Silas Marner Lesson Plan

Debate

Kind of Activity:

Group Discussion

Objective:

Students will cite the text of Silas Marner to argue whether or not Godfrey Cass should reveal his secret.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.4

Structure:

Godfrey Cass vacillates on what would be worse: revealing his secret or living with it over his head. In this activity, the class will be separated into smaller groups that will debate the relative merit of both options within themselves. Students should be encouraged to pick the side they argue, so they will be more dedicated to it. However, if the distribution is uneven—say, most of the class...