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Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan
A “Brief, Urgent Message”: Theme in Slaughterhouse-Five
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| Grades | 9 – 12 |
| Lesson Plan Type | Standard Lesson |
| Estimated Time | Four 50-minute sessions, plus additional out-of-class time for student work |
| Lesson Author |
Champaign, Illinois |
| Publisher |
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MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY
- A classroom set of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- CD or Mp3 player
- Recording of "The Trapeze Swinger" by Iron & Wine and "Sidewalk Fight" by Yann Tiersen (or other music as you see fit; available for purchase as downloads online)
- CD/DVD Cover Creator
- Video of students sharing and discussing their work
STUDENT INTERACTIVES
Grades K – 12 | Student Interactive | Writing & Publishing Prose
The CD/DVD Cover Creator allows users to type and illustrate CD and DVD covers and related booklets for liner notes and other information. Students can use the tool to create covers for books, music, and films that they explored as well as to create covers for media they compose individually or as a class.
PRINTOUTS
- "Brief, urgent messages" excerpt
- Slaughterhouse-Five CD Project
- Slaughterhouse-Five CD Project: Liner Note Examples
- Teacher's Guide to Chapter Five of Slaughterhouse-Five
- CD Project Rubric
WEBSITES
PREPARATION
- Students should read and have a basic understanding of at least the first five chapters of Slaughterhouse-Five. It is not necessary to teach this lesson immediately after students have finished those chapters; the lesson can be taught at any point thereafter. The Study Guide to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Slaughterhouse Five may be a useful resource to facilitate a general understanding of the novel.
- Prepare an appropriate number of copies of the handouts associated with the lesson.
- Review the Teacher's Guide to Chapter Five of Slaughterhouse-Five and select a passage from Chapter 5 to model during Session One.
- Secure recordings of "The Trapeze Swinger" by Iron & Wine and "Sidewalk Fight" by Yann Tiersen (or other music as you see fit). These pieces are referenced in the student examples.
- Secure a CD player or other method for playing music for students.
- (Optional) Secure a means of projecting the video of students sharing and discussing their work.
- Review the NCTE Position Statement on Fair Use for Media Literacy Education for an understanding of fair use in student selection of music for the CD project.
- Familiarize yourself with some examples of liner notes and reviews in order to spend time in class talking about the genre of music writing.
- Familiarize yourself with the CD/DVD Cover Creator if students will be using that tool. Ensure that you have the latest version of Flash on student computers. This plug-in can be downloaded through the technical support page.