Level: 9th-10th grade. Smartboard, The Raven handout, The Raven quiz, The Simpsons video clip. Smartboard, The Raven handout.

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1 THE RAVEN UNIT (4 Days) Levinson ELA Level: 9th-10th grade Media: THE RAVEN Day 1 Time: Smartboard, The Raven handout, The Raven quiz, The Simpsons video clip. The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror (1990), The Raven. 1) To read, understand, analyze and perform The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. 2) To recognize and interpret the literary devices of mood, meter, rhyme scheme, alliteration, assonance, repetition, allusion and symbolism. 3) To increase students vocabulary. Smartboard, The Raven handout. 45 Minutes 1) To read, understand and analyze The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. 2) To recognize and interpret the literary devices of mood, meter, rhyme scheme, alliteration, assonance and repetition. 3) To increase students vocabulary. Due (prior assignment): Students have defined the vocabulary words on the Raven handout. Do Now: Quickwrite (5 min): On the Smartboard: [DO NOW: Write down 1. One thing you like to read when you re in a bad mood. 2. The room in your house you spend the most time in. 3. A person who might come knock on your door. 4. A girl s name. 5. Something you hear going on outside your house. 6. Something important you have in the room you named for question 2.] Check vocabulary homework while students write. Share Out (5 min): Students share their responses. Record them on the whiteboard. Pick one response from each question to keep for a Day 3 activity.

2 Review: Vocabulary (5 min): Distribute The Raven handout. Review vocabulary homework with the class. While reviewing, students copy the definitions onto the last sheet of the Raven handout. Then, turn to the last page (on literary devices) and have volunteers read. Class Reading: The Raven (25 min): On the Smartboard: [ The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe Circle words you re unsure about. Underline passages you think are important. Write notes or questions in the margin.] Students (and the teacher) take turns reading stanzas 1-7. Just read straight through this time. After reading through stanzas 1-7, return to the beginning. Ask about circled words, underlined passages, notes or questions. Read through again, pausing after each stanza and after certain lines, to check comprehension and discuss literary devices such as: setting mood (stanzas 1-2), meter (tetrameter -4 beats-, mostly), rhyme scheme (complex but consistent), alliteration (everywhere), assonance (many places). Check for questions. Students (and the teacher) take turns reading stanzas Just read straight through this time. After reading through stanzas 8-12, return to stanza 8. Read through again, pausing after each stanza and after certain lines to check comprehension and discuss literary devices such as: alliteration (everywhere), assonance (many places), repetition (4th and 5th line of every stanza). Homework: Finish reading The Raven. Day 1 Smartboard Text: DO NOW: Write down 1. One thing you like to read when you re in a bad mood. 2. The room in your house you spend the most time in. 3. A person who might come knock on your door. 4. A girl s name. 5. Something you hear going on outside your house. 6. Something important you have in the room you named for question 2. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe Circle words you re unsure about. Underline passages you think are important.

3 Write notes or questions in the margin. 1. Stanzas 1-7: Read Through 2. Stanzas 1-7: Analyze 3. Stanzas 8-12: Read Through 4. Stanzas 8-12: Analyze Homework: Finish reading The Raven. THE RAVEN Day 2 Time: Smartboard, The Raven quiz. 45 Minutes 1) To read, understand and analyze The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. 2) To recognize and interpret the literary devices of alliteration, assonance, repetition and allusion. Do Now: Open-Book Quiz (15 min): Students take copies of the Raven Quiz as they come in. They may use the text and their notes to complete it. Review: The Raven Quiz (5 min): The class goes over the answers for questions 1-7 ONLY together. (Go over questions 8-10 during Class Reading.) Class Reading: The Raven (20 min): On the Smartboard: [Circle words you re unsure about. Underline passages you think are important. Write notes or questions in the margin.] Volunteers read stanzas Just read straight through this time. After reading through stanzas 13-18, return to stanza 13. Ask about circled words, underlined passages, notes or questions. Go over questions 8-10 from the quiz. Then read through again, pausing after each stanza, and after certain lines, to check comprehension and discuss literary devices (allusion, alliteration, repetition, etc.). When the second reading is complete, ask for thoughts/opinions/reactions. Reflection: The Raven 1 (5 min): To begin in class and finish for homework. On the Smartboard: [Pick one of the following two options and write a one page response:

4 1. Discuss the character of the narrator. Is his behavior believable? Would you have acted the same way or differently? Homework: The Raven Reflection. 2. Imagine you are the narrator. Write a journal entry from his point of view.] Day 2 Smartboard Text: DO NOW: Open-Book Quiz (10 min) Circle words you re unsure about. Underline passages you think are important. Write notes or questions in the margin. 1. Stanzas 13-18: Read Through 2. Stanzas 13-18: Analyze The Raven Reflection Pick one of the following two options and write a one page response: 1. Discuss the character of the narrator. Is his behavior believable? Would you have acted the same way or differently? 2. Imagine you are the narrator. Write a journal entry from his point of view. Homework: The Raven Reflection Paper. THE RAVEN Day 3 Time: Smartboard, Prepared The Raven revised edition. 45 Minutes 1) To read, understand, analyze and perform The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.

5 Preparation: Replace the numbers on the Raven revised edition (see Smartboard text) with the coordinating student responses from Day 1. Due: The Raven Reflection Paper 1. Performance: The Raven (30 min): Students act out the poem while the teacher reads it. There are three roles: 1) narrator, 2) raven, 3) exterior sound effects (tapping, echoing). The three actors need to listen carefully to the reader to know what to do. Props: one chair, one book, one drawing of a framed portrait of Lenore on the whiteboard. 1 volunteer for the raven (stanzas 7-18). 1 volunteer for sound effects (stanzas 1-8). 5 volunteers for the narrator (stanzas 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 (teacher reads alone), 12-14, Notes: Stanzas 1-8 have exterior sound effects; the rest do not. Stanza 3: shake a piece of paper for the rustling curtains. Stanza 5: use the actual classroom door. Stanzas don t have much action; read through quickly without actors. Class Discussion: The Performance (5 min): How did the class feel about performing The Raven and did this exercise help bring life to the text? The Raven : Revised Edition (10 min): Does anybody feel that this poem is outdated? To me, it s a classic. However, it was written in 1845, and that was a long time ago. Something educators are always thinking about these days is how to make these old stories relevant to today s youth. That s why I asked you those questions the other day: to help update The Raven a little bit. Scroll to The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe, revised edition (stanzas 1-7) on the Smartboard and have volunteers read, hopefully to the class s amusement. Day 3 Smartboard text: Performance: The Raven Students act out the poem while the teacher reads it. There are three roles: 1) the narrator, 2) the raven, 3) exterior sound effects (tapping, echoing). The three actors need to listen carefully to the reader to know what to do. Props: one chair, one book, one drawing of a framed portrait of Lenore on the whiteboard. 1 volunteer for the raven (stanzas 7-18). 1 volunteer for sound effects (stanzas 1-8).

6 5 volunteers for the narrator (stanzas 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 (teacher reads alone), 12-14, The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe, revised edition. 1. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious [1] While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my [2] door. Tis [3], I muttered, tapping at my [2] door Only this and nothing more. 2. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow sorrow for the lost [4] For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name [4] Nameless here for evermore. 3. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating Tis [3] entreating entrance at my [2] door Just [3] entreating entrance at my [2] door; This it is and nothing more. 4. Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, Sir, said I, or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my [2] door, That I scarce was sure I heard you here I opened wide the door; Darkness there and nothing more. 5. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, [4]? This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, [4] Merely this and nothing more. 6. Back into the [2] turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. Surely, said I, surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; Tis [5] and nothing more

7 7. Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my [2] door Perched upon [6] near my [2] door Perched, and sat, and nothing more. THE RAVEN Day 4 Media: Time: Smartboard, Prepared The Raven revised edition, The Simpsons clip. The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror (1990), The Raven. 45 Minutes 1) To read, understand and analyze The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. 2) To recognize and interpret symbolism. Screening: The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror (1990), The Raven (10 min): Students watch a video clip of the classic Simpsons vignette based on Poe s poem. Thoughts? Class Discussion: Symbolism (5 min): The big question: What does the raven represent? What does it mean? (A symbol, an embodiment of the narrator s greatest fear/anxiety/sad realization: that he will never love, nor be happy, again. The narrator begins the poem trying to escape this knowledge, but it forces its way into his consciousness in the form of the raven, and will remain, haunting him, forever.) Reflection: The Raven 2 (30 min): To begin in class and finish for homework. On the Smartboard: [Pick one of the following three options and write a two page response: 1. Discuss some of the literary devices or techniques Poe uses in the poem. What are they, where are there examples, and what effect did they have for you? 2. Imagine you are a literary critic, and write a review of the poem. Did you like it? Would you recommend it for high school students? Why or why not? 3. Imagine the poem keeps going. What happens next? You could write The Raven, Part 2 in either poetry or prose.] Homework: The Raven Reflection Paper #2.

8 Smartboard Text Day 4: Symbolism: What does the raven represent? Pick one of the following three options and write a two page response: 1. Discuss some of the literary devices or techniques Poe uses in the poem. What are they, where are there examples, and what effect did they have for you? 2. Imagine you are a literary critic, and write a review of the poem. Did you like it? Would you recommend it for high school students? Why or why not? 3. Imagine the poem keeps going. What happens next? You could write The Raven, Part 2 in either poetry or prose. Homework: The Raven Reflection Paper #2. Unit Grading: Quiz (completion) 05 Reflection Paper #1 Development (follows directions, shows analysis or creativity) 05 Organization (logical, comprehensible) 03 Conventions (formatting, spelling, punctuation, grammar) 02 TOTAL 10 Reflection Paper #2 Development (follows directions, shows analysis or creativity) 13 Organization (logical, comprehensible) 07 Conventions (formatting, spelling, punctuation, grammar) 05 TOTAL 25 GRAND TOTAL 40