Reinventing Ourselves: The Great Gatsby
STAGE ONE: GOALS
Competencies
Enduring Understandings (U)
1. Gossip, envy, and the desire to impress others are timeless and human and can reach
disastrous proportions
2. The American Dream, while in many instances real, can often create false hopes and
does not guarantee happiness
3. The author uses his or her narrator as a way to express an attitude (tone) towards the
characters and occurrences in his or her novel.
4. People have different moral codes, and conflict results when people with contrasting
moral codes clash.
5. Our identities are a complex combination of influences from many sources, such as:
family, culture, genetics, environment, religion, class, education, etc.
Essential Questions (Q):
1. Why do we like to gossip?
a. What is the difference between news and gossip?
b. Why do we take pleasure in others’ downfalls?
c. Why are we so fixated on looking good in the eyes of others?
2. Can money buy anything?
a. Is the American Dream realistic or idealistic?
b. Is the American Dream always linked to money?
3. How does the narrator reflect the author’s ideas?
a. How do narration, tone, and voice play a part in the narrative as a whole?
b. Is the line between author and narrator always clear?
4. How do we know what is moral vs. immoral?
a. Can a person do immoral things and still be considered moral?
b. What defines our individual moral code?
5. What creates our identity?
a. How much of us is “will” versus “influence”?
b. When is our identity fully formed? How do we know?
c. When is our identity most impressionable?
Skills:
1. Students will know (K):
a. The plot, characters, and key themes of the novel The Great Gatsby
b. Definitions of vocabulary that is unfamiliar to them
c. Definitions, purpose, and use of the following literary terms
- Narration (types of narrators)
- Person (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
- Point of view
- Tone
2. Students will be able to (S):
a. Identify and discuss running themes in the text
b. Examine and compare Fitzgerald’s American society of the 1920’s with our
contemporary society
c. Draw comparisons between the novel and their own lives
d. Produce analytical, personal, and persuasive writing samples that examine themes
and/or elements of the text
e. Synthesize themes from the novel in order to present a coherent, streamlined
representation (in project form) of the novel’s salient message about and for
society
f. Identify and discuss the narrative style, with specific emphasis on author’s choice
of narrator, person, point of view, and tone
g. Use context clues to infer meaning of vocabulary from the text, then expand their
understanding through checking definitions and seeking further context use
h. Work effectively in groups
i. Define and support a position in a speech
STAGE TWO: EVIDENCE (ASSESSMENT)
Performance Tasks:
1. Cover Project:
a. This is a project that asks students to redesign the book cover for a “new edition”
of the novel. Students work to design visuals and text that accurately represent the
main themes in the novel (see specific details below in Stage 3)
Other assessment:
1. Journal entries on the following themes (see details in Stage 3)
a. Identity entries
b. Narrative style entries
c. American Dream entries
d. Morality entries
2. Persuasive Speech; ask students to:
a. Choose a position on the following topic, and then write a three-minute speech.
Using only note cards, present speech to the class. Speeches should be concise,
cogent, and rehearsed, evincing good public speaking skills, clear arguments, and
supporting evidence (from real life and the novel). Class can vote on whose
argument was most persuasive.
Debate topic: Gossip, here at our school, is
1. A result of our curious nature and, if kept in check, is usually
harmless. After all, everyone does it.
2. A toxic pastime that needs to be dealt with by students and/or adults at
school.
3. Rewrite for mini play/film:
a. Have students identify scenes that address the themes explored through the
essential questions: the causes and effects of gossip, living out the American
Dream, making moral choices, and the development and/or expression of personal
identity. Assign each a small group of students a scene, and ask each group to
rewrite the scene in play or screenplay format as if it were taking place among
teenagers in high school. The characters, their social status, and their personal
qualities should stay the same, but their circumstances should be adapted for a
high school setting. For example, Gatsby should still love Daisy, but perhaps he
changes school districts and becomes captain of the football team in order to
impress Daisy, etc.
b. Once written, groups can act out sections of their scene in front of the class.
c. In a written reflection, students discuss the ways in which both the original scene
and their rewrites provide an answer to the appropriate essential question, at least
from the perspective of the characters involved.
4. Vocabulary and reading quizzes
a. Students will learn new vocabulary culled from their reading (see details below in
Stage 3)
b. Students will be tested on themes, EQs, and basic plot comprehension
STAGE THREE: LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. OPENING TASKS:
a. Post question on the board: What is the difference between news and gossip?
b. Ask students to write a response to the question for about ten minutes.
c. Solicit ideas from students, encouraging class discussion on the subject
d. In groups, students make a survey that aims to find out how often people gossip
and why. Surveys should address different kinds of gossip (local vs. celebrity),
media for gossip (magazines, internet, word of mouth), and parameters for gossip
(when is it OK, when is it not). Surveys should have about ten questions. For
homework, students should take their surveys beyond the classroom and survey
ten people in the community. Students can then bring results back to class, present
them, and discuss their findings. [ELA-2-H6, ELA-4-H1, ELA-4-H3]
e. Students can write a short response to the surveys, summarizing the results, their
expectations vs. surprises, and their conclusions about gossip in the community
f. Begin reading The Great Gatsby, making note of gossip/curiosity of others in the
text as they go. (**Note: Students will be taking notes and doing journal
responses to the readings throughout the novel. Journals can be used to check for
reading consistency and to explore bigger questions with regards to the novel.)
There are detailed journal assignment suggestions below, but here is a handful of
questions that might be used as prompts for entries:
1. Is Daisy fake? Is she any better or worse than Gatsby? Why?
2. How do you define the difference between changing your identity for the
better and changing it too much?
3. How is Gatsby portrayed in the beginning? In the end? Has he changed, or
was it only your perception of him that changed?
4. When is a lie OK? Which characters do you trust? Why? What makes you
trust a friend or not in your life?
5. Nick tells Gatsby he cannot change the past, and Gatsby disagrees. What
do you think: can you change the past?
6. What kind of society is Fitzgerald painting here? Is East Egg a place you’d
want to live? Why or why not?
7. What is the difference between friendship and using someone? Give
examples of both from the book and some from your life.
8. Is Jordan an important character in the novel? What is her purpose? Does
she help us see other characters more clearly? If so, how?
g. Persuasive speech on gossip [ELA-4-H1, ELA-4-H3, ELA-4-H4, ELA-4-H6] (see
above)
2. INTRODUCE NORMS, RUBRICS, ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS.
a. Two Truths and a Lie
- Ask each student to write on a piece of paper two true things about herself and
one lie. The goal of the game is to fool people, so the lie should be believable.
For example, a student may write: “I was born in Mexico; I have never broken
a bone; and I am the only one in my family who is not a vegetarian.”
-
-
However, the student should take care to make sure no one in the room will
know which is her lie. Once all students have written their three statements,
they can go around the room reading them. The student (or teacher) who fools
the most people about which statement is their lie “wins.”
Have students consider the reasons why some lies were successful and others
were not. (With luck, students will identify the believability of a lie with the
extent to which it is true to the identity of the person telling it. For example,
few would believe that a shy person led a loud revolt against the school board,
or that the boaster was really honored for being a hero.)
If time allows, consider this question with reference to the activity: why do
people lie?
b. Follow up game with writing in journal about a time you lied about yourself. (see
above)
c. Post question on the board: Can a good person do bad things and still be
considered good [ELA-2-H6, ELA-2-H3, ELA-4-H1, ELA-4-H4, ELA-4-H4,
ELA-4-H6]
- Overnight, have students write a response to this question, using examples and
experience from their lives to support their ideas. At the end of the unit, ask
students to review their response and do a rewrite, adding examples from the
book as well. Students can change or keep their original position in the
rewrite. At the end of the revision, have students self-assess the reasons for
the revision (or lack of revision) of their answers.
- In class, discuss answers to this question, attempting to arrive at more
complex and nuanced answers. Have students self-assess at the end of the
discussion by writing about something that was said during the discussion that
made them re-evaluate their answers (if not necessarily change their minds).
- At the end of the unit, ask students to review their response and do a rewrite,
adding examples from the book as well. Students can change or keep their
original position in the rewrite. At the end of the revision, have students selfassess the reasons for the revision (or lack of revision) of their answers.
3. IDENTITY
a. Journal entries on identity (see above), assigned before beginning the novel or
during the first few chapters [ELA-7-H1, ELA-2-H2, ELA-2-H6]
- Write an I am From poem (see attachment)
- Using several old magazines, cut out words and images that you feel represent
you, and paste them into a page of your journal.
- Using several old magazines, cut out words and images that depict the person
you wish you were, and paste them into your journal.
- Paste a picture of someone you admire in your journal. Describe the person in
a way that shows the reader you admire him/her without ever saying so
directly.
- Write your epitaph
-
Write about a time when you lied, preferably about yourself (to make yourself
look better, perhaps). Describe the lie and why you told it. What happened in
the end? Where you ever caught? How did the lie effect how people saw you?
b. Who Am I? [ELA-2-H1, ELA-2-H2, ELA-2-H3, ELA-7-H1, ELA-2-H4,
ELA-2-H6, ELA-5-H4]:
1. As students begin to get into the novel, during the first few chapters, address
the students with the following tasks:
a. Think about yourself, who you really are. If you get stuck, review journal
assignments on identity, look at pictures from your life, read old letters,
etc.
b. Brainstorm (list is OK) about who you are (past and present). Make notes
about who you are with regards to: friends, family, school, sports,
interests, habits, fears, desired future, etc.
c. Using your notes as a guideline, write 1-2 pages in the first person from
your point of view. Tell the reader who you are (and, if you’d like to, who
you have been, what you hope to be).
d. Share the materials you created in this section and after the I Am From
exercise with a partner, asking him/her to comment in writing about who
“you” seem to be, given the evidence you have collected and created.
e. Use your partner’s comments to revise your I Am From poem.
2. Once students are well into Gatsby and begin to understand the theme of changing
identities, address the students with the following tasks:
a. Think of one or two people in your life that you would really like to
impress (parents, friends, teachers, love interest, etc). Keeping in mind the
criteria for impressing that person/those people, create an alter ego for
yourself (such as Jay Gatsby was for James Gatz).
b. Create a name for your alter ego, perhaps playing off your own name
c. Brainstorm (list or bullet points are OK) at least a page about your alter
ego: profession, hobbies, interests, friends, tastes, habits, etc.
d. Write an I Am From poem from the point of view of your alter ego.
Always keep in mind that your alter ego was invented to impress someone
in your life, so keeping your alter ego realistic is important. Be sure to
create a complete “character.”
e. Distribute I Am From poems among the class, having each student read at
least three. Discuss which alter egos students would like to know, which
they would just as soon avoid. How does students’ sense of what makes
an impressive person differ from the sense that Gatsby characters have?
How can they account for those differences?
3. At the end of the novel, address the students with the following tasks
a. Create a polished, fluent essay that answers these questions in any order,
with reference to both your own thinking and writing about yourself and
the thoughts and experiences of the characters in The Great Gatsby.
- Compare and contrast yourself with your later ego. What are the big
differences? What are the similarities?
- Which person, in the end, do you prefer to be? Why? Do you think it’s
possible to be the alter ego? Why or why not?
- Why do you think James Gatz chose to be James Gatsby? Why didn’t it
work?
- Note: Many students’ impulse will be to devote a paragraph to each of
these questions, with little thought to structure, transition, and fluency. In
reviewing early drafts, help students think more globally, considering the
three questions as part of a single whole, in an effort to develop a more
holistic, sophisticated approach to the essay as a coherent entity.
4. OTHER POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES [ELA-1-H3]
a. Narrative style journal entries [ELA-7-H1]
- Choose a section of the text (about two or three paragraphs) and rewrite it
in both the second and third person singular.
- Write an entry on how the story changes in second and third person. What
is different? The same? Did Fitzgerald make the right choice for this
story? When might another choice be better?
b. American Dream entries [ELA-1-H4, ELA-6-H4]
- Write response to prompt: If Gatsby is the 1920s American hero living out
the American Dream, who is the American hero for the 2000s? Choose
someone and describe how this person fulfills the American dream.
Compare and contrast to Gatsby.
- Write response to prompt: What do you think Daisy is a metaphor for?
What does she represent? Support your original thoughts with two or three
quotes from the text. [ELA-1-H2]
c. Morality entries
- Rate the main characters (Nick, Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, Myrtle, Jordan) from
bad to good based on your opinions (one being the worst, ten being the
best).
- Rate the characters from bad to good based on Fitzgerald’s opinion. Use a
quote from the book (avoid dialogue) for each character that expresses the
author’s opinion towards his character. [ELA-6-H4]
d. Rewrite for mini play/film (see details above, in Stage 2) [ELA-1-H4,
ELA-2-H6, ELA-4-H1]
5. QUIZZES (throughout the reading of the text)
a. Vocabulary [ELA-1-H1, ELA-7-H2, ELA-3-H3]:
- (if computer access is easy) Cull vocabulary from the text, and give a list to
students; students need to use an internet search engine to bring in three
examples of the word used in context. Students make best guess about
meaning and then confirm by looking up words. Students are quizzed on both
the meaning and correct usage.
-
Students write a short story (2 paragraphs) using ten (or any number)
vocabulary words correctly without notes or dictionary
-
Students can play vocab charades or pictionary, earning group quiz points for
correctly depicting and guessing words. (Example, student gets the word
“supercilious” on a piece of paper and must act out the word or draw it until
his team guesses the word before time runs out).
b. Reading: Check for understanding of key themes and essential questions as
well as basic plot comprehension.
6. MAIN/FINAL PERFORMANCE TASK: Book Cover Project [ELA-1-H3, ELA-1-H4,
ELA-6-H4, ELA-7-H1, ELA-7-H2, ELA-2-H1, ELA-4-H3, ELA-5-H1, ELA-5-H2,
ELA-5-H4]
a. Address students with the following task: The Great Gatsby’s publisher is looking
to boost its sales of classics, and it thinks that some of its books need a face-lift.
There is a contest for a new book cover for The Great Gatsby, and you are all
invited to participate. You will have to think thematically and visually for this
project, and you will be working in teams, just like in the real workplace.
b. The publisher is looking for all the following elements in the new book design:
- Two sides, front and back (can be two separate pieces of paper or posterboard)
no bigger than 8”x10”. Can be done on computer and/or by hand.
- New title: (Fitzgerald changed the title a half dozen times and was never quite
satisfied with the final one.) Choose a title that, in one word or phrase, sums
up Fitzgerald’s principal message or moral.
- Illustration: Using original artwork, photography, or computer graphics,
design a visual metaphor that directly links to the title (main message) of the
novel.
- Summary: On the back, summarize the classic tale in a new way that is
enticing without giving too much away. Look at other book summaries for
examples of effective and ineffective summaries.
- Three Quotes: Use three quotes from the original novel somewhere on the
front and/or back covers. The quotes should directly relate to your title/visual
metaphor/overall theme for the project. For instance, if you choose to focus on
the theme of “time”, the title, image, and quotes should all clearly connect to
that theme
- Rationale: Write a two-page explanation of why you chose to design the cover
as you did—why that title? Why that illustration? Why those quotations?
You need to sell the publisher on the idea that your design represents the
perfect treatment of the novel.
c. As you will be working in teams, you can decide as a team how you want to
divide up the work. You can each work on an individual aspect or you can all
work on each aspect. However, it is imperative that you all agree on and
understand the title, as it will be the “thesis” for this project.
d. Before jumping into to any design, you will need to do a little research. Each team
needs to research and examine at least five examples of other books (you can use
The Great Gatsby as one of the five). Look around at book covers in school, the
library, at home, and in the bookstore.
- Make sketches or photocopies of at least three designs that you like. Be sure
to not only sketch the visual image, but also make notes about layout, font
type, color use, etc. Think like a designer here.
- Then choose at least two books whose design you do not like at all, and make
sketches or photocopies of those.
- Write a paragraph about the specific choices you made. Explain specific likes
and dislikes of the designs from your research.
- Each individual on the team needs to do the research.
e. When the final project is due and submitted, groups will have a chance to view
and vote for the designs they think are the strongest, supporting their choices with
evidence from the text and logical reasoning about the choices made.
2. Final Paper in response to the question: Who in this novel is moral? You may also
want to address the following questions (and others you come up with on the same
topic) [ELA-2-H4]
- How does the author express morality (or lack thereof) in his characters?
- Do we know the narrator’s opinions of the characters’ morality? Do we know
the author’s opinions?
- Are these characters exceptional or typical in their morality?
- Are we humans born with our morals in tact? Can we gain or lose morality
throughout our lives? Support your answers to these questions with example
from the novel and personal experience.