Abstract
In this lesson students will read a
passage from Geraldine Brooks’s novel Year
of Wonders in which the devastating effects of
the plague on an English village are described. The
book while
fiction, is based upon a real village in England that
quarantined itself to prevent the spread of the Plague.
When the students are given the selection they will
not know what caused the dire situation for the village.
They will be asked to list the various ways in which
life has been disrupted and to guess at the cause.
This
is the engage lesson. Students will describe the effects
of the Plague on a Medieval English village.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Read the text with understanding.
2. Generate questions to clarify the meaning of the
text.
3. Make connections between the text and information
learned in their history and science classes in addition
to their prior knowledge and experiences.
National English Education Standards
Standard #3
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate,
and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions
with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and other texts,
their identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features.
Arizona
State Standards
READING
Strand 1: Concept 6
PO 2. Generate clarifying questions in order to comprehend text.
PO 4. Connect information and events in text to life experiences and to related
text and sources.
Teacher
Background
A
general knowledge about the Middle Ages, the daily life of
the common person in those days, and the Plague is necessary
to comfortably present the information in this lesson.
Related
and Resource Websites
http://www.medieval-life.net/health_main.htm (A basic overview of medieval life)
http://www.teacheroz.com/Middle_Ages.htm (The Middle Ages,
Chivalry, and Knighthood - A detailed website with extensive
links for every aspect of medieval life)
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