We’re taking it slow at the beginning, making sure that we understand where these characters come from. By the end of Day Three, we’re only on page fourteen of the play (and we skipped pages three through eight). We pick up the pace in a major way next week. I’m getting students used to writing down key information on either their TC Notes page or the Character Chart.
Times And Handouts
This is about 15 minutes of reading each day.
Milestones
- In order to understand why Parris is so concerned with accusations of witchcraft, we need to see the world as he sees it. The conversation between Parris and Abigail is key to this. That same conversation also paints a vivid picture of Abigail’s tendency to bend the facts in her favor. Between pages ten and eleven, we find out two different versions of what happened last night. About both versions Abigail swears that’s the whole truth.
- Fill in the Character Chart with what Parris wants (the truth) and what he fears (getting fired).
- Figure out what Good Proctor has to do with Abigail. Make some guesses about why Abigail was let go by the Proctors. We’ll find out the real story in just about ten pages.
- With the introduction of the Putnams, we have more time to get students used to writing information down in order to keep track of everything. Bouncing between the Character Chart for the important characters and TC Notes for everything else, students should have a good grasp on what’s happening. Better than that, it should just be a quick matter of reviewing those notes on Monday in order to forge ahead.
On Monday (Day Four), I hope to make it all the way to the entrance of John Hale, reading pretty much all period long and stopping less frequently as students begin to know when and what to write information in their notes. These two days have been all about setting the students up for what they will do for the rest of the play (and all other texts we’ll read). I hope that the slow set up will translate into a faster march through the rest of this as students are aware of what they should do.