Rev.

7/16/08
Lesson Plan
Grade: 8th

Teacher: Chabwera Phillips

Subject: Language Arts

Time:1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th Periods

Cognitive Level(s) of Lesson: (Refer to Blooms Taxonomy)

Objective: Students will be able to: Students will be able to analyze passages from Night by Elie
Wiesel and determine implicit meaning, central themes, and authors style, supported by strong
textual evidence.

Objective: Students will be able to: Discuss answers to comprehension questions for Chapters 3 and 4.
Common Core/NJCCCS addressed:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its
relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.3
Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a
character, or provoke a decision.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to
other texts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience.
Instructional Strategies: (Opening, Presentation, Guided Practice, Closure)
Opening: Teacher ask the students to work with a partner to compare their answers for the homework packet. (10
mins)
1. Teacher walks around and listens to the students responses
Presentation: Teacher informs the students that we will be doing a close reading of passages from Chapters 3 and
4 of Night. We will work on one together and then break off into groups.
Teacher states that we will discuss some core ideas/themes of Night today.
By the end of class will be able to answer the following core questions:
2. How has Elie changed?
3. Does the tragedies Elie face change his beliefs?

4. How does this selection/passage connect to the theme of identity?

Teacher projects the following passage on the board:
NEVER SHALL I FORGET that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into
one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bod- ies I saw transformed into
smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to
live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my
dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.
(Wiesel, 34)
Close Reading
1. Teacher reads passage aloud.
2. Teacher ask for a brief summary of the passage (Main Idea & Key Elements of the story).
a. What is the author telling me here?
b. Are there any hard or important words?
c. What does the author want me to understand?
3. Line by line annotation
4. Students share their interpretations of: Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith
forever.
5. Discuss passage as a whole
a. How is this important to the whole novel?
b. How does this selection connect to the theme of identity?
6. Core Questions
a. How has Elie changed?
b. Does the tragedies Elie face change his beliefs?
c. How does this selection/passage connect to the theme of identity?
Students Do: Students work with their group members to complete a close reading of a provided passage. Teacher
passes out worksheet that will guide students through the reading.
Passages:
#1
He seemed to be telling the truth. Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch. Something was
being burned there. A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my
own e y e s ... children thrown into the flames. (Is it any wonder that ever since then, sleep tends to elude me?)

So that was where we were going. A little farther on, there was another, larger pit for adults.
I pinched myself: Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women, and children were being
burned and that the world kept silent? No. All this could not be real. A night- mare perhaps...Soon I would wake
up with a start, my heart pounding, and find that I was back in the room of my childhood, with my books...
(Wiesel, 32)
#2
The night had passed completely. The morning star shone in the sky. I too had become a different person. The
student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames. All that was left was a shape that resembled
me. My soul had been invadedand devouredby a black flame.
So many events had taken place in just a few hours that I had completely lost all notion of time. When had we left
our homes? And the ghetto? And the train? Only a week ago? One night? One single night?
How long had we been standing in the freezing wind? One hour? A single hour? Sixty minutes?
Surely it was a dream.
(Wiesel, 37)

Teacher ask one of the core questions to each group. Teacher will ask students to back up their findings
with textual evidence.
Closure:
Teacher states: Tomorrow, we will move on to Chapter 5 of night. Here we will find some serious plot
twisting!
Teacher states: Before leaving, I want everyone to take a look at the passage I just put in front of you.
Complete a close reading of this passage and answer the questions listed below. I will collect it as you leave
the classroom.
Passage:
A few days after my visit, the dentist's office was shut down. He had been thrown into prison and was about to be
hanged. It appeared that he had been dealing in the prisoners' gold teeth for his own benefit. I felt no pity for him.
In fact, I was pleased with what was happening to him: my gold crown was safe. It could be useful to me one day,
to buy something, some bread or even time to live. At that moment in time, all that mattered to me was my daily
bowl of soup, my crust of stale bread. The bread, the soup those were my entire life. I was nothing but a body.
Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The stomach alone was measuring time.
(Wiesel, 52)
Assessment: (Formative, Individual Measurability, Summative)
Formative Assessment:

Comprehension Questions
Exit Activity
Journal Prompt

Summative Assessment:
Essay Assessment at the end of the novel
Chapter Quiz
Differentiation: (Varying Content, Varying Process, Varying Product)

Struggling Students: Varying Process- Students will be given a word bank to assist with the close
reading.

Technology:
N/A