Literature Lesson Plans

To find the lessons you need to know, click the link to your year:

 

A History of Colonial America

v    During the renaissance, several European countries sent sailors to explore North & South America, then known as the New World. Countries like Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England were looking for new lands to create colonies and gain wealth.

v    Europeans introduced horses, cows, and pigs to the New World, and brought back corn, potatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, and turkeys. Europeans also carried over terrible diseases like smallpox and measles (osýpky) that killed millions of Native Americans. 

v    Spain was first to discover America, with Christopher Columbus sailing in 1492, landing in Hispaniola, and later Puerto Rico. Columbus is a controversial figure because, although he was considered a brave hero and explorer, he also killed and enslaved many of the Native Americans that he found. Hernando De Soto landed in Florida, and explored much of the Southeast and west of America. Soon there were settlements (osady) and missions all over the Southern US.

v    The Dutch formed New Netherland between 1600-1650, a colony in what is now New York. Their expeditions were led by Henry Hudson. In 1664, the English took it by force, and changed the name.

v    French settlers (osadníci) and traders (obchodníci) explored and formed colonies all along the Mississippi River, from New Orleans in Louisiana (named after the French king Louis) up to the Great Lakes and Quebec, in what is now Canada.

v    It was mostly the English who formed colonies all along the Eastern coast, forming 13 colonies which would become the first states of the US.

v    The first English settlement was on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. After two years, all the settlers disappeared, and the only clue as to where they went was the word “Croatoa” carved into a fence post.

v    The first two successful English colonies were the Jamestown Colony in Virginia (1607), and the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts (1620). The English who lived in these colonies were Puritan pilgrims (pútnici).

v    Puritans were members of the Church of England who wanted to “purify” it by taking out aspects of the church that they felt were still too Catholic. Puritans believed they should exemplify God’s will in everything they did, down to the smallest detail. They also believed in witches and demons, and killed several women for witchcraft.

v    Many English settlers to America were prisoners, mostly convicted for owing debts. They came to the US as indentured servants (obligačné služobníctvo), working like slaves for a certain number of years before gaining freedom.

v    Colonists often fought with Native Americans over land. In 1622, the Powhatans tried to kick the English out of Virgnia, killing hundreds. The English responded by killing the whole tribe.

v    The Wampanoags and Narragansett tribes in Massachusetts (who had originally helped the pilgrims) attacked the English in 1675, led by their leader Metacom, who called himself King Philip. These tribes were both wiped out.

v    The largest fight was the Yamasee War in South Carolina from 1715-17. The colony almost collapsed, until the Cherokee decided to help the English in defeating the Creek tribe.

v    Colonies also competed with each other to make alliances with Indians. The French became allies with the Wabanaki (of Maine & Nova Scotia), and the English befriended the Iroquois (ranging from Boston to New York).

American Independence

Many factors contributed to the unification of the English colonies, and their wish to revolt against England:

1.     The Seven Year’s War in Europe was also fought in the New World. The colonists called it the French & Indian War. It was long and bloody, lasting from 1754-63. Around 5,000 soldiers died. Many Americans wondered why they had to fight England’s war with the French, when they could be trading and making money with them. And, since every colony had to send soldiers, this helped the colonists get to know and respect one another.

2.     In 1764 the English King George III decided to tax the colonies, first with the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act and then the Townshend Acts. Everything made from paper was taxed, and needed a stamp: newspapers, playing cards, legal documents, everything. Various imports were taxed: tea, glass, paint, etc. And the colonists needed to pay in British currency, not American. This was to pay for the salaries of British soldiers stationed in the US, that many Americans felt were unnecessary. Americans had no representation in British Parliament, and so they protested, “No taxation without representation!” Protests of this kind led to the Boston Massacre of 1770, in which British soldiers shot and killed five protestors.

3.     In 1773 colonists of Boston protested with the Boston Tea Party. Dressed as Indians, these colonists boarded English ships at night, and threw tons of British tea into the harbour. England punished the Massachusetts colony with the Coercive Acts, or as the colonists called them, the Intolerable Acts, taking away their right to self governance, and putting the British army in charge.

4.     The Intolerable Acts frightened and angered all thirteen English colonies, which formed a “continental congress,” a meeting of all colonial leaders. In the first congress (1774), they sent a list of grievances (complaints) to English parliament.

5.     Parliament ignored the petition of this first Congress, and ordered their soldiers to arrest colonial leaders in Massachusetts, and to take any guns found. So, in Feb. 1775, 700 red coats (British soldiers) marched on the towns of Lexington and Concord, starting the American Revolution. They were beaten back, and had to retreat to Boston.

v    After the war had begun, colonial leaders convened a second Continental Congress (1776) where they drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence, which they ratified on July 4^th, America’s independence day.

v    American colonists allied with France, Spain, and the Netherlands, and defeated the English, gaining independence in 1783. This was agreed upon in the Treaty of Paris.

v    The Americans were led under Gen. George Washington, who surprised the world when he gave up command at the close of the war, and went home to his farm. He was later elected the first president of the United States.

v    America suffered around 28,000 casualties (anyone wounded, killed, or taken prisoner). An estimated 6,800 American soldiers were killed in action, 6,100 wounded in action, and upwards of 20,000 were taken prisoner. Historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war.

v    It is estimated that Britain suffered around 24,000 casualties. This total number includes battlefield deaths and injuries, deaths from disease, men taken prisoner, and those who remained missing.

v    Approximately 1,200 Hessian soldiers, fighting for Britain, were killed in action, 6,354 more died of disease, and another 5,500 deserted (ran away) and settled in America afterwards.

Fifth Year Lesson Plan

The following lessons will be taught this year:

1. Introduction to Microsoft Word

2. Common Writing Mistakes: be vs. have, confusing words (exercises to be given in class)

3. Common Writing Mistakes: articles (exercises to be given in class)

4. Common Writing Mistakes: word order (exercises to be given in class)

5. Formal & Informal Letters

6. Different Kinds of Essays

7. How to Choose a Thesis

8. Essay Structure

9. Methods of Argumentation

10. Tips on Style: Punctuation

11. Tips on Style: Shortening Wordy Sentences

12. Common Logical Fallacies

13. Debate Etiquette

14. How to do Research

15. When & How to Quote

16. Footnotes, Endnotes, & Bibliographies

17. Writing a News Article

18. Creative Writing: The basics

19. Creative Writing: How to proofread

20. Creative Writing: A writer's toolbox

Fourth Year Lesson Plan

The following lessons will all be included in the final exam in June:

1. Introduction to Modern Literature

Modern English Authors

2. Virginia Woolf

3. James Joyce

4. Portrait of the Artist, Ulysses, & Finnegan's Wake

5. George Orwell

Modern American Authors

6. F. Scott Fitzgerald

7. The Great Gatsby

8. William Faulkner

9. Ernest Hemingway

10. John Steinbeck

11. Grapes of Wrath

Post Modern English Authors

12. Salman Rushdie

Post Modern American Authors

13. Harper Lee

14. J. D. Salinger

15. The Catcher in the Rye

16. Jack Kerouac

17. Kurt Vonnegut

18. John Updike

Poetry

19. Modern British & Irish Poets

20. T. S. Eliot

21. Modern American Poets

22. Robert Frost

Pop Fiction Genres

23. Science Fiction

24. Fantasy

25. J. R. R. Tolkien

26. Horror

27. Mysteries

28. Children's Literature

Third Year Lesson Plan

The following lessons will all be included in the final exam in June:

Colonial Literature

1. Anne Bradstreet

2. Benjamin Franklin

3. Thomas Paine & Common Sense

Transcendentalism

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson

5. Emerson's essay Nature

6. Henry David Thoreau

America's Dark Romantics

7. Washington Irving

8. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

9. Rip Van Winkle

10. Edgar Allan Poe

11. Nathaniel Hawthorne

12. The Scarlet Letter

13. Herman Melville

14. James Fenimore Cooper

Abolitionism

15. Harriet Beecher Stowe

16. Uncle Tom's Cabin

17. Frederick Douglass

Poetry

18. The Fireside Poets

19. Walt Whitman

20. Emily Dickinson

Realism

21. American Realism, Naturalism, & Regionalism

22. Mark Twain

23. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

24. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

25. Jack London

26. White Fang

First Year Lessons

1. Different Kinds of Stories

 

2. Story Vocabulary - Components

 

3. Introduction to Mythology

 

4. Aesop's Fables

 

5. History of the English Bible

 

6. Old English & the Battle of Hastings

 

7. The Legend of Beowulf

 

8. The Legend of King Arthur

 

9. The Legend of Robin Hood

 

10. Biography of the Brothers Grimm

 

11. Biography of Hans Christian Andersen

 

12. Detective Story Vocabulary

 

13. Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

14. Notes on Sherlock Holmes

 

15. The Sign of Four - Notes

 

16. The Sign of Four - Vocabulary

 

17. Different Kinds of Poetry

 

18. Poetry Vocabulary - Components

Children's Literature

b    Children's literature consists of any fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama that children commonly enjoy, and that parents feel is appropriate. It's often written with children in mind, and has moral lessons that they can understand and appreciate. Many, but not all, are illustrated.

b    Children's literature can be classified by genre or the reader's intended age. Some works, for example the Harry Potter series, are a bit harder to classify, because they're intended for children, yet adults love them too.

b    Although there are many children's stories from antiquity, such as Aesop's Fables, the concept of childhood didn't really begin until the 18th century and the age of reason, where people began to study the differences between children and adults. So, this is when children's literature began to develop as a genre.

b    Also, the 18th century was when printing became cheaper and people could afford more books, so writing and publishing became industries.

b    Having said that, there are some examples of early children's lit, such as the 12th century Play of Daniel, written by Hilarius, an Englishman. It's based on the book of Daniel in the Bible.

b    Another, still popular today is The Pilgrim's Progress, written in 1678 by John Bunyon.

b    A Little Pretty Pocket Book was the first "modern" children's book, written by John Newbery in 1744. It contained a collection of rhymes, picture stories, and games, and had a space for children to record their daily behaviour. Newbery produced many more children's books, and his family continued the business for generations.

b    John Newbery is considered the father of children's lit., and the Newbery Award for children's lit. was named in his honour.

b    Famous 19th century children's authors include Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and E.T.A. Hoffman, who wrote "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" in 1816.

b    The golden age of children's literature started with Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865. It's considered the first masterpiece, written for children.

b    Other famous stories from this golden age include:

The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi

Treasure Island, and Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by Frank Baum

The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

b    The final book considered in this golden age was Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne in 1926.

b    But that hasn't stopped children's lit. Since then, children have read:

The Lord of the Rings, by Tolkein

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, by Roald Dahl

Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss

Les Adventures de Tintin, by Georges Remi

Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, by Jean de Brunhoff

Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet & the Swan, by E. B. White

Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling

b    Besides the Newbery Medal, children's books may also win a Caldecott Medal for outstanding illustration.

 

b    Critics today often complain about some of these works, especially older ones, having to do with racism, sexism, stereotypes, and ideas about imperialism and colonialism. It's up to parents to decide for themselves which stories are appropriate and provide proper moral lessons for their children.