Lesson Plan with Technology Integration

Teacher Name: Brooke Kistner

Lesson Title: Exploring satire and parody
Target Grade/Subject: This is targeted for Honors 11th grade English class
studying American Literature at Deep Run High School in Henrico County,
Virginia. The typical class size in the school is 19. This school is a
specialtycenter for technology, so most students will have sufficient
experience with technology. Most of these students have access to
technology such as computers, video cameras andinternet at home. The
students attend each class on Monday and have a 90 minuteblock schedule
the rest of the week. This lesson is intended to take place towards the
middle/end of the year to ensure students’ familiarity with material and
terms. Although the students are strong test takers, they prefer not to be
assessed through testson their knowledge and abilities. The students have
an interest in comedy and making videos, and they will be allowed to put this
to use through this assignment. The students are familiar with making
historical connections with the literature, and this assignment will allow them
to do such in a creative way. The students have also been exposed to
several plays throughout the year, and this will aid in their writing of the
script. Each student has been issued a laptop, which will make completing
this assignment easier.
Length: 90 minutes
2 weeks for project

VA SOL:
11.3: The student will read and analyze relationships among
American literature, poetry, and
culture.
11.3c: Discuss American literature as it reflects traditional and
contemporary themes,
motifs, universal characters and genres.
11.7: The student will write in a variety of forms, with an emphasis on
persuasion
11.10: The student will analyze, evaluate, synthesize and organize
information from a variety of
sources to produce a research project

Essential Questions:
1. What connections between literature and history can be made?
2. How are parody and satire used in various works of literature and
film?
3. How effective are parody and satire in communicating an author’s
point of view?
4. How are satires used to influence society’s view on a topic?
Objectives:
• Explain the meaning of parody and satire
 ○ Explain the importance of these elements in literature in
determining the following:
 Author’s point of view on topic
 Author’s main argument
 Society’s point of view on topic
 Society’s influence on the author concerning topic
• Produce a video satirizing an event or person discussed in their U.S.
History class
○ Create, edit and organize a script for the video produced

Tools and Resources

• Word processing program
• Mini whiteboards and dry erase markers
• Journals
• Video for anticipatory set
• Additional political cartoons, videos or audio for the next 2 weeks
• LCD projector
• Copies of the rubrics for each student
• Textbooks for reference (both English and History)
• School issued laptops
• Internet access
• Video camera
• Any props students choose to use in video

Preparation
Technology/Classroom Arrangement and Management Strategies:
• Students will be allowed time in class to gather ideas and do research.
Two class periods will be allotted for researching purposes. All video
filming must be done on the students’ own time.

Prerequisite technology skills needed by students:

• Basic working knowledge of the Internet and word processing skills.
• Basic filming/editing skills
• Basic script writing skills

Lesson Development
Focus and Review of previous work/knowledge:
Through the anticipatory set, students will review their knowledge of parody
and satire. The students will make literature/historical connections with the
review of parody and satire through knowledge of The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn and examining a video dealing with Twitter.

Anticipatory set:
The class will be divided into four different groups. Each group will be
assigned a question to answer based on their previous knowledge. The
answers will be written on their groups’ mini whiteboard.
Group 1 and 3: What is a satire? How is it connected to a parody?
Group 2 and 4: What is a parody? How is it connected to a satire?
Then, the groups will discussthe question: How have we seen satire and
parody in reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

The class will then be shown the video through the LCD projector. Explain
this clip is from a movie called “Downfall,” which deals with WWII. This
particular scene deals with a crisis Hitler faced during the war. After the
video, the class will discuss, as a whole, what is being satirized and how (The
parts with language will be skipped over). The following should be
discussed:
- The satirizing of Twitter in the video
- The satirizing of Hitler/ WWII in the video
- The satirizing of our current society in the video
- What is the “author’s” point of view on Twitter and today’s society?
- Was the video effective in getting the author’s argument/point of view
across?
- List possible audiences of the video.
Instructional Activity:
Class 1: Students will be divided into groups of 5, making sure each group
has access to a video recorder, and assigned the following:
- Choosing any event or person in U.S. history, you will produce a video
satirizing that particular event or person.
- You will write a script corresponding to the video you produce.
- At the beginning of your script, you must state your intended
audience, time period and
any vital information your classmates will need to understand
the satire. You will present
this information to the class prior to showing your video.
- Each group member will be involved in producing and writing the
video.
- Each group member must be in the video for at least 1 minute;
although he/she is not
required to speak for the entire minute.
- The video cannot exceed 10 minutes, but must be at least 5
minutes long.
- Your topic must be submitted and approved by the teacher before
the next class meeting.
- You will submit a status report one week from Class 1.
- Your final project will be due two weeks from Class 1.
- Your video will be viewed in class, and graded by your peers as well.
- This project will count as a test grade.
The students will then be given the rest of the class period to begin choosing
their topic and research. Students will also be handed the rubrics to help
clarify exactly what is expected of their group.
Class 2: After having their topic approved, the class will be given a little
direction guiding them to useful websites. The rest of the periodwill be spent
researching and putting together their plan for the video. There will be no
more class time allotted for research or collaboration, the rest must be done
on the students’ own time.

Guided practice and checking for understanding (student activities):

At the beginning of each class leading up to the due date, students will be
shown a cartoon, video or hear an audio piece that satirizes an event or
person. The students will then be given 5 minutes to write in their journals
their responses to the satirical piece shown. A short class discussion will be
held after the students have written in their journals. Here are few sources
to consult:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/,
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/bldailyfeed5.htm,
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/satire/Political_Satire_Political_Parodies.ht
m, http://www.esquire.com/the-side/video/best-satire-videos,
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/satirical.asp

Independent practice (student activities):

• Students will film and research in their groups outside of class. The
students will also write up a script corresponding to their film. Through
these activities, students will practice their writing skills, critical
thinking skills and persuasion skills.

Closure:
• The students’ final satirical products will be viewed in class two weeks
from Class 1. Each student will turn in a peer evaluation for each
group member prior to the beginning of this class. Each student will fill
out a peer evaluation for all the other groups after watching their
video.
• At the end of the videos, a short class discussion will be held focusing
on what the video attacked, effectiveness of satire, targeted audience,
and any needed clarification.
• At the end of class, a discussion will focus on the students’ reflection
on the assignment. The students will discuss the importance of satire
with respect to literature and politics. The students will discussthe
effectiveness of using satire in general. They will also share positive
and negative feedback to the assignment.

Evaluation Procedure
Assessment of objectives:
- The students’ understanding of satire/parody, importance of satire
with respect to literature and
politics will be assessed through:
– Final production of videos (using peer evaluations as
well)
– Class discussions
– Daily journal entries throughout lesson
– Peer evaluations
 - The students’ writing skills will be assessed through the script
submitted with the video.

Peer Evaluation (students in each group will evaluate each other’s

performance during the project)
For ratings 5,1, or 0, please provide a pithy explanation.

Student being rated: 5 4 3 2 1 0

Student’s contribution to
the making of the video.
 Student’s contribution to
the writing of the script.

Student’s contribution to
the research of the topic.

Student’s cooperation in the

process.

Student’s overall
performance throughout the
project.

Score: ________/ 25

Peer Evaluation (One or two students will be selected to rate other groups
on their video and discussion. These students will change with each group.)
For ratings 5, 1, or 0, please provide a pithy explanation.

Group being rated: 5 4 3 2 1 0

The video’s effectiveness in

satirizing the stated topic.
 The video’s connection to
an American historical event
or person.

Each member contributes to

the class discussion.

Score: ________/ 15

Group Rubric (to be used by teacher for script, video and discussion)

Group being rated: 5 4 3 2 1 0

The video’s effectiveness in

satirizing the stated topic.
(10 pts)
 The video’s connection to
an American historical event
or person.

Each member contributes to

the class discussion.

Video’s visual and audio

quality.

Video meets required

length:
between 5-10 minutes,
each member appears for at
least 1 minute.
Group’s knowledge of the
topic
(seen through the video’s
content, discussion and
opening comments).
(10 pts)

The script’s correspondence

to the video.

The script’s grammar.

Proper reference to sources

consulted within the script.
 Teacher Score: _____/ 55
+ Progress Report: _____/5 (the group can only receive a 5 or 0. 5 if
submitted, 0 if not)
+ Peer Evaluation: _____/ 25
+ Peer Evaluation: _____/ 15
= Total Score: _____/ 100 Letter grade:_____