Lesson Plan Overview

1. Focus: This assignment is meant to familiarize my students with Microsoft Word. As an English Teaching major I have used this program substantially and there were many things I didn’t know about the program until I figured it out for myself in college. This lesson plan will include a thorough introduction and overview of Word and the most common things you need to know for the years to come and the papers that will come with those years. The actual assignment will consist of a reflective journal that will be written throughout the course of our reading of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye. Some days I will provide the class with a prompt for something to write about for that specific day, but other days will just be free write responses to the section of text we read and studied for that day. These journal entries will be written and correctly noted in Word, saved as an attachment to each student’s e-mail address and e-mailed to me by 8:00 pm on the due date. Not only will this assignment help the students familiarize themselves with Word, but it will also allow me to make sure they are keeping up on their reading.

2. Subject Matter and Grade Level:
10th grade Language Arts
Responding to Salinger's Catcher in the Rye through the use of Microsoft Word and e-mail

3. Language Arts - 10th Grade -Standard 1
Students use comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading.

4. Technologies being used:
Microsoft Word
School provided e-mail system
Internet access

5. I will show my students examples of good journal entries that will give them an idea exactly what I am looking for. I am also going to go through step by step with them the attachment/e-mail process.

6. Ethical Issues Addressed:
The reason I have selected this activity for this particular response is because I want to know how my students are responding to a book which brings up and addresses some very controversial issues. This book has been banned in some states; however, I think it is a valuable piece of literature and one that influenced me significantly during my high school years. I will have my students sign a form at the beginning of the year which makes them aware of the literature we will be studying in class. They will have the opportunity to bypass a piece of literature for a similar assignment if they choose not to study what we are studying in class. I will also be prepared to explain my reasoning to any questioning parents who ask why I am requiring this particular book for my classroom