Summary
This lesson plan centers around the students analyzing and understanding Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, using 21st century techniques. After reading Act I and Act II in the play, we will ask the students to find and bring in Twitter conversations for homework. These conversations can be taken between people they know or between famous people. On the day the assignment is due, we will collect and randomly distribute these conversations. The student must then determine the implied meaning and the context behind their Twitter conversation and write a paragraph describing this. The purpose is for the students to practice understanding and analyzing conversations on social media without prior context knowledge.
Students will then be paired with another classmate to create an imaginary Twitter conversation between The Crucible characters Mary Warren and Abigail. In order to have a successful assignment, the students must understand the relationship between these two at this point in the play. One student will assume the role of Mary Warren, the other of Abigail. To make this simulation even more realistic, the students will use Google Docs instead of a regular Word document. Using Google Docs will allow the students to respond to each other instantly as though it were a Twitter conversation. The conversation must be school appropriate, and it must demonstrate a clear understanding of the play and the characters’ relationship.
TIPC Ratings
Students must bring in a school-appropriate Twitter conversation from either their personal Twitter account or Tweets from well-known individuals. Students will then exchange their sample Twitter conversations with their classmates. At this point, each student will write a paragraph, making inferences about the explicit or implicit meaning of the Tweets.
Students will work in pairs, using Google Docs to create the Twitter conversation between Mary Warren and Abigail. The roles will be decided by the pair. As teachers, we will facilitate the use of Google docs.
Prior to writing the Twitter conversation between Abigail and Mary Warren, the students must consider the dynamic of the relationship and perspective of each character.
The Twitter conversation allows students to choose creative user names as well as give a modern voice to two characters that lived in the 17th century. Often times, these conversations allow the students to explore the closed-door conversations that likely took place during the Salem Witch Trials.
