Topic: Class: Date:

Creating and supporting arguments AP English Literature Thursday December

using The Great Gatsby and literary 8th
criticism

Content Objectives: Language Objectives:

Students will be able to create
a specific and arguable thesis
statement.
Students will be able to
support their arguments with
textual evidence.
Students will work in groups to create specific and
arguable thesis statements based upon a passage
from The Great Gatsby.
Students will respond to a critical article on The
Great Gatsby and support their viewpoints with
evidence from both the article and the novel.

Key Vocabulary: Materials (including supplementary and adapted):

Giant post-it notes for graffiti activity
Content Vocabulary: Handouts of Huffington Post article on Gatsby as a
Tragedy flawed character
Hamartia Students will need tablets to begin researching
articles for their essays on the Gale database
Cross-Curricular Vocabulary:
Thesis
Evidence

Higher-Order Questions:
How can I use literary criticism as evidence to support my argument in my thesis
statement?

Lesson Sequence Activities

1) Students will
complete a Building Background
quickwrite: What
is a tragedy? Explicit Links to Previous Experiences: Students will need to think back
What elements to past texts theyve read in order to connect to their prior knowledge
or features does about what a tragedy includes.
a tragedy
typically include? Explicit Links to Past Learning: The graffiti activity will reinforce the
List some features of a strong thesis statement to the students, a skill we have
examples of been building on since the beginning of the school year.
tragedies
(movies, plays,
books, stories,
etc.)

Lesson Sequence Student Activities (Check all that apply for activities throughout
2) I will tell lesson):
students that we
will revisit the Scaffolding: Teacher Modeling Guided (Small Group/Partner)
quickwrite topic Independent (I watch and respond; You do
later in the independently)
period. First,
 students will get Grouping: Whole Class Small Group Partners
into groups with Independent
discussion
leaders who Language Processes: Reading Writing Listening Speaking
came prepared
with passages to Strategies: Hands-on Meaningful Links to Objectives
focus on from
Gatsby. Review and Assessment (Check all that apply):
3) Students will be
given large post- Individual Group Written Oral
it notes. Each
group will work (Include methods of assessment throughout Lesson Sequence)
together to
create a thesis Review Key Vocabulary: How and When?
statement based I will introduce the term tragedy with the quickwrite in the first step
on the passage where students need to activate their prior knowledge to think about
their discussion their associations with the term. I will then fully explain it in step 6.
leader chose. The term hamartia, or tragic flaw, will also be explained in steps 6
Before and 7 as an important AP term related to the genre of tragedy. We will
beginning, we apply this term to Gatsby and discuss what his tragic flaw might be.
will review the
necessary Review Key Content Concepts: How and When?
elements of a I will discuss the concept of a thesis statement when assigning the
thesis statement graffiti activity to the students in step 3. This concept will be a review
(specific and for the students and will build on their previous work with writing thesis
arguable). statements. I will also revisit the concept of evidence at this point and
4) Students will inform them that they will need to use specific parts of the novel to
write up their support their thesis statements.
thesis
statements on
the post-it notes. Review of all content and language objectives: How and When?
In a graffiti
activity, students I will post objectives on the board throughout the lesson for students
will circulate the to review. I will discuss these objectives after the quickwrite and before
room in their introducing the thesis graffiti activity.
groups and
provide
comments on
each thesis
statement.
5) We will debrief
as a class and
explain our Reflection: What worked? What didnt? Why?
comments on
each thesis. I
will review these
thesis
statements as a
group
formative
assessment for
students
understanding of
 a thesis
statement.
6) We will then
return to the
quickwrite topic
of the elements
of a tragedy. I
will introduce
this concept to
the students
with their
examples of
tragedies.
7) We will engage
in a whole class
discussion: Is
Gatsby a
tragedy? What is
his tragic flaw
(hamartia)?
8) Together, we will
read the brief
Huffington Post
article on Gatsby
as a flawed
character.
9) Students will
write a sample
body paragraph
of how they
might support or
argue against
the authors
views on Gatsby.
I will explain
that they are
encouraged to
use evidence
from the novel
as well as the
article in order
to prepare them
for writing a
research essay.
10)Students will
turn these in as
exit slips or
formative
assessments
on their ability to
analyze a piece
of literary
criticism and use
 it to understand
a work of
literature.
11)With time
permitting,
students will use
the tablets to
begin to
research
scholarly articles
on the Gale
database.