Lesson Plan 5

UTL 640E
Kaitlyn Holcomb
Aaron Holman/Hendrickson High School
AP English IV/12th Grade
Date: 4/7/15
Teach #8
Class Period/Time: ~60 minutes during Block 2 (11:05-12:35) and Block 3 (1:10-2:40)
Enduring Understandings & Essential Questions
Individuals must evaluate texts from multiple perspectives since only then can they begin to
distance themselves from personal bias and identify textual interpretations that accommodate and
validate varied ways of thinking.
What are the critical approaches to literature used in this class? [f]
How does viewing anothers interpretation of a text through a media source challenge or
reinforce ones idea of that text? [c]
How is the theme of a story related to the critical approach used to analyze it? [c]
How does ones perception/understanding of a story change as one views it through additional
critical approaches? [c]
Lesson Objective:
After reading and discussing D. H. Lawrences The Rocking-Horse Winner as a class, students
will work in groups to a) identify the theme of the story; b) analyze the story using one of the
critical approaches to literature (chosen from biographical, historical, mythological, sociological,
gender, deconstructionist, and cultural); and c) produce a written response that expresses the
relationship between the story (e.g., its theme, characters, and setting) and chosen approach
incorporating at least 3 aptly-chosen details from the text to support their responsesin order to
evaluate the storys importance in both historical and modern contexts and analyze how other
critical approaches influence a storys theme.
Resources/Materials:
To do before the lesson:
o Review The Rocking-Horse Winner; assign students to read the story from the AP
Literature book prior to the lesson
o Find a video adaptation of the story to show to the class
o Create PowerPoint presentation that include the video link and information about D. H.
Lawrence and the story
For the lesson itself:
o Bring AP Literature book
o Whiteboard and markers
o Set up and test PowerPoint and video before the lesson
TEKS/SEs Addressed in the Lesson:
(2) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences
and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary

contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected
to:
(C) relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and
economic ideas of its time.
Steps in Lesson:
ENGAGEMENT 10 minutes

I will show part of the 1949 adaptation of The Rocking-Horse Winner by Anthony Pelissier
(which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbgsMDtSucs). After watching the
video, students will consider the following questions as a class (projected on the screen):
What did you think of the movie version?
How does it challenge or reinforce your experience with and interpretation of the text?
What elements of the text (theme, genre, etc.) are more apparent in the film version?
STATED OBJECTIVE

Now that weve had some fun watching part of a film adaptation of The Rocking-Horse Winner,
well work as a class to discuss the story using the formalism (or AP) approach to literature. Well
also incorporate aspects of sociological and psychological criticism in our discussion. Then, youll
work in groups to identify the theme of the story based on our discussions and to analyze the story
using one of the remaining critical approaches. Finally, youll produce short written responses that
consider the relationship between the story and the your chosen approachthat is, youll have the
opportunity to discuss how this approach helps you understand the story as well as whether or not
the theme changes when we apply additional critical approaches.
ACTIVE LEARNING

Introduce: 10 minutes
Provide a brief outline of the storys historical/social context (projected on screen).
o Lawrence biography (adapted from the University of Nottinghams D. H. Lawrence
webpage)
David Herbert (D. H.) Lawrence was born in 1885 to Arthur John and Lydia Lawrence.
His father was a coal-miner with a strong work ethic.
His mother was born into an upper-middle class family but, due to financial
difficulties, the family lost its social standing and Lydia began working at a young
age. For the rest of her life, she considered issues of social class and money and
desired to attain her former social standing. She also passed on an enduring love of
books, a religious faith and a commitment to self-improvement to her children.
After finishing school, he became a pupil-teacher (i.e., a student teacher/intern) before
attending the University of Nottingham and earning a teaching certificate.
He began writing in his late teens or early twenties. He wrote extensively throughout
college and during his short teaching career, which ended in 1911 after Lawrence
suffered a severe bout of pneumonia. After this time, he focused primarily on his
writing, much of which was rejected by certain publishers due to indecency.
This rejection became a pattern with his writing, and Lawrence became disillusion[ed]
with what England offered him, and with what he could do for it as a writer.

 After World War I, he traveled extensively throughout Europe, Australia, and America.
He succumbed to tuberculosis in 1930.
o Lawrences writing and early 20th-century English society
Much of Lawrences writing focuses on aspects of economy (money) and social
class/class differences, probably arising from his mothers experiences and from his own
experiences growing up in a working-class family.
He also often writes about sex and sexuality, sometimes very explicitly. However, there
was a large amount of backlash from the public because of this factas Mr. Holman
says, his writing probably would have been received by some parties about as well as
Fifty Shades of Grey was in our time. In this story, written toward the end of his career,
Lawrence still discusses sex and sexuality, though in a much less explicit manner than
before.
This story was published in 1926, during a time of great social change in England
The first few years of the 20th Century saw an increase in political power for women
and for members of the working class.
World War I occurred from 1914-1918.
During the early part of the 1920s, the English government organized additional
welfare benefits (such as housing) to help lower-class people.
Taxes also increased heavily.
In essence, there was much discussion regarding class issues, just as in many of
Lawrences works.
Explain: 15 minutes
Engage students in a whole-class discussion and guide them through analyzing The RockingHorse Winner using the formalist critical approach (since, ultimately, the students are required
to use this approach for critical essays and the AP test). Discussion points may include (but are
not limited to) the points below (write answers on board if space permits; if not, project a list of
topics). Note: Unless a source is specifically noted, these notes are a combination of my own
thoughts and the many online sources I readmost of them said similar things, so it is difficult
to separate the components.
o Genre:
This story is written in the style of fairy tales (the opening line says, There was a
woman who was beautiful), which lends a mystical/supernatural element to the
already mystical nature of the rocking horse.
It also incorporates elements of the Gothic. According to the Norton Anthology of
English Literature, the Gothic has come to designate the macabre, mysterious, fantastic,
supernatural, and again, the terrifying, especially the pleasurably terrifying, in
literature. We see the mysterious/fantastic/supernatural aspect of the Gothic in the
rocking-horse and fairy-tale-like aspects of the story. We also see it in the setting (see
below).
o Setting:
The story takes place in a pleasant house (that is, the family does not live in a poor,
run-down house, but the family is not affluent, either, although they try to maintain this
appearance) (see par. 2). In many Gothic novels, as in this story, the house is a

reflection of the characters twisted and tormented minds (shmoop.com). One need only
notice the fact that the house whispers There must be more money! (par. 5, 181) to
recognize that the house does, in fact, reflect the characters obsessive desire for money.
The story is also set within the time period of its writingthat is, due to the types of jobs
women could hold (sketching newspaper advertisements (p. 345/par. 169)), coupled
with the fact that several of the horses named were real race horses during the 1920s, we
can conclude that the story itself is set in England around the 1920s.
o Characters:
The boy (Paul):
He is fairly young (young enough to have a rocking horse and play in the nursery
with his sisters at the beginning of the story par. 5 but old enough to be making
the transition toward a tutor rather than a nanny as the story progresses par. 181).
His relationship with and love for his mother, coupled with the fact that he wants to
make the house stop whispering, leads him to begin gambling and ultimately leads to
his death.
He is very focused on feelings (love and pleasing other people): in order to have
internal/emotional satisfaction, he is prompted toward the external pleasures of the
adult world. In this way, he takes on the role of his father (who is absent from the
majority of the story) and provides economically for the family as a father would be
expected to do.
The mother (Hester):
Unlike her son, Hester is completely unmotivated by internal thoughts and feelings.
In fact, she feels very little affection for her childrenat the beginning of the story,
she felt they had been thrust upon her and knew that at the center of her heart was
a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody (par. 1). At the end of
the story, even this little affection is gone: His mother sat, feeling her heart had
gone, turned actually into a stone (p. 347/par. 235).
She is very externally motivated, feeling the need for luck so that she can have
more money (p. 339). She is also very greedywhen she finds out that she will
receive 1000/year for the next five years (due to her sons gambling), she
immediately tries to get the whole 5000 sum released.
These characters relate more largely to issues of social class (which relates to the
sociological approach to literature).
The familyparticularly the adultswants to maintain the appearance of affluence,
though it is far from affluent. Toward this end, the adults desperately need more
money since they are living well beyond their means.
Although questions regarding social class are never explicitly stated in this story, this
topic is one we should nevertheless consider. To relate these points to Revelation
by Flannery OConnor (which the students recently read): Ms. Turpin defined
peoples worth and value by their external possessions. Similarly, here, we see the
adults defining themselves by the amount of money they have.
We should thus question what it means to be part of a social class, how the actions of
the characters display their motivations with regard to society, and what Lawrence is

trying to tell us about money and social status through these characters and their
actions.
We can also understand these characters by analyzing them using the psychological
critical approach, which focuses primarily on Freudian psychosexuality and thus
repressed sexual desires/urges.
One way to approach this story is through the idea of the Oedipus complex, which,
according to Freud, is one of the stages of psychosexual development.
o In this stage, a child will (unknowingly) possess a sexual fantasy for the parent of
the opposite sex. For boys, this involves a father-son competition for possession
of the mother (Wikipedia).
o Applying this perspective to the story allows us to see that Paul is competing
with his father to win favor with his mother. Since the father is primarily absent
from the story (he is hardly mentioned), and since he has no luck in providing
money for the family, Paul takes on his fathers role as primary breadwinner in
order to please his mother.
o Christ figure:
In some ways, Paul functions as a Christ figure. He ultimately sacrifices himself so as to
please his mother (a selfless sacrifice). Additionally, Paul parallels Christ (in a way) in
that it takes 3 days for him to die (rather than Christs 3 days to resurrect).
On the other hand, for a character to function as a Christ figure, there should be some
change in the other characters or some lesson learned. No such thing is seen in this story:
it concludes with the uncle saying something to the effect of, Oh, its too bad hes dead,
but at least were rich now. The mother says nothing. (par. 244)
o The rocking horse
The rocking horse serves to aid Paul in his quest to earn moneythat is, by riding his
horse, Paul seems to enter a mystical world (implied) in which he learns the outcomes of
horse races before they occur.
More importantly, it symbolizes the futility of money and material possessions.
Ultimately, these things will only serve you while you live, and the pursuit of [these]
possessions will ultimately get you nowhere. Much like riding a rocking horse.
(Holman)
Apply: 20 minutes
Have students get into the groups they have been using for other activities (should be groups of
3). Have each group analyze the story using one of the remaining critical approaches to
literature.
o In their groups, students will analyze the story according to the following directions
(projected on screen):
Identify the overarching theme of the story, and write it down. (Consider the conflict and
resolution and/or the portrayal of life and human nature.)
Choose one of the remaining critical approaches (biographical, historical, mythological,
sociological, gender, deconstructionist, and culturalthese are already listed on the
board for student reference).

Discuss the story in light of your chosen approach. (What aspects of the story are made
meaningful through this approach?)
As a group, write a short response (1/2 page) to the following prompt on the same piece
of paper:
How does your chosen approach support or challenge the theme of the story? How does
it help us understand the motivations of certain characters or the relationships between
certain characters? How does your overall understanding of the story change when you
view it through more than one critical approach (i.e., formalism and your chosen
approach)?
In your response, incorporate at least 3 pieces of textual evidence that support your
discussion and written response. (This might be a key fact about the relationship
between two characters or a significant action or piece of dialogueas long as the
evidence helps answer the questions and relates to this critical approach, there are no
limitations.)

CLOSURE (5 minutes)

Have 1-2 students summarize the main points of the lesson.

Briefly have 2-3 groups share something they learned or found interesting in their group
discussion.
Tell students to put their responses in the basket as they exit.

Modifications/Differentiation Strategies:
Students will participate in both group and whole-class discussions.
Providing instructions visually and aurally will benefit students of multiple learning styles.
Evaluation Strategies:
I will moderate whole-class discussion, checking to ensure that students understand the story
and formalist approach.
I will observe/confer with student groups as they work.
I will collect the written responses at the end of the period, reading them to determine the
students understanding of psychological criticism and its effect on the story. They will be
evaluated based on the length requirement, the number of textual examples given, and whether
or not they answer the prompt.
Note/Recommendations for next time:
Make sure to emphasize the importance of the rocking horse as a symbol of the futility of
pursuing material possessions. The students need to fully understand this point, not just dance
around it.
If the students are working in new groups (as they were for this lesson), have a list ready so they
know exactly where to go and with which students they are working.
Using some of the other critical lenses worked well and emphasized aspects of the story the
students previously missed.
This lesson needs more time, both for whole-class discussion and for group work (75-90 mins.).