“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are
universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” - F.
Scott Fitzgerald
The above quote and the author who wrote it are both
reasons why I want to teach English. I have always loved
literature and writing, both of which serve as a means of
escape for me as well as a way to figure out my own life. I
firmly believe that literature is one of the most important
things in life. There are universal themes woven within
each piece of literature and, as Fitzgerald so eloquently
put it, these are the things that bring human beings
together. My goal in becoming a high school teacher is
not only to reach out and be a mentor/role model for
teenagers, but also to instill in them a love for literature
and writing while showing them just how important both
are in living life. I also thoroughly enjoy a good T.V.
show, a large cup of coffee, being with my family, and any
song by The Smiths.
From Books in Bathrooms to Books in Classrooms
Lacey Schweppe
Spring 2013
"Education is not preparation for life: Education is life itself." - John Dewey
A large green chalkboard hangs on the wall in a small basement room. There are two old wooden student desks with
peeling paint and faded surfaces facing the chalkboard and a sizable teacher desk opposite. A blonde-haired girl of eight can
be seen looking through her grade book trying to decide on the best way to teach her students about english. There are
books such as Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase and Aesop’s Fables strewn about the room. From a young age I could
be found in our basement playing school. My father had bought me a large chalkboard and hung it on the wall for me so I
could effectively teach my “students.” He also scrounged up two student desks and a teacher’s desk for the front of the
room. I was equipped with a grade book and random textbooks we had laying around the house and would vigorously pore
over them for new material to teach. I taught my students about history and english and how they should read books. I
loved the feeling of being in control and the chance to impart my “wisdom” onto others. My students usually consisted of
my dolls and occasionally a martyr of a parent. This is just one example of my wanting to be a teacher at an early age.
I was thrust into leadership roles early on in my life: I was Vice-President of Women’s Choir my freshman year of
high school as well as Class Secretary and Co-Captain of the JV cheerleading squad. I have always felt comfortable in
leadership positions and even in standing up in front of people. This is probably because I have been involved in choir,
musicals, and cheerleading for much of my life so I am used to being in the spotlight. Looking back now, these things have
prepared me for a life of public speaking and leadership. Even now I am comfortable with taking on leadership positions at
work and at church I still teach toddlers and speak in front of the youth group.
As for my choosing to teach English, the love of books has always been within me. In my baby book my mom had
written that whenever I would go into the bathroom when I was younger I would always take a stack of books with me! I
was always engrossed in some kind of book or another and loved going to the library. My favorite time at school was when
the Bookmobile came and when Scholastic passed out those order forms with books in them and you could send away for
certain ones. In high school I would constantly read books during class and annoy my teachers to no end. They would have
to tell me to put away my book and pay attention to what we were learning in class. I couldn’t help myself in thinking about
books when I wasn’t reading them though. Books, books, books! Always on my mind! I really only cared about my English
and Literature classes; however, I learned to keep my passion of reading for free time or after school.
One of my favorite quotes is by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I believe that it perfectly sums up my feelings about literature:
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and
isolated from anyone. You belong.” I want to teach this belief to my students and have them use literature and writing as a
means to seeing the world as it is. I want them to learn the truth. They’re almost adults and I believe that they have a right to
receive some honesty for once. I want to teach them how to look at words as if they’ve never seen them before, with a sense
of wonder and joy. Because that is what words do to me. I try to look at each sentence and paragraph and chapter as if I
were seeing those certain words for the very first time. In my classroom I want them to take risks and not be afraid of failing.
One of the biggest tragedies in life is not taking the chance. One of my goals is for my students to experience pure joy from
pieces of literature and words and from writing themselves. I want them to experience an open and honest atmosphere. My
approach in teaching English is going to be intentional and honest and to open myself up to new possibilities and words and
thoughts. I want my students to help teach me something because I am not the only person in this room with something to
say. Another goal is for my students to help me understand what they’re trying to get out of this class and use that
knowledge to try do that for them. Of course I want to teach them the stuff they may find boring like sentence structures and
sentence diagramming, but mostly I want them to understand how beautiful our language is and the power that words
possess.
Poetry and Short Stories
Senior Literature II
Miss Schweppe
Spring 2013
Rationale:
Students will be able to recognize truths and universal themes within humanity and apply them to the world in which they live in
today, therefore understanding the world through literature and learning that no amount of time will change the things that tie
humanity together. Studying poetry and short stories from different periods of time which all contain common themes will help
students to better understand the world in which they live. By readings these poems and short stories, students will be able to
view the world through different eyes and periods of time.
Summary:
Students will read a few poems and/or short stories from seven different literature time periods. The purpose is for the students
to learn how to make connections between different pieces of literature across different genres and time periods. They will read
each piece and pick out themes within each and write them down. Then they will find themes within each piece and piece those
themes together by how they are the same/differ. The students will then pick two of their favorite pieces that they have read
within the unit and compare/contrast them and how those pieces apply to their own lives. They will do this through a final
paper.
Objectives:
By the end of the unit, students should:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex
account; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text
(e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its
overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century
foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes
or topics.
Literacy Strategies:
Admit/exit slips
Journaling
Group discussion
RAFT
Word Tournament
From the Source
Values Mapping
Length of Unit:
Three weeks
Materials and Resources:
Teacher: Copies of poems, movie
Students: Computer access, paper, writing utensils
Assessment:
Formative Assessments:
 Admit/exit slips
 Group discussion
 Keep a journal during reading to write down any themes found within the literature and how those themes
apply to student’s lives/other pieces of literature
 From the Source: Pick out quotes and have students identify author and work from which the quote was taken
 Values Mapping: Helps students think about themes and values within works
 Word Tournament: Get students thinking about common themes
 RAFT: Choosing an author and having that author write a letter to future generations regarding the theme
within that author’s piece of literature
Summative Assessment:
 Final project: Write a paper connecting two different poems/stories to students’ lives
APRIL 2013
Monday
1 -Medieval and
Middle Ages
- Read poems
- HW: Journal
Tuesday
2 - M and M (cont.)
- Admit/Exit Slips
- Group discussion
about poems and
time period
Wednesday
3 - Renaissance and
Romantic
- Read poems
- HW: Journal
Thursday
Friday
4 - R and R (cont.)
5 - Victorian
- Admit/Exit Slips
- HW: Journal
- Group discussion about
poems and time period
8 - Victorian (cont.)
9 - Modern
10 - Modern (cont.)
- Admit/Exit Slips
- Read Edna St.
- Admit/Exit Slips
- Group discussion
Vincent Millay
- Group discussion
about poems and time - HW: Fitzgerald and about short story and
period
journal
time period
11 - Post-Modern
- Read May Swenson
- HW: Gaiman and
journal
12 - Post-Modern (cont.)
- Admit/Exit Slips
- Group discussion about
short story and time
period
15 - RAFT assignment 16 - Discuss common 17 - From the Source
in class with peer
themes within works, strategy
reviews
use Word
Tournament strategy
18 - Values Mapping
strategy
19 - Final Papers due
- Watch Bernice Bobs
Her Hair
22
23
25
26
29
30
24
Lesson Plan Template - Day 1
Lacey Schweppe
Heading
Rationale
Objectives
Materials
Instructional
Framework
Lesson Plan
Format
Senior Literature II
Lacey Schweppe
Medieval and Middle Ages
One class period (50 Min.)
Students will get an idea about each time period by reading two poems
from each. They will be immersed into the time period and learn how
these poems fit within the period as well as the present day.
- Students will connect poems to each other
- Students will connect poems to their own lives
Print outs of poems: “The Wanderer,” “Deor,” “Against Women
Inconstant,” and “The Complaint of Chaucer to His Empty Purse”
Initiating
Teacher Centered: Presenting unit and concept of unit
Student Centered: Reading poems and discussing
Whole class/Pairs
Teacher – Poems to hand out
Grouping
Materials &
Resources
Literacy Strategies Group discussion and exit slip
Phase One
Phase Two
Phase Three
Formative
Assessment
Summative *
Assessment
Homework
Assignment
Introduce unit to students and explain the purpose of it
Pass out poems
Have students read poems
Have group discussion and do exit slips
Exit slip
Tell them the end we are headed for, the final paper and the
understanding of universal human truth and themes. This lesson and
time period is just the beginning of the larger picture.
Journal about poems and draw common themes to each other and to
students’ lives
Lesson Plan Template - Day 10
Lacey Schweppe
Heading
Rationale
Objectives
Materials
Instructional
Framework
Lesson Plan
Format
Senior Literature II
Lacey Schweppe
Post-Modern
One Class Period (50 Min.)
Students will continue to study the Post-Modern literature while being
able to discuss the poem and short story in class with their peers. The
Word Tournament strategy will also help them to objectively think
about common themes within the literature they have read.
-Students will practice talking about a piece of literature with peers
-Students will learn the Word Tournament strategy
Print outs of poem and short story: “The Key to Everything” and “A
Study in Emerald”
Constructing
Teacher Centered: Starting the conversation about the poem and short
story and presenting the strategy
Student Centered: Carrying on conversation about the poem and short
story and doing the strategy
Grouping
Whole class/Pairs
Materials &
Teacher – Papers for Word Tournament strategy
Resources
Student – Print outs that I have already given them
Literacy Strategies Admit/Exit slips
Group discussion
Word Tournament
Phase One
Give students Admit slips and begin discussion about the literature we
have been reading, discuss, present Word Tournament strategy
Phase Two
Do Word Tournament
Phase Three
Finish Word Tournament and wrap up, Exit slip
Formative
Admit/Exit slips
Assessment
Word Tournament
Summative *
Talk about final paper that is due and help them begin thinking of
Assessment
ideas
Homework
Think about what two works they want to write about for their final
Assignment
paper
Lesson Plan Template - Day 14
Lacey Schweppe
Heading
Rationale
Objectives
Materials
Instructional
Framework
Lesson Plan
Format
Senior Literature II
Lacey Schweppe
Values Mapping
One Class Period (50 Min.)
Students will have the unit reviewed for them one last time so they can
revise any part of their final paper that they want. They will use the
Values Mapping to recognize the common values within the works they
have read.
-Students will think about common themes in work
Paper, an example for the students
Constructing and Utilizing
Teacher Centered: Present the strategy
Student Centered: They will do the strategy in pairs
Grouping
Whole Class/Pairs
Materials &
Teacher - Examples of strategy
Resources
Students - Paper
Literacy Strategies Values Mapping
Phase One
Phase Two
Introduce and give examples of Value Mapping strategy
Students will be working on strategy
Phase Three
Formative
Assessment
Summative *
Assessment
Homework
Assignment
Students present their strategies
Values Mapping strategy
Reiterate final paper
Put finishing touches on final paper
STITCHING THE PIECES
TOGETHER
April 2013
Senior Literature II
Miss Schweppe
Ever wonder what ties humanity together? How can a poet from the Middle Ages and an
author from the 1930s be writing about the same exact thing? Well, get ready to tell me!
After readings poems and short stories from different periods of time, you will be writing a
final paper comparing/contrasting two of the works you have read.
The point of this paper will be to
find the common themes within the
works and put those themes into a
final piece of cumulative work.
Choose two pieces that spoke to
you and assess how those pieces
relate to each other and to your
own life. The final paper should be
comparing/contrasting the pieces to
each other and your own life. This
paper will help you to bring
together
the
themes
within
humanity that tie everyone together.
Featuring poems and short stories from
Geoffrey Chaucer, Charlotte Smith,
Matthew Arnold, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Neil
Gaiman, and more!