The Crucible: An In-Depth Discussion
Time: 85 minutes
Setting: The classroom
Objectives:
a) To have students identify and describe the personality
traits of the main characters in the play
b) To have students make themes of the play relevant
to their own lives through writing
c) To have students further increase their comprehension
of the play by having them take and defend a moral stance of one of the
characters
Background:
This lesson will be done at the end of a three-week unit
on the Puritan lifestyles after reading The Crucible. The Crucible
is significant because it deals with the Salem Witch Trials and how the
Puritan lifestyles influenced the trials. The Salem Witch trials
took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 when a group of young girls
accused women in the town of being witches for their personal benefit.
As the trials continued, the situation continued to get more out of hand,
showing how easily the “mob effect” can create mass pandemonium and perpetuate
lies. For more information on the Salem Witch Trials visit these
websites:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/ http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.htm
Materials:
Their handouts their teacher gave them at the beginning
of The Crucible. Paper, pencils, chalk, chalkboard.
Preparation:
We first wrote The Crucible characters’ names on the
board before the class entered the room. We had also decided on what
main discussion questions we wanted the students to be able to answer as
a group.
Procedure:
Break the students into 5 groups of 5 people each.
Assign each of the groups 2 different character names from the worksheet
that our teacher has previously assigned them to complete before class.
Give each of the groups 10 minutes to complete this task. After that
assign one student from each group to write the character descriptions/traits
on the board. Then, as a class, we discuss each of the 10 characters
and add any other traits to the list of characteristics each of the groups
develop (allow 10 minutes for discussion).
Keeping the students in the same groups, ask each group
to decide which character from the play was the most innocent victim.
Make sure the students prepare a verbal rationale in their groups so that
they can defend their character choices to their classmates (10 minutes).
The students will then share their decisions and rationales in a large
group discussion (15 minutes). Have the students arrange their desks
in a circle formation to answer the prepared debate question. Split
students down the center of the circle to form two groups that will defend
two opposing sides of the debate. Students will have 10 minutes to
come up with a defense for their position. Then, the two groups will
present their arguments and will have to the opportunity to challenge the
opposing side’s argument as well (15 minutes). After the debate,
students will have 15 minutes to answer the prepared free-write question
on their own.
Discussion Ideas:
Who is the most innocent victim in the play?
Was Abigail justified in perpetuating the lies of the
Salem Witch Trials? For this question, remind the students about the role
of religion, “mob” influence, peer pressure, and Puritan values.
Special Education Accommodations:
Make sure students who are easily distracted are put
in groups with other students who will keep the group on task. Separate
the five groups so that each group is not distracted by another.
Monitor the small groups to make sure students are staying on task.
Talk to students with learning disabilities about the discussion questions
ahead of time so that they have the option to prepare responses before
class.
Assessment:
Assess the students informally by monitoring the groups
during small group discussion. During large group discussion, assess
students informally based on participation. Using a check plus, check,
and check minus system, assess the students’ free-write responses based
on participation/completion.
Extension Ideas:
If there is class time to spare, have students debate
other questions, such as: Did Elizabeth make the right decision in not
convincing her husband John to admit to being a witch?
Outside of class, have students research the impacts
and results of the Salem Witch Trials.
Source of the Activity:
This lesson was created partially in response to handouts
from the students’ literature textbooks. Also, the debate activity
was similar to an activity Dr. Renee Clift incorporated in her C&I
302 course.
Resources and References:
Copy of The Crucible
Copies of handouts from students’ literature textbooks
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.htm
Illinois State English Language Arts Goal(s) and Learning
Standard(s):
2.A.4b—Students have to relate specific literary elements
from the play, such as characters, plot, theme, conflict and resolution,
within their discussions of the given questions.
3.B.4a—Students write responses for a specific audience,
making sure to provide rationales for their viewpoints and adhering to
a clear and logical organization.
4.A.4a—Students are respectful listeners during small
and large group discussions.
4.B.4b—Students cooperate within group settings in order
to reach group goals (especially during the debate activity).
Reflection:
If we were to repeat this lesson, we would focus more
carefully on our set time frames in order to manage class time more efficiently.
For example, students spent a lot of time discussing their opinion of who
the most innocent victim in the play was, causing time delays for our next
activity. Had we adhered to our original time frame, our other activities
would have been given more attention, which they required. Another
change we would make relates to our transitions from small to large group
discussions. We found that too many students were distracted in their
small groups and easily got off task, thus making it difficult for us to
regroup the students for large group discussions. Also, we would
more thoughtfully consider our planned discussion questions to ensure that
they were clear and easily understood by the students. For example,
many students did not understand the definition of “an innocent victim”;
thus, our discussion about this idea was unstructured. During the
debate activity, we could have done a better job at facilitating the discussions,
especially because too many students were talking at once so some students
went unheard and all viewpoints were not validated. Overall, the
lesson was effective because this was one of the first times in our observation
that we ever witnessed the students discuss literature after reading.
We were able to allow students to interact with one another to think critically
about moral dilemmas within the text, and had the students make the events
of the play relevant to their own lives.