Summary
In this lesson, students will compose haiku inspired by an analysis of the connection between smell and memory in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby."
Essential Question(s)
What can a person's sense of smell reveal about their memories and emotions?
Snapshot
Engage
Students watch a video about the connections between smell and memory.
Explore
Students read and discuss an article about the connections between smell and memory, and then look for these connections within text evidence from The Great Gatsby.
Explain
Students compose haiku using the connections between smell and memory that they identified in The Great Gatsby.
Extend
Students arrange their haiku into visual concrete poems.
Evaluate
Students' work is evaluated using a rubric.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Smell handout (attached; one per student)
Smell and Memory Jigsaw Article (attached; one per student)
Paper and writing materials
Memory Haiku Rubric (attached)
Engage
Display slide 3, and present the lesson's essential question: What can a person's sense of smell reveal about their memories and emotions?
Engage students in a Think-Pair-Share activity to get them thinking about the sense of smell.
Think: Ask students to think about the Quick Write prompt on slide 4, and give them a few minutes to choose an event and write a description of how that event smells.
Pair: Display slide 5. Have students each find an Elbow Partner and discuss what they wrote.
Share: Display slide 6. Ask students to share their thoughts with the whole class.
Display slide 7, and share the video, titled How Smell Triggers Memories.
After watching the video, ask students what they found new and interesting in the information that was presented. What connections can they identify between the video and their Quick Write?
Explore
Now that students have begun thinking about the connection between memory and smell, they will work together in groups to read an article written on the subject.
Divide students into five groups. and pass out copies of the "Smell and Memory" Jigsaw Article. This handout has an excerpt from an online article called “Why Do Smells Trigger Memories?” by Sabrina Stierwalt. The handout is divided into three different sections and can be read by having students use the Jigsaw strategy.
Assign each group a different section to read. (The sections are numbered on the handout.) Groups are responsible for reading only the section assigned to them and then will share what they learned with the whole class.
After students have completed reading their assigned sections, display the quote from Vladimir Nabokov on slide 8: “Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it.”
Give students a few minutes to read and think about the quote, and then ask, What is the connection between your assigned passage and this quote? What did you learn from your reading that gives you perspective on this quote?
After discussing connections between the "Smell and Memory" Jigsaw Article and the Nabokov quote, ask students to consider how this sensory link might relate to The Great Gatsby.
Explain
After students have shared their ideas about how the sense of smell relates to The Great Gatsby, display slide 9. This slide has a quote from chapter 5, which reads: “With enchanting murmurs Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils and the frothy odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate.”
This quote provides a clear example of where the sense of smell is mentioned in the text; Daisy is on Jay Gatsby’s grounds and can smell the distinct aroma of the various flowers. Ask students to use their notes from the Quick Write exercise about smell and memory to consider which memories might be conjured for Daisy from smelling those flowers.
Pass out a copy of the handout The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Smell to each student. This handout will walk students through the process of brainstorming and writing a haiku.
The quote from slide 9 appears at the top of the handout. Tell students that before they fill out the handout on their own, you will work through an example as a whole class. Use the quote as inspiration to fill out an example of the Brainstorming chart on the board. For example, in the "Memories Evoked" section, students might make the following observation: Daisy might remember what it was like to be young and in love with Jay before he left to make his fortune.
After working with students to fill out the example chart on the board, connecting The Great Gatsby to the sense of smell in the novel, discuss the steps that students will take to write their own haiku. To introduce haiku, first ask students what they know about this poetic form. Slides 10 and 11 hold information about and examples of this traditional Japanese poem.
After introducing students to the haiku format (or refreshing their memories), display slide 12. Prompt students to consider a character from the novel who has a "side" that the other characters might not see. Solicit opinions as to how critical reading skills can help the reader to see these "hidden" sides.
Refer back to the handout. Using Slides 12 and 13, break down specifics for the assignment. Inform students that they will be writing their own haiku, but they will be connecting it to scent and memory in The Great Gatsby.
Leave slide 12 up as you talk as a class about the Memory Haiku. Consider asking questions such as, Which characters from the text do you think might have memories associated with a scent? and What imagery comes to mind when you think of a character's memory? Provide plenty of support for students during the brainstorming stage. Refer to the directions on the handout and slides 12 and 13, and reinforce that the Memory Haiku will follow a traditional 5/7/5 syllable pattern, begin with a title, and end with a piece of cited text evidence that shows the connection between the sense of smell and memory.
Ask students to type or write their final versions of the haiku on a separate sheet of paper.
Extend
As an optional extension, consider having students turn their haiku into concrete poetry. Begin by showing students the example in slide 14, “Forsythia,” by Mary Ellen Solt. Afterward, display slide 15, and explain to students that concrete poetry takes the visual shape of the object or theme described in the poem. Examples of concrete poetry can be found here. (You will find this same link in slide 15.) The original haiku are beautiful as they are, and they should be presented and hung in the classroom if space allows, but the visual bonus of concrete poetry gives them an extra boost.
Evaluate
You will find attached to this lesson a Memory Haiku Rubric that can be used to evaluate your students’ poetry. You also have the option of passing out this rubric during the Explain phase if you want your students to have an understanding of your expectations for the activity.
Resources
Fitzgerald, F. S. (1925). The great gatsby. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/ccc07ea2d6099763c2dbc9d05b00c4b4
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f507c1b8
K20 Center. (n.d.). Quick write. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/816ff8a793dedf6ff5046224f80a1d35
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think-pair-share. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f5064b49
Nabokov, V. (1970). Mary. McGraw Hill.
SciShow. (2015, July 20). How smells trigger memories [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY-HbcPInXw
Stierwalt, S. (2019, December 31). Why do smells trigger memories? Quick and Dirty Tips. https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/science/why-do-smells-trigger-memories