Lesson Plan
Grade/Content
Area
Lesson Title
State standards:
GLEs/GSEs
Context of the
Lesson
Opportunities to
Learn
Rebecca Renna
9th Grade/English
The Great Gatsby: Historical Context and Character Analysis
R-9-16: Students will generate a personal response to
characters based on quotes they are provided with.
R-9-4: Students’ initial understanding of the text will be
enhanced by the history lesson and character analysis
activities.
In this lesson, students are being introduced to the novel The
Great Gatsby. The opening for this lesson is ideal for a
Rhode Island classroom because students will be intrigued
when they recognize the Newport mansion in the movie clip.
Just entering high school, these 20-25 freshmen have not yet
learned about the 1920s, so I will offer a brief overview of the
era. The students will then participate in character analysis
activities. Introductions to the time period and the characters
will benefit the students as they begin to read the novel.
Developmental: By focusing on gossip and scandal
throughout the novel, students can explore moral issues.
Students will have sympathy towards the characters that
experience these distressing situations. Students have
idealistic opinions of justice and how it should prevail, so the
immoral acts in the novel will intrigue them. According to
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, the students have
entered the formal operations stage. Therefore, the students’
abstract thinking abilities will be tested when they are asked
to characterize by means of a few quotes.
Cultural: By attempting to analyze characters solely based
on the quotes that I provide, the students may stereotype the
characters. After reading the novel, the students will be able
to see if they stereotyped certain characters or were correct in
their character judgments. In their initial characterizations, the
students will produce varying responses as a result of critical
thinking, biased by their cultures’ specific opinions of
behavior.
Cognitive: Cognitive apprenticeship will be present in this
lesson because I will assist the students by providing them
with specific quotes to aid in their characterizations. With the
quotes I provide, the students can be meaningful learners by
relating the quotes to characters in other books they have read.
The concept map of the characters’ relationships to each other
will aid in the students’ understanding of the text.
Personal/Social: The gossip and scandal in the book will
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offer insight into psychology by exposing the students to
physical, relational, proactive, and reactive aggression. After
viewing the movie clip and learning about the 1920s, students
will utilize social cognition. They will be able analyze the
characters insightfully because they have previous knowledge
of the era. The students will be interested in the moral
dilemmas within the novel because they are in Kohlberg’s 4th
stage of moral reasoning concerning law and justice.
Motivation: The movie clip will provide the students with
situational interest as I teach them about the 1920s because
they will have a visual representation of the history. Students
will experience anxiety as they are discovering if their initial
characterizations were correct. They will also encounter hot
cognition during this process as they become emotionally
connected to the characters.
Objectives
Instructional
Procedures
Rebecca Renna
Materials Needed:
- Television with DVD player
- “The Great Gatsby” DVD
(The Great Gatsby. Dir. Jack Clayton. Paramount
Pictures, 1974.)
- 1 copy of The Great Gatsby for each student
(Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953.)
- 1 “Character Traits” Worksheet for each student
- 1 “Character Connections” Worksheet for each student
- Jazz Age: People and Perspectives
(Newton-Matza, Mitchell. Jazz Age: People and
Perspectives. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2009)
- 1 1920’s History Packet for each student
To enter into the setting of the text, the student will acquire a
perception of the Roaring Twenties through a brief history
lesson. A history packet on the 1920s will be provided so the
student can follow along as I give a succinct overview of the
era. The student will analyze character traits based on quotes I
provide for each of the main characters. The student will
record these traits into the “Character Traits” graphic
organizer. The student will write at least one trait for each
character by the end of class, but will have at least three for
each by the time the novel is completed.
Opening: To begin the class, I will show a clip from the
movie “The Great Gatsby”. How many of you have ever
visited the mansions in Newport? Students raise their hands
accordingly. You will be familiar, then, with the literal setting
of the movie and be able to imagine the fictional setting of the
book. The Great Gatsby takes places in the 1920s. What do
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you think of when I mentioned that era? Students might
respond with answers of “flappers”, “prohibition”, or “jazz”.
Very good! See how many of those you can find in this clip. I
will show the scene where guests at the mansion are gossiping
about the mysterious Mr. Gatsby. This scene demonstrates
the culture of the 1920s through fashion, music, and dancing
while also illustrating the key notions of gossip and scandal
and introducing several main characters. Now could you tell
anything about the people in the scene in that short of time?
The students will mention various people in the clip and guess
certain aspects of their characters based on their speech and
dress. We’ll see if you’re right. Today we’re going to talk a
little bit about the 1920s, focus on the significance of gossip
and scandal in the novel, and have an introduction to
characterization.
Engagement: Each student will be given a packet that
contains information on the aspects of the 1920s, including F.
Scott Fitzgerald, jazz musicians, and Italian gangs. I will
briefly discuss these topics along with other fashion and
culture facts from the era. Now how would you sum up the
1920s in a sentence or two? The students will give various
responses. You now have your setting. Now let’s meet the
characters we’ll be dealing with. I will then pass out the two
graphic organizers. I would like you to first place your
attention on the “Character Traits” worksheet. Now I’m
going to read you a couple quotes I’ve selected for each of
those characters. I want you to write down at least one word
or phrase for each character that you think describes that him
or her. Starting at the top, with Nick Carraway, I will read
one or two quotes that each character says in the novel. After
Nick, I will proceed to Gatsby, and so on, around the diagram.
I will then call on individual students to read what they wrote
for certain characters. I will then ask questions like What
about this quote gave you that impression of him? Why do you
think she would say that? Would your opinion be different if I
read it in a different tone? I will call on several students until
each character on the diagram has been addressed. As you
read the novel, you are going to see if your characterizations
are correct, and you will add three of four more words and
phrases to complete the diagram. I will then transition into
describing how to compete the other graphic organizer. What
have you noticed about the people who live in Rhode Island?
The students will most likely give a number of humorous
responses, and I will wait for the one that is significant to the
text. Yes! Everyone knows everyone. This is also true in this
Rebecca Renna
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novel. Although the majority of the characters are oblivious
to this fact, you will find that all the characters are connected.
Please take out the “Character Connections” worksheet. As
you read the novel, you are going to fill out this diagram. The
relationships in this novel are sometimes hard to keep track
of, so this will help keep you on track with ‘who loves who’
and ‘who wants to kill who’. I will then pass out the copies of
The Great Gatsby and ask if there are any questions.
Assessment
Rebecca Renna
Closure: To close the class, I will ask questions that
encourage the students to go over what they learned during
the lesson. So, when you begin reading this novel, what kind
of setting are you going to imagine? What will you picture
Gatsby’s parties be like- the music? The dress? The students
will answer with information they learned during the history
portion of the class. What will you look closely at in order to
analyze the characters? The students will respond with
“quotes”, “thoughts”, “actions”, and anything else they
noticed from the quotes I provided them with. I will ask that
they continue working on their graphic organizers as they read
Chapters I-III for the next class.
I will use informal assessment through the use of graphic
organizers. In the “Character Traits” graphic organizer, the
students record adjectives or phrases they would use to
describe certain characters. The “Character Connections”
graphic organizer is to be filled out as the students are reading
the novel. I will utilize formative evaluation by use of these
graphic organizers, observing the students’ progress and
analysis abilities during this lesson and as they begin to read
the novel. Students will receive a criterion-referenced score
because I am observing their individual progress without
comparing their work to the rest of the students in the class.
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