Essential Questions
- Can money buy happiness?
- Can people change?
Literature Connection
- Novel: Secondhand Wishes by Anna Staniszewski
- Novel: Switched at Birthday by Natalie Standiford
- Graphic fiction: Dionysos: The New God by George O’Connor
Standards Correlations
R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, W.3, SL.1, SL.2, L.4, L.6
Learning Objective
Students will make inferences about characters in a play.
Key Skills
inference, text features, vocabulary, understanding genre, character, compare and contrast, critical thinking, point of view, narrative writing
Complexity Factors
Levels of Meaning: The play is based on a myth that highlights the dangers of greed.
Structure: The play is chronological and has five scenes.
Language: The play includes some figurative language.
Knowledge Demands: Familiarity with Greek mythology may be helpful.
Levels
Guided Reading Level: Q
DRA Level: 40
SEL Connection:
This play and lesson plan promote responsible decision making and self-awareness skills.
Lesson Plan: The Golden Curse
Essential Questions
Literature Connection
1. Preparing to Read
Respond to a Prompt (10 minutes)
Before reading the play, ask students to brainstorm a list of things that they believe contribute to happiness. Once they have their lists, put them into small groups to discuss their ideas. Then, as a class, have a discussion about whether money can buy happiness.
Preview Text Features (10 minutes)
Guide students to locate the play in their magazines or online. Then preview the text features using the following prompts:
Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)
Make a Plan for Reading
Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:
2. Reading and Unpacking the Text
Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)
Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)
3. Skill Building and Writing
Learn Anywhere Activity
An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom
Project the task below on your whiteboard or share it with students in your LMS.
Write a New Scene
Imagine that King Midas meets a visitor from outside Gordium. The visitor has heard stories about a great king who can turn anything he touches into gold. He is hoping to learn the secret of the king’s amazing power. What might Midas tell the visitor? What lesson can the visitor learn from Midas’s experience?
Write the scene in which Midas meets the visitor. Use the same format as the one used in the play. Keep these tips in mind:
Language-Acquisition Springboard
Practice reading end punctuation to increase fluency.
Before reading the play, pair students up and have them take turns saying these lines to each other: “This is the best day ever!” and “Really? What’s going on?” Discuss the natural way to speak a line that ends with an exclamation point (loudly, with feeling) and the natural way to speak a line that ends with a question mark (voice goes up in pitch).
Next, have students practice saying these lines from the play:
Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.
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