Great Expectations: The Bildungsroman Novel

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make detailed and precise interpretations of the Bildungsroman structure employed by Charles Dickens throughout Great Expectations. In particular, students develop an understanding of the features of the Bildungsroman genre and apply the different stages of the Bildungsroman structure to Pip’s moral and psychological journey in the novel.

The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through:

• Defining and exemplifying the features of Bildungsroman novels;
• Applying these features to the different stages of Great Expectations;
• Precisely analysing Pip’s experiences through the different stages of his moral and psychological development;
• Using their understanding to storyboard plan their own ideas for a Bildungsroman novel;
• Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts.

Included is:

• Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive;
• ‘Bildungsroman Features’ worksheet;
• Bildungsroman character development graph;
• Storyboard template;
• Comprehensive lesson plan.

All documents are attached as Word and PDF in case formatting differs on your computer.

There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities.

All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.