You are on page 1of 3

Kaycee Hallett High School English 11-12 LESSON PLAN: Sherlock Holmes: Literatures relevance in popular culture Lesson

Objective: 1. Show that Sherlock Holmes is a popular character in todays culture. 2. Show that many popular television shows or characters adopted several of the aspects of Sherlock Holmes. 3. Show that the literature and writing of Sherlock Holmes is considered so well done that it is often borrowed, sometimes in direct quotes. Standards: L.11-12.2: Take the information gathered from an oral/print source and compare with information gathered from the visual sources to decide on the similarities and differences of the Sherlockian characters
Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.

L.11-12.4: In students written work they should be able to give evidence and present their argument clearly as to why the character they chose compares to Sherlock Holmes.
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

L.11-12.5: Students will use digital media (YouTube videos) to help support their comparison argument.
Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Time 1- 45 (some 1-55) minute class period Materials/Prep Sherlock Holmes book Clips from Sherlock, Psych, The Batman, Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock Holmes 2 Laptops for every student

Smart board to present video clips Paper Pen/Pencil

Beginning of Lesson 5 minutes 1. Have each student come in and get a laptop, sign in, and set it aside (if a two class lesson the first day will not get computers). Then give the students 1 minute to write down some of their favorite/famous mystery solving characters 10 minutes 2.Announce to the students that you will be reading out loud an excerpt from Sherlock Holmes and they should remember some of the notable features of the characters. Read out loud an excerpt from the original Sherlock Holmes stories: The scene in Sign of Four where Sherlock is explaining to Watson how he knew all that stuff about him. Have a discussion of the characteristics seen and have the students come up to the smart board and write down what they saw. Keep this information to one side of the smart board on one side of a chart. Middle of Lesson: 20 minutes 3. Show video clips of detective shows that have characteristics related to Sherlock: Psych Season 2 Episode 1 American Duos; Trailer stopped electrocution scene, The Batman: Season 4 Episode 1 Family Matters; Figures out where Zuko is from a bag of popcorn Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows; confrontation with Moriarty in his office OR train explosion that was no accident it was by design OR smoke out the bad guy scene OR boxing scene Sherlock (BBC) Season 1 Episode 1; cab explanation of Watson scene 30 minutes 4. After the clips are shown (even after each clip) have the students give similarities and write them down on the smartboard and compare the characteristics they heard in the book to the ones that they saw in the clips shown. Discussion on what similarities they saw in-between the clips How was the character similar to Sherlock Holmes?. Discuss how the characters are similar to the books written in the 1890s. 45 minutes (Or possibly on a second class session) 5. Have them take the laptops and search the characters on the list that they wrote down at the beginning of class and go to YouTube and find short clips of the characters and how they solve crimes etc. and write down what they see in these characters that is reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes (if in a separate class have them write paper/present the character found). If one class (and short of time) instead of paper/presentation they can discuss characters as a group and

then the group can tell what the found to the class time permitting. Differentiation: Can remove clips shown if the discussion runs long; if discussion runs short can add clips or give them more time to search or show a few of the clips that they find on YoutTube and let them present the clip and the similarities. Possible Pitfalls/Solutions: 1. YouTube is a distracting site, I will make sure to announce how much time is left for the search/write portion of the class 2. Time it takes to load/find the clips.... I will try to put all the clips together on one disk to save on loading time 3. Students may become disengaged during the videos so I will pick clips that are no longer than approx. 3 minutes 4. Students may become disengaged during the reading so I will read an excerpt of no longer than approx 3 minutes Plan B: If the students dont seem to be interested in the clips that I plan on presenting initiate Plan B: Read the excerpt of Sherlock Holmes, then lead a discussion of how Sherlock can be found in popular characters in the media today, then allow the children to go on YouTube and find their own character clips and take turns presenting the clips to the class and explaining how they can relate to Sherlock Holmes. ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians Met: Standard 3.3 Information Technology Use of video in the lesson and the use of the SmartBoard to engage students. Standard 2.4 Literacy Strategies Collaborated with English teachers to ensure that students are able to take meaning from the text and to ensure that students are able to see literatures relevance to them. Standard 1.2 Effective and knowledgeable teacher Collaborated with teachers and introduced and reinforced information relevant to the class using digital media technology Standard 2.2 Reading Promotion Able to promote reading by expressing my enjoyment in the Sherlock Holmes stories and by linking the enjoyment of the books to other types of media students already enjoy

You might also like