Katelyn Moloney

4/7/16
Monday (Day 1)
Introduce
Deliverance:
Dickey biography,
book background
info, and trigger
warnings
Students read in
class

Deliverance Unit Calendar

Tuesday (Day 2)
Wednesday (Day
Thursday (Day
3)
4)
Quiz: did you
Quiz: did you
Watch How I
read?
read?
Write and discuss
Introduce
summative
assessment
(paper) and go
over rubric
First thoughts on
Deliverance
conversation

Homework: read
to September 14th

Socratic seminar
Exit tickets: do
you want to watch
the movie?

Homework: read
to page 167

Thursday (Day
9)
Peer edit
Grammar minilesson

Monday (Day 6)
Socratic seminar

Paper conferences

Wednesday (Day
8)
Paper conferences

Computer lab to
research essay

Gender in
Deliverance (PPT)

Watch some of
Deliverance

Exit ticket: how is

gender portrayed
in Deliverance vs.
The Great
Gatsby?

Discussion

Homework: work
on paper

Writing activity:
replace Ed with a
female voice
Gender in the 60s
(PPT)

Mentor text
activity

Homework: read
to page 135

Homework: read
to September 15th
Tuesday (Day 7)

Homework: bring
in introduction
and plan

Introduce mentor
texts (PPT)

Friday (Day 5)

Homework: finish
book

Friday (Day 10)

Characterization
mini-lesson
Adding details
mini-lesson
Journal

Homework: first
draft due
tomorrow

Writing Lesson Plan: Deliverance (Day 4)

Homework: work
on paper

Homework: final
draft due Monday

Demographic: The twelfth-grade class consists of 21 students.

How I Write
*Lesson based on a 55-minute class period
Purpose/Rationale: This lesson plan is designed for a twelfth-grade class that is on the
fourth day of a unit based on Deliverance, by James Dickey. This novel is being read as part
of an interdisciplinary unit that aims to analyze gender roles throughout history. Before
Deliverance, students read The Awakening and The Great Gatsby. This novel was chosen
because of the way it depicts genders in a stereotypical way, and because it is from the
1970s. This unit is being taught now, in the third quarter of the year, as it is considered a
mature text. The students will be reading abridged versions of the text, as the original text
contains depictions of violence. This lesson falls on the fourth day of the unit. Students have
read a little less than half of Deliverance. Today, they will be watching a short clip from an
interview with Dickey, discussing their writing habits, and using a mentor text to improve
their writing.
Florida Standards:
LAFS.1112.W.2.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization,
and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
LAFS.1112.RL.2.5: Analyze how an authors choices concerning how to structure specific parts
of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or
tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
Objectives:
SWBAT write in a sophisticated manner to communicate an idea
SWBAT display knowledge of proper grammar and syntax
Materials:
21 copies of Deliverance (abridged version)
Computer
PowerPoint
Projector
Screen
Mentor texts handouts

Anticipatory set:
This lesson begins with a minute-long clip of an interview with John Dickey. It is an engaging
video that is stark in its simplicity. It is being shown at the beginning of the class in order to
incite student thought about the process of writing.
Teaching Strategy/Procedure/Activity:
Time
Student is doing
10 minutes
Anticipatory set:

Teacher is doing

Students enter class. At the

front of class is a basket
where all of the handouts for
class that day are, which
students are aware of. They
are to pick up a handout
there.

Once students are settled into

their desks, direct their
attention to the screen (if it is
not there already).
Students will watch video.

Play video clip.

Students will give answers.

Say: That was an interview

with James Dickey. What do
you think of his writing
process?

Students will give answers.

Say: Do you have a writing

process?

Students will give answers.

Say: What have you been

doing to write your paper?
Transition: I wanted us to
watch this clip because today
were doing a writing
lesson.

30 minutes

Students will take notes and

listen.

Present Mentor Texts

PowerPoint (10 minutes)

Students will write for 10 to

15 minutes.

Say: Take out the handout

that you should have taken
from the basket at the
beginning of class. Does
everyone have one? For the
next 10 to 15 minutes, write
from the two mentor texts
printed on the page.
Class rule: teacher writes
with the students. This way, if
students are stuck, there is an
example. Students also are
more motivated to write if
teacher is writing as well.

Students will share if they

wish. (5 minutes)
5 minutes

Say: Is everyone done? Who

would like to share what
theyve written?

Closure:
Say: I love everything that
you guys have written.
Students will give opinions.

Ask: Who likes mentor

texts?

Students will pack their bags

and leave the classroom.

Say: Okay, pack your bags.

Your homework for tonight is
to read to page 167 of
Deliverance.

Summary/Closure:
The closure for this lesson involves hearing students opinions about the mentor text activity.
After this short oral forum, I will announce their homework and they will pack their bags and
leave.

Assessment:
Formal assessment: Students will not be formally assessed.
Informal assessment: I will listen to their versions of mentor texts to check for student
understanding for emulating a piece of writing. Since this is the first time the entire class
is dong this activity, I expect errors.
Homework/follow-up assignment:
Students will read to page 167 of Deliverance.
Attachments/Appendices:
Mentor Text PowerPoint

The handout on the next two pages (will be double-sided):

Mentor Text Activity

Directions: read the text like a reader, then a writer. Analyze it. Then emulate
its ideas, structure, or technique.
Text 1
Before I made a move, though, I sat for maybe twenty seconds, failing to
feel my heart beat, though at that moment I wanted to. The feeling of the
inconsequence of whatever I would do, of anything I would pick up or think
about or turn to see was at that moment being set in the very bone marrow.
How does one get through this? I asked myself. By doing something that is at
hand to be done was the best answer I could give; that and not saying
anything about the feeling to anyone. It was the old mortal, helpless, timeterrified human feeling, just the same. I had had a touch or two before,
though it was more likely to come with my family, for I could find ways to
keep buys at the studio, or at least to seem busy, which was harder, in some
cases, than doing real work. But I was really frightened, this time.
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Text 2
What a view, I said again. The river was blank and mindless with beauty. It
was the most glorious thing I have ever seen. But it was not seeing, really.
For once it was not just seeing. It was beholding. I beheld the river in its icy
pit of brightness, in its far-below sound and indifference, in its large coil and
tiny points and flashes of the moon, in its long sinuous form, in its
uncomprehending consequence.
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A brief note:
Since I am going to be an English teacher, I figured I would write a lesson plan for one of
the books. I want to be a middle school teacher, and none of these books are age-appropriate for
these grades, so I decided to plan for a twelfth grade class. Thats still a ludicrous thought,
because even if such a thing as an abridged version of Deliverance existed, any teacher would
have an extremely difficult time convincing administrators and parents that this book, on any
level, is appropriate for a school setting. While writing this lesson, I continuously thought about
how absurd it would be to teach this to high school seniors.
This lesson plan displays what I liked most about Deliverance: the writing. Dickeys style
is amazing. I figured that having students engage with the text in a formalist way would be a
great way to spend a day in the middle of the Deliverance unit. Mentor texts, described above,
are a tried-and-true path to improving student writing. What better mentor to choose from than
James? In this lesson, students look at Dickeys writing and analyze it based on its ideas,
structure, and technique. Through mentor texts, they not only break apart Dickeys writing and
figure out what makes all the pieces work as a whole; they also use it as a model to improve their
own writing. I also decided to include a unit calendar in order to show other ways that students
could potentially engage with this book (through gender criticism, cinematically, etc).
Resources:
Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGgVO_dbfmnb5HO_Eo-vynw. "James Dickey, "How I
Write," 1982." YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
Joslin, Julie, Anna Lea Frost, Lisa McIntosh, and Alex Kaulfuss. "Writing with Mentor Texts
Webinar." North Carolina Department of Public Instruction ELA Section. Web.