English Language and Literature Commons^™

Lesson Plan For Teaching Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad", Amelia Tomei , '19, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A lesson plan for teaching this novel to college and university students. Learning Goals. Students will: understand how the narrator guides reader's interpretation of the story; understand how to read dialogue and how it contributes to characterization; explore the complexity of the themes present in the story and the characters Whitehead has created; understand how to annotate key references to things outside of the text and apply these back to the main text. Necessary Preparation: The teacher should have familiarized him or herself with Whitehead's The Underground Railroad before the first lesson. It is also important that the …

Lesson Plan For Teaching Mohsin Hamid's "Exit West", Keyan Shayegan , '22, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A lesson plan for teaching this novel to college and university students. After completing the lesson plan, students should have an enhanced understanding of the following learning goals: the similarities between different types of internal and external migration, and the effects migration has on individuals and their senses of identity; why nativism is so prevalent, the negative impact it has on humanity, and how it can be overcome by shared experiences between people; how authorities such as governments and mass media corporations use technology to deter immigration, via both force and influencing the public, in ways that dehumanize immigrants; how …

Lesson Plan For Teaching Mohsin Hamid's "Exit West", Ruby Guerrero , '22, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A lesson plan for teaching this novel to high school grades 11-12, community college, and/or college and university students. This lesson is planned for three weeks and three times a week, but I recommend that teachers revise these plans as needed in order for the lesson to fit their class schedules. Learning Goals: students will be able to identify stereotypes of migrants and refuse to accept these as proper understandings of people; students will be able to reclaim their identities using the novel as a basis for this outcome; students will learn to identify the different types of narration, how …

Lesson Plan For Teaching Ralph Waldo Emerson’S “The Poet”, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A lesson plan, including discussion questions, for teaching Emerson's essay "The Poet" (1844).

"Black Panther:" Some Thoughts On Anti-Colonialism, Feminism, Xhosa, And Black Pixels In The Film (With An Aside On Ava Duvernay’S "A Wrinkle In Time"), Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Burning The Breadboard: A New Approach To "The Optimist’S Daughter", Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

This paper takes several angles of approach towards more deeply understanding central tensions in The Optimist’s Daughter. Goaded by Fay, the novel’s heroine struggles between her need to control and defend a past she feels is under attack and her intimation that her family’s life and values can’t truly be honored by such methods. The narrator also tells us that Laurel seeks to be “pardoned and freed” (OD 179)—but why, and from what? Welty’s text explicitly connects the possibility of pardon with Laurel forgiving her parents. How might we understand this tie between forgiving others and being pardoned oneself? Key …

Lesson Plan For Teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald's "An Alcoholic Case", Samantha Martin , '21, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A lesson plan for teaching this story to high school or college and university students. Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Samantha Martin, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," fall 2018.

Lesson Plan For Teaching Four Stories Featuring Multi/Mixed Identities, Sierra Sweeney , '21, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Sierra Sweeney, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," fall 2018.

Fiction as a genre is well known for its ability to discuss a wide range of topics in a way that is both entertaining and empathetic. But while fictional pieces, especially the short story, are famous for creating narratives that help readers understand experiences unlike their own and characters unlike themselves, I would argue that fiction can also serve as a medium of self- reflection. As someone who identifies as multi-ethnic …

Lesson Plan For Teaching Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", Lauren Hee Won Chung , '20, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A teacher's aid for introducing this deservedly famous story to students, including teaching some basic principles of good reading and interpretation. With a special focus on high school teachers, but applicable to many kinds of classrooms, including community colleges, liberal arts colleges and universities, etc. Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Lauren Hee Won Chung, in consultation with Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," fall 2018.

Optional Online Research Projects On Four Stories In Sandra Cisneros' "Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories", Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

For high school and college and university students and their teachers. These online and print research projects are optional, but they will supplement and deepen students' engagement with Cisneros' stories. They have been classroom tested with Swarthmore College students. Intended to be used in conjunction with Lesson Plan For Teaching Four Stories From Sandra Cisneros' "Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories."

Lesson Plan For Teaching Nicholasa Mohr's "The English Lesson", A. Lecuona, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

A lesson plan for teaching this story to junior high, high school, and/or college and university students including English Language Learning (ELL) students with a variety of learning objectives, backgrounds, and challenge levels. Developed by Adriana Lecuona and Professor Peter Schmidt.

Lesson Plan For Teaching Four Stories From Sandra Cisneros' "Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories", Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991) is assigned frequently in high school and undergraduate courses in English and American literature, Latinx literature, and other classes. This essay presents teaching strategies for Cisneros’ short fiction by focusing on two stories that explore childhood—“Eleven” and “Barbie-Q”—and two that treat difficult passages into adulthood, “Woman Hollering Creek” and “Little Miracles, Kept Promises.”

Intended to be used in conjunction with Optional Online Research Projects On Four Stories In Sandra Cisneros' "Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories."

Lesson Plan For Teaching Steve Martin's "Patter For The Floating Lady", Abhinav Tiku , '18, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Abhinav Tiku, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 9H, "Portraits of the Artist," fall 2014.

Lesson Plan For Teaching Tobias Wolff's "That Room", Kate L. Crowley , '16, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Kate Crowley, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," fall 2014.

Lesson Plan For Teaching Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", Adriana M. Obiols Roca , '16, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Suitable for high school and college and university classes. Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Adriana Obiols Roca, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," spring 2014.

Learning Objectives. Students will: understand the differences between direct and indirect characterization and be able to identify examples of each; understand the uses of irony and foreshadowing in the story as well as more generally in literature; become acquainted with Flannery O’Connor and her writing style, particularly with her use of the grotesque; explore the complexity of the themes present …