Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
  
 
Home : Division of School Improvement : Curriculum

 CURRICULUM

Horror

Unit Overview

HORROR

  9th  grade
   7 lessons
  Students listen to the radio play War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and use it as the foundation for mastery of the unit objectives. other reading selections are used to enhance the mastery of the objectives. the stimuli for this unit includes: two radio plays: War of the Worlds and Dracula; John Stagg's The Vampyre; Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, Emily Dickinson's XXIV (A Narrow Fellow in the Grass), William Butler Yeats' Oil and Blood; Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The New York Times article Radio Listeners in Panic and others. The summative assessment is based on the radio play Dracula so "cold assessment" of the objective occurs.  As part of the summative assessment, students write their own modern day radio plays.
   
  This unit dealing with radio drama includes seven lessons. Formative assessments and independent practice may be given as homework to shorten the unit length. Classes on a 50-minute period schedule need approximately 12 days to complete the unit.

Before students take the pencil and paper assessment, they must listen to Dracula, read Oil and Blood, and Vlad the Impaler. Reading and listening may be done in one 50-minute class period. Reading could be assigned outside of class (as could online listening). Test may be completed in one 50-minute class period. Additional days are needed for the creation and performance of a student generated, modern radio play.
  Handouts including graphic organizers
  Formative and Summative Assessment
  Glossary

Unit Plan: Lessons

 Each session represents one 50-minute class period. 

Students

  Afraid! Who me? Word HTML (with links to documents)
Back to the Past Word HTML (with links to documents)
  Text Under the Microscope Word HTML (with links to documents)
  Text Elements-Vampires Word HTML (with links to documents)
  Hidden Messages Word HTML (with links to documents)
  Stage Fright Word HTML (with links to documents)
  Step-by-step to the Final Destination Word HTML (with links to documents)

 Essential Questions:

  Why do people like to be scared?
  What is the difference between fiction and nonfiction horror?
  How is an author's style evident in a piece of writing?
  Why is it important to recognize problems and proposed solutions?
  Why should students learn to defend ideas?

Summative Assessment and Scoring Guides:

         

summative assessment     Scoring Guide
     
 
 

PREVIOUS LEARNING

TARGETED LEARNING

FUTURE LEARNING

 Compare, contrast, analyze and evaluate connections between information and relationship in various fiction and nonfiction works; text ideas and own experiences, and text ideas and the world by analyzing the relationship between literature and its historical period and culture.

 

 CA2   Compare, contrast, analyze and    evaluate connections between information and relationships in various fiction and nonfiction works; text ideas and own experiences, and text ideas and the world by analyzing the relationship between literature and its historical period and culture.

                  

 Making connections in literature and life are imperative for success in future endeavors.

 Apply post-reading strategies to identify the main idea and supporting details.

 R1H   Apply the post-reading skills to    identify and explain the relationship between the main idea and supporting details

           

 Apply post-reading skills to comprehend text.

 

 Locate and explain information in illustrations, titles, headings, captions, diagrams, charts, and graphs.

 

 R3A   Locate and interpret key

           information in illustrations,

           title, chapter headings, table

           of contents, charts, diagrams and

           maps to answer questions

Apply information in chapter headings, table of contents and glossary features to answer questions to comprehend text.

 

Identify and explain author’s use of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration in nonfiction text.

 R3B  Explain examples of sensory

         details and figurative language

         within the context of nonfiction

          text

Interpret and explain figurative language in nonfiction text.

 

 

Use details from the text to answer questions, identify main ideas, retell sequence of events, and make inferences.

R3C  Make inferences about problems

         and solutions using details from the

          text.

          

Use details from the text to make predictions, make inferences, distinguish between fact and opinion, and explain author’s purpose.

Write expository text, with assistance, with a main idea and supporting details.

W3C  Write expository  text with a main

           idea and three or more supporting

           details

Write expository and persuasive paragraphs with a main idea or point to prove, three or more supporting details, and a concluding sentence.

Teacher Reflection

 

  1. As I reflect on the unit, to what extent were the students productively engaged in the work? How do I know?

 

  1. Did the unit allow for students to engage in activities and learning situations which were consistent with the district’s curriculum guide?

 

  1. What feedback did I receive from students indicating they achieved understanding and that the objectives were met for this unit?

 

  1. Did I adjust my goals or my work as I taught the lesson? Why? How?

 

  1. What specific elements of the assignments did students have the most difficulty with? What could be done to enhance student learning for these specific skills?

 

  1. If I had the opportunity to teach this unit again to the same group of students, what would I do differently?

  

  1. If there were one thing from this lesson that I could share with a colleague, what would it be?

 

Bibliography

 

(2000). Language and literature. Evanston, IL: McDougall, Littell.          

 Department of Secondary and Elementary. Communication arts glossary.  Available online at  http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/GLE/10.29.04GLOSSARY.pdf

 Dickinson, E. (1865) “XXIV” (“A narrow fellow in the grass”).

Retrieved April 10, 2005 from

http://members.fortunecity.com/Itpoetry/dickinson.htm

 Harmon, W., C. Thrall and H. Holman. (1999). A handbook to literature.  New York: Prentice

Hall.

 Kagan, S. (1994).  Cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA:  Resources of Teachers,

                Inc.

 Kennedy, X., D. Gioia and M. Bauerlein.  (2004). Handbook of literary terms: Literature, language, theory.  Lebanon, IN: Pearson Longman.

Miller, E.  “Biography of Vlad the Impaler”.  Available online at http://www.vladtheimpaler.com

 Munch, E. (1893). The scream.  Retrieved May 4, 2005 from http://www.art.com

 Poe, E. (1846). “The cask of amontillado.”  Retrieved April 10, 2004 from 

                http://www.gutenberg.org

 Rosten, Leo. (n.d.)  “Cemetery path.”  Retrieved April 22, 2005 from www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Reading/RDG0001.html

 Stagg, J. (1820).  “The vampyre.”  Retrieved April 5, 2005 from www.litgothic.com/Texts/vampyre.html

 Stoker.B. (1897). Dracula.  Retrieved May 4, 2005 from www.mercurytheatre.info

 Wells, H.  (1898). War of the worlds.  Retrieved May 4, 2005 from http://waroftheworlds.org/Default.aspx?tabid=106  (printed script)

 Wells, H. (1898). War of the worlds. Retrieved May 4, 2005 from www.mercurytheatre.info (audio version)

 Wilhelm, J. (2001). Improving comprehension with think aloud strategies: Modeling what good readers do.  New York: Scholastic.

 Yeats, W. (1933). “Oil and blood.”  Retrieved May 4, 2005 from http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/ReadingRoom/Poetry/Yeats/oil-and-blood

 

 

 

 
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Division of School Improvement - Curriculum Services
Email: webreplyimprcurr@dese.mo.gov
Phone: 573-751-2625

Revised: October 27, 2006
(Non-Discrimination Statement)

Search | Contact Us | Site Map | FAQ