Great Books: Wuthering Heights Teacher’s Guide Grade Level: 9–12 Curriculum Focus: Literature Lesson Duration: Three to four class periods Program Description On the cold, damp moors of England burned a love that transcended death. Emily Brontë’s novel of thwarted passion and cruelty was considered immoral when it was first published. The central character, Heathcliff, became an archetype for the modern anti-hero. This program compares Heathcliff’s character to Brontë’s life of isolation and rejection. Lesson Plan Student Objectives • Read the novel Wuthering Heights. • Review a summary of the novel’s plot and major characters. • Analyze a theme. • Teach a theme-based unit to the class. Materials • Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (one for each student) • Computer with Internet access • Poster board, markers, and other materials for creating visuals Procedures 1. After students have read Wuthering Heights, review its plot and major characters with the class. You may choose to ask students to summarize each chapter. Write the names of characters on the board as they are introduced. When each chapter has been summarized, ask the class to brainstorm words and phrases that describe the characters. 2. Divide the class into two groups and assign each one a theme (see #3). Explain that each group must answer questions about their theme. Then each group will have one class period to prepare a unit on their theme and another class period to teach it to the class. Great Books: Wuthering Heights Teacher’s Guide 2 3. Give each group its theme questions: Theme: The Role of Social Class • Describe the social class of the Earnshaws, the Lintons, and Heathcliff. Which are of a higher social class? Why is this significant? • How does social class motivate Catherine’s actions? How does she try to change her class? • How does Heathcliff’s social class influence the way he is treated and his own actions? How does Heathcliff’s class change? • What is the role of class in the novel? How do tensions in the book result from class struggles? • What role do the servants Nelly, Joseph, and Zillah play in the novel? Theme: The Significance of Setting • Describe the setting of the Yorkshire moors. • Describe the houses Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Include descriptions of architecture and the surrounding landscape. • How do the houses reflect their inhabitants? • Do the houses symbolize their inhabitants? Give examples. • How do the settings influence the novel’s characters? 4. Have student groups develop a unit based on their theme. Each should begin with an overview of the theme; answers to the questions above should suffice. Each unit will also include a creative or visual presentation, such as posters or drawings, a reenactment of a scene, or a presentation of modern parallels. The groups should prepare questions that will encourage the class to participate in a discussion. 5. Have each group teach their theme-based unit. Assessment Use the following three-point rubric to evaluate students’ work during this lesson. • 3 points: Students were highly engaged in class discussions; gave thorough and clear summaries of the plot and character descriptions; developed creative, thoughtful units on a theme that answered all questions provided. • 2 points: Students participated in class discussions; gave adequate summaries of the plot and character descriptions; developed units on a theme that answered some of the questions provided. • 1 point: Students participated minimally in class discussions; gave incomplete summaries of the plot and character descriptions; developed units on a theme that answered few or none of the questions provided. Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved. Great Books: Wuthering Heights Teacher’s Guide 3 Vocabulary moor Definition: A wide-open area of high land that is usually too wet for farming Context: Emily, Charlotte, and Ann Brontë lived on the moors in Yorkshire, England. plot Definition: The pattern of events or main story in a narrative or drama Context: As the chief narrator, Nelly recounts the many twists and turns of the novel’s plot. setting Definition: The environment in which a story takes place Context: Emily Brontë’s environment of desolate, windswept expanses is the setting of Wuthering Heights. social class Definition: A group of people having the same social or economic status Context: Catherine married Edgar Linton to enter a higher social class. wuthering Definition: A local term describing the fierce winds that blow during storms on the moors Context: In the novel, the house was named Wuthering Heights because it was exposed to the moor’s harsh weather. Academic Standards Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) McREL's Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education addresses 14 content areas. To view the standards and benchmarks, visit link: http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/browse.asp This lesson plan addresses the following national standards: • Language Arts—Reading: Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts Support Materials Develop custom worksheets, educational puzzles, online quizzes, and more with the free teaching tools offered on the Discoveryschool.com Web site. Create and print support materials, or save them to a Custom Classroom account for future use. To learn more, visit • http://school.discovery.com/teachingtools/teachingtools.html Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved. Great Books: Wuthering Heights Teacher’s Guide 4 DVD Content This program is available in an interactive DVD format. The following information and activities are specific to the DVD version. How To Use the DVD The DVD starting screen has the following options: Play Video—This plays the video from start to finish. There are no programmed stops, except by using a remote control. With a computer, depending on the particular software player, a pause button is included with the other video controls. Video Index—Here the video is divided into sections indicated by video thumbnail icons; brief descriptions are noted for each one. Watching all parts in sequence is similar to watching the video from start to finish. To play a particular segment, press Enter on the remote for TV playback; on a computer, click once to highlight a thumbnail and read the accompanying text description and click again to start the video. Curriculum Units—These are specially edited video segments pulled from different sections of the video (see below). These nonlinear segments align with key ideas in the unit of instruction. They include onscreen pre- and post-viewing questions, reproduced below in this Teacher’s Guide. To play a particular segment, press Enter on the TV remote or click once on the Curriculum Unit title on a computer. Standards Link—Selecting this option displays a single screen that lists the national academic standards the video addresses. Teacher Resources—This screen gives the technical support number and Web site address. Video Index I. Welcome to Wuthering Heights (12 min.) Learn about the extraordinary fantasy world inhabited by the four Brontë children as you are introduced to Emily Brontë's famous novel, Wuthering Heights, and its infamous antihero, Heathcliff. II. Heathcliff and Cathy (9 min.) The characters fall in love as teenagers, but Cathy marries wealthy Edgar Linton. Only when Cathy is dying do she and Heathcliff confess their feelings for one another. III. Rage and Isolation (13 min.) After several attempts to leave, Brontë realizes home is where she is most comfortable and retreats further into isolation. After Cathy dies, Heathcliff becomes a vengeful, raging madman. Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved. Great Books: Wuthering Heights Teacher’s Guide 5 IV. Brontë’s Final Chapter (16 min.) Her brother’s despair over a lost love leads to his death. In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, too, is haunted by his own lost love. Yet, Brontë ends the book on a joyous note. Curriculum Units Segment 1. Wuthering Heights: An Introduction Pre-viewing question Q: What is an antihero? A: Answers will vary. Post-viewing question Q: How did Brontë keep her audience from getting sentimental towards Heathcliff? A: She constantly has Heathcliff saying and doing appalling things, which serves to keep the audience from liking him too much. Segment 2. Heathcliff's Wrath Pre-viewing question Q: Do you believe that love conquers all? A: Answers will vary. Post-viewing question Q: Should Cathy have married Heathcliff? A: Answers will vary. Segment 3. The Brontë Children Pre-viewing question Q: Was the Industrial Revolution good for everyone? A: No. In places like Yorkshire, the Industrial Revolution brought with it large factories that destroyed the careers of craftspeople, who had traditionally been the backbone of the economy. Large factories meant low wages, long hours, and six-day workweeks. Post-viewing question Q: Who were the Luddites? A: This 19th-century group wrote letters to mill owners, telling them to get rid of the laborsaving machines that were eliminating jobs or see the machines smashed. These letters were always signed "Ned Ludd," though nobody knows for sure where the name came from. The Luddites took sledgehammers into the factories in the middle of the night and destroyed machinery. Segment 4. Brontë Comes of Age Pre-viewing question Q: Why would a person choose self-imposed isolation? A: Answers will vary. Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved. Great Books: Wuthering Heights Teacher’s Guide Post-viewing question Q: What did Brontë learn from her brief teaching career? A: Brontë learned that what she wanted most was to be at home. Segment 5. Her Family's Sorrow Pre-viewing question Q: Why did the Brontë sisters use pseudonyms for their books? A: Answers will vary. Post-viewing question Q: Why did the critics not like Wuthering Heights? A: Brontë had not passed judgment on any of her characters; no one was punished for his or her behavior, especially Heathcliff. The critics believed this made the book amoral. Segment 6. An Author and Her Alter Ego Pre-viewing question Q: Why did Brontë not want her identity revealed to the public? A: Answers will vary. Post-viewing questions: Q: How did Brontë's identity become known? A: Brontë's sister Charlotte accidentally revealed Brontë's name when she and Anne went to visit their publisher. Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved. 6