Lesson #2

Lesson Plan #2 (four hours)

Integrated Learning Scenario:

Translations and Waiting for Godot

Reading and Literature Strand: 8.33 Analyze patterns of imagery or symbolism and connect them to themes and/or tone and mood. 9.7 Relate a literary work to the seminal ideas of its time. 11.6 Apply knowledge of the concept that a text can contain more than one theme. 11.7 Analyze and compare texts that express a universal theme, and locate support in the text for the identified theme. 12.6 Analyze, evaluate, and apply knowledge of how authors use techniques and elements in fiction for rhetorical and aesthetic purposes. Composition Strand: 19.30 Write coherent compositions with a clear focus, objective presentation of alternate views, rich detail, well-developed paragraphs, and logical argumentation.

Students have read Translations by Brian Friel and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and have completed the following pre-session notes as a “ticket” for class: For Translations note passages (at least ten) that deal with the relationship between culture (especially language, learning, and history) and identity. For Waiting for Godot note passages (at least ten) that deal with the absurdity of existence. (Culture-and-identity, on the one hand, and the absurdity of existence, on the other hand, are important aspects of Invisible Man. With these plays we'll focus a bit more closely on these two themes. (If we had gotten to the Harlem riots we'd have talked a bit more about absurdity today.) http://apenglishghs2010.blogspot.com/2009/07/summary-of-second-session-post-session.html

Here’s a summary of the lesson prepared for students: During the first part of day's class we discussed Translations, exploring the relationship between one's surrounding culture and one's identity. We were especially keen to think about the ways (and reasons) that individuals either embrace cultural change or resist it. We talked about this in relation to Gloucester too. We also explored the techniques that Brian Friel used in the play to develop ideas about threats to and preservation of cultural identity; we focused especially upon language (and issues of language such as translation and naming) as an aspect of individual identity and cultural identity. * Then we talked about writing passage analysis. * Finally we talked about Waiting for Godot. We focused on how Beckett's choices (his techniques) as a playwright helped create a sense of the absurdity of existence. We talked about how the play makes the reader/audience uneasy and that this unease is both funny and disturbing. The play, after all, is a tragicomedy, we observed. Finally, we discussed how unease, absurdity, alienation relate to issues of identity and the individual's relationship with others in all the work we've discussed so far this summer. Oh, and I also mentioned this passage from Six Degrees of Separation, a play-made-into-a-film, which deals with the imagination as a possible way out of alienation. (Will Smith!?!?) Notice the mention of the end of Godot. http://apenglishghs2010.blogspot.com/2009/08/summary-of-third-session-post-session-3.html

Here is the culminating performance as written for students: Choose a rich, interesting, beguiling passage from Translations. On the blog type up the passage, include the page number. Write a summary of the passage. What happens? Who is involved? Where are they? When? Etc. Then write an analytical commentary. How Brian Friel is using literary techniques (is making particular choices with language) in the passage. How does the passage relate to other passages and to the themes in the play as a whole? Peel back the layers. What do you find? Remember that I encourage you to speculate and take interpretive risks. (X appears to mean Y. X suggests or might mean Y.) 300+ words * Do the same for Waiting for Godot. Choose a passage. Type it out with the page number. Write a summary. Write an analytical commentary. 300+ words. Finally, if you didn't turn in your pre-session work post it. The passage analyses will be assessed using the attached rubric.