I Heard the Owl Call My Name Lesson Plan | Introduction
This unit has been designed to develop students' reading, writing, thinking, and language skills through exercises and activities related to I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. It includes sixteen lessons, supported by extra resource materials.
The introductory lesson introduces students to one main theme of the novel by having a missionary come in to speak to the class about his/her work. Students are also given the materials they will be using during the unit.
The reading assignments are approximately thirty pages each; some are a little shorter while others are a little longer. Students have approximately 15 minutes of pre-reading work to do prior to each reading assignment. This pre-reading work involves reviewing the study questions for the assignment and doing some vocabulary work for 8 to 10 vocabulary words they will encounter in their reading.
The study guide questions are fact-based questions; students can find the answers to these questions right in the text. These questions come in two formats: short answer or multiple choice. The best use of these materials is probably to use the short answer version of the questions as study guides for students (since answers will be more complete), and to use the multiple choice version for occasional quizzes. It might be a good idea to make transparencies of your answer keys for the overhead projector.
The vocabulary work is intended to enrich students' vocabularies as well as to aid in the students' understanding of the book. Prior to each reading assignment, students will complete a two-part worksheet for approximately 8 to 10 vocabulary words in the upcoming reading assignment. Part I focuses on students' use of general knowledge and contextual clues by giving the sentence in which the word appears in the text. Students are then to write down what they think the words mean based on the words' usage. Part II nails down the definitions of the words by giving students dictionary definitions of the words and having students match the words to the correct definitions based on the words' contextual usage. Students should then have an understanding of the words when they meet them in the text.
After the reading assignments, students will go back and formulate answers for the study guide questions. Discussion of these questions serves as a review of the most important events and ideas presented in the reading assignments.
After students have read the novel and have an understanding of the literal level, a lesson is devoted to the extra discussion questions/writing assignments. These questions focus on interpretation, critical analysis and personal response, employing a variety of thinking skills and adding to the students' understanding of the novel.
There is also a vocabulary review lesson which pulls together all of the fragmented vocabulary lists for the reading assignments and gives students a review of all of the words they have studied.
There are three writing assignments in this unit, each with the purpose of informing, persuading, or having students express personal opinions. The first assignment is for personal opinions: students write their opinions about the assimilation of minority cultures into a dominant culture. The second assignment is to inform: students write a composition in which they state what they will say in their oral reports related to their research assignment. The third assignment is to persuade: students write a letter their congressman persuading him/her to either push for or go against the idea that minority cultures should keep their own languages as a predominant language in the areas where they have large populations.
In the research assignment, students are divided into three research groups: Group 1 researches Northwestern Indian tribes and cultures, Group 2 researches current affairs relating to Indian tribes, and Group 3 researches animals in Indian cultures.
There is a nonfiction reading assignment related to the research project and Writing Assignment 2, mentioned above. During one class period, students also make oral presentations about the nonfiction pieces they have read. This not only exposes all students to a wealth of information, it also gives students the opportunity to practice public speaking.
The review lesson pulls together all of the aspects of the unit. The teacher is given four or five choices of activities or games to use which all serve the same basic function of reviewing all of the information presented in the unit.
The unit test comes in two formats: multiple choice-matching-true/false or short answer. As a convenience, two different tests for each format have been included. In addition there is an Advanced Short Answer Unit Test for students who need more of a challenge.
There are additional support materials included with this unit. The resource sections include suggestions for an in-class library, crossword and word search puzzles related to the novel, and extra vocabulary worksheets. There is a list of bulletin board ideas which gives the teacher suggestions for bulletin boards to go along with this unit. In addition, there is a list of extra class activities the teacher could choose from to enhance the unit or as a substitution for an exercise the teacher might feel is inappropriate for his/her class. The teacher's manual has the answer keys for the worksheets, tests, puzzles, etc. The student packet has worksheets, tests, puzzles, etc. left blank for students to fill-in. Materials in the student packet may be reproduced for use in the teacher's classroom without infringement of copyrights. Teachers' manuals may not be reproduced without the written consent of Teacher's Pet Publications, Inc.