Lesson Plans: The Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
The Heroines – unit goals:
To develop student ability to engage with a novel (to be a part of the story), and challenge
them to express this engagement in a variety of media (writing, art, oral presentation).
The lesson plan’s activities draw on the self-absorption of the Heroines, caught in
the confines of their storyline, contrasted to the evolution of Penny’s character, as she
tries to connect with her world, and shapes her own story through her actions and
reactions. The unit addresses the overarching question of exploring and uncovering
oneself as an individual, and a member of society, specifically through relating to
literature, stories. Anne-Marie’s unusual interaction with fictional characters, and the
discoveries it leads to, provides a template for students to reflect on how their
engagement with fiction (the act of reading fiction) influences their self-knowledge.
Topics: Acts of rebellion, the questions and choices they raise, and how the process of
making choices shapes who you are.
Unit themes: How does literature speak to you? How does reading help you discover
who you are? How does writing help you understand yourself? How are you shaped by
your interaction with fiction (and fictional characters)?
Unit overarching question:
What characterizes heroism?
Unit subsidiary questions:
Is book-world heroism different from real-world heroism?
(or, how does a Heroine compare to a heroine)?
Reading Strategies:
This book and the unit approach outlined here lend themselves to engaging in active
readership on a personal level (self-discovery), in a more student-centered teaching
approach. The lesson plans focus on the process of responding to a book while one reads
– reader strategies of marking passages, and identifying quotes. Written reflections and
journaling after having read passages complement the ongoing activities of collecting
meaningful moments during the act of reading.
Objectives:
 Students will explore the different ways artistic representations can teach us to see
ourselves and the world more clearly.
 Students will construct meaning for their reading in the context of their own selfdiscoveries.
 Students will engage with the text of a novel in multiple approaches (through
drama, art, music, audio, writing in different forms).
 Students will develop strategies for interpreting meaning in a novel by putting
themselves inside the book and engaging with it.
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Lesson Plans: The Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
 Students will analyze, compare and contrast characters, points of view, and aspects
of plot in a novel, to develop their awareness as critical readers.
 Students will explore the effect internal conflicts of characters in stories has on the
reader.
State Standards:
1.B.4a Preview reading materials, clarify meaning, analyze overall themes and
coherence, and relate reading with information from other sources.
1.B.4c Read age-appropriate material with fluency and accuracy.
1.C.4a Use questions and predictions to guide reading.
1.C.4b Explain and justify an interpretation of a text.1.B.4c
2.A.4b Explain relationships between and among literary elements including character,
plot, setting, theme, conflict and resolution and their influence on the effectiveness of the
literary piece.
2.A.4c Describe relationships between the author’s style, literary form (e.g., short
stories, novels, drama, fables, biographies, documentaries, poetry, essays) and intended
effect on the reader.
2.B.4a Critique ideas and impressions generated by oral, visual, written and electronic
materials.
2.B.4c Discuss and evaluate motive, resulting behavior and consequences demonstrated
in literature.
3.A.4 Use standard English to edit documents for clarity, subject/verb agreement, adverb
and adjective agreement and verb tense; proofread for spelling, capitalization and
punctuation; and ensure that documents are formatted in final form for submission and/or
publication.
3.B.4a Produce documents that exhibit a range of writing techniques appropriate to
purpose and audience, with clarity of focus, logic of organization, appropriate elaboration
and support and overall coherence.
3.C.4b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for
specified audiences.
4.A.4a Apply listening skills as individuals and members of a group in a variety of
settings (e.g., lectures, discussions, conversations, team projects, presentations,
interviews).
4.B.4b Use group discussion skills to assume leadership and participant roles within an
assigned project or to reach a group goal.
General Materials and Resources:
 Copy of The Heroines for each student
(page numbers in the lesson plans refer to 2009 Scribner edition)
 Notebook for free-writing for each student
 Folder to keep the artifacts from their self-discovery activities for each student
 Overhead projector
 Access to computers
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Lesson Plans: The Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Lesson Plan One:
Materials:
 “conflict snapshot” handout & rubric
 6 Conflict Snapshots (blank) per student
Objectives:
 Students will write two “conflict snapshots” to themselves as a way to reflect on
their reaction and feelings to their own experiences, and to the experiences of a
character in a book.
 Students will establish a parallel between their individual self-discovery through
their life experiences, and their self-discovery through vicarious life experiences as
a reader of someone else’s story.
Hook:
1. Students think about a sharp memory: What is a first experience of something
(you ate, saw, did – rode on an elephant, had a funnel cake, tasted snow, got lost
or lost something).
2. Each student writes a “snapshot” of that first experience on loose-leaf and
includes a picture.
3. Students share with a partner, then volunteers share with the whole group.
4. Follow with discussion prompts: Was text or picture easier to create? Who were
you writing to? Did the snapshot add new understanding for you?
Activities:
As readers, we take part in the story. We’ll be creating snapshots of our progress along
the way.
1. Read “Conflict Snapshot” handout and give 6 Snapshot templates to each student.
2. Read Chapter 1 to “Maybe I’d camp in the woods” (p. 4).
3. Brainstorm as a whole class what the book is about, on a large outline on the
board. Students individually come add sections group snapshot.
Prompts:
 What does the title/ back cover blurb/ picture on the front suggest? What does the
statement “an act of rebellion” (p. 3) suggest? What does the idea of a forbidden woods at
night suggest?
4. The descriptions of setting are vivid, imagistic. Brainstorm an illustration as a
whole class, explaining the visual choices.
5. Students finish Chapter 1 silently, then write a reflection to their neighbor about
their reactions, or questions, on a self-selected quote from the chapter, following
the “snapshot” guidelines. Draw or sketch an illustration.
6. Share reflections with a partner
Follow-up: Read Chapter 2. Write a paragraph: Imagine bringing a hero/heroine from a
novel into your life. What conflict are they experiencing? What are they like in ‘street
clothes’? Would you give them advice or not? Why or why not?
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Lesson Plans: The Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
NOTES:
Second lesson plan: Characters As Me: How do I relate to characters in books?
For reflection/ further development:
 Gendered reflection: Compare and contrast how are heroes and heroines are
portrayed.
 Inclusion of suggestions for additional lesson plans -- designed on this model and each
time resulting in another artifact to add the Self-Discovery Portfolio. These artifacts
reflect on student reading of Anne-Marie’s evolution, respond with an analysis of a
parallel evolution in the reader’s experience, and practice different creative/artistic
approaches to engage with a text.
o Some ideas off-the-cuff (value to be assessed):
o Quotes and songs that reflect who you are (music)
o Experiences in an unfamiliar setting where “things are not what they
seem” (memoir)
o Interview of an older family member for a story from their life (audio)
o First love and the poems or letters inspired by it (poems, letters)
o Diversity activity – social conventions and fitting or not fitting in (drama)
Creative Writing Exercises
 Have students pick one or two of their favorite characters and write a short story where
they interact with them in contemporary times.
 Have students pick a scene from the novel and rewrite it as a play.
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Lesson Plans: The Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Dramatis Personae for The Heroines by Eileen Favorite
An alphabetical list of Heroines who visited the Prairie Homestead.
Bovary, Madame Emma, (p. 10, pp. 28-34).
From Madame Bovary (1856) by Gustave Flaubert
Buchanan, Daisy (p. 10)
From The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Deirdre of the Sorrows (p. 10, etc.)
From The Tain—Ancient Celtic folklore, describes Ireland ca. 1 B.C.
DuBois, Blanche (97-98)
From A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams
Earnshaw, Catherine (pp. 171-216)
From Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Brontë
Glass, Franny (pp. 53-60)
From Franny and Zooey (1961) by J.D. Salinger
Kowalski, Stella (97-98)
From A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams
O’Hara, Scarlett (pp.112-120)
From Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell
Ophelia (p. 89- 96)
From Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare
Penelope (p. 10)
From The Odyssey (8 BC) by Homer
Prynne, Hester e & Pearl (pp.155-163)
From The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Rapunzel (pp. 11-12)
From Children’s and Household Tales (1812) by the Brothers Grimm
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Lesson Plans: The Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Questions for further discussion
1. The book opens with Penny meeting a king on horseback in the woods. How is
this situation like a fairytale and how is it different? What is Penny’s relationship
to the woods?
2. Do you agree with Penny’s desire to prevent Emma Bovary from killing herself?
Do you agree with Anne-Marie’s rule about not interfering? Have you ever held
back from interfering with a friend or family member’s problems? Has
interfering ever gotten you in trouble?
3. Why did Anne-Marie agree to commit Penny? Do you agree with her reasons?
4. In the chapter on Franny Glass, what’s the philosophical difference between
Franny’s view of the world and Anne-Marie’s? Do you think that Penny is against
her mother’s brand of feminism? Do you think Penny benefited from it?
5. Why is it so important for Penny to be appreciated by Franny?
6. What are the differing approaches in the hospital and how do they hurt or help the
girls? Dr. Keller seems more interested in filling beds than with curing the girls.
Do you think that mental health care is driven by insurance policies?
7. Why did Penny open up to Kristina? What does Penny learn from Scarlett
O’Hara? How does being in the hospital change Penny?
8. How did Edith Entwhistle’s brand of mothering affect Anne-Marie’s?
9. Why does Anne-Marie betray Catherine? Is Catherine an appealing guest? How
does her character compare to Anne-Marie’s?
10. Penny questions reality at the end of the novel, wondering whether she’s a
fictional character. Have you felt that Penny and Anne-Marie are more “real”
than the Heroines who visit? Are there fictional characters that you consider real
people?
11. What effect does learning who her real father is have on Penny? Do you think she
would have been better off knowing his identity at a younger age?
12. Nixon’s demise coincides with the story’s conclusion. What effect did his
resignation have on Penny?
13. At the end of the book, Penny says that Deirdre’s suicide is a feminist act—“a
kamikaze move.” Do you agree with this? How does it differ from Madame
Bovary’s drinking of hemlock?
14. What heroine of literature would you like to see visit the Prairie Homestead?
What characteristics do the Heroines have in common?
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