World Literature

Class: English 10
Unit Focus: Elie Wiesels Night and The Holocaust
Time Frame: Three Weeks (12 lessons)
Lesson: #8

Objectives:
Students will be able to summarize major actions and conflicts in
Elie Wiesels Night in small group and whole class discussions
Students will be able to analyze the themes, issues, and authors
perspective in Night and use the text to support written and oral
responses
Common Core Standards:
English Language Arts Standards:
Reading: Literature: Grade 9-10:
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the
text.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6
Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected
in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on
a wide reading of world literature.

Speaking and Listening: Grades 9-10:

Comprehension and Collaboration:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse
partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on
others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Language: Grades 9-10:
Conventions of Standard English:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

CA State Standard: World History, Culture, and Geography: The

Modern World:
10.8 Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
5. Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially
against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final
Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six
million Jewish civilians.

Materials: (digital and non-digital)

Digital
Laptops
iPad with Timer
Projector
Non-digital
Class set of Night
Products:
Socratic Seminar Questions and Reflection

Lesson

Opening (8 min)
Greet the class and instruct students to get into their
teams and review their Socratic questions. Then, have
students arrange their chairs into two circlesan inner
circle and a larger outer circle. Each team will have one
member sitting in the inner circle and their two
teammates in the outer circle (one sitting behind their
teammate and the other sitting on the other side of the
circle).

Socratic Seminar Prep (10 min)

Review the Socratic Seminar Rubric and then go over
the Socratic Seminar Rules and Expectations. Post
these expectations at the front of the class so that all
students can clearly read them.

Review process for each student role:

o Discusser: Sits in the middle of the circle and
take an active role in the discussion. This includes
posing questions to the group and responding to
the questions of others.
o Text-expert: Sits in the outer circle behind the
discusser and has the novel ready to be
referenced during discussion.
o Note-taker: Sits opposite of the discusser and
take notes on performance. This includes posture,
eye contact, and comments made during the
discussion.
Be sure that students understand roles and are sitting in
the appropriate place.

Socratic Seminar (30 min)

Open the discussion and note how each learner
performs. Use the Socratic Seminar Rubric to assess
each learner.
After ten minutes, stop the discussion and rotate each
team member to a new role. After another ten minutes,
rotate team members again so that everyone has had a
chance to be in each role. Have the third group
complete a ten-minute discussion.
Collect individual research, notes, and Socratic
questions.

Debrief (10 min)

Instruct students to re-arrange the room and sit at their
team tables.
Have students take part in a whole class debrief
addressing their thoughts on the format of the
discussion, their adherence to the rules during the
discussion, and their understanding of the content
discussed. Prompt them with questions and allow
students to share their answers.

Closure (2 min)
Review the lesson and remind learners of their
homework assignment.

Socratic Seminar (Questions, Participation, and

Reflection) Rubric

CATEGORY

Questions

Relevance
and
Completen
ess

Included 5 or
more prepared
questions.
Questions are
open-ended
and relevant to
the discussion
at hand.

Included 4
prepared
questions.
Questions are
open-ended
and somewhat
relevant to the
discussion at
hand.

Included 3
prepared
questions.
Questions could
be more openended, and are
not very
relevant to the
discussion at
hand.

Included less
than 3
questions.
Questions are
not open-ended
or relevant to
the discussion at
hand.

during the
discussion and
responded to
the questions
of peers.

Student raised
1 question
during the
discussion and
responded to at
least one
question from a
peer.

Student
Student did not
responded to at speak during the
least one
discussion.
question from a
peer, but had
trouble
expressing
their view in
detail.

Student used
the text in
support of their
response and
cited specific
passages to
support their
viewpoint.

Student
referred to the
text to support
of their
response but
didnt cite
specific
passages.

Student
referred to the
text but was
unable to
demonstrate a
clear
connection to
support their
viewpoint.

Participati Student raised

2 or more
onDiscussion questions

Participati
onUsing Text
as
Evidence.

Student did not

refer to the text
to support their
viewpoint.