Death of a Salesman

By Arthur Miller

 

Tentative Schedule

Rae Anne Alpers

 

Day 1--            Complete Activity Sheet #1

                        Discuss

                        Take Pre-reading notes in class notebooks

                        Discuss

                        HW:  Bring in a printed ad from a newspaper, magazine, junk mail, etc.

 

Day 2--            Discuss ads and display on whiteboard or bulletin board

                        TRANSITION:  In our mail, in magazines, on tv, on the radio, on

billboards, even the clothes we wear, we are constantly bombarded

with advertising.  Someone is always trying to persuade us to buy

or to do something.  That’s sales.  He who convinces the most

people to buy, wins (stays in business).  The play we are about to

read is about a salesman who upon coming to the end of his career,

looks back at the reality of his life.

                        Distribute study guide questions for each Act and Part Assignment Sheet

                        MINDSPRINT:  Success:  What is your definition of success?  To be a

success, do you need to earn a lot of money?  Can you be

successful without being happy?  Can you be happy without being successful?  How important is your own success to your parents’ happiness?  Do you and your parents agree on what it means for you to be successful at school?  socially?  In athletics? In  your future job?

                        Discuss

                        HW:  Complete Vocab Sheet for Reading Assignment #1

 

**Video on Author Miller in Library

 

Day 3--            Vocab Sheet due now; take up and then discuss vocab

                        MINDSPRINT:  What makes a good parent?  What sorts of things do you

talk to your parents about?  What sorts of things would you talk to a sibling or friend about—but not your parents?  Do your parents talk to you about their problems?  What sorts of things do teens and their parents fight about?  How do you suppose that changes when the children become adults?  What are some ways parents can disappoint their children?  What are some ways that children can disappoint their parents?  Is there ever a time children should lie to their parents—or vice versa?

                        Have students exam front cover of play, read the blurbs on the back and

                                    Guess what is going to happen.  What will this plot be about? 

                                    Discuss.

                        Read Assignment #1

 

Day 4--            MINDSPRINT:  Why do 2 people get married?  Why do 2 people stay

                                    Married?  Do you think that one partner should accept the other

partner’s “failings”?  What are some things married couples

commonly argue about?  What should you do if your parents are arguing?  What should you do if you feel that one parent is abusing the other—verbally or physically?  What should you do if you find out that one parent is lying to the other?

Finish Reading Assignment #1

Complete Vocab Sheet for Reading Assignment #2

 

Day 5--            Finish reading Act I

                        Complete Study Guide Questions for homework

 

Day 6--            Review study guide questions

                        QUIZ on ACT I

                        HW:  Do Vocab on Reading Assignment #3

 

Day 7--            Take up vocab and discuss

                        Read Reading Assignment #3

                       

Day 8--            MINDSPRINT:  FAILURE:  What comes to mind when you hear that

                                    Term?  Define this word.

                        Complete Vocab for Reading Assignment #4

                        Discuss

                       

Day 9--            Read Reading Assignment #4

                        MINDSPRINT:  Choose one and complete the sentence: 

Being a success . . .

Remember the past . . .

Successful high school athletes . . .

When you feel trapped . . .

Catching your parents in a lie . . . .

I will always regret . . .

                        Complete Vocab for Assignment #5; finish for HW

 

Day 10--          Discuss Vocab

                        Read to the end of ACT II and Requiem

                        Complete review questions for homework

 

Day 11--          Discuss review questions

                        QUIZ on Act II

                        Take Post Reading Notes

 

 

 

Day 12--          Create Groups

                        Discuss Assignment “Selling Rock-n-Roll to the P.T.A.

                        Begin working

 

Day 13--          Library Time for Ads

                       

Day 14--          Library Time for Ads

 

Day 15--          Share Ads

 

Day 16--          MINDSPRINT:  How would the story and its effect have changed if Willy

                                    Had not died?  Why did Arthur Miller “kill off” Willy?

                        Discuss

                        The class will write an epitaph for Willy

 

Day 17--          Complete Post Reading Writing Assignment

 

Day 18--          Work on Writing Assignment in Library

 

Day 19--          Work on Writing Assignment in Library

 

Day 20--          Writing Assignment Due

                        Watch video—“The Death of a Salesman”

 

Day 21--          Finish Video

                        Do Review Practice

 

Day 22--          Take Practice Test #1

                        Grade in class and discuss

 

Day 23--          TEST on Death of a Salesman

 

5/8/07