Teaching and Critical Pedagogy

Monster Lesson Plans

RACE ISSUES:
Violence, race, truth, and justice in America: America's legal system and the perpetuation of inequality, injustice, and prejudice.

Grades: 10 -12.

Overview of Lesson Plan: Besides working with the book, students will be working on a WEBQUEST. Students will especially be focusing in on the main charcters in the book, and then connecting to real world issues regarding yougn adults and the American justice system. This is an interdisciplanary teaching unit involving language arts and social studies, and assumes that social studies teachers will be dealing with the inner-workings of the legal system while students work with the book in their language arts classroom. The unit is designed to meet Michigan language arts benchmarks.

Suggested Time Allowance: 3-5 weeks.

Resources/Materials:

Monster by Walter Dean Myers.

WEBQUEST on Myers' Monster.

Access to computers and the Internet.

Activities/Procedures:

STEP ONE:

1. As a pre-reading exercise, have students visit the website Black-Poetry.com. This website has a blogging site. One of the entries is a poem, entitled "Solitary Song," by nicholldenice. It can be found by clicking "Community." Students could visit the site and read the poem or they can simply read the poem on a printed out copy/handout.

2. As a class, discuss the poem. In particular, pay attention to the poet's use of the word "You." You could have students write abut the poem and consider things like: "Who is the person in the poem?" "How old do you think the person is?" "How does the person feel about his/her situation?" "Who is the 'You' in the poem?", etc. Spend as much time as necessary with the poem to make the point.

3. Once finished, with this poem, you could have the students read portions of testimonials from young adults actually in prison. The "voices" in the testimonials could be compared with the voice in the poem. Students could do this in groups, or individually.
Regardless, students should keep of their thoughts, feelings, comments, etc., in a writing journal.

STEP TWO:

1. Break students should into groups of four/five and give them their assignment, "Novel Investigation Team." There are specific tasks related to the book that the group must accomplish as they read Monster. Explain the assignment, and allow students to begin reding, analyzing, etc. This could take at least a week.

2. The novel is fairly short and should take students no more than a week to read the book and finish their investigation of the novel. Students should be provided time in class to read and discuss. Teachers, of course, should be prepared to do some guided reading with students. Teachers could create teacher-led guiding reading activities, such helping students form predictions; asking students summary questions; comprehension questions; stopping, questioning, and defining difficult words; and extracting and constructing meaning from the text. Teachers could visit each group during class or during the latter part of the hour. "Literature Circles" could also be used for the novel.

3. When in groups, encourage peers to help each other out in literacy practices. For instance, students could "read aloud" to their group mates. The goal is to get the students involved with the book and each other.

STEP THREE:

1. Once students/class has worked through the book, begin the group presentations. This should take a day.

2. To wrap up and reflect on the novel, students can "Write a Letter to the Author." This would make a nice conclusion. It would also serve as a way to transition to the WEBQUEST on Monster.

STEP FOUR:

1. Have students do the WEBQUEST on Monster.


Assessment/Evaluation:

Minor evaluations: Students coould be assessed on participation throughout the unit, particularly during group discussions related to the poetry, testimonials, and group presentations on the novel. "Inference Notes" worksheets" and "Legal Critics Notes" worksheets could be collected and assessed, as could writing journals. Also, students can be assessed on their "Letter to the Author." This writing assignment is good practice for the letter writing students will do in the WEBQUEST.

Major assessment and evaluation: This is explained in the WEBQUEST. Essentially, students will be expected to produce a persuasive piece of writing based on their experience during the unit. Students will develop a postion on an issue, support with two pieces of data from research, connect a core democratic value, make a connection to a social studies concept from civics, and identify and refute an opposing viewpoint on a public policy issue related to the book and the hearing.

The writing will follow the Michigan guidelines for writing in Social Studies. The final copy of the paper will be in letter format. Students will be allowed one week to write paper. They will submit the paper along with a stamped envelope. The letter will then be mailed to a chosen congressional member of the Michigan state legislation.

Additional Resources/Works Consulted:

MICLIMB Website: <http://www.remc7.k12.mi.us/oaisd/miclimb/>
http://www.black-poetry.com/blog/index.php?cat=10
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/myers.html
http://www.harperchildrens.com/schoolhouse/TeachersGuides/myers.htm#readingskills
http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/cgrunloh/MONSTER%20unit%20plan.htm
http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/media/media.html
http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/issues/
http://usgovinfo.about.com/blcrimeleg.htm
http://www.edjj.org/Publications/Promoting10_03.htm
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/street_law/textbook_activities/cases_resources/chapter16.php http://www.nccd-crc.org/race.htm
http://www.cjcj.org/
http://www.cjcj.org/jjic/race_jj.php
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/jjbulletin/9907_2/contents.html
http://racerelations.about.com/cs/raceandjustice/index_2.htm
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/race.htm
http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/statebystate/midmc.html
http://www.dogonvillage.com/
http://www.doc.state.ok.us/DOCS/OCJRC/Ocjrc96/Ocjrc29.htm
http://www.nationaltcc.org/tcc/?pg=7006
http://www.mun.ca/educ/vital/activities/letter_to_author.html
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/english/elg_lit_circles.htm
http://www.englishcompanion.com/Tools/notemaking.html

Objectives/MI Language Arts Benchmarks:

• Strand
  Meaning and Communication
  
  Standard 10
  All students will apply knowledge, ideas, and issues drawn from texts to their lives and the lives of others.
  

Benchmark HS 1
Use themes and central ideas in literature and other texts to generate solutions to problems and formulate perspectives on issues in their own lives.
Benchmark HS 2
Function as literate individuals in varied contexts within their lives in and beyond the classroom. Examples include using text resources while thinking creatively, making decisions, solving problems, and reasoning in complex situations.
Benchmark HS 3
Utilize the persuasive power of text as an instrument of change in their community, their nation, and world. An example is identifying a community issue and designing an authentic project using oral, written, and visual texts to promote social action.

Standard 11
All students will define and investigate important issues and problems using a variety of resources, including technology, to explore and create texts.

Benchmark HS 1
Generate questions about important issues that affect them or society, or topics about which they are curious; narrow the questions to a clear focus; and create a thesis or hypothesis.
Benchmark HS 2
Determine, evaluate, and use resources that are most appropriate and readily available for investigating a particular question or topic. Examples include knowledgeable people, field trips, prefaces, appendices, icons/headings, hypertext, menus and addresses, Internet and electronic mail, CD-ROM/laser disks, microfiche, and library and inter library catalog databases.
Benchmark HS 3
Synthesize and evaluate information to draw conclusions and implications based on their investigation of an issue or problem.
Benchmark HS 4
Research and select the medium and format to be used to present conclusions based on the investigation of an issue or problem. Examples include satire, parody, multimedia presentations, plays, and mock trials.

Standard 2
All Students will demonstrate the ability to write clear and grammatically correct sentences, paragraphs, and compositions.

Benchmark HS 1
Write fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as stories, poetry, personal narratives, editorials, research reports, persuasive essays, resumes, and memos.

• Strand
  Literature
  
  Standard 5
  All students will read and analyze a wide variety of classic and contemporary literature and other texts to seek information, ideas, enjoyment, and understanding of their individuality, our common heritage and common humanity, and the rich diversity in our society.

Benchmark HS 1
Select, read, listen to, view, and respond thoughtfully to both classic and contemporary texts recognized for quality and literary merit.

• Strand
  Skills and Processes
  
  Standard 7
  All students will demonstrate, analyze, and reflect upon the skills and processes used to communicate through listening, speaking, viewing, reading, and writing.

Benchmark HS 1
Use a combination of strategies when encountering unfamiliar texts while constructing meaning. Examples include generating questions; scanning for specific information related to research questions; analyzing tone and voice; and representing content through summarizing, clustering, and mapping.

• Strand
  Depth of Understanding
  
  Standard 9
  All students will demonstrate understanding of the complexity of enduring issues and recurring problems by making connections and generating themes within and across texts.

Benchmark HS 1
Analyze and reflect on universal themes and substantive issues from oral, visual, and written texts. Examples include human interaction with the environment, conflict and change, relationships with others, and self-discovery.
Benchmark HS 2
Synthesize from multiple texts representing varied perspectives, and apply the principles and generalizations needed to investigate and confront complex issues and problems.
Benchmark HS 3
Develop and extend a thesis by analyzing differing perspectives and resolving inconsistencies in logic in order to support a position.

Back to main lesson plans page
To Monster WEBQUEST