Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Read this sentence once, silently: 'Colonel Killigrew had wasted his best years and his health and substance in the pursuit of sinful pleasures which had given birth to a brood of pains, such as the gout and divers other torments of soul and body.' In ten words or fewer, write what it says. Then underline the exact spot where your understanding slowed down."

   Take five or six answers and list the slow spots on the board. Students often name "substance," "a brood of pains" or "divers." Point out that the core is short (Colonel Killigrew had wasted his best years, health and money on bad living, and it made him sick) and that every student found it. The point of the warm-up: strong readers are not readers who never get stuck. They notice where they are stuck, and they have moves for it. Tell students that today they will learn four moves, watch them used on a story, use them with a partner on a play, and then use them alone on a poem.

2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

   What makes a text complex. A text can be hard because of its numbers (long words, long sentences, rare words) or because of qualities no formula counts: several levels of meaning, an unusual structure, old or figurative language, or knowledge the author expects the reader to bring. RL.9-10.10 asks students to read texts that are hard in both ways, first with support and then without it. The four moves:

   • Frame. Before the details: what kind of text is this, who is speaking, to whom, and in what situation? In a story, find the narrator; in a drama, read the speaker names and stage directions; in a poem, ask who "I" is and whether anyone else speaks.
   • Untangle. In a long sentence, find the core: who does what. Bracket the add-ons (when, why, where, who is meant) and read the core alone first. In verse, read to the punctuation, not to the end of the line.
   • Crack the word. For an unfamiliar or old word, use the sentence around it first (what the word must mean for the sentence to make sense), then word parts, and only then the glossary or dictionary to confirm.
   • Restate and check. Say the sentence in plain words, then test the restatement against the exact words: does every part of the original fit it? If not, reread and revise.

   Hand out the bookmark with prompts. Read the opening of Hawthorne's story aloud while students follow, then think aloud through the four worked examples below. Diagram 1 shows the untangle move on one more sentence from paragraph 1.

   1That very singular man old Dr. Heidegger once invited four venerable friends to meet him in his study. There were three white-bearded gentlemen—Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew and Mr. Gascoigne—and a withered gentlewoman whose name was the widow Wycherly. They were all melancholy old creatures who had been unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they were not long ago in their graves. Mr. Medbourne, in the vigor of his age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had lost his all by a frantic speculation, and was now little better than a mendicant. Colonel Killigrew had wasted his best years and his health and substance in the pursuit of sinful pleasures which had given birth to a brood of pains, such as the gout and divers other torments of soul and body. Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame—or, at least, had been so till time had buried him from the knowledge of the present generation and made him obscure instead of infamous. As for the widow Wycherly, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in her day, but for a long while past she had lived in deep seclusion on account of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the gentry of the town against her. It is a circumstance worth mentioning that each of these three old gentlemen—Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew and Mr. Gascoigne—were early lovers of the widow Wycherly, and had once been on the point of cutting each other’s throats for her sake. And before proceeding farther I will merely hint that Dr. Heidegger and all his four guests were sometimes thought to be a little beside themselves, as is not infrequently the case with old people when worried either by present troubles or woeful recollections.

   2“My dear old friends,” said Dr. Heidegger, motioning them to be seated, “I am desirous of your assistance in one of those little experiments with which I amuse myself here in my study.”

   • Frame: who is telling this story?

     Paragraph 1 ends: "And before proceeding farther I will merely hint that Dr. Heidegger and all his four guests were sometimes thought to be a little beside themselves." Who is the "I," and what kind of telling does this frame set up?

     Result: A storyteller who speaks straight to the reader and admits he is shaping the tale. He is not a character in the room, and he is not neutral: he "merely" hints that all five people may be a little out of their minds. The frame tells us to read his hints closely and not to take every event at face value.

   • Untangle: find the core of a long sentence

     Paragraph 1 describes Mr. Gascoigne in one long sentence that begins "Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame" and, after a dash, goes on: "or, at least, had been so till time had buried him from the knowledge of the present generation and made him obscure instead of infamous." Find the core and bracket the add-ons.

     Result: Core: "Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician." Add-on 1 renames him: "a man of evil fame." Add-on 2, after the dash, corrects it: he had been infamous until time made people forget him. Plain version: he was a disgraced politician, but so long ago that he is now just unknown, not notorious.

   • Crack the word: context before the dictionary

     Paragraph 1: Mr. Medbourne "had lost his all by a frantic speculation, and was now little better than a mendicant." What is a mendicant?

     Result: The sentence says he lost everything, and "little better than" points to the bottom of the social scale, so a mendicant must be someone with nothing: a beggar. Test it by putting the guess in the sentence ("little better than a beggar"); it fits. Only then confirm it in a dictionary.

   • Restate and check: catch a wrong paraphrase

     Paragraph 1: the three old gentlemen "were early lovers of the widow Wycherly, and had once been on the point of cutting each other's throats for her sake." A student restates this as "The three men once killed each other over the widow." Check the restatement.

     Result: It fails the check. "On the point of" means about to, not actually doing it, and all three men are alive and sitting in the doctor's study. Revised: all three once loved her and nearly killed each other over her. Checking catches the error before it spoils the rest of the story, where their old rivalry matters.

   Teacher tip. Keep the think-aloud honest: say where you slow down and which move you choose, and let students see you revise a first guess. Point out paragraph 2 as well: the doctor's polite, old-fashioned speech ("I am desirous of your assistance") is part of the language challenge, and his "little experiments" will not stay little.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Give pairs this context before they read: Antigone's two brothers have killed each other fighting on opposite sides of a war for the city of Thebes. Their uncle Creon, now king, has ordered that Eteocles, who defended the city, be buried with honor and that Polyneices, who attacked it, be left unburied, and that anyone who buries him will be put to death. Antigone has scattered dust over Polyneices' body. A guard has caught her and brought her to Creon. The speeches below are numbered. Pairs use the bookmark with prompts and work through the four steps; circulate and check in with each pair at least once.

   1CREON. Speak, girl, with head bent low and downcast eyes,
   Does thou plead guilty or deny the deed?

   2ANTIGONE. Guilty. I did it, I deny it not.

   3CREON (to GUARD) Sirrah, begone whither thou wilt, and thank
   Thy luck that thou hast ’scaped a heavy charge.
   (To ANTIGONE)
   Now answer this plain question, yes or no,
   Wast thou acquainted with the interdict?

   4ANTIGONE. I knew, all knew; how should I fail to know?

   5CREON. And yet wert bold enough to break the law?

   6ANTIGONE. Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus,
   And she who sits enthroned with gods below,
   Justice, enacted not these human laws.
   Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man,
   Could’st by a breath annul and override
   The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven.
   They were not born today nor yesterday;
   They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang.
   I was not like, who feared no mortal’s frown,
   To disobey these laws and so provoke
   The wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die,
   E’en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death
   Is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain.
   For death is gain to him whose life, like mine,
   Is full of misery. Thus my lot appears
   Not sad, but blissful; for had I endured
   To leave my mother’s son unburied there,
   I should have grieved with reason, but not now.
   And if in this thou judgest me a fool,
   Methinks the judge of folly’s not acquit.

   7CHORUS. A stubborn daughter of a stubborn sire,
   This ill-starred maiden kicks against the pricks.

   8CREON. Well, let her know the stubbornest of wills
   Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron,
   O’er-heated in the fire to brittleness,
   Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through.
   A snaffle curbs the fieriest steed, and he
   Who in subjection lives must needs be meek.
   But this proud girl, in insolence well-schooled,
   First overstepped the established law, and then—
   A second and worse act of insolence—
   She boasts and glories in her wickedness.
   Now if she thus can flout authority
   Unpunished, I am woman, she the man.
   But though she be my sister’s child or nearer
   Of kin than all who worship at my hearth,
   Nor she nor yet her sister shall escape
   The utmost penalty, for both I hold,
   As arch-conspirators, of equal guilt.
   Bring forth the older; even now I saw her
   Within the palace, frenzied and distraught.
   The workings of the mind discover oft
   Dark deeds in darkness schemed, before the act.
   More hateful still the miscreant who seeks
   When caught, to make a virtue of a crime.

   1. Frame (speeches 1-5). Teacher note: the speaker names and the two stage directions, "(to GUARD)" and "(To ANTIGONE)," show Creon turning from the guard to the prisoner inside one speech. The one-line questions and answers read like a trial: Creon questions, Antigone answers.
   2. Untangle (speech 6, first three lines). Teacher note: "Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus, / And she who sits enthroned with gods below, / Justice, enacted not these human laws." The sentence runs across three lines, and "Justice" renames "she who sits enthroned with gods below." Core: Zeus did not make these laws, and Justice did not make them either. Remind pairs to read to the punctuation, not to the end of each line.
   3. Crack the word (speech 3). Teacher note: Creon asks, "Wast thou acquainted with the interdict?" Antigone answers "I knew" (speech 4), and Creon then asks why she dared "to break the law" (speech 5). So the interdict is the ban itself: Creon's order forbidding the burial.
   4. Restate and check (speech 6, lines 7-8). Teacher note: "They were not born today nor yesterday; / They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang." A pair who restates "Creon's laws are very old" fails the check: "They" points back to "The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven." Revised: the gods' unwritten laws are eternal, and no one knows where they came from.

   Close with a quick poll: which move did each pair need most in this scene? Many pairs pick untangle, because the verse lines break sentences in unexpected places. Tell students that on the poem they will work alone, with a bookmark that shows only the names of the moves.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Each student reads Shelley's sonnet alone with the move-names bookmark, and without any teacher prompts. They annotate in two colors: one for every place they get stuck, one for the move they used there. At the end they write a two-sentence note on a sticky note: the line that was hardest and what they did about it. Collect the notes; they tell you what to reteach. The poem is short enough to reread three times, and students should: once for the frame, once line by line, once for the whole. Questions 11-14 and 19 of the quiz use this poem.

   1I met a traveller from an antique land
   Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
   Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
   Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
   5And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
   Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
   Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
   The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
   And on the pedestal these words appear:
   10‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
   Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
   Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
   Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
   The lone and level sands stretch far away.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Which move did you use most on the poem, and on which line? (2) Copy one sentence from today's passages that you can explain now but could not at the start of class, and explain it in plain words.

   Teacher note on content and language: Antigone turns on the unburied body of a brother and a death sentence, and Hawthorne's story mentions a young woman who died after taking a prescription on her wedding evening (Activity 1, strip 2). Creon's line in speech 8 about "woman" and "man" draws on the roles of men and women in his world; quiz question 18 asks students to explain it, so hold that discussion until after the quiz, and present it as Creon's view, not the play's last word. The translations and the 1837 story keep old forms (thou, hath, ye) and some words used in older senses; the passages are quoted exactly as printed.

   For homework and the quiz: students read the two passages below. Between the opening (T1) and the ending (T4) of Hawthorne's story, the doctor revives a rose he has kept for fifty-five years by dropping it into water he says comes from the Fountain of Youth. The four guests drink glass after glass, grow young, and fight over the widow; in the struggle the vase is broken and the water spills across the floor, where it revives a dying butterfly that settles on the doctor's white hair. The Chorus of Theban elders sings the ode (T5) just before the guard brings Antigone in; its stanzas are labeled strophe (Str.) and antistrophe (Ant.), paired stanzas that match each other in form.

   1“My poor Sylvia’s rose!” ejaculated Dr. Heidegger, holding it in the light of the sunset clouds. “It appears to be fading again.”

   2And so it was. Even while the party were looking at it the flower continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile as when the doctor had first thrown it into the vase. He shook off the few drops of moisture which clung to its petals.

   3“I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness,” observed he, pressing the withered rose to his withered lips.

   4While he spoke the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor’s snowy head and fell upon the floor. His guests shivered again. A strange dullness—whether of the body or spirit they could not tell—was creeping gradually over them all. They gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched away a charm and left a deepening furrow where none had been before. Was it an illusion? Had the changes of a lifetime been crowded into so brief a space, and were they now four aged people sitting with their old friend Dr. Heidegger?

   5“Are we grown old again so soon?” cried they, dolefully.

   6In truth, they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine; the delirium which it created had effervesced away. Yes, they were old again. With a shuddering impulse that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands before her face and wished that the coffin-lid were over it, since it could be no longer beautiful.

   7“Yes, friends, ye are old again,” said Dr. Heidegger, “and, lo! the Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well, I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it—no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me.”

   8But the doctor’s four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida and quaff at morning, noon and night from the Fountain of Youth.

   1(Str. 1)
   Many wonders there be, but naught more wondrous than man;
   Over the surging sea, with a whitening south wind wan,
   Through the foam of the firth, man makes his perilous way;
   And the eldest of deities Earth that knows not toil nor decay
   Ever he furrows and scores, as his team, year in year out,
   With breed of the yoked horse, the ploughshare turneth about.

   2(Ant. 1)
   The light-witted birds of the air, the beasts of the weald and the wood
   He traps with his woven snare, and the brood of the briny flood.
   Master of cunning he: the savage bull, and the hart
   Who roams the mountain free, are tamed by his infinite art;
   And the shaggy rough-maned steed is broken to bear the bit.

   3(Str. 2)
   Speech and the wind-swift speed of counsel and civic wit,
   He hath learnt for himself all these; and the arrowy rain to fly
   And the nipping airs that freeze, ’neath the open winter sky.
   He hath provision for all: fell plague he hath learnt to endure;
   Safe whate’er may befall: yet for death he hath found no cure.

   4(Ant. 2)
   Passing the wildest flight thought are the cunning and skill,
   That guide man now to the light, but now to counsels of ill.
   If he honors the laws of the land, and reveres the Gods of the State
   Proudly his city shall stand; but a cityless outcast I rate
   Whoso bold in his pride from the path of right doth depart;
   Ne’er may I sit by his side, or share the thoughts of his heart.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "'I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness,' observed he, pressing the withered rose to his withered lips" (T4, paragraph 3). What does "thus" refer to?

   AThe rose as it was a moment ago, fresh and wet in the vase BThe rose as it is now, dry and faded again CThe widow's face as it looks now that she is old again DThe butterfly as it rests on the doctor's white hair

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine; the delirium which it created had effervesced away" (T4, paragraph 6). Which restatement is accurate?

   AThe Water of Youth was really only wine, as the guests had suspected BThe water worked more strongly than wine and made the guests drunker CThe water's effect wore off even faster than the effect of wine DThe water was worth more than wine because it was so rare

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Dr. Heidegger says, "if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it," and adds, after a dash, "no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments" (T4, paragraph 7). What does he mean?

   AHe would drink from the fountain only if its effect lasted for years BHe wishes the fountain were closer so that he could drink from it CHe would refuse it at his door even if its effect lasted for years DHe will bring the water to his doorstep so his friends can drink from it

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "'Are we grown old again so soon?' cried they, dolefully" (T4, paragraph 5). Using the context of paragraphs 4-6, what does "dolefully" most likely mean?

   ASorrowfully BAngrily CCheerfully DSecretly

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Earlier, the spilled water revived a dying butterfly, which settled on the doctor's head. In paragraph 4, "While he spoke the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head and fell upon the floor." What does this detail signal?

   AThe doctor has killed the butterfly to stop the experiment BThe butterfly will now carry the water to the Fountain of Youth CThe water has made the doctor young, as it did the guests DLike the guests, the butterfly is losing the water's power

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   After Antigone's long speech, the Chorus says, "A stubborn daughter of a stubborn sire, / This ill-starred maiden kicks against the pricks" (T2, speech 7). Using the first line as context, what does "kicks against the pricks" mean?

   AShe fights back uselessly against a force that will only hurt her BShe runs away from the guards who try to seize her CShe mocks the gods for letting her brother die DShe has been wounded in her struggle with the guard

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Creon replies, "the stubbornest of wills / Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, / O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness, / Flies soonest into fragments" (T2, speech 8). What is he predicting?

   AThat Antigone's will is like soft iron and will bend without breaking BThat Antigone's very stubbornness will make her break first CThat the iron chains he has prepared will hold Antigone DThat his own will is too hard to be broken by anyone

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Later in speech 8, Creon says, "Nor she nor yet her sister shall escape / The utmost penalty, for both I hold, / As arch-conspirators, of equal guilt." What does he decide?

   AAntigone will be put to death, but her sister will be spared BNeither sister will be punished, because both are his relatives CBoth Antigone and her sister will receive the full penalty DAntigone's sister will be punished instead of Antigone

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Antigone says, "For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, / Is full of misery" (T2, speech 6). According to the lines that follow, why would she have grieved "with reason" otherwise?

   ABecause she would have lost her place as the king's niece BBecause Creon would have punished her sister in her place CBecause the guard would have been blamed for the burial DBecause she would have left her brother lying unburied

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Antigone ends speech 6: "And if in this thou judgest me a fool, / Methinks the judge of folly's not acquit." What is she saying to Creon?

    AIf you think I am a fool, the fool is really the one judging me BIf you think I am a fool, I accept your judgment and your sentence CIf you judge me, you must first let the court acquit me DIf I am a fool, my foolishness should excuse what I did

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Frame "Ozymandias" (T3). Whose words do lines 2-14 report?

    AThe poem's speaker, describing a statue he saw in the desert himself BOzymandias, the king, describing his own statue CA traveller the speaker met, who also quotes the inscription DThe sculptor, explaining how he carved the statue

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Untangle lines 4-6: "a shattered visage lies, whose frown, / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, / Tell that its sculptor well those passions read." What is the subject of the verb "Tell"?

    AThe frown, the wrinkled lip and the sneer BThe sculptor CThe desert sands DThe two legs of stone

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Line 4 says "Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command." Using the words around it, what is a "visage"?

    AA broken pedestal BA face CA crown DA shadow

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Lines 10-12 read: "'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' / Nothing beside remains." How does line 12 change the meaning of line 11?

    AIt proves the inscription true, because the king's works still fill the desert BIt shows that the traveller misread the inscription on the pedestal CIt turns the boast around: all power ends, so the mighty should despair DIt shows that other kings came and destroyed the statue out of envy

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A grade 9 class can follow the Antigone scene only after the teacher gives a context note and students use the bookmark with prompts. By the end of grade 10, what should the same students be able to do, according to RL.9-10.10?

    ARead only stories, since dramas and poems belong to grades 11-12 BRead a new passage at the high end of the band with the same note and prompts CRead a new drama at the high end of the band with no note or prompts DRead a shorter, easier drama so that no support is needed

16. Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which of these is a qualitative feature that makes a literary text complex, not a quantitative one?

    AThe average number of words in each of its sentences BThe number of syllables in its longest words CThe number of pages in the book it comes from DA reference the reader must bring, such as Zeus

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Restate and check. A classmate restates T4, paragraph 8, as: "The friends finally understood the doctor's lesson and decided to travel to Florida." Check the restatement against the paragraph, explain what it gets wrong, and write a corrected version.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Creon says in T2, speech 8: "Now if she thus can flout authority / Unpunished, I am woman, she the man." Restate these lines in plain words, and explain what they show about why Creon will not back down.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Restate lines 6-8 of "Ozymandias" (T3): "Tell that its sculptor well those passions read / Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, / The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed." Then explain what "The hand that mocked them" and "the heart that fed" refer to.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Of the three passages the quiz uses (the story's ending, the drama scene and the poem), which was hardest for you to read on your own? Name one specific place, the qualitative dimension that made it hard (levels of meaning, structure, language or knowledge demands), and the move that helped.

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These standards connect to RL.9-10.10: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.