Lesson Plan : Mock Trial
Teacher Name: | Megan Rushford |
Grade: | Grade 9-10 |
Subject: | Language Arts |
Topic: | Who was responsible for the downfall of the island? |
Content: | Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger, Sam & Eric |
Goals: | The students will be able to understand: 1. Lord of the Flies deals with what happens to a group of boys stranded on an island with no adult supervision. 2. Lord of the Flies investigates what happens to civilized people when the structures of civilization disappear. |
Objectives: | The students will be able to come to a conclusion as to who is responsible for the downfall of the island by playing their assigned roles in the mock trial. The class will demonstrate clarity and understanding by using specific quotes from the novel to support their stance. |
Materials: | Lord of the Flies novel |
Introduction: | The class will review what has been discussed in prior classes--the characters and under which leader they are. They will also review what happens in the story and from whose point of view different parts of the story is told. |
Development: | 1) The class will be broken up into three groups: a) One group is the rescued boys who should look at the entire time on the island through Jack�s point of view. b) One group is the rescued boys who should look at the entire time on the island through Ralph�s point of view. c) One group will act as an audience of adult judges�parents, police, and other authority figures; this group will ask questions of the two groups of boys and pass judgment on them. |
Practice: | The groups of Ralph and Jack will prepare facts and quotes to support their sides. The group of adult judges will consider the following questions: 1) What happened? 2) What events does each boy have firsthand knowledge of? 3) What events did each boy only hear about? 4) Which actions will each boy defend the most emphatically? 5) What will each boy say about the others? |
Accommodations: | |
Checking For Understanding: | The group acting as judges should prepare questions for both groups. In order to come to a fair judgment, what do the judges need to find out? How can they look beyond the boys� personalities and leadership styles to find an accurate depiction of what happened on the island? Explain that the judgment group must create questions that elicit both objective and subjective answers. 5. After the adults have interrogated each boy, the judges should meet to formulate their conclusion: Who was responsible for each development during the boys� stay on the island? To what degree? Why do the judges hold specific boys responsible? 6. Judges should give out punishments�and possibly rewards�based on their findings. They may be creative in crafting consequences for each boy and may also consider making recommendations so that in the future society at large can avoid another destruction of a civilized group. |
Closure: | The class as a whole will go over why they think the judges chose the specific character that should have lead the island. |
Evaluation: | The students will be evaluated on their participation in each group. It will be noted which students have prepared questions and planned answers and which have not. |
Teacher Reflections: |
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