TWO LESSON PLANS ON TEACHING A SHORT STORY

Story: “Grandpa and the Statue” by Arthur Miller

BRIEF LECTURE ON CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Character development is perhaps the most important element in a successful

drama. In drama, characters come alive through spoken dialogue and through their actions. Carefully written dialogue, with distinct words and actions, is essential in revealing the character’s private thoughts to the audience. Through the major and minor characters, the playwright is able to develop the theme, or major idea(s) of the play. As you read “Grandpa and the Statue,” pay close attention to what the characters say and do as the play develops. You will see certain characters grow and change, while other characters remain the same. The meaning or the theme of the play and its importance will be revealed through the changes in the characters.

THE SELECTION(attached as a handout)

I.) A SEMI-DETAILED LESSON PLAN

Copies of the selection are distributed to the class. There are three options which may be presented to the class:

a. To read the selection altogetherb. To assign parts to selected members of the classc. To read the selection silently

Whichever option is preferred, the following series of review questions shall be asked to facilitate the students’ comprehension and appreciation of the selection, while also enhancing their creative thinking skills, as well as directing them to look externally and relate the issues tackled in the story to present-day reality.

STUDYING THE SELECTION

A. RECALLING1. What is Young Monaghan looking at when the play begins?2. What does it remind him of?3. What was Grandfather Monaghan’s nickname?4. What did Sheean want Grandfather Monaghan to do?5. Why didn’t Grandfather Monaghan want to contribute?6. Where did Sheean decide to take him?7. What didn’t Grandfather Monaghan like about the sign on the Statue?8. What did Grandfather Monaghan think would happen to the statue?

9. Where did Child Monaghan want his grandfather to take him? Did his grandfather want to go too? Explain.

10. What happened when they actually went inside? What did the veteran tell them?

11. What did Grandfather Monaghan discover on the tablet?12. What did Young Monaghan mean when he said that his grandfather “got all

twisted up with the Statue of Liberty”?13. Why do you think it was so important for the Irish immigrants.of Butler Street

to join forces with mainstream America on this project?14. How do you think Child Monaghan felt after being told by all the boys that

they were going to see the statue?

B. INTERPRETING15. Grandfather Monaghan said, “You’ve got to have faith,” when his grandson

asked him when the statue was going to collapse. What does this answer to his grandson’s question tell you about Grandfather Monaghan’s character?

16. What did the veteran mean when he said, “This statue kinda looks like what we believe”?

17. When do you begin to see the effect that the statue finally had on Grandfather Monaghan?

18. Do you think that the memories that Young Monaghan has of his grandfather’s connection with the statue have affected his attitude

towards the Statue of Liberty? Explain.

C. RELATING19. Name some monuments, statues, or landmarks that have special significance

for Filipinos. Have you ever seen any of them personally? Why do they affect so many Filipinos?

D. EXAMININGIn “Grandpa and the Statue,” the character most fully developed and who

changes, is Grandfather Monaghan. Through Grandfather’s change in attitude and behavior, the theme of putting a higher goal before immediate self interest is played out.

1. In the beginning of the story, Young Monaghan tells the audience his grandfather was the “stingiest man in Brooklyn.” Find the dialogue further into the play that reveals this side of Grandfather’s personality.

2. Grandfather Monaghan does not change on his own. He is motivated by minor characters. One such minor character is the veteran, whom Grandfather meets at the Statue of Liberty. What does the veteran say to Grandfather that makes him rethink his views of the Statue of Liberty?

3. What is the connection between Young Monaghan’s being a patient in an army hospital and theme of the play?

E. THINKINGArthur Miller wrote “Grandpa and the Statue” so that people could think about the

themes of national pride, immigration, and the capacity of people for change. These themes are evident throughout the play, and the audience sees them mainly through the dialogue of Miller’s characters.

1. Write down a line from the play that emphasizes the theme of national pride.2. Write down a line from the play that emphasizes the important role of

immigrants in countries they chose to migrate to.3. Write down a quote from the play that shows a person’s changing his way of

thinking and behaving.

F. WRITINGImagine yourself in the position as Grandfather Monaghan. You were asked to

contribute to a cause and you refuse because you think it is worthless. After arguing, you realize its value.

• Write a dialogue between yourself and the person who asks for the contribution. For example, a person is soliciting your contribution to a cause which attempts to raise money for typhoon victims. Then, write a paragraph describing your feelings both after the argument and then later when you conclude the fund is worthwhile after all. Include answers to the following questions:

1. How did you come to terms with your having been wrong?2. What did it take for you to put away your pride and admit that you were wrong?

EXAMINING DRAMA

II.) A FULLY DETAILED LESSON PLAN

 Before the lesson: The text is assigned to the students for the fact that one hour may not be enough for the whole duration of the activity. It should be kept in mind that the students are used to reading these types of literary texts at home as a homework – being conscious about the fact that this literature lesson can only be accomplished in that way; otherwise time wouldn’t be enough.

 Class: Introduction to Literature Level of the class: Advanced (2nd year college students)Size of the class: 60The Text used: Short story in a play format - “Grandpa and the Statue” by Arthur MillerTime: 45 min. Previous Learning: Elements of short stories.

Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students must be able:

            General: To give information about the role of a “dialogue” in a play (in general, in

communication) and the characteristics of “drama”.            Specific:

1. To understand the setting, the time, the features of characters of the event from the dialogues.

2. To understand the functions of the explanations in brackets given in a play and infer clues for sounds to pretend to be listening to it on the radio.

3. To read and analyze “drama” as a text type. They will learn about the dramatic strategies used in a play. 

 Materials used: The text in their handout as a supplementary material, a cd player.Situation: Before the lesson, reading of the text is assigned to students.  Procedure:         Warm up activity( approximately 5  minutes): Before the lesson, the teacher assigns one of the students to read  the “announcer” part; during this time the teacher turns on the cd player playing a soft music suitable for setting the scene by supplying the students with the background. After the student finishes reading his/her part, the teacher stops the cd player. Then the other student who is assigned by the teacher with August’s part starts reading his part and the teacher reads the Monaghan’s. As August’s turn comes again, the teacher concentrates on August’s turn and makes the students focus on it; because the text has explanation as “(slight pause)”. The sample conversation finishes here and the teacher thanks the students and asks the whole class what they have understood from that explanation; what it means to them.  

            Activity 1( about 5 min.): The teacher asks the students to read and find out the explanations made in italics in a play and asks them to read some examples and make inferences about  what they can signify. The teacher asks: “Why do you think the playwright uses such explanations? What does he want to emphasize?”             Activity 2( about 15  min.): The teacher distributes the handout questionnaire and they try to give answers for the questions on the handouts by making discussion and do activities told. The handout includes:

-         Questions providing the students to get an overview of the text- especially as a text type since “drama” is new for them.

-         Questions which need recalling the text: They are both related with the setting of the play and comprehension qq.

-         Critical thinking and reading: They provide the opportunity to evaluate the situation and comment on it by using their stored knowledge.

             Activity 3( approximately 10 min.): The teacher tells students to look at the conversation  taking place between the children on a street; the teacher reads the conversation and asks for the comments on it; they discuss the situation in the conversation.             Activity 4( about 10 min.): The teacher gives the characteristics and layout of  “drama” as a literary text type. She explains the importance of the dialogue, setting, explanations in brackets, interruptions, characters’ way of talking, etc. ( The teacher’s outline of dramatic strategies is given in the evaluation part.)             Homework: The teacher tells the students to convert a short story into a play by using the dramatic strategies learnt in this lesson –the basic outline is also given in Activity 3. The Ss are free to choose the text (short story); it can be from one of the texts they studied before in the lesson or another one that they like.

HANDOUT QUESTIONNAIRE for “GRANDPA AND THE STATUE”    

A.   Overview upon the text:1. Do we understand for what purpose was the play written? Do we have any clues for this within the text or the explanations made before the text is the only clue for us?2. Does the playwright accomplish the purpose? If so, how?3. Why does the playwright use the explanations in brackets? What do they signify? 4. What can you understand from these explanations? 

B.    Recalling the text:1. Where does the event take place?2. Do we know the time of the event? Does the time change? If so, how can we understand?3. Tell us about the characters in the play. Why are there three Monaghan? Do they talk to each other?

4. How does Grandfather refuse Sheen’s request?5. What does Grandpa predict will happen to the Statue after it’s put up? How do we understand?6. What does the Veteran tell Grandpa that changes his mind about the Statue of Liberty? How do we understand this? What clues do the playwright present us in the play to come to that point? 

C.   Critical Thinking and Reading:1. Why do you think Monaghan responds to Sheean with the following lines?

Monaghan: “I’m not intrested, Sheean”Sheean: Now hold up on that a minute. Let me tell you the facts...Monaghan: I’m not...!Sheean: Before you answer me...Monaghan: I’m not throwin’ me good money away for somethin’ I don’t even

know exists.Sheean: Now what do you mean by that?...

In terms of the above conversation, comment on the characters’ being efficient and powerful in communication. Who is more dominant? Is Sheean successful enough to convince Monaghan or Monaghan stands against whatever he says? What would you say, how would you react to convince one and not to be convinced?

EVALUATION OF THE LESSON PLAN IN TERMS OF TEXTUALITYHere, the process of preparing the lesson plan given above will be evaluated in

terms of the seven standards of textuality following the sequence of items in the lesson plan. 1. The Reason for Choosing This Text:           The general aim of this course is to teach literary text types (Intertextuality requires to know the text type to give meaning by means of the stored knowledge or the text-presented knowledge or the combination of both) and terms while providing them with appropriate reading materials as it is pointed out in the “objectives” part of the lesson plan. Since the students are familiar with literary text types –for example the previously learnt subject was “setting” in short stories-, which provides students to utilize from their experience, the stored knowledge and to sharpen the new one more easily (Intertextuality).   Here, the type of “drama” is intended to be taught by the teacher and the sub-item is “dialogue”, which means that the text is suitable for exemplifying textuality. The teacher’s intention (Intentionality)here is to help the students to know the “drama” as a new (Informativity) text type by providing them with the suitable setting( Situationality). She studies “setting” which composes of four primary concepts(goal negation- Coherence) to help the students to imagine as they are listening to it since the play is such a text type that it requires to be visualized or heard somehow. While doing this, the teacher emphasizes the explanations given in brackets which give idea about the intonation, pitch of voice of the characters (Cohesion). Finally, if the intention of the teacher is successfully accomplished via these activities it

means that the students receive the right message and learn the aimed subject by following the intended directed messages (Acceptability) sent by the teacher.   

 2. The Role of the Materials Used         The music as a background : To make the students include in the setting and help them to visualize the situation; it is essential to use such an authentic and unusual way. It is strengthened by the participation of two students to the warm-up scene.( Note that the other Ss don’t know that these two students are assigned to such a task.)            The text used: The most important characteristics which enable us to use seven standards of textuality effectively is that the text is composed of “dialogues”, which are the basis of communication. What is more, not only does it include the oral communication through conversations but also it includes implications about the body language with the information in the parentheses.             The handout distributed: To evaluate the students. Overview upon the text:

1. Do we understand for what purpose was the play written? Do we have any clues for this within the text or the explanations made before the text is the only clue for us?: Here the aim is to see if the students can grasp the playwright’s intention  ( the teacher’s intention is “to see it”). “Grandpa and the Statue” was originally written to be presented on the radio. Since it is a radio play, as you read, pretend that you are only listening to it, not seeing it performed on the stage. Imagine the sound of the characters’ voices. How would you read the lines? Notice the bracketed directions for music: They signal that the action is shifting from one place to another or from one time to another.”. As it seen here the intention of the text is clearly defined from the beginning and it shows way to the students while reading the text.  The explanations are also mainly for introducing the new (Informativity) text (Intertextuality) to the Ss by providing the setting (Situationality). 

2. Does the playwright accomplish the purpose? If so, how?: The answer of “how” even is given above, which enables the readers to get the right meaning.(Acceptability) Furthermore, while the palywright is utilizing the strategies for drama, he refers to Intertextuality, which includes the storage of that knowledge.(  The teacher might note down the strategies of drama on the left side of the board to be used in the forth step of the lesson while drawing the outline of “drama” as a new text type.)

3. Why does the playwright use the explanations in brackets? What do they signify?: The teacher expects the answers such as to imply the change of setting, characters’ manner, voice, etc..

4. What can you understand from these explanations?: students’ reception is mainly related with “Acceptability” again; this question is to see if the explanations are read by the students as it is intended by the playwright and accepted in the right manner. 

Recalling the text:1. Where does the event take place?2. Do we know the time of the event? Does the time change? If so, how can we understand?: the explanations also provide the clear access to another time. 3. Tell us about the characters in the play. Why are there three Monaghan? Do they talk to each other?            Events, time, characters are all for setting the scene clearly in order for the students to visualize the situation successfully while at the same time are the components of  coherence.

4. How does Grandfather refuse Sheen’s request?5. What does Grandpa predict will happen to the Statue after it’s put up? How do we understand?            “refuse”, “predict” are functions used in communication which serve for goal negotiations that are the items of situationality.

6. What does the Veteran tell Grandpa that changes his mind about the Statue of Liberty? How do we understand this? What clues does the playwright present us in the play to come to that point? The Veteran refers to “The Philippine War”, which means that the playwright refers to another text (Text allusion- Intertextuality). However the reader cannot understand what the Veteran is talking about before things are explained to him, either by a footnote or a spoken explanation. Critical Thinking and Reading:1. Why do you think Monaghan responds to Sheean with the following lines?Monaghan: “I’m not interested, Sheean”

Sheean: Now hold up on that a minute. Let me tell you the facts...Monaghan: I’m not...!Sheean: Before you answer me...Monaghan: I’m not throwin’ me good money away for somethin’ I don’t even

know exists.Sheean: Now what do you mean by that?...

Here recurrence is used as a cohesive device which makes the Monaghan speech impressive and determined; that’s why Sheean always feels to find a way to make explanation and convince him. It should be kept in mind that he couldn’t succeed to do this. Here the Ss most probably realize the effect of repeating the same phrases, which signifies that Monaghan is determined. Yet again, since this is “critical thinking” and open to comments, there shouldn’t be one single expected answer.   3. Activities  Warm up activity : Here the intention of the teacher is to involve the students in the setting of the play to make them understand better the role of music, the role of the explanations in a  radio play( Intentionality; with the students’ participation and having

an understanding of the implied message supplies Acceptability); for this reason the teacher especially focuses on August’s reading of his second turn; the student reading that part should give  slight pause to give the effect in the original play(Situationality) .    Activity 1: The task of finding more examples related with the previous activity is to give variety and to make the students comprehend better the importance of the explanations which serve the aims explained also in the “Look For” section. Apart from this, The students’ inference from these instructions in the play gives rise to the emergence of their stored knowledge on Conventional Implications that are used in communication. The role of the question asked by the teacher serves the reinforcement of that awareness.    Activity 2: The role of handout has been studied in “The Role of the Materials” section.  Activity 3:The conversation is given below with its most remarkable points:( It  takes place between the children on a street) 

Young Monaghan: Makes explanation...Then, the scene changes. (Banging of rocks against milk can)George.(Kid) What’re you doin’?Child Monaghan: What do we look like we’re doing?George: I’m going someplace tomorrow.Charley.(Kid) I know, church. Watch out, I’m throwin’.(Can being hit)George: I mean after church.Jack. Where?George. My old man’s going to take me out on the Statues of Lıberty boat.(Banging against can abruptly stops)Child Monaghan. You’re not going out on the statue, are you?George. Sure, that’s where we’re going.Child Monaghan. But you’re liable to get killed. Supposing there’s high wind

tomorrow?George. My old man says that statue couldn’t fall down if all the wind in the world

and John L. Sullivan hit it at the same time.Child Monaghan. Is that so?George. Yeah, that so... Child Monaghan. Is that so?George. Yeah, That so.

            While studying the above conversation in the class, the students will have to use the discursive devices and the items of textuality  since it is the sample of real, everyday conversation and explains the characteristics of the “drama”. To analyze them, in the first part the dialogue includes the change of the setting as time and place especially. After Young Monaghan explains the situation with the help of the explanation in parenthesis we understand that the scene changes. Following this, the Ss are able to see another explanation in bracket: “(Kid)” which implies that the children will be

talking. The language that the children uses is also crucial to be pointed out here; George says, “...doin?” which is the sample of everyday speech. (There are also unfinished, interrupted sentences in the text ). The parallel examples are “doin’?, throwin’?”. (The language use according to the situation). Following this, Charley says, “...Watch out , I’m throwin’.” Which has “no relevance” (From one of Grice’s maxims- Intentionality); but the situation is made relevant with the help of the explanation in parenthesis: “(Can being hit)”. The other child goes on his speech without any discontinuity ( Informativity, Intertextuality); because the third grade information in the text is downgraded to the second via the explanation in parentheses. The understanding of the other children is provided through the “cooperation principle”; because in everyday speech such kind of problems are solved with the help of the commonly shared communication knowledge. Here the children are talking about where George is going for the next day and their play doesn’t prevent the steam of the conversation; it means that the speaker’s , George’s, intention is accepted by the others. The teacher’s role in the class is that showing the students that such type of conversations are used in every day life as we use in our L1 and they can be understood without any problems.(The term “cooperation principle” won’t be used there of course). In the ongoing conversation Child Monaghan asks, “You’re not going out on the statue, are you?”; he uses question tags as a strategy to emphasize his side for the situation and check his understanding. (Intertextuality) After George’s confirmation , he tries to convince George starting his conversation with “But...” . Accordingly George uses a strategy by referring a convincing agent- John L. Sullivan, who is so powerful for the children; that’s why Child Monaghan begins to question the situation, “Is that so?”. Also in case John L. Sullivan might not be known by the readers , the playwright gives explanation in the footnote ( Text allusion- Intertextuality) since the time of the text is not the same with the time of the receiver’s reading. The repetition of “Is that so?” and “Yeh, that’s so” also exemplifies the effect of recurrence( Cohesion) The students will be able to see the effect of recurrence in a literary text but surely without naming it so.   Activity 4: The teacher gives the characteristics and layout of  “drama” as a literary text type. She explains the importance of the dialogue, setting, explanations in brackets, interruptions, characters’ way of talking, etc. The teacher’s outline of dramatic strategies is given below:            The teacher explains the students that they can meaningfully understand the play although the setting changes many times on account of the fact that Young Monaghan sometimes tells or remembers his past in which he is talking to his grandfather, his friends from childhood, his father’s speech with the others at that time. The teacher makes them see that they can accomplish this via the organization of drama and dramatic strategies  by writing on the board( By the way, the teacher uses her notes on the board written during the handout study):

 Homework: Converting a short story to another text type will give the practice of Intertextuality to the students. Furthermore they will be using the strategies they have learnt for the text type of “drama” (Informativity) by using dramatic strategies, effective dialogue patterns with the escort of the explanations-directions in parentheses

(Situationality). Furthermore, the explanations will give the clue of the speaker’s intention told by the students.(Intentionality)They will build up a situation, use some grammatical strategies(Cohesion) by using the related concepts and giving importance to the primary concepts first(Coherence). If the students accomplish this assignment then it means that they have successfully sorted out the new subject as the teacher aimed to do (Intentionality, Acceptability).