Lesson 8

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner, 1925

• • “Counterpoint as Technique in The Great Gatsby,” James M. Mellard, National Council of Teachers of English, 1966
  • Excerpt from “Unreliable Narration in The Great Gatsby,” Thomas E. Boyle, Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, 1969
  • “Jay Gatsby: A Dreamer Doomed to Be Excluded. The Novelist Jesmyn Ward Explains.,” Jesmyn Ward, The New York Times Company, 2018
  • “The Trouble with Nick: Reading Gatsby Closely,” excerpt from Fitzgerald and Hemingway: Works and Days, Scott Donaldson, Columbia University Press, 2009

Materials

Tools

• The Great Gatsby: Section 4 Diagnostic Checklist

• Discussion Tool

• Organizing Evidence Tool

• Vocabulary Journal

Reference Guides

• Academic Discussion Reference Guide

Question Sets

• The Great Gatsby: Question Set 4.8

Editable Google Docs

• The Great Gatsby: Section 4 Diagnostic Checklist

• Discussion Tool

• Organizing Evidence Tool

• The Great Gatsby: Question Set 4.8

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Discuss

We will establish and express our argumentative positions and claims to prepare for the discussion.

Depending on which character you have chosen to focus upon, consider Question Set A (for Gatsby) or Question Set B (for Nick).

For each question, make notes about your initial thinking and the evidence you might use to build a response.

For Question 3, if you are working with Question Set A, take a position on the following question: Is Gatsby a character to be admired or pitied? Why?

If you are working with Question Set B, take a position on the following question: Is Nick a reliable narrator? Why or why not?

After taking a position on your character’s question, state your position as a claim. (Note: in the discussion, you will debate with other students who have taken the opposite position.)

For Question 4, form a second claim that connects your character’s story to the thematic commentary you see in the novel regarding dreams, illusions, and the American Dream.

Write down your two claims on a copy of the Discussion Tool in preparation for the Section Diagnostic.

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will gather evidence from the novel and the four literary analysis essays to support our position and claims.

Work on your own to continue gathering evidence to support your claims. You might want to use the Organizing Evidence Tool to help you organize your thinking. Consider evidence from your reading of the novel and from all of the tools you have completed during the unit. Then think about which of the four literary analyses comes closest to your position about a character. Review that analytical essay to see what additional evidence from an "expert" you might use to support your position and claims.

Activity 3: Discuss

We will review the academic discussion reference guide to learn about academic discussions.

Follow along as your teacher presents and discusses ideas from the Academic Discussion Reference Guide. Pay particular attention to the chart near the end of the guide that lists and explains ten key discussion norms. As a class, discuss what an academic discussion entails, using the following questions for guidance:

1. What characterizes an academic discussion?

2. What words or phrases in the reference guide stand out to you regarding academic discussions?

3. What are discussion norms and how might they help you engage in discussions with your peers?

4. What are some examples and nonexamples of academic discussions?

5. How does the Discussion Tool help us prepare for, engage in, and reflect on academic discussions?

Activity 4: Discuss

We will exchange our ideas and practice speaking and discussing with a small group.

Step 1

Join a small group of students who have selected the same character as you as the focus of their analysis and argument.

In your small group, exchange your ideas and give each other feedback about your claims, evidence, and readiness to participate in an academic discussion and debate.

Step 2

Using the Discussion Checklist in the Academic Discussion Reference Guide, rate how you did as a participant in the discussion, based on the expectations described in the Discussion Norms chart.

Identify one norm that you think was a strength for you in these discussions: something you can build on in the future.

Identify one norm that you feel you should and can improve, based again on the description of the expectations.

Record your thinking about a strength and an area for improvement in your Learning Log. Write a personal goal for future academic discussions that identifies an area you want to build or improve on and that describes specifically what you hope to do.

Activity 5: Read

For homework, we will prepare for participation in the Section Diagnostic discussion and debate.

For homework, continue preparing for the Section Diagnostic’s discussion, and review the Academic Discussion Reference Guide. Be sure to identify vocabulary from your Vocabulary Journal to use during the discussion.