Language
Standard:
discovering the power to influence tone, mood, style, voice, and meaning
L.11-12.3; L.11-12.1; L.11-12.2
R.11-12.4; R.11-12.6; R.11-12.9
To be college and career ready in language, students must have firm control over the conventions of standard English. At the same time, they must
come to appreciate that language is as at least as much a matter of craft as of rules and be able to choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express
themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects. (CCSS, 51)
Featured Skill:
Grade Level: 11-12
Students will understand the use of a comma, as well as other
forms of punctuation, to impact meaning within a text. Students
will also explore the concept of satire and allusion.
(Suggested for grade 12)
Theme and/or
Essential Question
Featured Text
Primary Text:
 Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”
Secondary Text:
 Political cartoons
http://www.ways2gogreen.com/images/obesity_times.jpg
http://www.glasbergen.com/wpcontent/gallery/digilife/dig26.gif


Suzanne Britt Jordan’s “That Lean and Hungry Look”
http://users.ipfw.edu/ruflethe/thatleanandhungrylook.htm
Brad Paisley’s “Celebrity” (music video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9mpDAJOPac
Instruction
Process


What is satire?
What are the purposes
of satire?
 How does satire draw
attention to larger scale
issues?
 What role does humor
and irony play in
shaping satire?
 What purposes do
literary allusions serve?
Activity
Instructional Steps
Modeling
and
explaining
the featured
grammar
skill
1. Background: Students should, in grades 6-8, learn about the function
of a comma. Students may not have explored in depth the use of a
comma in terms of purposeful inclusion in order to impact meaning.
Students may not have an understanding of the choices they have in
punctuation and how those choices ultimately create emphasis on a
particular element.
2. In this particular lesson, the teacher will not model the featured skill.
Students will engage in a close reading of Swift’s “A Model Proposal”
in order to determine the usage and impact of the grammatical
conventions (here, the comma). This lesson guides students to
discover the impact of usage in a piece of writing. For students to
become well acquainted with the text, multiple opportunities to read
the selection will be necessary.
Language  Page 1
Process
Activity
Instructional Steps
Reading 1: Student reading
3. We encourage the reading of the entire selection before the close
study in order to provide a context for the particular excerpt in this
lesson. Independently, students will read and annotate the essay.
Practice
in Context
Reading 2: Teacher or fluent reader reading
Reading text
and
identifying
deliberate
use of the
featured
grammar
skill
4. Teachers may want to read the excerpted section aloud. Students
need to hear all the words pronounced correctly; delivery includes
deliberate choices that could begin to rob students of the opportunity
to make meaning based on the word choice, word order, and
punctuation.
5.
Reading 3: Answering questions to engage in the text
6. Students will read “A Modest in Proposal” independently. Students
should focus on Swift’s argument while likewise noting how he uses
commas to shape his presentation.
7. Students should annotate the essay and answer questions. (See
handout) The questions are intended to promote
understanding/comprehension; however, these are not questions that
are all necessarily ‘right there’ types of questions. The questions all
require students to return to the text and potentially locate
additional information to increase understanding.
Analyzing and Evaluating : Rereading to discover
8. The teacher may choose to allow students to re-read the text a second
time with a partner. They may share their findings and discuss their
impressions.
Writing: Use the features skill(s)
Application
in Writing
9. Use the skills in a meaningful way. Evaluate the use of the skill in
other works.
Writing text
and applying
the featured 10. Students will, based on the multiple encounters with the focus skill,
grammar
determine the usage.
skill in a
11. Students will choose one of the writing options available.
deliberate
way
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Process
Activity
Instructional Steps
For extension: (Students could be provided options for
extension activities)

Extensions and Interventions


Additional
Resources

Potential
Confusion

Allow students to select some aspect of society that disturbs them and
craft their own “modest proposal” that lists a possible solution to the
problem. Like Swift’s essay, the piece should include how this
solution offers 6 benefits.
Show students Brad Paisley’s “Celebrity” video (link above). This
video shows how celebrities are not held accountable for their actions
and legal consequences seem often not to apply to them; it also makes
fun of the hype surrounding reality tv. In pairs, students should
discuss the various elements of society satirized and what these
critiques seek to say about our society. After 5 minutes, hold a class
discussion by asking each pair to share their findings.
Students may view the political cartoons (link above). Discuss with
students what elements of society are being satirized. Then students
may create their own political cartoon that spoofs an aspect of society.
For Intervention and support:

Teachers should review the questions for the excerpt carefully. The
questions are intended to help the students attend to the reading for
comprehension. The use of the questions should be determined by
the students in the room. If students are able to read and
comprehend without questions that direct them line by line, then
these supports can be taken away. Always remember that the
purpose of the questions is to promote close reading of the selection;
the removal of the direct questions should not remove the opportunity
to read carefully and closely. The questions should only be reduced or
removed once students are equipped with the annotating and close
reading skills necessary to question the text naturally. (See the
attached handout).
 To support students, students should be encouraged to work
collaboratively. The first reading should be done by students
independently—we want students to have the opportunity to try to
find some elements first. Reading aloud is an opportunity for a
second reading and to hear all the words pronounced correctly. As
students become more intimate with the selection, working
collaboratively allows them to build on the ideas of others and
negotiate the meaning of particular elements.
The use of the comma is a matter of choice. Students, particularly those who
are rule driven, will recognize that other punctuation may serve the same
purpose. We need to help students understand that functionally the
punctuation can be replaced by another for correctness; however, function
alone does not always articulate intent and meaning.
Students may confuse a comma with a semicolon or use to join two
independent clauses.
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Process
Activity


Teacher
Notes
Additional
Resources
to Consider


Instructional Steps
Answer keys are not provided. The lessons are intended to create
opportunities for students to rely on the text to gain independence in reading
complex texts. In this instructional model, the only wrong answers are those
that are not well supported or engage in fallacious reasoning.
It is best for teachers to engage in conversations and make instructional
decisions with a PLT about this lesson, its content, and student outcomes.
You may have noticed that providing background information is not part of
the beginning of the lesson. Within the Language Lessons, students will
need to rely upon the words and punctuation to create meaning without the
assistance of the teacher or other background building activities prior to the
learning experience. As students progress through the activities, they will
need information and build the background that we typically provide up
front. When students enter the world of college and career, they will need to
be equipped with the necessary skills to determine context, question a text,
determine the information they will need to know to increase understanding,
and know where to locate that information.
“Notes on Punctuation” (2nd paragraph) by Lewis Thomas
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/punctuation.html
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Text: “A Modest Proposal”
Step One: Read the excerpt to yourself and annotate the text.
Read the excerpt to yourself. Make note of words, phrases, and punctuation (particularly comma usage)
that intrigue you in some way.
Look for irregularities, similarities, and unknowns.
Irregularity: I find it peculiar the way the author used this word.
Similarity: I am seeing a pattern here: in words, phrasing, or ideas. (Diction and Syntax)
Unknowns: I don’t know what that means. Or I don’t know what that means in this context.
Step Two: In this step your teacher or a classmate will read aloud.
Listen carefully to the words being read. If you read a word incorrectly, you may want to make note of
that change. Translate each line of the excerpt. As you learn more, you will want to adjust your
translation.
Step Three: In this step, you will be asked to read the “A Modest Propsal” (page 431)
carefully. These questions are designed to promote understanding of the excerpt.
1. What problem does Swift present in the first
two paragraphs of the essay?
2. What is Swift’s “modest proposal”?
3. What effect does isolating the paragraph that
begins “I have been assured” (pg 432) have on
the reader?
4. The speaker employs a series of commas in the
paragraph that begins “I do therefore humbly
offer” (pg 32). Why does he do this? How would
the effect be different if he used short,
declarative sentences instead?
5. List the six benefits of the speaker’s proposal,
noting the rhetorical devices utilize to sway the
reader. Which two reasons are the most
convincing? Why?
6. The speaker claims he has “no other motive
than the public good of my country” (437). How
does satire help to improve a country’s
dynamics?
Step Four: This step will ask you to perform a close reading of “That Lean and Hungry
Look” and explore how diction and syntax helps Jordan deliver the message of her satire.
1. In pairs, have students analyze the text.
2. What purpose does the author have for starting the essay with the allusion to Caesar? What point
does Jordan hope to make in doing so (you may need to do a little research here to be sure!).
3. What effect does Jordan’s use of commas to string together the different types of “thin” people in
the first paragraph have on the essay?
4. What do you notice about Jordan’s syntax? How does her syntax help her reach her purpose?
5. Note the other series of commas Jordan uses in her essay. Why is this strategy effective?
6. Jordan’s last paragraph employs alliteration. How does this help to reiterate her points and leave a
lasting impression on the reader?
7. Jordan uses humor to satirize a group of people. Is she effective in doing so? How might this essay
be perceived differently if it were not humorous?
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Step Five: Writing
Option 1: Pick an aspect of society that you believe needs changing (addiction to reality tv, political
corruption, etc) and, using both humor and a series of commas joining dependent clauses, write an 2-3
paragraph essay that seeks to offer both a solution and the solution’s benefits.
Option 2: In a well written paragraph that includes a series of commas joining dependent clauses, answer
one of the essential questions. In your answer of the essential question, you need to cite evidence from
multiple sources to substantiate your claim.
Option 3: Create your own satirical political cartoon that, in its caption, has a series of commas joining
dependent clauses.
Language  Page 6