Lesson Plan: A Raisin in the Sun
Audience:
10th grade students—no experience with ARITS (A Raisin in the Sun).
*Note: The subject matter of this lesson involves delicate racial issues and it is
necessary to take into consideration the SES and/or racial composition of the class in
order to determining how to approach the subject matter. Appropriate preparations will
need to be taken in order to prevent potentially hurtful or offensive discussion.
Placement within the Overall Lesson/Unit:
This will be the first day of a 4-6 week unit on drama. The students will not have had a reading
assignment beforehand, so they will have no prior knowledge about the play or the historical
context.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Better understand the tense racial climate in the United States during the 1950s
- Have a cursory knowledge of what themes will be discussed within the play (dreams,
race, education, money, etc)
- Make brief connections between themes and their importance within their own lives
- Have an awareness of what is and isn’t permitted concerning discussion taking place
within the classroom surrounding this novel
*Be respectful and courteous to fellow classmates
*Attack the point, NOT the person
*No raised voices
- Reflect on the possible meanings of the title in relation to the poem
- Gain multiple interpretations of the textual themes based on sharing “importance in
my life themes list”
Long Term Objectives to Keep in Mind:
Students will (ultimately) be able to—
 Pick out instances of institutionalized racism in the play as they are reading.
 Recognize how the themes of the play are applicable to their everyday life, and how
different characters in the play prioritize these themes differently.
 Recognize different views of the importance of various themes in daily-life.
Preparation:
Find scenes from ARITS to show, if discussion does not ‘take-off’ as planned.
Prepare a list of various themes for students to rank in the order they feel is most important in
their lives.
Come up with various facts you want the students to walk away from the discussion with on the
themes of redlining, institutionalized racism, prejudices, etc.
Prepare brief introductions to vocabulary and themes that the students may not understand so that
they will have a better understanding of the historical context.
Ex: institutionalized racism, the civil rights movement, red lining
Have conflict diffusing strategies and alternative activities planned if discussion gets out of hand
Ex: explain the sensitive nature of topic and rules for discussion, determine rules for
discussion, and place more of the focus on dreams
Activities:
o Introduction
 Ok class, today we are beginning our unit on drama. We will be reading
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. This play was first produced in
1959. So, what was happening in the 1950’s? (POWERPOINT).
 An understanding of the historical framework of the play is
will probably be beneficial to the students to grasp how
difficult the decision between money and moving was for the
Young family and the severity of the hardships they faced.
 However, as we move onto the next slide which deepens the
list of themes seen in ARITS, the students will be able to see
that these themes easily apply to modern times as well.
- Ranking of themes
- This short activity allows students to begin thinking critically
about how different people place things in differing levels of
importance depending upon their own unique personalities and
priorities.
- Discussion on why and how we decide what takes precedence
in our lives and the conflicts that arise between the various topics
prepares the students for the clash of ideas seen within ARITS and
how it is resolved in the end.
- Movie Clip
- To reinforce the idea that differing priorities within a family can
create controversy
- Character Overview
- To give students a basic understanding of the characters they
will soon encounter; demonstrate how within the same family
priorities are very different
- Poem
- Explain that the title of the piece was derived from a poem.
Ask the students to read the poem and reflect on its possible
inferences
 Everything we are doing is on the PowerPoint…check that out for more
specific info 
Assessment:
Ask the students to read the poem and write thoughts on what implications the play’s title has in
relation to the poem and the themes discussed in class.
*Long term assessment will be better able to determine understanding by asking the
students to connect the historical context and themes discussed in the first lecture to the
text as they read it over the next few weeks.