.png "Lesson Plan ideas for teaching the play version of A Christmas Carol in your middle school classroom!")
This is what I do: I read the play version of "A Christmas Carol". It was in our old textbooks, but now that textbooks have been replaced by the laptop, I use this copy from this online source.
Before Reading A Christmas Carol
Before we read, we play a little "Fact or Fiction". I put 22 "facts" or "fictions" about the time period in which the play was written into manila folders. Then I play a game with my class like "Deal or No Deal", where the contestant has to choose a numbered folder and determine if what is inside is fact or fiction. If the contestant is right, he/she gets to hold the folder. If the contestant is wrong, then he/she sits down and the folder holder is the new contestant. The person with the most folders is the winner! But really everyone wins because now they know what the times were like when this play was written.
.png "Use this game in the style of the T.V. show \"Deal or No Deal\" to introduce your middle school students to the time period in which A Christmas Carol was written. There are 32 facts or \"fictions\" for your to print and place inside numbered manila folders. Then it's time to play the game with your students!")
Click here to get this ready-to-go game for your class!
During Reading of A Christmas Carol
Next, we read the play scene by scene. After we read each scene we have a discussion, complete some Cornell notes, and a plot diagram.
Next, we read the play scene by scene. After we read each scene we have a discussion, complete some Cornell notes, and a plot diagram.
Then we watch the scene we just read from The Muppets Christmas Carol and compare/contrast it to the play.
When we finish reading the entire play, we might take an assessment, write a compare/contrast essay or even complete an escape room. It all depends on what standards I think my students need more time working on or how much time we have before the break!
When we finish reading the entire play, we might take an assessment, write a compare/contrast essay or even complete an escape room. It all depends on what standards I think my students need more time working on or how much time we have before the break!
)%20(1).png "If you're reading the play version of \"A Christmas Carol\" with your middle school students, then this resource will help you examine the plot structure, character traits and the theme with discussion questions, plot diagram, & scaffolded notes for each of the 6 scenes. Plus, you can compare and contrast the play to a multimedia version with the included Venn Diagrams. This unit is printable AND digital!")
Students love this unit because they love taking roles and reading them out loud. They also love the Muppet version of the story. :) Learn more about these activities by clicking here.
There have been years when my students took a multiple-choice assessment on the play because they needed more practice with analysis standards. In other years, students have written a compare/contrast essay because we needed more writing practice.
However, the last time I read this with my students, I created an escape game (click on the link to read more about that process) for the final "assessment" for my students. (I actually used it as my formal observation!) It had 3 puzzles all based on how Dickens used and altered history in "A Christmas Carol". The students worked together in collaborative groups to solve the puzzles and it literally took full involvement from every member of the group to get the puzzles solved. As a result, I received at least 2 "innovating" ratings on my observation!
This particular escape game can be played using paper and students enter the unlock codes into one digital device like a smartphone or tablet. Or it can be completely done online!
When I first created this, it was all on paper. But since it was so popular with the students, I revised it to match our 1:1 digital environment at school. Click here to learn more!
.png "After reading \"A Christmas Carol\" have your middle school students analyze how Dickens both used and altered history which influenced his characters' perspectives with this Escape Room!")
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