Composing Points of View in a Narrative through

Common Themes of a Particular Literature Period

Teacher Page
A WebQuest for 10th Grade English/Language Arts
Designed by
Savannah A. Davis
sd5261@stu.armstrong.edu

( Zupitza, 1882 as quoted by Wheeler, n.d., Beowulf Page)

Introduction | Learners | Standards | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion
| Credits | Student Page

Introduction
This lesson was developed as an exercise in using Webquests to help
students learn about common themes in particular periods of British
literature. Additionally, this lesson was created in order to help 10th grade
student learn how to form stories using real and imagined events using a
work of fiction as their main source. Finally, his lesson aims to help students
develop quality creative writing skills as well as highly-advanced analysis and
research skills.
For this lesson, students will be divided into groups of two. Each group will
be given two short works of fiction (such as Oscar Wildes The Picture of
Dorian Gray [1891] and Robert Louis Stevensons Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde [1886]): One student would read one of the books and the other student
would read the other book. Students will then write a seven-day journal as if they were a
particular character in a story (for example, one student would write as the character
Dorian Gray and the other would write as the character Dr. Jekyll). Students will use a
combination of their knowledge of the text, research into the period in which the two
novels were written, as well as their imagination and creative freedom, to create the
seven-day journal. The journal will focus on events that have happened as well as those
that havent happened but that the students feel might have happened (say, for
example, Dorian Gray visiting a line of luxurious shops). Whatever the students write,
they should try to emulate the writing of the original author of the book and should write
in a way that analyzes their characters thoughts, actions, motivations, personality, and
entire being. Students will be placed in groups so they can work alongside each other,
talking about common things and interests they found in their respective texts, and
helping each other write their journals.

Learners
This lesson is designed for 10th grade English/Language Arts. Students will
learn about themes in a particular period of literature, the culture of that
period, how to write creatively, and how to analyze and research subjects.
This lesson also covers a little bit of history as students will be researching
themes, cultural and moral values, etc. in different periods of literature.
Before this lesson, students will need to know the following:
Detailed knowledge as they observed from the book and character they
are focusing on.

 How to write engaging text with little to no grammatical and syntax errors
(as is appropriate for their grade-level).
How to use real life facts and a base text along with their imagination to
create a story.
Basic knowledge of the internet and computers.
How to cite in MLA format (or at least have a resource to show them how
to do so).
How to evaluate important aspects of a text or source from other details.
How to look deeper into a text to connect common themes and values.
How to converse in a one-on-one group setting.
How to efficiently manage their time.

Curriculum Standards
As a result of this lesson, students will learn the following standards described in the
9th-10th Grade English Language Arts Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE)
(GADOE, 2015):
ELAGSE9-10RL3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with
multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with
other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme (GADOE, p. 1,
2015).
ELAGSE9-10W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and wellstructured event sequences.
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem,
situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and
introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of
experiences or events.
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing,
description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences,
events, and/or characters.
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they
build on one another to create a coherent whole.
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory
language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting,
and/or characters.
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what
is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative
(GADOE, p. 2, 2015).
In addition to the GSE standards the students will learn, the students will also learn
several types of thinking and communication skills:
1. Critical thinking

2. Analytic thinking
3. Creative production
4. Observation
5. Categorization
6. Team work
7. Written and oral communication
8. Social and professional communication
9. Research evaluation
10. Inference
11. Using themes to create narratives
12. Reproducing an original work in a new story
13. Interpreting subtleties of text
14. Design and rewrite part of an existing characters life while keeping in with
the character of the original story

Process
This lesson is very intricate and would likely work best when assigned toward the end of
the school year, when students have had time to read the books the will be assigned.
The time needed to prepare for the journaling portion of the lesson will vary based on
the students in the classroom, available resources, and the time of the year that the
lesson is assigned. The lesson will occur during one period per day but the amount of
days/weeks spent on the lesson will depend on the needs/abilities of the students and
the resources available to both teachers and students. As this is a 10th grade
assignment, no more than one and a half months should be spent on this lesson.
If students have already read the book they will be assigned to work with in this lesson,
one possible timeframe for the lesson could be five weeks. The process would be as
follows:
Students will reread their novel and research the Victorian period. This will
take about two weeks.
Students will begin to brainstorm ideas for their 7-day journal. This
process will last one week and will serve to answer key questions, including:
What will happen on each day?
What sorts of things will their character do that still fit within
the original character developed in the novel?
How do common cultural values, literature themes, artistic
innovations, and more from the Victorian period affect their character and,
thus, their story?
How will they incorporate these things into their journal?
Students will continue to do research and work with their partner for
support, socialization, teamwork, and inspiration as needed. During this time,
they will:

 write their 7-day journal within two weeks;

keep in mind that their partner can help them come
up with and/or expand on ideas. Students should connect with
their partner to see if they both find common themes in their
novels or aspects of their novels that they found interesting.
This assignment is interdisciplinary in that it involves creative writing (i.e. art), history,
social studies, and literature to work together to create a coherent and original piece of
written work.
Students will be divided into groups. Suggestions that might be made for developing
groups for this assignment include students interests, which students get along
together, which students seem likely to balance and help each other most, and which
students are going to either become distracted by the desire to socialize or by their
inability to overcome differences. If you know two students in the class are typically a
good influence on each other and neither student is particularly excited about the
assignment, it might be a good idea to group them together. If you have split students
into pairs in previous lessons, think back to which pairs worked to help make decisions
on group members. You may also decide to let students choose their partner.
This assignment, as has been stated already, is complex and probably will bring along
many misconceptions and be daunting to some students. Students who are not
particularly creative will especially struggle with this assignment: If this is the case,
make sure the student who is not particularly creative is paired with a student who is
creative and/or could prove helpful to the non-creative student. Students may also worry
that there are right and wrong answers in the sense that certain scenes, even if they fit
into the original novel, are not correct: To avoid this, let students know ahead of time
that they can create any scene as long as it is something that would happen in that
particular period of time, could include the themes of that period of literature, and makes
sense for their character. A good way to help students define what makes sense for their
character is to have students journal the characters thoughts, for example, before he
decides to go shopping at luxurious stores in the most expensive part of London.
Another important point to note is that students may have trouble applying themes and
characteristics of literature, etc. into their stories: We want to make sure the students
understand the themes but we dont want them to become so obsessed with the themes
and historical details that they freeze at the sight of a blank page. One way to combat
struggles with integrating themes, characteristics, realistic historical detail, etc. is to
simply ask students what characteristics made up the period of literature that they also
noticed in the book they are working from. Ask questions that will draw the student to
apply themes through the thought process of the character, the details in the scenery,

etc. It may also help to tell students they can take a scene that occurred in the original
story and expand on it by working from the mindset of their character.
A novice teacher should have a fairly easy time with this assignment, though the
breadth of the assignment might make the novice teacher nervous. Teachers should, for
this lesson, be extremely familiar with every book they choose to assign for this lesson.
Any teacher who assigns this lesson should be adept in managing a classroom where
students are split into groups of two. Teachers using this lesson should know the basic
characteristics of a work of fiction and how to guide students in creating an engaging,
believable story that is well-written without grammatical or syntactical errors.
Additionally, teachers should be knowledgeable about the characteristics of the
period(s) of literature they have assigned, the unique traits that separate certain groups
of literature that are all from the same period, and teachers should be familiar with the
cultural and moral values of the time. Finally, teachers should have a good
understanding of key historical events that occurred during the period(s) of literature
assigned. It would help if teachers also had a knowledge of general scientific, artistic,
philosophical, and theological breakthroughs, values, and ideas of the period(s)
assigned.
Variations
There are possible variations for this lesson. Students may choose to write a
short story of at least 7 pages instead of 7-day journal while still writing the
story in the point of view of their character. Students may also write their 7day journal as a blog and post it online, write a script and film the character
speaking their journal, or even might create a 7-Act play. The students may
choose any of these options, with permission from the instructor, instead of writing a
normal 7-day journal.

Resources Needed
The necessary resources for this lesson include the following:
At least one copy of each book assigned
Internet access
Enough copies of Microsoft Word or another writing software that students
can use in class
Notebooks and pens/pencils
Historical, philosophical, cultural, artistic and literature scholarly journals,
books, and other reliable sources of actual facts.
The specific websites to use for this Webquest are as follows (note that only resources
for Victorian-related information are included here as examples. Teacher should decide

if they want to cover multiple periods of literature and develop appropriate resources for
those periods):
Amazon.com link to the Barnes & Noble Classics series of the
Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Amazon.com link to the Norton Critical Edition of Robert Louis
Stevensons Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
http://www.victorianweb.org/index.html - An excellent resource for
information on the Victorian era as regards Victorianism, literature, culture, art,
theatre, science, music, and popular entertainment. The links within this site are
endless and the details thorough: Most students working with the Victorian period
of literature will find this to be sufficient for all of their research on history, culture,
Victorianism, art, literature, etc.
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/index.html - A direct
link from Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseWare
(found below the Oscar Wilde subheading on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/zuh2qpt), this part of the the Victorian Web
website gives insight into themes, historical facts, ideas, values, and
more as they related to Englands Victorian age and Oscar Wildes The
Picture of Dorian Gray as a whole.
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/stevenson/index.html - A
link to the Victorian Web websites information, articles and more on
Robert Louis Stevenson and his famed novel, Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/index.html - Victorian
Webs list of authors from the Victorian era of literature.
http://www.victorianweb.org/decadence/index.html - Victorian
Webs resource on decadence, symbolism, and aestheticism: All of
which are important in late-Victorian-era novels such as The Picture of
Dorian Gray and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The following links should prove helpful to students researching the
Victorian era:
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh:
http://tinyurl.com/deu2g
University of Nevada, Las Vegas:
http://tinyurl.com/llwvbex
The Norton Anthology of English Literature:
http://tinyurl.com/hcx8ml3
The Encylopdia Brittanica:
http://tinyurl.com/zmcp4t5

 Ms. Burkharts English Classes:

http://tinyurl.com/jkj5rj6
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/ - The CWS page
from the University of Illinois will prove useful for students in need of help with
grammar. Students can access this but likely wont actually need to cite this as
an official source.
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/wr
itersblock/ - Another resources from the CWS of the University of Illinois
to help students combat writers block and undertand the causes of
writers block.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/ - A long-used and rich resource for
students in high school and college, Purdues OWL provide support in things
such as grammar, research, writing and more. Students will particularly find
OWLs MLA citation guide helpful.
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studieswriting/21w-730-2-the-creative-spark-fall-2004/studymaterials/wrkshp_essay_i.pdf - A possible source for students to use
in their groups as they brainstorm and try to formulate major themes,
ideas, points, and more from the text they are working on. This PDF
file was retrieved from the following MIT OCW:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studies-writing/21w730-2-the-creative-spark-fall-2004/study-materials/
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/literature/21l-010-writing-withshakespeare-fall-2010/assignments/MIT21L_010F10_assn01.pdf Another MIT OCW writing resource, this PDF document might be used
before the lesson begins to help students adjust to writing with the
author. The PDF document was retrieved from
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/literature/21l-010-writing-withshakespeare-fall-2010/assignments/
The following two PDF files from MITs OCW writing course
Writing and Reading Short Stories Assignments section (found here
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studies-writing/21w755-writing-and-reading-short-stories-spring-2012/assignments/) will
help students plan their stories and characters as well as work out how to write
from a characters point of view:
Character Exercise:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studieswriting/21w-755-writing-and-reading-short-stories-spring2012/assignments/MIT21W_755S12_character.pdf

 Point of View
Exercise:http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-mediastudies-writing/21w-755-writing-and-reading-short-storiesspring-2012/assignments/MIT21W_755S12_pov.pdf
The following resource on writing are from MITs OCW and will be
particularly helpful to students as they write and research their subjects:
Exercises on Research and Note-Taking (PDF)
http://tinyurl.com/h25ej7j (retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/jboqy2x)
Examples of Notes on a Scholarly Article (PDF)
http://tinyurl.com/jlp6z5l (retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/jboqy2x)
Advice on Writing (PDF) http://tinyurl.com/z6c69t3
(retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/z8q6ugb)
Only one teacher is required for this lesson but, if other aids, teachers, or parents would
like to help, they are absolutely welcome to. The other necessary aid would be the
school librarian to help students with their research and MLA citation skills (should they
need to cite anything).

Evaluation
0

Included
common
Victorian
literature
themes in
journal,
specifically as
they relate to
original novel

Student
showed (nor
tried to show)
no knowledge
of common
Victorian
literature
themes,
specifically as
they relate to
original novel.

Student
attempted but
inaccurately
showed
knowledge of
Victorian
literature
themes,
specifically as
they relate to
original novel.

Student showed
some
knowledge of
Victorian
literature
themes,
specifically as
they relate to
original novel.

Student
showed
thorough
understanding
of common
theme in
Victorian
literature,
specifically as
they relate to
original novel.

Journal
contained
realistic
moral,
cultural,
social,
psychological
,
philosophical,

Student did
not attempt
to show any
characteristi
cs from the
Victorian
age,
specifically
as they
relate to

Student tried
but was
unable to
correctly
show any
characteristic
s from the
Victorian age,
specifically as
they relate to

Student
showed some
characteristic
s of the
Victorian age,
specifically as
they relate to
original
novel.

Student
showed
thorough
knowledge
and an
intricate
understand
of the
characteristi
cs of the

Score

original
novel.

original
novel.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting a
beginning level
of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting
development
and movement
toward mastery
of performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting
mastery of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting the
highest level of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting a
beginning level
of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting
development
and movement
toward mastery
of performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting
mastery of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting the
highest level of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting a
beginning level
of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting
development
and movement
toward mastery
of performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting
mastery of
performance.

Description of
identifiable
performance
characteristics
reflecting the
highest level of
performance.

Student
showed
deep
understandi
ng of novel

Student did
not appear to
have read the
novel.

Student only
showed
knowledge of
basic characters
and main events
of the novel.

Student show
some in-depth
knowledge of
the novel.

Student
showed
thorough and
deep
understanding
of the novel,
its characters,
and events.

Student
showed

Student did
not cite

Student
either

Student showed
enough

Student
showed

and historical
characteristic
s from the
Victorian age

Showed an
understandin
g of how the
character was
developed

Showed how
the
characters
development
furthered the
storys
events/plots

Journal was
well-written,
free of
grammatical
and
syntactical
errors

Victorian
age,
specifically
as they
relate to
original
novel.

quality
research and
research
citation
skills

sources used
and/or did not
appear to
employ
research.

researched
Victorian era
somewhat
well or cited
sources
inaccurately.

research to
complete the
project on a
basic level and
may or may not
have cited all
sources in a
completely
accurate
manner.

excellent
research,
appearing to
have spent a
great deal of
time and effort
on researching
Victorian
England.
Student cited
all sources
accurately.

Student
attempted to
emulate
authors
style of
writing

At no point
did the student
attempt to
emulate the
authors style
of writing.

This point is
unavailable in
this category.

These points
are unavailable
in this category.

Student
showed at
least some
attempt, in
at least part
of the
journal, to
emulate the
authors style
of writing.

Students
journal was
engaging
and flowed
logically

Students
This point is
journal
unavailable in
showed no
this category.
engagement
with audience
and did not
make events
flow in a
logical manner.

Student
attempted but
struggled to
engage
audience and
create a logical
flow within
journal.

Student
showed the
ability to
engage an
audience and
to move the
journal in a
logical order.

Students
journal
showed
creative
insight and
careful
attention

Student
appeared to
throw journal
together at last
minute without
original
thought or
attention to
detail. Student
showed little
care for
creativity.

Student showed
a healthy
amount of
creative insight
and provided a
good deal of
attention to
detail.

Student
showed
exemplary
creative
insight, using
original ideas,
sometimes
expanding
from existing
events in
original work,
and using
completely
original events

Student
attempted to
show creative
insight and/or to
provide careful
attention to
journal, but
clearly lacked in
attention to
detail and care
for story.

that would
accurately fit
into the
original work.
Students
attention to
detail was
spectacular
with minimal
mistakes.

Student
worked well
with a
partner,
helping and
receiving
help,
focusing and
socializing
as
appropriate

Student either
spent too
much time
socializing
with partner or
did not engage
in a healthy,
professional,
and friendly
manner with
partner.

Student had to
constantly be
corrected to
stay on task
with partner.
Student did not
give helpful
advice or moral
support to
partner when
needed.

Student showed
a high amount
of teamwork
ability and
mutual respect.

Student
showed
exemplary
maturity and
kindness.
Student was
helpful when
necessary,
able to receive
help,
socialized with
partner when
appropriate,
and focused
on task with
partner when
appropriate.

Conclusion
Literature, the arts (including creative writing), and philosophy seem to be
falling to the wayside as STEM becomes the forefront of education. Many
students leave high school without being able to sign their own name and
some schools do not even teach cursive anymore. Furthermore, charities and
foundations often have to fight to keep art in schools. Why do I point all of
this out? Through creative writing, reading, analyzing literature, researching
and integrating multiple facets of a culture into a story, students are
becoming critical thinkers and are growing in their ability to discover new
things. This lesson is necessary for any teacher who wishes to teach his or
her students how to write well, think critically, unite multiple subjects,
become prepared for the real world and college, and become a well-rounded
person.

Credits & References

Thanks goes to the following websites for their invaluable and innumerable resources
(for specific links, please see the Resources Needed section of this document):
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble Classics
Encyclopdia Britannica
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ms. Burkharts English Class
The Norton Anthology of English Literature
Norton Critical Editions
OWL Purdue
University of Illinois
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Victorian Web
Wikipedias Creative Commons
Works Cited
Wheeler, L. K., Dr. (n.d.). Beowulf Page [Online Image]. Retrieved from Dr.
L. Kip Wheelers official website. Retrieved on 24 July 2016. Retrieved from
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/beowulfpage3.html