Lesson 1 - Conflict in Literature

🕐 Lesson Overview

Bellringer - I Notice, I Wonder
Notes: What is conflict in literature?
Socs vs. Greasers

⭐ Objectives

I can define conflict.
I can identify different types of conflicts.
I can define and use new vocabulary.

📏 Standards

🗽 NYSNGSS

8R2:
Determine one or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; summarize a text.
8L4:
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
8L4c:
Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses) to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech.
8L6:
Acquire and accurately use general academic and content-specific words and phrases; apply vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

💖 SEL

2B.3b:
Demonstrate understanding of how culture or life experience shapes communication within and between identity groups.
2C.3a:
Practice empathy in order to establish and maintain positive relationships with individuals and groups across lines of difference.
2D.3a:
Describe potential causes and consequences of conflicts; recognizing that power and privilege impact relationships.

🗒️ Lesson Plan

Anticipatory Set

As a bellringer, students will engage in an I Notice, I Wonder exercise using a copy of The Outsiders.

Take a look at a copy of The Outsiders. Examine the front cover, the back cover, and the inner flaps of the book. Then, turn and talk with a friend.

What do you notice about the book?

What do you wonder about the book.

Aim for at least three responses to each question.

The teacher should structure this work by explicitly setting a timer for students to independently examine the book (two minutes or so). This should happen silently. Then, the teacher will signal to students to share what they discovered with a partner. The teacher should take attendance as students discuss. When sufficient discussion time has elapsed, the teacher will invite groups to share their responses. The class will then review the agenda and objectives.

Developmental Activity

Students will copy the following notes in their journals:

A conflict is a struggle between two opposing forces.

Conflicts can be internal (inside a character) or external (against an outside force).

There are many different types of conflicts in literature, but the "big three" are person vs. person, person vs. society, and person vs. self.

After reviewing this information, the teacher will invite students to Turn & Talk with a partner.

Identify an example of each of the three conflict types. This can be in your life, in another book you've read, in a movie, in a video game, etc.

After sufficient discussion time has been provided, the teacher will invite students to share their ideas.

The teacher will then introduce students to the central conflict in The Outisders (the Socs vs. the greasers). To help students understand the different sides of the conflict, they will take the Outsiders Personality Quiz. The teacher will provide students a few minutes to take the quiz, then help students to analyze their results: students who scored between 10 and 25 are greasers and those who scored higher than 26 are Socs. Space and time-permitting, the teacher may signal for students to move to either side of the classroom to indicate their status. The teacher will then provide information on the two groups in the context of The Outsiders, focusing specifically on social class and fashion styles. The teacher should provide images to help students visualize the two groups.

Closure

Students will engage in a Turn & Talk around the following questions.

Knowing what you do about the two groups, do you feel your quiz result is accurate? Why or why not?

What type of conflict do you think Socs vs. greasers is? (Look back on the "big three" from your notes.)

How are the two groups (the Socs and the greasers) different? How might they be similar?

Connect: Do you see conflicts like this at school? (Speak generally — try not to name names.)

The teacher will allow time for discussion the invite students to share their responses. Any remaining class time should be spent working on Outsiders Vocab Practice #1, which allows students to practice new and unfamiliar words that they will encounter in the opening chapters of the book.

🧠 Rationale

The personality quiz in this lesson is intended mostly for fun and should be presented as such; however, it does also offer an opportunity for the teacher to simulate feelings of conflict and exclusion. These types of simulations present powerful learning opportunities but must be done delicately, especially in a school climate with differences in social class and privilege.

⚙️ Modifications

The teacher may choose to count the personality quiz as a participation grade to enforce accountability.