Lesson plan

Objective:

· Expand student’s knowledge about slavery

· Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature.

· Analyze a multiple interpretation of a story, drama, or poem, evaluating how each interprets the source text.

Materials: Writing Utensils, paper, laptop, Projector, Worksheets, Audio Speakers and student portfolios

Aim: How was plantation life for slaves?

Do Now: Has there ever been a time when you have been obligated to do something you did not want to do? Explain in 3-5 sentences.

Procedure:

· Students will walk into class and take a seat.

· Once the class is settled down the aim will be read to the class. Students will be copying the aim and do now with their utensil and pen/ pencil

· Teacher will ask students to answer the Do Now

· Do now will be shared out which should last about five minutes with three to five responses

· Teachers will then proceed to the Mini Lesson which will consist of PowerPoint slides on Plantation life and Harriet Jacobs as well as interact with students

· Students will be given their class activity and direction of how to complete a worksheet which will be assigned in groups which will be about twenty five minutes

· Students will share to the class approximately seven minutes before the termination of class and then Homework will be assigned to them which will be due the next day

Mini Lesson: Plantation Life and Harriet Jacobs

Plantation Life

a) What were the jobs slaves were assigned

b) How were the slaves treated

Harriet Jacobs (a.k.a Linda Brent)

i. Early life

ii. Escaping slavery

Class Activity: The teacher will create group of 4, by doing a head count. Students will be given a packet and lyric. There will be 2 lyrics and each group will have a different one, then students will complete the back and share out.

Share out: Students please share out the do now question and the class activity.

Homework: Pretend you are a slave working on a plantation describing your day and how you feel about doing the work. (a well developed paragraph)

For Natalie: one of the teacher will be around her and explain thing as many times as she needs its, Homework explain to her , give her examples of plantation life , slaves life , explain in details . Read to her the assignments and how to do them.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 9

Your Questions, My Questions….
1. Why don't we know anything about Bartleby other than what we see of him in the story? Is that a weakness of the story?
2. Why doesn't the Boss just fire Bartleby?
3. What does the Boss do for a living? What kind of company is he running? 
More questions to follow! Why doesn't the Boss just fire Bartleby?
3. What does the Boss do for a living? What kind of company is he running? 
More questions to follow!

We don’t know anything about Bartleby other than what we see of him in the story because it is open for interpretation. Bartleby is a mystery within itself and could represent the boss himself. Or maybe it can represent the author that wrote the book. It’s actually strength of the story because it contains mystery which is what a good story should contain. It keeps the mystery throughout the whole story and even after the story ended. We as readers don’t know for sure if his past made him who he is today. For all we know maybe he is a ghost. Maybe that’s why he can’t quit the job because his soul will forever be stuck there until he finishes his unfinished business.

The boss doesn't fire Bartleby because throughout the story he feel sympathy for him. Bartleby grows on him and changes the boss himself. That sympathy gives him strength to not fire Bartleby. He even tells him that he could stay at his place because he feels sorry for him staying in the office.

The boss runs a lawyer’s office in Wall Street. The company he runs is a lawyer’s office.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 8

Symbol
: What do the "dead walls" and Bartleby's "dead wall reveries" represent?
What's the significance of the setting? Why is it a story of "Wall Street"?
Why do Turkey and Nipper have nicknames, but the Boss is never named, and we never learn Bartleby's first name? What's in a name?

The dead walls represent things that close us in. Or make us close in within our selves. For example Bartlebys "dead walls" was working in the post office. This caused him to close down and shun himself from people and also communicating with them with other than "i prefer not to". He doesn’t reveal anything about himself to anyone not even his boss. When he questions Bartleby where he is from, he doesn’t say anything he just says he prefers not to answer that. "Dead wall reveries" represents things that won’t happen in reality. Especially because they are dead wall reveries. For instance, Bartleby probably dreams that one day all the letters would be sent but he knows it won’t be possible. The cause of this dream is the 4 walls that surround him and make him dream because it won’t be possible. It is a story of Wall Street because people in Wall Street seem like they are lifeless. They pour their heart and soul into the stocks and getting money but you don’t see the shine of life in their eyes anymore. Which is basically what Bartleby is, he isn’t "living" anymore. He might as well be dead because his character is basically dead in the story. Turkey and Nipper have nicknames because their nicknames are crucial to the story. Their nickname shows that they are. For example, Turkey is the oldest and turkeys in general run around the place just like Turkey in the story. The boss doesn’t have a nickname because he’s the boss. He’s the head of the whole operation in Wall Street and how more can you say about a boss. His name has to be full of power and not give away much because he doesn’t give much away either. We never learn Bartlebys first name probably because as I’ve stated before he’s practically dead so half his name is who he is. He’s half the person he used to be before he got the job. Personality is what’s in a name. It shows off who you are as a person.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 7

Ambiguity: 
Exactly why does Bartleby always "prefer not to"? Why can't he make friends, or communicate? What's at the heart of his rebellion? Why doesn't he quit and get a different job?
Why does the Boss have sympathy for Bartleby?
What else in the story seems open to individual readers' interpretation?

Bartleby prefers not to because it doesn’t want to get fired so he says prefer not to in which in his preference, he doesn’t want to do it. He can’t make friends because he "prefers not to" make friends. Hes so closed off and keep to himself so he doesn’t let anyone talk to him. Therefore, he isolates himself from others that he can’t make friends. At the heart of his rebellion there is the boss and his feelings. He feels angry that he never gets an answer from Bartleby other than "I prefer not to". He is trying to show that he will not do it, but that he just simply prefers not to. He doesn’t want to feel what his last job probably made him feels. He doesn’t quit because he feels dead. His soul is basically dead so he just lingers around the job. The boss has sympathy for him because he probably saw some of himself in Bartleby. He was the cause of him changing in the first place. Bartlebys character and his rebellion are open to readers interpretation. Very little is known about his past in the first place. Also what is he really rebelling against? Stereotypes of 9-5 jobs? Working? Most of the story is open to reader’s interpretations. Also ,the other helpers around the lawyer’s office is open for interpretation. For example, what does Turkey, Nippers, and Gingernut have to do with the story? Things like that leave us with more questions than answers.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 6

Paradox
: Bartleby is stubborn, self-absorbed, rebellious, and insubordinate, yet many readers, and even the narrator, the Boss himself, have a deep sympathy for him. Why?
Others?

They have deep sympathy for him because they feel bad for him knowing his past. They know where he worked before he worked in the dead letters office. They feel bad that he had to live through that and see all those letters not being mailed. Love letters, packages, gifts, everything like that that was meant to be sent, never did. It’s like lost mail and never got to anyone. So they put themselves in Bartlebys position and feel his pain and sympathy for him. They felt his pain of seeing "dead" letters and always being surrounded by things that have a dead end. So we as readers believe that he is that way because of that job.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 5

Irony
: The Boss doesn't recognize that his own passiveness is as persistent and frustrating as Bartleby's. Or that his genteel, self- interested interest in Bartleby is leading to no good.
Can you think of other ironies?

Ironies in this story also include how he wouldn’t leave the office and his previous job. His previous job, the letters all ended up in one place to him, but they would never leave. Neither would Bartleby when his boss told him he had to leave. He wouldn’t leave or take any money. Even the boss came back to Bartleby. Also, when Bartleby went to jail, it was ironic how the boss kept coming back to visit him like the letters Bartleby would see. They’d all just return to him.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street part 4

Meaning (Theme) : 
Does the story leave you thinking anything? Feeling anything? What do you make out of it all?
Passive aggressive people are difficult to accommodate, difficult to ignore.
Passive resistance is a radical form of rebellion. 
Offices, where Americans spend the greater part of their lives, are not democracies.
Have a life outside work! Don't expect your occupation to bear the burden of your existence.
What other ideas does the story suggest to you?

The story leaves me feeling sort of when you walk out of a confusing scary movie. You feel confused of whether you should be scared or just confused. It leaves me with this feeling because Bartleby dies.. Then you realize he worked in a dead letters office. After that it leaves you still with even more questions. Is this why he prefers not to work? Did this previous job just suck the life out of him? Shouldn’t he be happy that he DOESNT work there anymore? Out of this story, it’s that your past has a huge effect on you in the future. Bartleby let his past get to him by his previous job. He saw alot of letters that never got send and as much as he wanted to help there was nothing he could do. After all it was only his job. So then when he worked for the lawyer, it still got to him that he wouldn’t do any work.