Summary
In this lesson, students will read and compare two short stories by Roald Dahl looking specifically at the female leads and reflecting on societal assumptions.
Essential Question(s)
What is gained and missed from making assumptions? How do assumptions influence our perceptions of individuals?
Snapshot
Engage
Students watch a video clip and contemplate who the villain is.
Explore 1
Students participate in a Honeycomb Harvest about villains and their characteristics.
Explain 1
Students read “The Landlady” and begin the “Says/Means/Reveals” chart.
Explore 2
Students re-visit the Honeycomb Harvest and use sticky notes to describe how their thinking may have changed.
Explain 2
Students read “Lamb to the Slaughter” and complete the “Says/Means/Reveals” attached chart.
Extend
Students write a “Dateline-esque” interview with questions and answers based on a character from either story.
Evaluate
Students write an exit ticket to respond to culminating prompt.
Materials
Honeycomb Harvest handout (attached; one per pair)
Chart-Says/Means/Reveals (attached; one per pair)
Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram (attached; one per student)
“The Landlady” by Roald Dahl (attached and linked; one per student)
“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl (attached and linked; one per student)
Pen/pencil
Sticky notes
Scissors (to cut out Honeycomb Harvest)
Plastic baggies or envelopes (to store Honeycomb Harvests)
Paper for writing
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to introduce the lesson to students by displaying slide 2. Share the lesson’s essential questions and learning objectives on slides 3 and 4.
Display slide 5 and play the Dateline: Point Blank video for students.
Ask students follow-up questions that encourage them to think about how the story and people involved are portrayed.
Who do you think the killer is?
How was the criminal portrayed?
Is the ‘bad guy’ always who you think it is?
What has to happen to make a person ‘snap’?
Explore #1
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 6. Introduce students to the Honeycomb Harvest strategy. Group students in pairs and distribute the Honeycomb Harvest cards to them. As they are working, monitor, and ask probing questions to help them determine why they chose these connections. Ask students to share out with the whole class. Encourage questions and discussion. Instruct students to keep their cards in place. They will return to this activity later in the lesson.
Explain #1
25 Minute(s)
Display slide 9. Share some background information about the author of the two short stories covered in the lesson.
Display slide 10. Pass out the attached story, “The Landlady,” and the attached Chart-Says-Means-Reveals. You can also share the link to the story on CommonLit. Go over the expectations for each column in the chart.
Says: Excerpts from the text, include the page or paragraph number.
Means: What does the text factually say?
Reveals: What does the text reveal about the characters or story?
While students read, have them fill out the Says/Means/Reveals Chart with details about characters in the story.
Once all students have completed reading the story, have them partner with someone sitting near them and discuss how they responded to each of the excerpts from the text.
Explore #2
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 11. Instruct students to revisit their Honeycomb Harvest sort activity. In this round, ask them to re-evaluate how they sorted their cards since the last reading. If they choose to make any changes, they should record these and their reasoning on a sticky note. Walk around to monitor discussion and check for changes in thinking. Ask for volunteers to share out with the whole class how their thinking or connections have changed since reading “The Landlady.”
Explain #2
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 12. Pass out the attached story, “Lamb to the Slaughter.” You can also share the link to the story on CommonLit. This time, while students read, instruct them to select their own excerpts that they want to analyze. Have them complete the Says/Means/Reveals table they started previously with details about characters in the story.
Once everyone has completed the reading, have them partner with someone sitting near them to discuss which excerpts from the text they chose and how they responded to each of them.
Extend
120 Minute(s)
Remind students of the Dateline clip they watched earlier and the interview-style portions that occur between the journalist and those associated with the victim or investigation.
Display slide 13. Have students work in pairs or small groups to compose an interview script. Instruct them to focus on the characteristics of the main characters in the short stories as they compose their questions and answers:
How might you describe your neighbor, Mrs. Maloney?
What would you say that the Landlady was like?
Once students have had time to write and possibly record their interview, display slide 17. Give them time to act out or show their created videos and share out their experiences.
Evaluate
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 18. Pass out the attached Compare and Contrast Venn Diagram. Focusing on the characteristics of the two main characters, have students compare and contrast the Landlady with Mrs. Maloney.
Display slide 19. For their Exit Ticket, instruct students to complete a Quick Write by responding to the questions on the slide and using evidence from work done throughout the lesson to support their responses.
Resources
CommonLit. (n.d.). The Linville River Farm Bed and Breakfast, No Longer in Operation. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-landlady
Dahl, R. (1953). Lamb to the slaughter. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/lamb-to-the-slaughter
Dahl, R. (1959). The landlady. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-landlady
Dateline. (2020). Point blank. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/VioMHyk9fts.
DK Pictures, Inc. (n.d.). Do ink. [Creativity App]. http://www.doink.com/
K20 Center. (n.d.) Bell Ringers and Exit Tickets. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/125
K20 Center. (n.d.). Honeycomb Harvest. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/61
K20 Center. (n.d.). Quick Write. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/1127
Seattle Municipal Archives. (2013). Home economics instructor. [Digital Image]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_economics#/media/File:Home_ec_mary_norris_seattle.gif.
Van Dijk, H. (2014). Roald Dahl (1982). [Digital Image]. Wikimedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roald_Dahl_(1982).jpg.
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