Kat Cassidy
June 22, 2009
Lesson Plan







Course: English 11 World Literature
Topic: Othello and “The Description of Leo Africanus” – Race and stereotypes in
literature
o Students were introduced to 16th century images of Africans at the beginning of
the unit. Students have read Othello. This lesson is meant for the end of the unit,
after students have finished reading the play and when they are planning to write
their final analysis paper of Othello’s character. This lesson will take two class
periods.
Objectives: Students will be able to analyze Leo Africanus’ description of Africans’
virtues and vices by comparing and contrasting their traits. They will be able to
synthesize Othello and Leo Africanus by comparing Othello’s character traits to Leo
Africanus’ descriptions.
NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards: 3.1 G3, Understand that our literary heritage
is marked by distinct literary movements and is part of a global literary tradition. 3.1 G5,
Analyze how works of a given period reflect historical and social events and conditions.
Materials: Othello, “The Description of Leo Africanus” article, Powerpoint, Vocabulary
cards, Graphic organizers (Venn Diagram and 3-way Venn Diagram)
Methods/Activities: (1) Journal/Powerpoint discussion to activate background
knowledge, (2) Vocabulary splash to preview new words, (3) Guided reading to identify
Leo Africanus’ descriptions, (4) Collaborative groups to compare Othello’s traits, (5) 32-1 Share to provide feedback.
Script:
o Guiding questions are written on the board: “What did Leo Africanus say were
the virtues and vices of Africans in the sixteenth century? Does Othello fit these
traits or break the stereotype?”
o Do Now: Journal prompt, also written on the board – “What is a stereotype?
What stereotypes do you know?”
o Powerpoint introduction/discussion: Share students’ journal responses. Show
Powerpoint with pictures of different ethnic groups from today, and end with
pictures of Africans from 16th century. Discuss new thoughts and/or changed
opinions. Discuss different groups of Africans, such as West African, Moor,
Arab, etc. Students should get the idea that stereotypes are generalizations about
groups of people, but within a group there is a lot of difference.
o Lecture of purpose: Explain and elaborate the objectives for this lesson and the
rationale – to find out what the stereotypes of Africans were in the sixteenth
century, and whether or not Othello fits those stereotypes. We will use primary
sources for this inquiry: a travel article by Leo Africanus written in 1550, and
Othello, written in 1600. Introduce the steps for this lesson: first, we will
acquaint ourselves with new vocabulary. Second, read “The Description of Leo
Africanus” and identify the virtues and vices of Africans from this article. Third,

compare Othello to these virtues and vices. This will prepare students to write an
analysis paper of Othello’s character.
o Vocabulary Splash: Review directions for the vocabulary preview. Students
receive cards with the new vocabulary printed on them (definitions are printed on
back): “diligent,” “destitute,” “guile,” “valiant,” “bawdy,” “discourse,”
“disposition,” “credulous,” “covet,” “tractable,” “lucre.” Students sort the words
according to positive or negative (or neutral) connotation and explain their sorts.
Students predict what virtues and vices the article will describe based on these
new vocabulary words.
o Model reading with think-aloud: Review the steps for completing the Venn
Diagram (Some traits are clearly virtues, some are clearly vices. Some are
described as both – look for which traits might go in the middle.) Begin reading
the Leo Africanus article, pausing by sentence to reflect on traits and make notes
for the Venn Diagram. After 5 sentences, stop and discuss the process.
o Guided reading groups: Assign students to reading groups based on reading level.
(Advanced students may have a copy of the article in the original old English.
ELL students may have a copy of the article with additional definitions, and/or a
foreign-language dictionary. Students with LD or reading difficulties may have a
translated/abridged copy of the article in modern English.) In groups, students
will finish reading the article and filling in the Venn Diagram to chart virtues and
vices. I will work with the groups, focusing on the students having difficulties. I
will cue strategies and reinforce student practice. Once students finish this task, I
will collect their Venn diagrams to provide feedback.
o Class Venn Diagram on board: (next day) Students add their virtues and vices to
a class-size Venn Diagram on the board. Discuss the article’s stereotypes.
Compare the Venn Diagram to students’ Vocabulary Splash predictions.
o Model 3-way Venn Diagram with think-aloud: Add a third circle to the class’
Venn Diagram. This circle is for Othello. Review the steps for completing this
diagram. Flip through Othello and your notes to describe Othello’s actions,
thoughts, feelings, and speeches. Add a couple descriptions to the class Venn on
the board.
o Collaborative groups: Assign students to heterogeneous groups. In groups,
students will review their notes about Othello and fill in the 3-way Venn Diagram
to chart Othello’s traits. They will look for similarities to Leo Africanus’ virtues
and/or vices. I will work with the groups, focusing on the students having
difficulties. I will cue strategies and reinforce student practice. Once students
finish this task, I will collect their 3-way Venn diagrams to provide feedback.
o 3-2-1 Share: Students write down 3 stereotypes (virtues or vices) of 16th century
Africans, 2 stereotypes that Othello possesses, and 1 trait Othello has that is not a
stereotype. Students share this with the class (whip-around). Discuss final charts
and opinions about stereotypes and Othello. Review the analysis paper
assignment, emphasizing how to incorporate these traits.
Evaluation: Vocabulary Splash sorts and explanations, Leo Africanus Venn Diagram
charts, Othello 3-way Venn Diagram charts, 3-2-1 Share. I will be working with students
in small groups, assessing their notes on the graphic organizers, and charting their
contributions to class discussions.
This lesson contains many elements for effective reading comprehension instruction, as
identified by Wong (2004). First, I activate students’ background knowledge in the Journal and
Powerpoint introductory activities. “In general, the more students know about a topic, the more
motivated they are to learn and the easier it is for them to integrate their background knowledge
with text information, and to organize the new information in memory, available for later
retrieval” (Wong, 2004, p. 254). Second, I introduce new vocabulary with a word sort. “Birsh
(1999) indicates that successful reading comprehension is closely related to an individual’s oral
language comprehension and vocabulary skills” (Wong, 2004, p. 256). Third, I include five of
the six “most important instructional components associated with improvements in reading
comprehension”: “controlling the difficulty of the processing demands of tasks… elaboration…
modeling by the teacher of steps… small group instruction… strategy cues” (Wong, 2004, p.
264). I control difficulty by differentiating the reading level of the Leo Africanus article in
reading groups. I elaborate on the objectives, purpose, rationale, and steps for this lesson several
times – with the guiding questions on the board, lecture of purpose, review of directions, and
debriefing discussions. I model the procedure for completing the comparison tasks by
performing think-alouds when reviewing directions. I work with students in small groups,
organized by reading level for the reading task and heterogeneously for the comparison task. I
provide strategy cues with before (vocabulary, predictions), during (graphic organizer), and after
(summarize) reading prompts. Finally, students are able to analyze and synthesize character
traits and stereotypes by using graphic organizers. In this lesson, as students are making sense of
text and planning out their ideas, “graphic organizers not only help to make text comprehensible,
but they also assist in the memorization, storage, and analysis of information” (Wong, 2004, p.
270). The components of this lesson are research-based, and I believe they will help all students
be successful in making meaning out of these texts.
References
Wong, B. (Ed.). (2004). Learning about learning disabilities, 3rd ed. New York: Elsevier
Academic Press.