoia to yield a more thorough understanding of the key concepts.
Mass Hysteria – This would have worked…but the one day I try to create hysteria, it did not work. Usually the classroom is filled with one student asking a question and then four or five chiming in at the same time. Perhaps it was because I’m not a good liar or because explanation of how the “quiz” would work was so over-the-top that the students just didn’t believe me. When I asked some students later about why they had no reaction, they claimed they were just in shock. However, they did like the idea, that the “quiz” was actually the study guide. I will definitely tweak my approach/directions for the “quiz”.
Revamp
Source Material – This lesson was an epic failure. The laptop carts proved to be more cumbersome and problematic than the positive learning goals. Additionally, while I thought I found two good websites with lots of accurate information on each person, there were occasionally people that had little information on them. This lesson was successful, the students learned that Miller drew upon real life for his play; however, the activity was not the best. I would definitely change the activity, but still keep the essence of the lesson.
Allegory/McCarthyism – While the students still learned the essential lessons of the lesson—that Miller wrote the play during the era of McCarthyism due to the striking similarities between it and the Salem Witch Trials—the activity was unsuccessful. I would either address the issue of lack of whole class involvement in the “Is There Honor in the Honor Code” simulation or throw it out in favor of something else. As of now, I’m leaning towards finding a new activity. I think the simulation would work in a small class, but with classes of 25-30 kids, it just was not effective.
Allegory/McCarthyism – While the students still learned the essential lessons of the lesson—that Miller wrote the play during the era of McCarthyism due to the striking similarities between it and the Salem Witch Trials—the activity was unsuccessful. I would either address the issue of lack of whole class involvement in the “Is There Honor in the Honor Code” simulation or throw it out in favor of something else. As of now, I’m leaning towards finding a new activity. I think the simulation would work in a small class, but with classes of 25-30 kids, it just was not effective.