After our class brainstormed a list of current adolescent themes, everyone was left to generate his/her own idea for a unit plan according to each person's English passion.
I LOVE reading: (the only problem is finding the time for it!). After studying English almost my entire college career, I decided to base my unit plan around a novel that I had completely blown off in high school and never picked back up in college: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
I started by actually reading the book this time. I wanted to smack myself after having done so, because Fitzgerald has this amazing writing style that you can only appreciate by sitting down and reading his work, which I had previously neglected. He has an amazing knack for pointing out the obvious but unspeakable moral corruption of human nature (that I think proves itself timeless, much like Shakespeare's dramatic characters). The book is full of gossip, drama, facades, and scandal, which, if I remember correctly, most high school students thrive off of. I'm also excited to hear that a new version of the movie is coming out soon... another check for relevance! I'm hoping that it's release infuses talk of Jay Gatsby into young adult's casual conversations.
Back to the book: the only problem I'm running into is the book's use of advanced vocabulary. I'm going to need to find some effective strategies for teaching vocabulary, but also scaffold the book well enough that students can decode word meanings through context clues.
My next step is to find some lesson plans on The Great Gatsby, but reconfigure them so
even the most reluctant reader enjoys this classic American novel as much as I do.
All suggestions are welcome!!
