British Lit has been one of those hair-pulling experiences for my boys. Of course, my daughter loved it. She reads faster than I do, and by fourth grade I couldn't pre-read her anymore! (Pre-read: the act of reading a book so that you could determine whether or not the content was worthy of sticking into her brain!) By the time we got to Brit Lit, she was raring to go and I couldn't assign her enough books to keep her happy.
I do remember one agonizing time of reading Wuthering Heights and I was trying to get my son to love it as much as I did. I was at a loss, as he complained, and rightly so, that there were too many characters with the same name. My daughter and I ended up drawing a map of the two houses, and putting the appropriate characters in the right house.
Number 2 son, just wanted to read. If there were murders and war, he'd happily soak it in.
So, now I'm on sons 3 and 4. One of them loves to read, but doesn't want to write about it. The other one only wants to read sports stories. So, how do I tackle Brit Lit?
Thanks to son number 1, Wuthering Heights is off of the list! It was determined that if it was a female author, they would watch the movie, but they didn't want to read it. We enjoyed Jane Eyre via Netflix last week.
I had asked last Spring if anyone wanted to join in, as I lesson planned for 5 Brit Lit novels. I figured I'd have to do the gory novels, the war-fraught novels, and novels with murder and intrigue. No one bit last Spring, so this summer I picked my 5 books: Henry VIII, Pilgrim's Progress, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and some Dickens' novel. A friend emailed in July and said she might be interested, and that they were going to read Romeo and Juliet. OK, I can switch out Henry VIII with Romeo and Juliet. And I began lesson planning for Pilgrim's Progress and Frankenstein. I really wish there were stand alone Teacher's Manuals, but alas, that wasn't to be, so I started reading and plotting and planning.
Fortunately, there was just enough killing in Romeo and Juliet to capture the imagination of the guys. They read it without complaining. We talked about world views, morals of the story, history of the story and all of the literary components in between. They were ready for the book club meeting. They really did get a lot more out of it than I thought!
For Pilgrim's Progress, they are drawing a map of Christian's journey through the land. I'll post pictures when they are done.
When the youngest was in fourth grade, my friend Amber Healy introduced me to a "lap book". I had heard of them, but had never done one with my kids. It was really a fun way to walk through California History. And it was very elaborate. Every year since then, I have looked for "lap books" for certain topics. I wished there were kits that you could buy everything already cut out. I wished there could be lap book ideas for the topics I was teaching. I wished there could be lap books for high school level. I wished. I wished. And I wished. So, finally, as I've been struggling to find innovative ideas to teach my kinesthetic learner Brit Lit, I decided last year that I'd create my own lap books. The one below is for Frankenstein. And I'm going to publish it on the web, so that if anyone else wants to do a lap book on Frankenstein (am I truly the only one with a kinesthetic high schooler?), they will have access to my ideas. And I'm certain that anyone can improve upon them, because my ideas are very simple.
Here is my instruction sheet:
Instructions for Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein
Hands-on book
Put the title of the book, backed with scrapbook paper, on the top front of the folder, with the folder lying sideways.
Attach the Tree, the Cottage, and the School
House to the front of the folder. On the
tree, attach green leaves, with the names of the Frankenstein Family members. On the Cottage, pink, write the names of the
occupants of the cottage, plus their visitors.
On the School House, red, write the names of Victor’s professors.
Open up the folder and attach the timeline to
the right side bottom. After you’ve read
a few chapters, start jotting down on the timeline when certain events
happened.
In the open folder, attach the gray frame to the
left side top. Trim the frame to fit inside
the folder. Cut out pictures from
magazines, or from images from the internet, and organize Victor’s workshop. OR be totally creative, and draw your own
vision of Victor’s workshop.
Using clear packing tape or duct tape, create a book using the composition
notebook (representing a journal), stationery (representing the letters), and
the notebook paper, with one sentence on each page summarizing
the chapter. After it is completed,
attach the “binding” of the book to the open folder, above the timeline.
On the back of the folder, attach the picture of
Mary Shelley to a piece of scrapbook paper.
Type on a piece of paper that will fit on the scrapbook paper, 3
interesting items about Mary Shelley.
Attach the whole thing to the back of the folder. You may need to use clear packing tape.
Attach the World View questions to the inside of
the folder, right below your rendition of Victor’s workshop. You may attach them to a piece of scrapbook
paper.
World
View
1.
What modern day activities could equate with
Victor’s workshop?
2.
How does advanced
technology help or hurt us today?
3.
How did technology
invade nature in the story? How does
technology invade nature now?
4.
What is Mary Shelley’s
commentary on the poor?
5.
What is Mary Shelley’s
commentary on Natural Law?
6.
What is Mary Shelley’s
view of religious freedom as mentioned in Chapter 14 in regards to Safie?
Type the themes that you found, and attach them
to the back of the folder, right below Mary Shelley’s picture and facts. You may back them with scrapbook paper.
Fold up the 3 pieces of scrapbook paper. Two of them are 5”x4” (fold to make them
2.5”) and one is 12” x 2” (fold to make it 6”).
Attach the 3 pieces of scrapbook paper along the side of the
notebook/journal and in between the time line and the notebook/journal. Attach the name of the characters you wish to
analyze. You have four to choose
from. On the inside of each character
write either one each of the physical, emotional, and psychological
traits. OR, write 3 traits of one of
those subjects. We have 3 students that will be joining us in two months, after they have read Frankenstein. So, each of the five will create their own lap book prior to our meeting. I instructed them to create their folder with whatever theme they wanted. Gothic? Romantic? Or just create the book by meeting the bare elements of the assignment. We'll see what they do and I'll post pictures of each of their creations.
UPDATE: I am posting their creations! This worked out great for everyone!
The boys did a far more simple job. They met the basic requirements. Still it was a lot of fun.
The themes that stuck out to her were: Secrecy, Knowledge and Revenge.
The next red folder was done by a very creative gal:
She had very neat and artistic letterings, notes and paper backings! Her themes included: Seeking knowledge can lead to ruin; and Loneliness can have devastating effects on human lives.
When we all met together to discuss the book Frankenstein, I made some special snacks.
 |
| Our Veggies |
 |
| Our sweets |
 |
| Our salty (Chips and guacamole) |
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| Our Fruit |
The kids humored me by trying everything!
Here is my lesson plan:
Frankenstein Lesson Plan
7:00 - Open in prayer
7:05 - share lap books
7:15 - Read a louds:
Chapter 5 - 2nd paragraph - Victor proud of himself
Chapter 15 - 12th paragraph - half way down to start “...Their happiness was not decreased...” - Monster - to Victor Frankenstein
Chapter 20 - 10th paragraph - The Monster to Victor Frankenstein
Chapter 24 - 14th paragraph - Victor’s resolve toward The MonsterChapter 24 - second to the last paragraph - The Monster to Mr. Wallton
7:30 - The plot - 3 separate plot lines: Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, The Monster. Give a brief synopsis of each plot.
7:45 - Answer the following questions:
Are the characters of Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein similar or dissimilar?
Discuss what is meant by the Romantic patterns found in the novel?
Describe the personality of Victor Frankenstein and the monster he creates
How does the monster learn about the world in which he lives?
Is the ending inevitable? Do the monster and Victor have to be destroyed in order for there to be order restored among men?
The genre - How is Frankenstein both a Romantic novel and a Gothic horror novel?
Discuss the role that nature plays in this novel.
What is the significance of Milton’s Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, and The Sorrows of Werter?
8:00 - go over world view questions
8:15 - Discuss themes - technology, treatment of the poor
8:30 - Character Analysis
Victor Frankenstein - family, education, job - did things to excess
The Monster - Physical appearance, adopted family, personality
Elizabeth Lavenza - family, personality
Justine Moritz - family, why she was a martyr, how she fits in Mary Shelley’s world view
3 comments:
I love it Marie. Having an 8th grader, we're not quite to these literature pieces, but I believe he is more kinesthetic, and reading is like pulling teeth! Maybe this will be a good way to get him more involved!
I second the love! I've tried lapbooks with my kinesthetic learners and ended up alone with my glue stick. However, I love the food idea with literature! We watch the movie and skip the book sometimes, too. I call it "splashing them" as opposed to a full on dunking. You have to try everything with kids and see what sticks.
Jackie, I do movies, too, because it is not possible to read all of the books that I'd like them to read. I do insist that they read, in depth, 5 to 10 classics a year. The challenge is to get them through those 5 to 10 books! This is what I have learned about lap books and boys: if you invite others to bring their finished products to "book club", your boys will let their competitive mode kick in. :-)
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