Jekyll and Hyde: Linking Themes to the Context of the novel

In this lesson students are asked to connect the themes discussed in the novel as a whole with the background and social history in which is was set. The lesson starts by asking students what the words THEME and CONTEXT mean and then there are some prompts for a pair/class discussion on particular themes which arise in the story line. There are 3 slides with easy to follow facts on: crime, poverty and science within the Victorian period, some of which are easy to relate to moments or characters within the novel.

Students are then asked in pairs or groups to read a sheet of 13 quotes from across the novel and connect to them to what they've learned about the novel's context. They can annotate and highlight them and they can then be annotated on the board when the class can feedback their ideas.

The lesson ends with a chance for students to write essay paragraphs independently using provided sentence starters which come in 3 formats: a 'layers of meaning' approach, PEA or the 'reading ladder'. An opportunity to self assess essay writing follows this.

The success criteria provided refers to the AQA English Literature course but can be adapted to suit your course.

All lessons in this series include:

- Links to online videos (see 'notes' under Powerpoint slides)
- Starter tasks which introduce the main idea of the lesson
- Differentiated tasks
- Opportunities for pair and group talk within activities ('Talk for Writing')
- Handouts of extracts/quotes from the novel
- Alternating opportunities for self and peer assessment
- Essay writing prompts to allow students to write about the scene
- References to the AQA English Literature mark scheme, particularly to the demands for attaining a grade 5 - what is considered a 'good pass' for the qualification.

It's suggested that you download the whole series to appreciate the full learning journey.