The Birthmark Unit Plan

This resource includes everything you need to teach one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’smost famous short stories - “The Birthmark”.

One of the masters of the Gothic literature genre, Hawthorne is often a staple in English literature courses. His short story “The Birthmark” - a cautionary tale of the consequences of seeking perfection - is a perfect introduction to this genre. This resource can be used as a stand-alone lesson or as part of a larger short stories and/or Gothic literature unit. Don’t have time to cover everything? Use the handouts that align with the focus of your unit.

Included in this resource:
❊ Suggested lesson plan
❊ American Gothicism and Nathaniel Hawthorne introduction PowerPoint
❊ 2 versions of guided notes

❊ Vocabulary handouts: 3 different handouts that cover 12 words from the text
→ Context Clues: Students use context clues to determine the meaning of the words and then compare their definitions to the actual definitions
→ Exercises: Match the vocabulary words to their synonyms; complete the sentences using the correct vocabulary word; write a paragraph using the vocabulary words
→ Quiz: Match vocabulary words and definitions; choose the correct word for provided synonyms; write an original paragraph using the vocabulary words

❊ Five key focus handouts:
→Plot: answer plot-based questions and complete a plot diagram
→ Characterization: Review direct and indirect characterization. Examine four excerpts, determining which type of characterization is used and explaining what it reveals. Includes handout for Aylmer and Georgiana
→ Symbolism: review four symbols and provide an explanation of the symbol. Then, write a short paragraph describing Hawthorne’s use of symbolism.
→ Gothic Elements: Determine which Gothic elements are present. Write a paragraph arguing whether or not “The Birthmark” should be considered a Gothic text.
→ Topics and Themes: Examine how the text treats five topics; create a thematic statement; complete a theme development paragraph (includes scaffolded and non-scaffolded versions)

❊ Two grammar focus handouts:
→ Sentence Types: Review the four types of sentences; determine the type of sentence for ten excerpts from text; mark independent and dependent clauses.
→ Parallelism: Review parallelism and four types of parallelism problems. Identify parallelism in five excerpts. Rewrite three sentences without parallelism.

❊ Suggested answer key