Lesson 3: Graphic Organizer
After reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, students will be filling out a graphic organizer based on the six main themes in A Christmas Carol. This graphic organizer will help to make more sense of the major themes in the book and put them in the context of real-life events and people who can back up and support these ideas. Students will complete this graphic organizer within 1-2 class periods after we have finished the entire novel.
To refresh your memory, here are the six themes again:
Theme 1: Each person in society has a responsibility to help the poor and uneducated.
Theme 2: The individual can do much to relieve human suffering.
Theme 3: Happiness comes mainly from caring about others and being cared for.
Theme 4: Having great wealth makes people selfish and uncaring.
Theme 5: Kindness and generosity usually triumph over selfishness.
Theme 6: A person can change through self-knowledge.
In your graphic organizer, you will be finding one quote from the novel that supports each theme, and one quote from the articles I provide you with to also support each theme. First, students will work in groups of four to find the quotes from ACC. Then, students will work individually on the classroom iPads to visit and read the articles provided below and find quotes from these articles that fit and support our six themes. Lastly, we will have a full class discussion about the quotes students have found for the six themes and talk about them further. Overall, you will be finding TWELVE quotes: SIX from A Christmas Carol, and SIX from various articles. After the quote, you must cite either what page you found it on (for A Christmas Carol quotes), or what the title of the article you found it from is.
This assignment covers California State Standard: Reading 3.4 Identify and analyze recurring themes across works (e.g. the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship; the effects of lonliness)
Grading (Check student sample below for more help):
- Quotes are worth 2 points each (24 points total for quotes). A fantastic quote will receive a 2, an okay quote will receive a 1, and a quote unrelated to the theme or no quote will receive a 0.
- Citations are worth 1/2 point each. If you forget to put citations on this assignment, you will lose a total of 6 points. Remember: Put page numbers for ACC and the title of the article for articles.
- TOTAL POINTS WORTH: 20
Articles to use:
"Malala: The girl who was shot for going to school" By: Mishal Husain
"Study: The Rich Really Are More Selfish" By: Brad Tuttle
"A Young Gardener Feeds the Poor" By: Diane Herbst
"How I Stopped Drowning in Drink" By: Paul Carr
Skim over these articles and use quotes from them to fill out the left column of your graphic organizer. You may use the same quote (from the articles) up to 2 times, as long as it supports your theme and makes sense. You are NOT allowed to reuse any quotes from the novel. If you prefer to summarize rather than use direct quotes, you may. However, don't forget to cite!
To refresh your memory, here are the six themes again:
Theme 1: Each person in society has a responsibility to help the poor and uneducated.
Theme 2: The individual can do much to relieve human suffering.
Theme 3: Happiness comes mainly from caring about others and being cared for.
Theme 4: Having great wealth makes people selfish and uncaring.
Theme 5: Kindness and generosity usually triumph over selfishness.
Theme 6: A person can change through self-knowledge.
In your graphic organizer, you will be finding one quote from the novel that supports each theme, and one quote from the articles I provide you with to also support each theme. First, students will work in groups of four to find the quotes from ACC. Then, students will work individually on the classroom iPads to visit and read the articles provided below and find quotes from these articles that fit and support our six themes. Lastly, we will have a full class discussion about the quotes students have found for the six themes and talk about them further. Overall, you will be finding TWELVE quotes: SIX from A Christmas Carol, and SIX from various articles. After the quote, you must cite either what page you found it on (for A Christmas Carol quotes), or what the title of the article you found it from is.
This assignment covers California State Standard: Reading 3.4 Identify and analyze recurring themes across works (e.g. the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship; the effects of lonliness)
Grading (Check student sample below for more help):
- Quotes are worth 2 points each (24 points total for quotes). A fantastic quote will receive a 2, an okay quote will receive a 1, and a quote unrelated to the theme or no quote will receive a 0.
- Citations are worth 1/2 point each. If you forget to put citations on this assignment, you will lose a total of 6 points. Remember: Put page numbers for ACC and the title of the article for articles.
- TOTAL POINTS WORTH: 20
Articles to use:
"Malala: The girl who was shot for going to school" By: Mishal Husain
"Study: The Rich Really Are More Selfish" By: Brad Tuttle
"A Young Gardener Feeds the Poor" By: Diane Herbst
"How I Stopped Drowning in Drink" By: Paul Carr
Skim over these articles and use quotes from them to fill out the left column of your graphic organizer. You may use the same quote (from the articles) up to 2 times, as long as it supports your theme and makes sense. You are NOT allowed to reuse any quotes from the novel. If you prefer to summarize rather than use direct quotes, you may. However, don't forget to cite!