Summary
Nothing brings out the opinions of someone who loves a text like an adaptation. “The book was better!” (Or was it?) In this lesson, students will explore the idea of adaptation using Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and some of the various adaptations made from it. Students will contemplate what makes adaptations good/successful and what adaptations have to say about the world they are adapted from and adapted into. Students will adapt a scene from Pride and Prejudice in groups, focusing on the characters and their motivations.
Essential Question(s)
Why do we adapt established texts and media? What makes an adaptation good? What do we gain and lose when a text is adapted? How do we stay true to an original text while adapting it to new scenarios?
Snapshot
Engage
Students brainstorm and define what makes a good adaptation and what elements need to be considered when adapting a text, especially to a different medium.
Explore
Students familiarize themselves with Jane Austen and the plot and characters of Pride and Prejudice then deep dive in small groups into an assigned chapter of the novel.
Explain
As a class, students analyze a chapter of the novel with a focus on characters, their motivations, and how those things affect the scene. Students then evaluate various adaptations of the same chapter of the novel.
Extend
Students work with their group to adapt the chapter assigned to them in the Explore section in a manner of their choosing, focusing on balancing the original characters’ personalities and motivations with the new scenarios of their adaptations.
Evaluate
Students present their adaptation to their classmates and reflect on the choices their group made.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Novel Chapter Handouts (attached; one per student)
Character Sheet (attached; one per student)
Video Reflection (attached; one per student)
Adaptation Planning Guide (attached; one per group)
Mirror, Microscope, Binoculars (attached; one per student)
Plot Summary and Character Relationships (attached; one per student; optional)
Art Supplies (depending on how adaptations are made)
Multiple colors of highlighters (enough for each character in one chapter to have their own color)
Laptops or Chromebooks
Access to YouTube
Engage
20 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the lesson. Begin by displaying slides 1-3 to present the title, essential questions, and the learning objectives in as much detail as needed.
Display slide 4. Discuss the meaning of “adaptation” with the students.
Have students think for a minute and recall any adaptations they have seen and what they liked and/or disliked about them. Then, have them share for a minute or two with an Elbow Partner. This will prepare them to engage in the 8-up strategy.
Display slide 5 to show the questions “What makes a good adaptation?” and “What things need to be considered when adapting a text to a different medium?” for students to see. Lead students in a discussion of these questions, asking them to generate a list of ideas before having them synthesize these ideas into an answer using the 8-Up strategy.
Use slides 6-8 to guide students through the 8-up activity. Divide students into eight (8) groups. Have them decide on the top three things necessary for a good adaptation. Ask them to be specific as they make their initial three definitions. As the groups are joined and the definition whittled down, it should become more generalized. Have the groups put any culled pieces of their definition in a central location (such as written on a whiteboard or typed in a shared document displayed for all to see). At the end of the activity, there should be a generally agreed-upon definition of what makes a good adaptation with an additional list of considerations for making the adaptation (created from the culled pieces of the groups).
Display slide 9 with the link to the “hand flex” scene from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie. Show memes that feature this scene on slide 10. Talk about how some adaptations take on a life of their own, using this short video as an example of an adaptation becoming iconic for something not in the original text. This introduces the novel for the rest of the lesson.
Explore
35 Minute(s)
Introduce the plot of Pride and Prejudice to students on slide 11. You can use the attached Plot Summary and Character Relationships handout and/or show one of the many summaries of Pride and Prejudice that can be found on YouTube. Use the one that works for your purposes. If time allows, the book could be read in its entirety.
Distribute the attached Pride and Prejudice Chapter 34 (also Volume II, Chapter XI) handout to all students. Display slide 12 and introduce the Categorical Highlighting strategy to students. Assign different colors to the various characters in their chapter. Read the chapter as a class, highlighting each character to keep track of their dialogue and movement throughout the chapter.
Then show the two video clips of different adaptation of scenes from this chapter on slides 13 and 14.
Move to slide 15. Discuss the characters and have students fill out the Character Sheets (attached). After reading the chapter, lead students in watching scenes from movies and shows that were inspired by and/or based on Pride and Prejudice.
Divide the students into small groups (group sizes will vary depending on your class needs, but it is recommended not to have more than four students per group). Assign a different adaptation of chapter 34 from the list below to each group.
Zombies: Pride and prejudice and zombies // Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy fight scene
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: Are You Kidding Me! - Ep: 60
Bride & Prejudice: Bride and Prejudice (9/10) Movie CLIP - I Was Right About You (2004) HD
Bridget Jones’ Diary: I Like You Just The Way You Are - Bridget Jones' Diary | RomComs
Wishbone: Wishbone: Furst Impressions Part 2 (proposal scene at 8:08)
They should take notes in their Video Reflection handout (attached) and discuss how the adaptation stays true to and differs from the chapter. Have students respond to the following questions (shown on slide 16):
Which adaptation did you watch?
Do the characters remain true enough to the original that it is believable they are based on the original characters?
Do the characters act in ways the original character would if they lived in the world established by the adaptation?
Explain how so and how not.
Have each group share with the whole class a summary of their group’s discussion and the reasoning behind their answers for the adaptation they watched.
Explain
40 Minute(s)
Assign and distribute the attached Pride and Prejudice Chapters (one per student; group members have the same chapter, but each group has a different chapter) and attached Character Sheets to all students. Return to the Categorical Highlighting strategy on slide 17 and instruct them to go through this chapter as a group in the same way the whole class went through Chapter 34 together.
After students have read and highlighted their chapter, have them discuss it within their group and complete the character sheets together. Students may already have filled out a character sheet for these characters in their previous activity. They should make additions/revisions if they feel new information has surfaced in this chapter. As a group, they should agree on one thing from their character sheet that is the most defining characteristic of each of the characters.
Extend
45 Minute(s)
Display slide 18 and have groups move to the chapter they were assigned in the Explain. Working together, they will decide how to adapt the chapter. Students should establish the rules of the world of their adaptation. If it is based in reality, their rules should be accurate or broken for a reason they can articulate and defend. Provide each group with the Adaptation Planning handout (attached) and have students in each group respond to the provided questions as they develop the concept for their adaptation:
KEEP: What elements of your chapter will be kept intact so your adaptation still feels like Pride and Prejudice?
CHANGE: How will you deviate from the original? (place, time, perspective, genre, etc.)
RATIONALE: Explain why you took this approach to adapting the chapter. What theme or message is emphasized by your changes?
Projects should incorporate a multimodal element. Options include:
LINGUISTIC/ALPHABETIC: written and spoken words
VISUAL: images (video, photos, artwork)
AURAL: sound, music
GESTURAL: movement, expression, body language
SPATIAL: position, physical arrangement, proximity
Evaluate
60 Minute(s)
Students present their adaptation to the class, focusing on the Keep, Change, Rationale they generated in their Adaptation Planning handout.
After all groups have presented, display slide 20 for a final reflection on the whole lesson.
Using the Mirror, Microscope, and Binoculars strategy, have students reflect on the process of adapting a text with the attached Mirror, Microscope, and Binoculars handout.
Mirror: How has this lesson changed or expanded your thinking about adaptations?
Microscope: What part of the activity was difficult or unexpected? Were you able to be true to the source material and the world of the adaptation?
Binoculars: How do you think modern adaptations of Pride and Prejudice are impacted by what is going on in the world?
Resources
Austen, J. (2003). Pride and Prejudice (V. Jones, Ed.). Penguin Classics.
Austen, J. (1813). Pride and Prejudice. Project Gutenberg. [PDF] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/old/pandp12p.pdf
K20 Center. (n.d.). 8-up. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/2494
K20 Center. (n.d.). Categorical highlighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/192
K20 Center. (n.d.). Mirror, microscope, binoculars. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3020
Screen Bites. (n.d.). Elizabeth Rejects Mr. Darcy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeCBoYbixEk&t=52s
Pride and Prejudice Hand Flex Scene. (n.d.) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Z_LEa5TsE
Pride and Prejudice – Mr Darcy Proposes (n.d.) [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K_9vpUnxh0