Michael Jorden
Professor Lammers
RDG 507 - Content Area Literacy
October 22, 2008
Lesson Plan Assignment
Text: Double-Layered Jigsaw Project for Moby Dick
Objective:
Each student will get a taste of Herman Melville’s prose, while still apprehending
the enormity of Moby Dick. Students studying American Literature ought to be familiar
with his work.
AZ Standards Addressed: Secondary English (10th Grade)
Arizona State Standards for Reading
Strand 1: Reading Process
Concept 5: Fluency PO 1
Concept 6: Comprehension Strategies PO 1, PO 2, PO 4, PO 5
Strand 2: Comprehending Literary Text
Concept 1: Elements of Literature PO 1, PO 2, PO 4
Concept 2 Historical and Cultural Aspects of Literature PO 1, PO 2, PO 3
Lesson Content:
Mini-Lesson on Moby Dick:
Activating Prior Knowledge – What do you already know about whaling?
Moby Dick has become a part of American pop-culture, what are student’s perceptions of
the novel prior to reading it? Again, activating prior knowledge.
During Reading Techniques: Double-Entry Journals (some reading will occur in
class, but ideally, students will also read outside of class). Each student will be
responsible for completing a double entry journal on 5 Chapters in Moby Dick. This may
be completed on a loose leaf sheet of paper with two columns. In a class of
approximately 30, this means that each student will be covering different chapters (there
are 135 total in Moby Dick). Students are clustered into groups according to the assigned
Chapters.
For example: Group 1 will be responsible for Chapters 1-25. This is then
subdivided equally amidst the five members of that group, so that each student is
responsible for only 5 Chapters. Groups will spend a considerable amount of time
conferring with each other, through the process of book reviews/discussion. Students
will have to “tell-back” what they have gleaned from their chapters, which requires more
focused readings. Ideally, students will be referring to their double entry journals as they
discuss with peers.
Once the groups have a good understanding of their respective chapters (this may
take a week or more) they will endeavor to create a Power Point presentation. They are
responsible for teaching the class about their portion of Moby Dick. Groups will present
in sequential order (as the book would be naturally read). This gives students the
opportunity to mine for interesting supplementary information on the web, as well as
demonstrate their power-point skills (he who makes the power-point, learns the most!).
Rationale for strategies/teaching methods employed:
Many scholars contest that Moby Dick is America’s great epic, unrivaled in scope
and profundity amidst all of English Literature. As far as canonized literature goes,
Moby Dick is often lumped together with The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Inferno, and
Paradise Lost. This book certainly deserves coverage in English courses, but the length
of this work might be rather daunting. For this reason, it is an excellent candidate for a
double jigsaw activity. I also thought Moby Dick would be the perfect subject for this
type of Lesson Planning exercise, with 135 distinct chapters. Each chapter of Moby Dick
is cogent and contained enough to stand on its own, yet the apprehension of the whole
through a group effort will yield either greater understanding. Moby Dick presents the
perfect opportunity for experimentation with jig-sawing activities, and peer-book
discussions.