Lesson Plans for AMY BREWER: 8th Grade Language Arts
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October 8-12, 2012
IMPORTANT DATES: Quiz this FRIDAY on vocabulary list for the 8 terms from “The
Landlady” and on the list of 16 words that are commonly misused in student writing
samples (students were given list last week and completed an additional vocabulary
reinforcement activity).
READ-TO-SUCCEED projects are due this week on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11!!!
MONDAY
LA.8.2.1.2: The student will locate and analyze elements of characterization, setting, and plot,
including rising action, conflict, resolution, theme, and other literary elements as appropriate in
a variety of fiction
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its
development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting,
and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or
drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
Literary Analysis for “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl (to include character and plot analysis)
Character analysis:
1. Copy a quote from the story (said, acted, or thought by) Landlady that
foreshadows the fact that she is crazy: REFERENCE PAGE #
2. Copy a quote from the story (said, acted, or thought by ) Billy that foreshadows
his being naïve about the landlady’s strange behavior: REFERENCE PAGE #
3. Phrase from the story that shows a creepy action of Landlady: REFERENCE
PAGE #
4. Phrase from story that show action of Billy that explain his character:
REFERENCE PAGE #
5. Phrase that shows what Billy looks like (this can be found on page 171)
Plot analysis:
ON YOUR OWN PAPER: In a sentence for each stage of the plot, what happens
in the story?
1. Exposition: be sure to include characters, setting, and situation
2. Rising Action: What is the conflict? Who is the protagonist and who is the
antagonist? What are events leading up to climax (you should have at least 3
complete sentences here!)
3. Climax:
4. Falling Action:
5. Resolution:
6. Main Idea/Theme/Message:
TUESDAY
NGSSS: LA.8.1.6.2—Students will write an informal letter to a specific audience; editing for
correct use of vocabulary, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach,
focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
RAFT exercise: “The Landlady”: RAFT is a writing strategy that helps students
understand their role as a writer and how to effectively communicate their ideas
and mission clearly so that the reader can easily understand everything written.
Additionally, RAFT helps students focus on the audience they will address, the
varied formats for writing, and the topic they'll be writing about.
You will choose to write a Billy Raft or a Landlady Raft
Requirements: Letter must be at least 100 words and include all 8 vocabulary
terms (underline)!!
Billy RAFT: Billy writes a letter to his parents expressing his concerns that
something is very weird about this bed and breakfast.
Role: Billy; Audience: Parents; Format: Letter; Topic: Concerns about his
situation
Landlady RAFT: The Landlady writes a letter to Billy’s ghost explaining why she
kills her guests, and why she chose him. Role: Landlady; Audience: Billy’s ghost;
Format: Letter; Topic: Reasons she murders and stuffs “pets”, Billy
WEDNESDAY:
LA.8.3.4.5: The student will edit for correct use of subject/verb agreement, noun/pronoun
agreement.
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Students will have 10 minutes to complete RAFT and Literary Analysis assignments
before turning in for a test grade
Students will write 16 sentences to show correct usage of commonly “misused words”.
They will be quizzed on these words this Friday. For example: 1. You’re: I hope you’re
(you are) feeling better soon! (students will have 10 minutes to complete this activity)
Grammar Lesson on Prepositions/Prepositional Phrases: Grammar books page 346347, Guided practice activity, followed by independent practice activity pages 137 & 142
from grammar workbook
Any work not completed during class, must be finished for homework.
THURSDAY:
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Review prepositional phrase homework, 16 sentences homework, and guide students in
a peer-editing activity to close out the lesson on “The Landlady”
Students will turn in their Read-2-Succeed projects at the beginning of class.
Intro to “Monkey’s Paw” play: students will have 15 minutes to write a paragraph with
7 sentences responding to the prompt: Suppose you received an object that had the
power to grant you three wishes. What would you do? What would you wish for?
Consider what may go wrong if all your wishes were granted.
Students will exchange papers with their neighbor and circle all of personal references
in the paragraph (I, me, we, mine, etc.)
Students will rewrite the paragraph trying to eliminate as many personal references as
possible, use AAWWUBS sentence starters, and prepositional phrases to add more
detail to their paragraphs.
FRIDAY:
NGSSS: LACC.8.RL.1.3--Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama
propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or
drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
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Quiz on words from “The Landlady” and on the 16 words to stop misusing that they
were given last week. (15 minutes)
Begin reading and discussing the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw” on page 186 of the
old literature books. (23 minutes audio)
We will observe the author’s use of irony and suspense to keep us reading; and students
will make predictions and inferences about the text.