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English lesson plan · 12th grade (Year 13 in England) · 60 minutes

Literary movements: Romanticism, Gothic, Realism, Modernism and more

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.11-12.9CCSS RL.11-12.5England: A-level English Literature (context, AO3)England: AP LiteratureEngland: GCSE English Literature (context)

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Literary movements: Romanticism, Gothic, Realism, Modernism and more.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Narrative techniques: unreliable narrator, in medias res, frame narrative…; Drama terms: soliloquy, aside, foil, hamartia, catharsis…; Literary analysis: theme, symbol, ambiguity

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 6 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Narrative techniques: unreliable narrator, in medias res, frame narrative…; Drama terms: soliloquy, aside, foil, hamartia, catharsis…; Literary analysis: theme, symbol, ambiguity). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Which narrative technique matches this description? Writing that imitates the flow of a character's thoughts, often jumping between ideas. (stream of consciousness / multiple narrators / epistolary / frame narrative) → stream of consciousnessPrompt: Think about who tells the story, in what form, and where the story starts.
  2. Which drama term matches this description? A brief remark to the audience that the other characters on stage supposedly cannot hear. (soliloquy / aside / catharsis / monologue) → asidePrompt: Who is the character speaking to: themselves, the audience, or other characters?
  3. Which narrative technique is used here? The novel opens with the heroine already clinging to a cliff edge in a storm; only in chapter three do we learn how she got there. (in medias res / stream of consciousness / multiple narrators / frame narrative) → in medias resPrompt: Is the form unusual (letters, thoughts), does the story start mid-action, sit inside another story, or have a narrator we can't trust?

Hook · 6 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Literary movements: Romanticism, Gothic, Realism, Modernism and more. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 12 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Which literary movement matches this description? 1830s–1840s New England: intuition, self-reliance and the spiritual value of nature.
  • Step 1: Literary movements share themes, styles and historical contexts; recognising them helps you write about context.
  • Step 2: Transcendentalism: 1830s–1840s New England: intuition, self-reliance and the spiritual value of nature.
  • Step 3: So the answer is: Transcendentalism
  • Answer: Transcendentalism
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 12 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Which literary movement matches this description? Late 18th–mid 19th century: emotion, imagination, nature and the individual over reason and convention. (Romanticism / Harlem Renaissance / Modernism / Postmodernism) → RomanticismPrompt: Think about the period and the key features: emotion and nature? terror? everyday life? experiment? jazz-age Harlem? self-reliance? play with fiction itself?
  2. Which literary movement does this description most closely match? Poets in 1920s New York draw on jazz and blues rhythms to celebrate Black identity and protest injustice. (Gothic / Postmodernism / Harlem Renaissance / Romanticism) → Harlem RenaissancePrompt: Which features in the description are most distinctive?

You do: independent practice · 17 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Type the literary movement (in English) that matches this description. From the mid 18th century: mystery, terror, the supernatural and gloomy settings such as ruined castles. → GothicPrompt: Think about the period and the key features: emotion and nature? terror? everyday life? experiment? jazz-age Harlem? self-reliance? play with fiction itself?
  2. Which literary movement matches this description? Mid–late 19th century: ordinary people and everyday life shown accurately and in detail. (Romanticism / Transcendentalism / Realism / Modernism) → RealismPrompt: Think about the period and the key features: emotion and nature? terror? everyday life? experiment? jazz-age Harlem? self-reliance? play with fiction itself?

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Narrative techniques: unreliable narrator, in medias res, frame narrative….
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-12.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Literary movements: Romanticism, Gothic, Realism, Modernism and more

Name

Date

Score/ 8

  1. Question 1

    Which literary movement matches this description? 1830s–1840s New England: intuition, self-reliance and the spiritual value of nature.

    • A. Transcendentalism
    • B. Postmodernism
    • C. Realism
    • D. Gothic
  2. Question 2

    Type the literary movement (in English) that matches this description. From the mid 18th century: mystery, terror, the supernatural and gloomy settings such as ruined castles.

    Answer

  3. Question 3

    Which literary movement does this description most closely match? A novel takes place over a single day, jumping between characters' thoughts in long, unpunctuated passages and fragments of memory.

    • A. Gothic
    • B. Modernism
    • C. Romanticism
    • D. Realism
  4. Question 4

    Which literary movement matches this description? Mid–late 19th century: ordinary people and everyday life shown accurately and in detail.

    • A. Gothic
    • B. Romanticism
    • C. Realism
    • D. Postmodernism
  5. Question 5

    Type the literary movement (in English) that matches this description. 1920s–1930s: a flowering of African American literature, music and art centred in Harlem, New York.

    Answer

  6. Question 6

    Which literary movement does this description most closely match? An essayist lives alone in a cabin by a pond for two years, arguing that simple living close to nature reveals deeper truths.

    • A. Harlem Renaissance
    • B. Romanticism
    • C. Transcendentalism
    • D. Postmodernism
  7. Question 7

    Which literary movement matches this description? Mid–late 20th century onwards: playfulness, metafiction and scepticism about single 'grand' truths.

    • A. Harlem Renaissance
    • B. Realism
    • C. Postmodernism
    • D. Transcendentalism
  8. Question 8

    Type the literary movement (in English) that matches this description. Mid–late 20th century onwards: playfulness, metafiction and scepticism about single 'grand' truths.

    Answer

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Answer key: Literary movements: Romanticism, Gothic, Realism, Modernism and more

  1. 1. A. Transcendentalism

  2. 2. Gothic

  3. 3. B. Modernism

  4. 4. C. Realism

  5. 5. Harlem Renaissance

  6. 6. C. Transcendentalism

  7. 7. C. Postmodernism

  8. 8. Postmodernism