Liana Alcantara Professor Willis CI 403 LPA #5, Week 5 Title: The Importance of Form in Midnights Children Time:

This lesson was designed to take a full 50 minute class period.

Theory Into Practice Background: The gallery discussion activity is another KWL technique that we discussed in CI 401/2. It allows students the same benefits of group work, but facilitates the discussion in a more personalized way. It also allows for an element of Fisher and Freys Feed Up, Feed Back, Feed Forward, as was discussed in our theoretical rationale. The time given in class to work on the specific journal entry is necessary because of how many different questions we are discussing in this lesson. According to Burke in the third edition of his book The English Teachers Companion, the use of study questions and reader response prompts can help readers of any level become better readers. (pages 102-3) I wanted to allow students to have time in class to think through these questions so that if they needed assistance, they could ask their peers or myself for direction and clarification.

Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will: Understand the effect that form has on meaning in Midnights Children. Understand the idea of a reliable narrator and be able to determine Saleems reliability.

Have a foundational knowledge on the effects of personalizing history.

Materials: For this lesson, you will need: Copies of Midnights Children for every student Chart paper and markers Student notebooks and writing utensils Post-It notes

Preparation: Students will have read the next chapter in Book 2 before this lesson, Alpha and Omega. To make sure the lesson runs smoothly, have the chart paper, Post-Its, and markers in an easy to access place.

Procedure: 1) As students enter the class, have the following written on the board: (2-3 minutes) a. If you worked in a bookstore, what section would you place Midnights Children in? Why? Write your answer in your notebooks and be ready to discuss in 2-3 minutes. 2) Discuss the free write as a whole class. Discuss the difficulties of categorizing the novel. (5 minutes) 3) As a class, come up with different categories that Saleems story could fall under. Some examples: history, religious text, memoir, fiction, present to his son. Divide the class into groups and have each group write an argument for each of these possibilities on the chart

paper. Have students provide textual evidence for each of these. (10-15 minutes) 4) Once all the groups are finished, give each student a stack of Post-It notes. Explain the gallery exercise to the class and allow time for each student to read what others wrote and comment through Post-Its. (10 minutes) a. Now that you have all put up your chart paper, walk around the classroom and read what your peers have written. You have enough Post-Its to comment once on each groups work. Write a critique of their argument or something else to support it on your Post-It, then stick it to the chart paper. 5) Summarize thoughts of the class in a large group discussion to see what people think in terms of labeling Saleems story. (5 minutes) 6) At this point, introduce the following question (5 minutes) a. Is Saleem a reliable narrator? Can we believe what he is saying? What is the danger in doing so? Does it matter for certain genres more than others if Saleem is reliable? b. Instruct students to discuss with a partner their thoughts on this question before moving to their journals. 7) Give students time to work on their journals for this week in class, centering around the following theme: Why does Rushdie tell this story this way? What effect does this have on the novel? What elements of this could you bring to your final projects? (remainder of class)

Discussion Ideas:

This lesson has a large focus on full class discussion because the topics discussed are central to having a full understanding of the novel. They are also very important for students to understand because of the nature of their final project, which asks them to do a very similar thing with their own personal histories and their national histories. The important questions are detailed in the procedure.

Bilingual/ESL and Englishes Accommodations: Because this lesson is largely focused on large group discussion, I could provide a guided notes sheet for any ESL students if they would find it helpful. I could also give the students ESL teacher the questions and journal prompts ahead of time to give them more time to talk through the ideas in the lesson before the large group discussions.

Special Education Accommodations: For the student with ADHD, this could be a difficult lesson because most of it is done in large group discussion. If the student needed breaks or changes in scenery, this could arranged. The gallery discussion could help break the routine of just sitting in their desk as well.

Assessment: The gallery assignment is a good check on individual understanding in a group work situation. Also, the journal, which would be collected on Monday of the following week, would be another way to assess individual understanding of the concepts. The rest of the assessment in this lesson is informal and done through the large group discussion. Extension Ideas:

If students wanted to take this lesson further, they could write another explication in their journals in addition to the one they are already writing. This would allow them time to delve further into the ideas present in this section of Midnights Children, as well as give them more space to think out their own historical significance in preparation for the final project.

Source of Activity: I took the idea of the gallery discussion activity from Hilarie Welshs CI 401/2 classes, I am not sure where she got it before that. The rest of the lesson was created by myself.

Resources and References: Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion: a Complete Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the Profession. 3rd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.

Illinois State English Language Arts Goals: This lesson meets the following ISBE standards: 1.A.5b Analyze the meaning of abstract concepts and the effects of particular word and phrase choices. o In finding support for their definition of Saleems story in the gallery discussion activity, students will need to analyze the text to find support of their claims. 1.B.5b Analyze the defining characteristics and structures of a variety of complex literary genres and describe how genre affects the meaning and function of the texts. o The introductory free write and gallery assignment forces students to think about the effect that genre has on fiction, and what that means about the importance of

Saleems reliability as a narrator.