Teacher:
Jenny DiVincenzo
Room #:
Lesson # in unit:
2
Topic: Literary Devices
Lesson Objective and Assessment of the objective
By the end of the workshop, student will be able to:
1. Write their own definitions for the following literary devices: foreshadowing, suspense, mood, conflict (3 types), protagonist,
antagonist, and dynamic.
I will know they’ve accomplished this objective based on this assessment: Students will post their own definitions for each of the words
above in a forum provided. They also have the choice of drawing a picture for each definition if they prefer that instead.
Supporting Diverse Learners Students have the choice of drawing their own definitions instead of writing them, which would be helpful
for ENL learners as well as students who benefit from visual learning. I provide my own definitions for each literary device for the
students to refer to after they write their own definitions, and give a storyboard that visually explains the different types of conflict, which
makes the concept easier to understand rather than if it were simply in writing.
Method(s) for Instruction
Class/Group Discussion
Cooperative Learning
Small Group
Guided Practice
Lab
Lecture or Direct Instruction
Question/Answer
Learning Stations
Readers/Writers Workshop
Teacher Modeling/Demo.
Journal writing
Role Play
Hands-on
Inquiry Learning
Game
Simulation/Role Playing
Independent Learning
Other
Use of Materials
Teacher’s Manual pg #
Student Text pg #
Picture Books
Handouts:
Manipulative:
Related Equipment:
Other:
Adapted materials
Use of Technology
Cell Phone
PollEverywhere.co
CPS Clickers
Elmo Document Camera
Software
Student Computers
Video Clips/DVD
Website
Web 2.0 tool
Other
Strategies/Activities Selected: Students will look at my definitions provided for each literary device AFTER they create their own
definitions.
Lesson Agenda
Warm up: How will you support students in accessing prior knowledge, personal, real world and/or cultural connections?
Students will access prior knowledge by coming up with their own definitions for the following terms: foreshadowing,
suspense, mood, conflict (3 types), protagonist, antagonist, and dynamic. They may already be familiar with these terms or
have never seen them before—this exercise will show me how knowledgeable they are with these terms.
Transitioning and Stating Objectives:
1. Please come up with a definition for the following literary devices. You can either write the definition or draw a picture of
what you think the word means! If you decide to draw a picture, you can take a picture of it and upload it for your file
submission.
Here are the literary devices you must write (or draw) definitions for:








Foreshadowing
Suspense
Mood
Conflict (3 types: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self).
Protagonist
Antagonist
Dynamic character
Static character
Don't worry if you are unsure about a definition! I am grading you for your effort, not if you have the "right" answer. I have
provided a list of definitions that you will have access to AFTER you complete this assignment.
2. Attached are documents that provide definitions for the following literary devices:








Foreshadowing
Mood
Suspense
Conflict (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self)
Protagonist
Antagonist
Dynamic character
Static character
Students will use the following strategies when reading The Most Dangerous Game:
When you are reading, please pay attention to the types of literary devices above. Highlight or underline them! Circle any
words that you may not understand and look them up on your own. I recommend using Merriam-Webster as an online
dictionary resource.
Transition to Instruction: What support strategies will you use to scaffold students learning so they meet or exceed targeted?
I will provide step-by-step instructions for students on the Moodle page so that they know exactly what they need to be
completing. Students are given instruction to write their own definitions for each literary device, which will allow them to
meet their target goal of understanding and applying them. Students will be asked to activate prior knowledge by coming up
with their own definition before viewing the actual definitions.
Transition Guided Practice: Students will have guided practice for each activity by the instructions I provide for them
on Moodle. See the transitioning and stating objectives for examples of guided practice.
Transition to Independent Practice and Conferencing: I will give students feedback every night by 9pm. I will
provide feedback that asks students to look at something deeper, give suggestions for improvement (e.g. if the student was
completely off on their definitions, I will ask them to rewrite them or ask them to pay attention to only a few of the literary
devices rather than all of them when reading The Most Dangerous Game.
Transition to Wrap up/Closing: How will you engage students in self-assessment and/or reflection on key concepts?
Students will begin to read The Most Dangerous Game at the end of this lesson. They will be able to put the key concepts
they have been learning over the course of day one and day two by putting them into practice when reading this short story by
having to identify the literary devices that they wrote definitions for earlier in the lesson.
Daily Assessment How do you know your
students met your lesson objective(s) and to what
extent?
knowledge
comprehension
application
analysis
synthesis
evaluation
Formative:
Class discussion
CPS clickers
Email teacher
Entrance/Exit slip
Teacher Observe
Listened to conversations
Quiz
Thumbs up, neutral, or down
Homework check
Video quiz
Voting
Whiteboard Check
Other
Summative:
Test
Project
Report
Presentation
Final Exam
Other
Additional Teacher Preparation:
Copy: Locate:
A PDF of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
Create a list of literary devices with definitions that students can access after they write their own definitions in order to check
and see if their definitions were on-track with the actual definitions.
Reflection:
It is difficult to reflect on how this lesson went because I did not have any students complete it. When I look over it now, I
would probably tweak it and make it a bit more interactive—there is hardly any student interaction in this lesson, which I
believe is really important. I would place more emphasis on how students should actively highlight and/or underline literary
devices while reading The Most Dangerous Game as well as provide some more guidance on how to actively read a text.