Chapter 6 Review: The Man Behind the Curtain
Objective
Big Idea
Overview
The highlight of this lesson is an in-class essay in which students will compare and contrast the Great Gatsby (the character) to the Wizard of Oz. This lesson is in lieu of a quiz on chapters 4 through 6.
The key is both Gatsby and the Wizard have established a false persona to influence people. Gatsby has used his ill-gotten wealth to win over Daisy, and the Wizard uses fear to rule his people.
Students will use examples from the text and plot events from the Wizard of Oz to support their answers. My experience has been that most students have seen the movie. If they have not, I explain the plot, but the clip that I show is enough for them to see the similarities and contrasting motivations.
Daily Language Practice
In this short section of the lesson, we do some grammatical review. I call it the Daily Language Practice. I put two sentences with grammatical mistakes on the projector or overhead. The class writes the sentences on paper. I then solicit the class to volunteer which errors they see. This is a great activity to begin class. It allows for a smooth segue to English class, and it offers a great review of grammar for the SATs.
This activity is CCSS aligned as it demonstrates command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Gatsby Vocabulary Review: Flashcards Part II
Students will present their vocabulary flashcards.
Each student was assigned a vocabulary word from an assigned list (Gatsby Vocabulary Part II). Students will look up their word in the dictionary and create a flashcard. Teacher explains the difference between connotation (meaning associated with the word) and denotation (the exact meaning of the word.) Students will create a flashcard with the following information:
- One side: Visual representing the meaning of the word
- Second side:
Latin and Greek Roots
part of speech
Connotation: "What does word sound like?"
Denotation: exact meaning of word
Write the word in a sentence demonstrating proper usage.
Flashcards will be reviewed each day in a whole-class activities. Students will be asked to recall information on flashcard.
1920s Presentations
Students present their 1920s Projects to the class. The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the nuances of the 1920s and understand how a time period (The Jazz Age/Modernism) can influence a writer's purpose. Specifically, students define how their topic from 1920s culture and politics defined the decade.
Students explain how the information gathered in their research supports the notion that their topic was influential in defining the decade and how it supports the characteristics of Modernism. Periodically, while reading the novel, students will be asked to point out how an event is unique to the 1920s.
Essay: Compare and Contrast the Great Gatsby to the Wizard of Oz
Students will watch a short clip from the Wizard of Oz: the part where Dorothy captures the witch's broom and is bringing it to the Wizard to secure a trip home. Upon meeting the Wizard, who appears before Dorothy as a hugh, intimidating face complete with pyrotechnics, she soon discovers that he is simply a "man behind a curtain."
The key is both Gatsby and the Wizard have established a false persona to influence people. Gatsby has used his ill-gotten wealth to win over Daisy, and the Wizard uses fear to rule his people.
Students will use examples from the text and plot events from the Wizard of Oz to support their answers. My experience has been that most students have seen the movie. If they have not, I explain the plot, but the clip that I show is enough for them to see the similarities and contrasting motivations.
While students work, I circulate to answer questions and make sure everyone is on task. As preparation for the writing prompt on the SAT, I give students 25 minutes to write their response after we have explained and reviewed the assignment.
The attached PowerPoint should be shown on the projector to explain the assignment.
The CCSS standards denoted in this lesson are used as students will be accessing text information in the novel and the movie to support their claims of how Gatsby is similar or different from the Wizard of Oz.
