Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 70388
You've Just Won "The Lottery"!
In this lesson, students will analyze Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery." Students will first view the thrilling movie trailer to hook them into the
lesson. Students will then read the short story, work to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary words from the text, and answer guided
reading questions. In the summative assessment, students will become newspaper reporters and write an article to describe the events of the
lottery, as if they were present on the day the lottery took place. This lesson will take students to a different time period - when winning the lottery
felt more like losing! Included with the lesson are guiding questions and an answer key, as well as a writing checklist and rubric.
Subject(s): English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 9, 10
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera,
Computer for Presenter, Internet Connection, LCD
Projector, Speakers/Headphones, Adobe Acrobat
Reader, Microsoft Office
Instructional Time: 3 Hour(s)
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson, foreshadowing, symbolism, symbol, newspaper reporter, newswriting
Instructional Design Framework(s): Direct Instruction, Writing to Learn
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
ATTACHMENTS
Lottery Checklist and Rubric.pdf
Lottery Writing Prompt.pdf
The Lottery Guided Reading Questions.pdf
The Lottery Guided Reading Key.pdf
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students should be able to:
Cite appropriate and specific evidence from the short story "The Lottery" to support analysis of the text.
Use a variety of language strategies to correctly determine the meaning of selected words from "The Lottery."
Write an informative text in the format of a newspaper article incorporating the use of a strong lead sentence, thoroughly addressing the 5 W's and 1 H, and using
appropriate and specific support from the short story "The Lottery" throughout the article.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students should have prior knowledge of:
Symbolism
Foreshadowing
Characterization (Teachers might find this link from ReadWriteThink.org helpful to review with students)
page 1 of 5 Situational irony
Making inferences when analyzing a piece of text
Using a variety of strategies to determine the meaning of unknown words in a text
Responding in writing to a prompt about a text, organizing their ideas in a clear manner with an appropriate beginning, middle, and end, while using appropriate
and specific evidence from the text to answer the prompt, making sure to proofread their work for grade level language conventions
Teachers might find these sites helpful to review with students for some of the literary devices above: literary-devices.com and literarydevices.net.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
What does the term "foreshadowing" mean and how does Shirley Jackson use foreshadowing in "The Lottery"?
What does the term "symbol" mean and how is the black box in "The Lottery" used as a symbol?
What does the term characterization mean? How are different characters in "The Lottery' characterized?
What does the term situational irony mean? In what ways does Shirley Jackson use situational irony in "The Lottery"?
How is a newspaper article typically structured? What are the main questions reporters try to answer in a news article?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
Anticipatory Set
1. Students will answer the hook questions as an introduction to the lesson. Allow time for think-pair-share (see Further Recommendations section if unfamiliar with
this strategy) and let students share their answers with a partner. The teacher will conduct a class discussion with the students and discuss their answers to the
questions.
Hook Questions:
What is the lottery?
How would you feel if you won the lottery?
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Do you know someone who has won the lottery? If so, did winning it change their life? If so, how? If not, why not?
2. Students will view a movie trailer for "The Lottery." The teacher will hang a piece of chart paper in the room. Based on the title and the movie trailer students will
predict what the story will be about, write their predictions on a post-it, and place the post-it on the chart paper. After everyone has made their prediction, the teacher
will read the predictions to the class.
3. The teacher will instruct students that they will be reading "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Distribute copies of the text. A link is provided to the story from
Middlebury.edu. If using this link, just print the story and not the questions that are attached; original questions have been created for this lesson and will be provided
below (and as an attached file).
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
1. The teacher will post target vocabulary on the board and do an echo read of the vocabulary words to model correct pronunciation.
2. Students will independently read "The Lottery" and highlight the posted target vocabulary words as well as any additional unfamiliar vocabulary as they read.
3. After the first read, students will develop vocabulary reference cards.
Target Vocabulary: profusely, assembled, boisterous, reluctantly, paraphernalia, ritual, swearing-in, recital, perfunctory, lapse, disengaged, hastily.
Vocabulary reference cards - Write each word on an index card. Students will practice using different strategies to determine the meaning of the target vocabulary
(context clues, word parts, dictionaries). Students will write the preliminary definition on the index card.
Students will then share what they think the word means and describe the strategy they used to determine the meaning of the word.
The teacher will provide verbal immediate feedback on students' use of the strategies as well as the correct definition of each word and students will correct the
definitions on their index cards.
The students can punch a hole in one corner of the index card and place the cards on a ring to keep them together.
4. Students will read in a cooperative learning group and answer the guided reading questions. The teacher should stress to students to continually return to the short
story to draw specific and appropriate evidence from the text when responding to the questions.
5. The teacher will circulate the room to engage in discussion with the students about the text and assist with understanding. When students have completed their
work, the teacher can lead a class discussion to have students share out their responses and provide verbal corrective feedback as needed. A suggested key has been
provided (teachers should use this key as a guide only, as not all possible responses have been included).
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
Before students move into the summative assessment, the teacher will conduct a lesson on the Inverted Pyramid Format.
1. Read the "Who will Challenge Goliath?" using the read-aloud method in a whole group setting.
If choosing to have students read the article independently, the article's Lexile level can be adjusted to meet the needs of each student.
The teacher will need to create a free profile on newsela.com to access the article. (Teachers may substitute this article for another article from this site or use a
different site to acquire a different article if they wish.)
2. Project the inverted pyramid on the board and have selected students come to the board to fill in the information based on the article they just read.
3. Discuss the information on the board and review why the information was presented where it was mentioned in the article based on the inverted pyramid. Make
sure students understand that the article they will be writing should utilize this inverted pyramid as well.
4. Go over how the article uses third person point of view and stress that their article should be written in the third person as well.
5. The teacher can also go over use of titles, subheadings, photos and captions in this article if they want students to incorporate these aspects into their own
newspaper articles as well.
Summative Assessment:
As the summative assessment for the lesson students will write a newspaper article. The prompt in the form of a handout for students is provided here.
page 2 of 5 The prompt: You are a news reporter and you are visiting the town in "The Lottery" to report on this awesome lottery that takes place every year. In your hometown,
winning the lottery rarely happens, but when it does the winners remain anonymous and take their money and run. You are excited to hear that every year someone
in this town wins the lottery, but you have no idea what you are in for! This is your first lottery experience and you arrive early to get a great view from the front. As a
news reporter, write an article on the lottery and what you witnessed in a small town of 300 people. Cite evidence from the text and use the checklist and rubric as
guide to make sure you produce a scholarly piece of writing.
This activity may be completed outside of class or as an in-class assignment. The teacher will decide based on student needs and time available.
The teacher should pass out and go over the checklist and rubric with students before they begin writing.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
The teacher and students will recreate the first part of the lottery. Students will take a folded piece of paper from a box. One piece of paper will have a black dot at
the center of the fold. Instruct students to keep their paper folded until prompted to open it. After everyone has retrieved their paper the teacher will have all students
open their paper at the same time. The student with the dot is the lottery winner!
Students will revisit two of the hook questions. Students will answer the questions based on the lottery described by Shirley Jackson. (Questions can be answered in
writing and then discussed as a class or the questions could be used as an exit ticket.)
Hook Questions:
How would you feel if you won the lottery?
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Other possible questions:
How did you feel when you opened your paper and realized you had not won the lottery?
What emotions did you feel for the person who did win the lottery?
If you lived in this town, would you be in agreement with Old Man Warner about keeping the lottery? Why or why not?
Summative Assessment
The teacher will distribute the writing prompt, rubric, and checklist to each student. The teacher will review the checklist and rubric with students. Students will use
the checklist and rubric to develop a well-written newspaper article. The teacher can assign this as an out of class or in-class assignment based on the needs of the
students and instructional time available.
Writing Prompt:
You are a news reporter and you are visiting the town in "The Lottery" to report on this awesome lottery that takes place every year. In your hometown, winning the
lottery rarely happens, but when it does, the winners remain anonymous and take their money and run. You are excited to hear that every year someone in this town
wins the lottery, but you have no idea what you are in for! This is your first lottery experience and you arrive early to get a great view from the front. As a news
reporter, write an article on the lottery and what you witnessed in a small town of 300 people. Cite evidence from the text and use the checklist as a guide to make
sure you produce a scholarly piece of writing.
Formative Assessment
Students will develop vocabulary reference cards for the following words: profusely, assembled, boisterous, reluctantly, paraphernalia, ritual, swearing-in, recital,
perfunctory, lapse, disengaged, and hastily.
Through the vocabulary activity, as students share their determined meaning of each word and the strategy they used to define the word, the teacher will be able to
determine if students can correctly use a variety of appropriate strategies to determine the meaning of unknown words in a text. If needed, based on this formative
assessment, the teacher can provide modeling through think-alouds on any vocabulary words the majority of students struggled to correctly define.
The teacher will also be able to gather information about students' comprehension of the story "The Lottery" through their responses to the guided reading questions.
Based on students' responses, the teacher will be able to determine if students are ready to move to the summative assessment for the lesson or if re-teaching needs
to be provided on any of the concepts (like foreshadowing or symbolism) or components of the story before moving on with the lesson.
Feedback to Students
Vocabulary Reference Cards: The teacher will provide feedback on students' preliminary definitions, as well as feedback on the strategy or strategies they used to
determine the meaning of each word. Students will be able to make corrections to their cards based on this feedback.
Guided Reading Questions: The teacher will provide verbal corrective feedback as students report out their answers, allowing them to correct any mistakes, or the
teacher could collect students' work and provide written feedback before the summative assessment.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
Vocabulary guided practice - Before students begin to work independently the teacher can model strategies to define unfamiliar vocabulary (context clues, word
parts, dictionary usage).
Students that are not fluent readers will benefit from listening to a recorded reading. Students can follow along with the recorded reading as they read a print copy
of the story.
The story could be broken up into chunks or sections. Students could read one chunk, answer guided reading questions for that chunk, receive feedback from the
teacher, and then move on to the next section.
Struggling writers could be provided a writing frame to help them organize and write the newspaper article.
Students could complete the summative assessment newspaper article, the teacher will provide written feedback, and the student could then be allowed to revise
and resubmit for a grade.
The teacher could modify the requirements on the checklist as needed.
Extensions:
After students answer the guided reading questions, if they need an additional challenge in analyzing the story, the teacher could pull some questions for students
page 3 of 5 to answer from this link to the "The Lottery."
Students can type their article and format to resemble a newspaper article. The article will be complete with a heading and include pictures with captions. Students
can submit the article in a digital drop box or through e-mail.
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, Computer for Presenter, Internet Connection, LCD Projector, Speakers/Headphones, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft
Office
Special Materials Needed:
Highlighters
Index Cards
Metal rings that can open and close
Post-it notes
Chart paper and markers
Black box or any box with a top
Further Recommendations: If unfamiliar with the think-pair-share activity please see this resource at ReadWriteThink.org, a website developed by the
International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, with support from the Verizon Foundation.
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
"The Lottery" is over 3,400 words in length. The first 983 words have a Lexile of 1330.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Crystal Love
Name of Author/Source: Crystal Love
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Leon
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.910.L.3.4:
LAFS.910.RL.1.1:
LAFS.910.RL.2.4:
LAFS.910.RL.4.10:
LAFS.910.W.1.2:
Description
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 9–10 reading
and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word’s position or function in a
sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
b. Identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech (e.g.,
analyze, analysis, analytical; advocate, advocacy).
c. Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and
digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, or its
etymology.
d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in
context or in a dictionary).
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language
evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9–10
text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of
the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and
accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
a. Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and
distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to
aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations,
or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.
c. Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the
relationships among complex ideas and concepts.
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic.
e. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the
discipline in which they are writing.
page 4 of 5 f. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented
(e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
LAFS.910.W.3.9:
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a. Apply grades 9–10 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source
material in a specific work [e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later
author draws on a play by Shakespeare]”).
b. Apply grades 9–10 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., “Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific
claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false
statements and fallacious reasoning”).
page 5 of 5