The Life and Times of Kate Chopin

^{An American Literature Lesson Plan for 10th Grade}

By: Kayla Burke

Introduction:

Title of text: “Biography of Kate Chopin”

Author: Dr. Neal Wyatt

URL: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katebio.htm

Publisher: Virginia Commonwealth University

Last Update: 1995

For this Reading-Learning plan American Literature students studying 19^th century authors will read a biography on the life of author Kate Chopin. Dr. Neal Wyatt (graduate of VCU) wrote this biography as part of his WebQuest, “Exploring Chopin’s The Awakening.” His sources included published Kate Chopin biographies by Emily Toth, Per Seyersted, and Mary Papke. 

For this assignment, the students will not need to read the chronology printed at the end of Wyatt's article unless the teacher believes otherwise.

The best time to use this assignment would be while studying Chopin’s novella, The Awakening, or any of her other works. Chopin’s work can be very difficult for 10^th grade students to read because most of them find it tedious or “boring.” By studying the author, the students will develop more background knowledge, therefore forming a deeper relationship with the text.

Students should be encouraged to explore how Chopin’s life may have affected her writing, and how different the students’ lives would be if they lived during the same time period as Chopin. They should be encouraged to ask questions such as, “What would I do in Chopin’s position?”

Learning Objectives:

• Reflect on how Chopin’s culture and society might have affected her writing.
• Reflect on the relationship of Chopin’s literature to historical events (such as the American Civil War).
• Form a deeper understanding and relationship with the author.
• Increase student comprehension level through Scaffolding and other strategies.

Alabama State Standards Met:

1.) Apply both literal and inferential comprehension strategies, including drawing conclusions and making inferences about characters, motives, intentions, and attitudes in short stories, drama, poetry, novels, and essays and other nonfiction texts.

• Identifying major historical developments in language and literature in America from the beginnings to 1900.
  
• Examples: simplicity of early American literature, religious nature and themes in much early American literature, relationships to historical events and to British literature.

3.) Read with literal and inferential comprehension a variety of informational and functional reading materials, including making inferences about effects when passage provides cause; inferring cause when passage provides effect; making inferences, decisions, and predictions from tables, charts, and other text features; and identifying the outcome or product of a set of directions.

• Distinguishing author's opinion from factual statements
• Determining main idea and supporting details in informational and functional reading materials
• Summarizing passages of informational and functional reading materials
• Determining sequence of events

16.) Explain the purpose and benefits of using predicting, summarizing, underlining, outlining, note taking, and reviewing as part of personal study skills.

(These and other Alabama State Standards can be found at http://alex.state.al.us/browseStand.php)

Readability level:

Flesch Reading Ease	56.5
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Grade	10.3

I believe that the readability grade for 10.3 is fairly misleading, and is most likely due to the names of the authors cited in the text, which are long and difficult to read.

The only difficult vocabulary word within the text is “kunstleroman,” which is defined in the text as, “a tale of a young woman who struggles to realize herself—and her artistic ability.”

If the students find any other words in the text that they are not familiar with, they should write them down in their notes or in their vocabulary journals.

This expository, journalistic text is appropriate for a 10^th grade American Literature class because it fulfills the standards listed above, and it is only .3 above the standard reading level for this grade. Also, the reading activity will be done using several easy steps based on the proven step-by-step methods of teaching comprehension.

However, as in most reading assignments, special attention should be given to any struggling readers in the class.   For example, when dividing the groups, the teacher might choose to place the struggling readers with  a few advanced students who might be positive influences.  As long as the students understand the reading assignment, they should find this activity to be easy and fun.

Activities:

Pre-Reading:

1. Students will be divided into groups of no more than 4 people.
2. The teacher instructs the students to write down everything they know about America in the mid to late 19^th century (particularly the years 1850-1900). This list should include information about culture, wars, and perhaps technology during that time. This step will access their prior knowledge on the time period in which Chopin lived and wrote. They should be given no more than 5-10 minutes to complete this step so that they will stay on task.
3. (Optional step) After the allotted time is up, the teacher asks each of the groups to share some of their knowledge, and compiles a class list on the board. This will ensure that all students are aware of the key points and that they have set topics to consider while reading.
4. Then, the teacher gives a brief introduction to Kate Chopin, emphasizing that she was born during this time period. The teacher announces that the reading assignment will be an article on the life of Kate Chopin.
5. The students check anything on their list that they think may be in the reading.
6. The students write a list of questions that they think the article might answer. (These steps set the purposes of reading).
1. Example questions might include: “What events of Chopin’s life might affect the opinions sent in her novel?” “Compare Chopin’s society to our own. What are some of the differences? What are some of the things that are similar?” “How might your life be different if you lived during Chopin’s time?” “How can you relate to Chopin?”
7. Teacher hands out copies of the article to the students.
   

During Reading:

1. Students will read the article individually during class. They will answer their questions as they work and highlight text that they might find interesting.
2. If time allows, students may want to re-read sections that they highlighted to better emphasize their understanding.

Post-Reading:

1. The students will return to their groups review their questions to see if answers were found.
2. The students will then add any new knowledge of the 19^th century to their list. (This will consolidate prior and new knowledge).
3. They will discuss their findings with their groups and pick the answers or findings that surprised or simply interested them most to share with the rest of the class.
4. At the end of class each group will present their findings and turn their work in to their teacher.

Grading Rubric:

The following rubric can be used to grade the students’ work. The guidelines on the rubric have been assigned numerical value points, but it is possible for a student’s work to be between two of the areas of performance. Do not be afraid to award half points. Be as strict or as lenient as you see fit.

I advise that this grading rubric be handed out to students at the same time that the article is handed out.  This way, they will know how they are being graded, and what requirements they will need to fulfill to get the highest grade possible.  I have found that doing this eliminates a lot of confusion for the students since it shows them exactly what their teacher is looking for.

(Note: Much of this rubric is based on class participation. If you have a student who is absent from the class or is unable to participate, you might want to consider making a different rubric or giving an alternate assignment.)

	Unsatisfactory 1	Descent 2	Good 3	Excellent 4	Score
Participation	Gave no input or feedback during group discussion and did not take notes.	Gave no input, but took notes for the group.	Gave good input and feedback to group members. Was willing to take whatever jobs assigned to him/her. Worked well with others.	Led much of the group discussion. Took an obvious interest in the text. Showed initiative and great work ethic.
During reading exercise notes. (Evaluates practice of critical thinking skills and personal study--see standard #16)	Took no notes on the text. Did not highlight or underline. Showed little evidence of reading the text. Did not attempt to use the reading strategies recommended.  Instead relied on other group members.	Underlined a few things, but did not write any notes any notes.  Relied mostly on the notes of other group members instead of coming up with their own ideas.	Underlined and noted several interesting facts. Showed signs of appropriately using reading comprehension strategies. Showed attempt to comprehend.	Underlined several interesting pieces and wrote thoughtful notes. Obviously re-read notes to expound on thinking.
After reading exercise notes (Evaluates fufillment of standards #1 and #3)	Answered none of the questions, and did not identify positive predictions or comment on new knowledge.	Answered only a few of the questions.	Answered all of the questions and adequately compiled newfound knowledge with the list of prior knowledge.	Gave detailed answers to all of the questions and compiled newfound and prior knowledge neatly and adequately.
Group presentation (Evaluates long-term comprehension and application of knowledge.)	Did not participate. Did not speak in presentation or help group to prepare for the presentation.	Only spoke during the presentation, and provided no valuable insight. Tried to steal the show and was  disrespectful to other members.	Actively participated in both the preparation of the presentation and the presentation itself. Gave valuable insight.	Actively participated in both the preparation of the presentation and the presentation itself. Made sure everyone gave valuable insight.
Total:					/16