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Your Name: Caitlin Holley
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Title of Unit: Character Development and Themes
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Title of Lesson: Finding Themes in A White Heron
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Grade Level(s): Grades 10-11
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Objective(s): SPECIFICALLY – What should students know and be able to do? o The students will be able to identify themes in a text. o The students will be able to analyze how a character would exemplify a theme in a text. o The students will be able to explain how a theme may be used in a text.
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Standards: o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
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Rationale: Students may sometimes not appreciate the story of a literary work simply because they find it too simple to appreciate. By teaching theme, students will be shown that there is more to a story than just the plot and characters. These elements are still important, but they may also open doors to the themes of stories to make it a deeper and more meaningful idea.
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Procedures:
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Lesson Beginning
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Introductory Review
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Students will begin the lesson by being asked what inner conflict is.
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Once it is established what inner conflict means, have the students free write about a time that they had an inner conflict.
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After the students free write their thoughts, establish the idea of inner conflict as a potential theme in both life and fiction.
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Motivation/Focus
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Students will learn that the purpose of a theme is to teach a life lesson in a text or to show the message an author is trying to convey through a story. This will show the students that literature (and even television shows and movies) can have more than just the key plot points add to the meaning of that work.

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Anticipatory Set/Advance Organizer
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Students were previously asked to read “A White Heron” for homework the night before class.
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Lesson Development
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Instruction (presentation of content with student involvement)
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The students will be asked to review the overall plot of “A
White Heron” to refresh the central ideas of the story.
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After the students give their recollections of the story, they will then be asked to give additional themes (aside from inner conflict) that were present in the story.
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The themes suggested by the students will be listed on the board
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These themes will be added to the board after students suggest their own ideas of themes in the text: o Environmentalism o Gender Issues o Realism and Romanticism o Internal and External Conflict
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The students will then be asked to fill out a character traits graphic organizer for one character and explain how each trait fits in with a theme of the story and where this trait is portrayed in the story. o One, two, or all three traits can be filled for a character, depending on the theme and the character being analyzed.
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The students will be lead in discussion of how this story grew from being simplistic to having a deeper meaning. Students will be asked to bring up how this happened from today’s lesson.
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Lesson Ending
 Review and Closure: Class will be drawn to a close by asking students to brainstorm different stories, movies, television shows and other literary genres in which themes may now be evident to the students.
These ideas will be written in the students journals.
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Preview of Next Lesson: The next lesson will begin by having the students explain their literary work and the theme that may not have been recognized by the student before. The students will then further analyze these works by delving deeper into finding potential hidden themes.
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Assessment: Formative assessments will occur throughout the class. Students’ suggestions of themes will be assessed to ensure their comprehension of the concept of
“theme”. Also, students’ journals will be reviewed while group discussions occur.

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Materials Needed: Graphic Organizers, chalkboard or SMART board, copies of the story
“A White Heron”
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References: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-school-english-lessons/65962-awhite-heron-summary-and-analysis/ http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/awh/heron.htm
http://the24hourtala.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/charactertraitsgraphicorganizer.jpg
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Special Adaptations:
Some students may not have read the text or understood it, so the text will be reviewed in class prior to the lesson being taught.
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Anticipated Difficulties:
Students may find it difficult to think of an inner conflict to write about.