Natalie+Culp's+Mindmeister

**Class and Grade Level: English 12 Honors** > Evaluate the author's use of common literary elements (e.g., plot, characterization, point of view, theme, setting).  A) Getting Started : Ask the students to list the characters they have come across in the novel thus far. If they get stuck, it’s okay if they flip back through the novel to find characters they have forgotten.  B) Directing the Learning : Talk about Faulkner’s unique narrative style of having multiple narrators. He has fifteen! Ask the students how they like this technique. Do they find it confusing? Is it hard to remember who is talking? Or do they like seeing the story from different perspectives? Once you generate some discussion questions, tell the students to form groups of 3 or 4 and discuss together how they feel about the multiple narrator techniques. Walk around and monitor the discussions to make sure they’re staying on task. Bring the discussions to a close. Ask the students if they have generated any good insight in their group discussions they’d like to share with the class. Ask the students what they think would be helpful to keep the characters straight. Ask them if they have ever made a mind map to help them organize thoughts. [Modeling/Examples:] Show the students an example of a mind map you have created on Mindmeister.com previous to this lesson. [Guided Practice:] Pull up Mindmeister.com on a projector in front of the class (Or just a picture of what Mindmeister’s lay out looks like if a projector is not available). Create a mock-map. Show the students all the different gadgets the website has for them to play around with. Show them how they can add images, sticky notes, attachments, and links.
 * LESSON PLAN**
 * Title/Subject of Lesson: ** The Characters in //As I Lay Dying//
 * Objective(s) ** : Students will be able to identify the main characters in //As I Lay Dying// as well as their character traits and important roles in the novel thus far.
 * State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s): **
 * Objective 3 .a
 * Concept(s) to Be Taught: **
 * Using a mind map to keep track of characters in a story.
 * Materials Needed: **
 * // As I Lay Dying //
 * Computer Lab
 * Mindmeister.com
 * Strategies to Be Used: **
 * Group discussion
 * Class discussion
 * Technologies that will help students create organizational mind maps.
 * //PERFORMING//**
 * Continuation from Previous Lesson:** Students have begun reading //As I Lay Dying.// They have been introduced to all of the characters; however, the text can be confusing and characters are easy to lose track of.
 * Lesson Presentation**:

[Directions:] Once students are on their own computers, tell them to go to Mindmeister.com. Tell the students they are going to create their own mind map of the characters from Faulkner’s novel. Tell them to list next to each character the characteristics and events that will help them remember who is who. Tell the students that Mindmeister.com is really neat because you can move things around after they have typed it, in case they don’t like the placing. They can also create arrows that will connect one thought to another and add sticky notes. Have the students use the sticky notes on characters to add page numbers of the most important events, chapters in which that character is narrating, or just their favorite moments. Walk around and help students figure out the different aspects of Mindmeister if they are lost or confused. C) Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion: Have the students print the mind maps they have created and tell them save these because they will be useful as they continue reading the novel. They can use them as bookmarks or just keep them nearby as they read. When they finish the novel, they’ll go back into the computer lab to update their mind map with more characters and details.

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