Lesson Plan

Lesson 1: Language Analysis Based on Stave 1

Photo caption

Scrooge and the Ghost of Marley by Arthur Rackham.

To complete this lesson, students need to have read the first stave or chapter of the story, which precedes Scrooge’s encounters with the ghosts promised by Marley’s spirit. Worksheet 1 involves them in decoding language based on context (CCSS RL 8.4) and engages them in close examination of parts of the text, all of which stress Scrooge’s coldness and isolation. Note that chapters in this work are also known as “staves. By focusing on selected passages, students understand Dickens’ language and recognize the protagonist’s adamant refusal to participate in the holiday celebrated by everyone around him.

Guiding Questions

What does A Christmas Carol teach us about life and humanity?

How does Dickens use symbolism throughout A Christmas Carol?

Learning Objectives

Analyze the meanings of words and phrases based on textual context.

Describe and analyze Ebenezer Scrooge as he is presented in the opening stave.

Lesson Plan Details

Content Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Preparation

Read stave 1 of A Christmas Carol

Worksheet 1. Identifying the Meanings of Words and Phrases

Worksheet 1. Identifying the Meanings of Words and Phrases (teachers version)

Lesson Activities

Activity 1. Language Analysis Based on Stave 1

Invite general responses to the novel’s characters and style, including any factors that make the reading a challenging experience.

Explain that A Christmas Carol was written nearly two centuries ago during a time often referred to as the Victorian Period in honor of England’s reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. You may want to have students peruse EDSITEment-reviewed Victorian Web to get a sense of gender roles, class differences, and social mores of the time.

Point out that it is often possible to figure out the meanings of words and phrases based on how they are used in a text. [Teachers might provide examples of decoding words using context clues, such as:

Terry Tierney was an unhappy, surly, morose individual. (The word “unhappy” clues readers into the meanings of the other generally less familiar words.)
The painting depicts a bucolic scene of shepherds and flocks of sheep on a rustic hill. (The scene in the picture indicates that both “bucolic” and “rustic” relate to life far from urban centers.)

Have students work in small groups to use Worksheet 1 to analyze language in stave 1. Emphasize close textual study as a tool to understanding words and phrases. Follow with whole-class review, using the teachers version of Worksheet 1.

Follow-up discussion questions:

Consider how Charles Dickens used the opening chapter to convey a clear image of the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge. Many of the author’s word choices relate directly to cold, dismal, miserly traits (tight-fisted, squeezing, wrenching, grasping, steel, bitterer, etc.).

What are your main impressions of Scrooge? Are there people like him in real life today?
What might be Marley’s reasons for appearing at Scrooge’s home and promising a series of visions?
What do the other characters in the story seem to think of Scrooge? Why, for example, does the nephew persist in trying to lure Scrooge into a holiday spirit?
What sorts of visions do you expect Scrooge will experience? Why might his responses be both curiosity and trepidation?

Assessment

Have students write short essays in which they describe the life and personality of Scrooge as he is described in the opening stave. Require the use of textual support, including quotations, as well as at least three words or phrases from Worksheet 1.