Dec. 1st Daily Lesson Plan

9th Grade -

We continued our discussion on censorship, and had Lori Clark-Erickson (the school librarian) work with us on starting a mini-research project on banned books. The focus of the project requires that students choose a book from the ALA (American Library Association) list of the 100 Most Banned/Challenged Books 2000-2009, and find specific information on their given books for a presentation.

The information to be presented -

Background of the author
Summary of the book
Explanation of why it was banned, who/what was the driving force behind the challenge, and when the ban occurred.

10th Grade -

We restarted the unit on The Crucible that the students had started before I arrived on 11/15. We reviewed information about Puritanism, The 1950s, Arthur Miller, McCarthyism, and Communism. If you missed class, search these terms and review some basic background information on each term to get caught up.

Basically, the goal is to elaborate that The Crucible is not just a story about witch-hunts in Colonial America, but is very purposefully written as an allegory for 1950s America. The themes found in the novel are still relatable to contemporary society, and one of the goals of the unit is to look for connections between the novel and present-day America.

5th Period - Comment on this post as homework; initials are fine.