Identifying Modern Forms of Poetry

Summary Using the Concept Attainment model to help students understand irony.

Time Frame 1 class periods of 60 minutes each

Group Size Large Groups

Life Skills Thinking & Reasoning, Communication

Materials A. Teacher: Prepare video clip of Seinfeld episode found on YouTube (i.e. It's a show about nothing). Also, Alanis Morisette song "Irony" and the song "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage. B. Student: Read prior to class two short stories. "The Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry and "The Story of an Hour" by Chopin

Intended Learning Outcomes Following class instruction, students will be able to define irony, and will be able to describe why assigned pieces of reading are either ironic or not based on the criteria the class has created for irony.

Instructional Procedures Prior to the lesson, as a pre-assessment, students will write a minute paper describing what they think irony is, how they thought it was shown in the assigned readings, and if they have seen it anywhere else. Concept Attainment Model 1. Define a concept and its attributes: Irony: A literary term describing a discrepancy or incongruity between words and their meaning, or between actions and their results, or between appearance and reality. 2. Develop Positive and Negative Examples. Positive examples: Seinfeld clip. It is ironic because it is an incongruity between what one would expect to happen and what does happen. The audience understands that what George is saying makes no sense, but he does not. The audience also expects the network executives to not offer George a deal but they do. "Story of an Hour" is an ironic story because we would expect a grieving widow to be sad her husband died, not elated that she is now on her own. And we would expect her to be elated when he returns instead of dying from shock herself. "The Gift of the Magi" shows irony because we as an audience knows she is selling her hair while her husband is buying a hair comb, but the characters do not know it. The situation is not as the characters expected it to be. Irony is made up then of the following elements: The audience knowing something the character often does not. Something happening that is unexpected and contradicts what the audience or the characters expect. "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" is ironic in that the song's theme is finding happiness in misery. Great explanations - these examples can lead to some really fruitful discussion Negative examples: Listen to Alanis Morisette song "Irony" Find out how the things she lists are not actually ironic. Rain on your wedding day is only ironic if everyone knew it was going to rain but the bride because someone put in a recorded tape of an old weather report. A free ride when you're already late is ironic if we all knew the ride was coming but the rider did not or the ride is offered by someone who hates the rider. 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife is ironic if we can see that whatever she needs a spoon for could easily be done with a knife. A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break would be ironic if the sign were in the approved smoking area--contradicts our expectations. 3. Introduce the process to students Explain to the students that we are goal is to list the essential characteristics of Irony. We will do this by discussing the stories they read for homework, a brief video clip, and a song about Irony. Then, draw the following chart on the board with ample space in each column to write, erase, and modify students' suggestions and comments. What Irony Is What Irony is Not 4. Present the Examples and List the Attributes Watch the Seinfeld clip and discuss the assigned readings. Have the students discuss what makes the scene ironic. Write their ideas in the appropriate columns in the table on the board. It may or may not look something like this: What Irony Is What Irony is Not Funny Boring We know more than the characters Predictable Unexpected stereotypical Ask students to remember the story "The Gift of the Magi" It had irony, but was not particularly funny or absurd. Ask if they think any of the characteristics they listed need to be modified or erased from the board. Change table based on their suggestions and comments. An example may look something like this: What Irony Is What Irony is Not Funny-not comedic, but funny in that it is unexpected. Boring We know more than the characters Predictable Unexpected Stereotypical Ask students to remember "The Story of an Hour." It had irony, but was sad. How is this still irony? What Irony Is What Irony is Not Funny--not really in this story. Boring--some students thought so. We know more than the characters--only in the sense that we know what is happening in the widows mind and her relief that the other characters misread. Predictable Unexpected Stereotypical--depends on who you ask... 5. Develop a Concept Definition. Based on our charts, our concept should be defined as an incident that is unexpected, not predictable, a twist. Irony is when something happens that is opposite of what is expected. Either the words the character uses are opposite of what they mean, their actions bring different results than we expected, or we know that things are not as they appear to the character in the story. It does not have to be funny, but often is. The audience often knows more than the characters. 6. Give Additional Test Examples. Listen to Atlantis Morisette song "Ironic." Have the students describe how the things she describes as ironic need more to actually fit the definition. Students will then be given time in class to write down two of the situations listed in the song. They will then change them to make better fit our definition. (i.e. Good advice is given to the wrong twin sister so the person who really needs it never hears the advice until it is too late, etc.) great exercise! Listen to Garbage's "I'm Only Happy When It Rains". Allow the students to decide whether it is ironic or not and why. 7. Discuss the process with the class. Talk with the students as a group and ensure that they have an accurate definition of irony and understand its characteristics. 8. Evaluate. Have students suggest other songs or stories they have experienced and decide as a class whether they contain irony or not.

Strategies for Diverse Learners VI. Accommodations for Diverse Learners Readiness: Using video of contemporary t.v. for those who are not great readers and cannot understand literary elements yet. Interest: Using music and humorous t.v. show. Also two very different stories will be read so hopefully most students will connect with at least one item. Learning Profile: In class discussion for auditory learners, charts, video and reading for visual learners, music for those who learn through song.

Assessment Plan A. Pre-assessment: Have students do a minute paper describing what they think irony is, how they thought it was showed in the assigned readings, and if they have seen it anywhere else. B. Formative assessment: Students will work together as a class to define irony based on the criteria we discussed in class. They will then describe how the song lyrics from the song "Ironic" show irony or do not show irony. Students will change the lyrical lines so they reflect irony based on the definition that was discussed in class. C. Summative assessment: At the end of the unit test, students will be asked to define irony and provide examples of irony from this unit's readings.

Rubrics 6+1 Trait ® Writing Rubric

Authors Todd Burkett Alison Griffith