Day 1 of “The Lottery”
Objective:
• SWBAT identify the setting of “The Lottery” and explain how the setting helps establish the story’s initial
mood.
• SWBAT make predictions about the story’s future events using prior knowledge and textual evidence
related to setting to explain their reasoning.
Culminating Objective (Day 4): SWBAT identify the theme of “The Lottery” and explain how the author uses
symbolism of the lottery to develop this theme.
Culminating Focus Question:
What should students ultimately understand about the text’s theme(s)/meaning and how it was conveyed?
What warning does Jackson give readers about the dangers of tradition? How does she use symbolism to
convey this theme?
In your answer, make sure you:
• Clearly articulate Jackson’s warning
• Identify at least one symbol used by the author and explain how it conveys her theme or warning to
readers
Sample Student Response:
Claim:
In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson conveys a warning to readers through her theme by demonstrating that blind
adherence to tradition can cause otherwise ordinary and seemingly “good” individuals to commit heinous acts.
Possible Details:
• The lottery happens every year, and no one questions its cruelty or takes a stand to stop it.
• The Black Box symbolizes the townspeople’s adherence to tradition. It is old and decrepit, but they
refuse to replace it because the townspeople don’t like to upset tradition.
• The townspeople don’t know why they do the lottery beyond the fact that there used to be a saying that
the lottery would bring heavy crops.
• Even as Tessie is being stoned to death, she claims that the drawing itself is unfair; she never questions
whether the lottery itself should occur.
Key Points Daily Assessment:
What do students need to know about the literary element(s), What question will students answer to show that they have
device(s), or structure(s) within my objective? reached the daily objective and understood the text?
Why is this knowledge relevant and important to the text’s What will students do to show they have mastered the basic
meaning? knowledge/skills within the objective?
How will I make this information concrete to students?
How did I apply this knowledge to understand the text? What
skills and/or strategies did I use, and how did I use them?
1) Setting is the physical location and time in which a Setting can best be defined as:
story takes place. To identify setting, we must note the A. The emotional effect or feeling that a text
specific details the author provides concerning: creates jn a reader
o The story’s location. B. The physical location, time, and social
o The time in which the action takes place. environment in which a story takes place.
o The social environment of the characters, C. The background information that is important to
including the manners, customs, and moral a text
values that govern their society. D. The steps a reader takes to use details to
determine what may happen next in the story.
2) While we often associate setting with “where” and
“when,” it also has an emotional effect and can create a Mood can be defined as: the feeling a text conveys to
mood or atmosphere. Mood is the feeling that a text readers.
conveys to readers. Authors deliberately choose a
setting and include specific details to conjure a certain
reaction/feeling in their readers. Once I have identified What is the setting of “The Lottery?” What mood do
the story’s setting, I can identify the mood by asking : these details establish, and what does this lead you to
o What things, thoughts, or feelings do I typically think about the lottery that’s about to occur? Use
associate these details with? evidence from the text to support your answer.
, If the setting is a decrepit, abandoned, and
old building, I might feel tense or anxious Sample Student Response:
since I’ve seen many scary movies where “The Lottery” is set in a small, unnamed town on a
something bad happens in these types of summer day. The details in the text tell us that:
locations. Possible Details:
th
If the setting is a warm, sunny beach, I feel • It is the morning of June 27 .
relaxed. • The day is clear and sunny.
o Given this, what mood is the author trying to • The flowers are blossoming profusely and the
create? grass is green.
If I’m feeling tense or anxious, I think the • All of the people in the village are gathered in
author is trying to create a mood of the village square, and they gather here every
suspense or even fear. year for the lottery.
If I’m feeling relaxed, I think the author is • Because the people are always present for the
trying to create a mood of happiness and lottery, it suggests that they place importance
calm. on tradition.
• While together, the townspeople seem to be
3) As readers, it’s not enough to just note where and relaxed and happy: the children are playing
when the story takes place. By identifying the setting and laughing, the men are telling jokes, and the
and the mood it conjures, we can make better women are gossiping.
predictions about what may happen in the text. To do
this, I should ask myself: These setting details help establish a mood of a
o What is the setting, and the mood it conjures, relaxed excitement because the day is beautiful, all of
leading me to think might happen? the townspeople are present, and they seem happy
I’m thinking something bad is going to and carefree.
happen to our main character.
I’m thinking that something good or maybe Given the warm, sunny day and the sense of happy
lucky will happen. excitement of the townspeople, it’s likely that the lottery
o What do I need to be aware of as I continue is a fun, community event for the townspeople.
reading?
I’m going to be on my toes to see what
might happen next… there will probably be
some more clues about what catastrophe
is about to occur.
I’m going to look for additional elements
that indicate positive events will occur.
CONNECTION TO SUMMER ACHIEVEMENT GOAL:
In order to achieve growth on their institute assessment, my students will need to read various texts and discern
how the author creates meaning. Setting is a key literary element across many texts that my students will have to
be familiar with and interpret in order to comprehend and, in many cases, determine a text’s theme. By focusing
on setting and how it helps to establish the text’s mood, as well as using this information to make predictions,
students will begin to develop the habit of identifying and interpreting these key details in a text to increase their
understanding. This is a critical life skill – as readers, my students will need to be aware of the different ways in
which authors create and convey meaning to make sense of and analyze texts in high school, college, and
beyond.
PRE-READING (25 min.)
Do you need to:
Activate prior knowledge or build background knowledge to help students comprehend key ideas?
Pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary words that are important to the text’s meaning?
Introduce students to the knowledge, skills, and strategies important to the text?
Connect students to important ideas from a previous lesson?
• (4 min.) Students will silently complete the Do Now (below).
Note: Students should write their responses on the structured note-taking handout included at the back of this
plan, which you may choose to teach this lesson. If you do not choose to use the note-taking handout, be
sure the Do Now is written on the board before the beginning of class.
1. After 10 hours on the job, the greeter at Wal-Mart gave everyone a perfunctory hello while mostly staring
at his cell phone and reading text messages.
, Based on the sentence above, what does the word perfunctory mean? Choose the correct answer below,
and underline the words in the sentence that helped you determine its meaning.
a. acting with enthusiasm and with energy
b. done routinely with little interest or care
c. acting with sadness and dismay
d. done with anger toward others
2. What would you do if you won the lottery? List the first five things you would do with your winnings.
• (4 min.) Pre-teach today’s vocabulary.
o Give the correct pronunciation for perfunctory so that students hear and read the word correctly. Then,
begin by going over the Do Now to see how students defined the word based on the clues provided in
the sentence.
“Today’s vocabulary word is perfunctory, and it’s pronounced per-FUNC-to-ry. Say it with me: per-
FUNC-to-ry. (Students repeat proper pronunciation with teacher). Great. I need a volunteer to read the
sentence on the Do Now for us. (Call on student to read sentence out loud.) Let’s take a quick poll –
hold up 1 finger if you choose A, 2 for B, 3 for C, and 4 for D.”
o Review the word, its correct definition, and ensure students understand the specific context clues that
suggested the word’s meaning. Depending on student responses on the Do Now, you may want to do
this in one of two ways:
If over half the class got the correct definition, have a student explain how they used clues in the
sentence to determine the word’s meaning. “It looks like most of you choose letter (B) done
routinely or with little interest or care, which is exactly right. Who can tell us what specific words
or clues in the sentence helped you figure out the meaning?”
If more than half the class got the wrong definition, show students how you used clues in the
sentence to determine the word’s meaning. “It looks like we’re all over the map on this one, so
let me show you how I figured it out. I chose letter (B), because I thought perfunctory meant
done routinely, with little interest or care. When I read the sentence, here’s what stood out to
me: when greeting customers at Wal-Mart, the greeter kept staring and playing with his cell
phone. This suggested to me that he was bored and not really all that interested in saying a
nice, friendly ‘hello’ to all of the customers walking through the door. In addition, the beginning
of the sentence helped me confirm this. Since he’d been at the job for over 10 hours, I figured
that he was likely tired and bored, and so he didn’t have enthusiasm or energy. I didn’t really
have any evidence to show me that he was sad or angry, so I determined that perfunctory must
mean to do something routinely or with little interest.”
o As a class, give students an opportunity to brainstorm 1-2 synonyms, antonyms and write these in the
appropriate spot on their handout.
Possible synonyms: indifferent, cursory, routine, unconcerned
Possible antonyms: enthusiastic, thoughtful, spirited, zealous
Then, have students use the word in a sentence. Though you will want to provide students with the
opportunity to write their own sentences with future vocabulary words, you should to create a sentence
together as a class for the first lesson.
“Let’s write a sentence using the word perfunctory. To do so, I’d like someone to volunteer to explain an
activity that they do in a perfunctory manner. (A student provides a suggestion; shift it into a sentence.)
Great—let’s write that down on our handout: “Because I wanted to find my cousins, I gave my
grandmother a quick, perfunctory kiss before rushing to the basement to find them.”
• (4 min.) Use the second question on the Do Now to introduce students to the text.
o Use this as an opportunity to activate prior knowledge and prepare students for reading (since generally,
lotteries evoke pleasant experiences and conjure ideas of luck and winnings).
“All right, let’s discuss the second question on your Do Now. It’s your lucky day… you’ve just won the
lottery. Who can volunteer to share what they would do with the winnings?” (Invite 2 students share. It
is important that you limit student responses here to maintain pacing in this lesson.)
Objective:
• SWBAT identify the setting of “The Lottery” and explain how the setting helps establish the story’s initial
mood.
• SWBAT make predictions about the story’s future events using prior knowledge and textual evidence
related to setting to explain their reasoning.
Culminating Objective (Day 4): SWBAT identify the theme of “The Lottery” and explain how the author uses
symbolism of the lottery to develop this theme.
Culminating Focus Question:
What should students ultimately understand about the text’s theme(s)/meaning and how it was conveyed?
What warning does Jackson give readers about the dangers of tradition? How does she use symbolism to
convey this theme?
In your answer, make sure you:
• Clearly articulate Jackson’s warning
• Identify at least one symbol used by the author and explain how it conveys her theme or warning to
readers
Sample Student Response:
Claim:
In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson conveys a warning to readers through her theme by demonstrating that blind
adherence to tradition can cause otherwise ordinary and seemingly “good” individuals to commit heinous acts.
Possible Details:
• The lottery happens every year, and no one questions its cruelty or takes a stand to stop it.
• The Black Box symbolizes the townspeople’s adherence to tradition. It is old and decrepit, but they
refuse to replace it because the townspeople don’t like to upset tradition.
• The townspeople don’t know why they do the lottery beyond the fact that there used to be a saying that
the lottery would bring heavy crops.
• Even as Tessie is being stoned to death, she claims that the drawing itself is unfair; she never questions
whether the lottery itself should occur.
Key Points Daily Assessment:
What do students need to know about the literary element(s), What question will students answer to show that they have
device(s), or structure(s) within my objective? reached the daily objective and understood the text?
Why is this knowledge relevant and important to the text’s What will students do to show they have mastered the basic
meaning? knowledge/skills within the objective?
How will I make this information concrete to students?
How did I apply this knowledge to understand the text? What
skills and/or strategies did I use, and how did I use them?
1) Setting is the physical location and time in which a Setting can best be defined as:
story takes place. To identify setting, we must note the A. The emotional effect or feeling that a text
specific details the author provides concerning: creates jn a reader
o The story’s location. B. The physical location, time, and social
o The time in which the action takes place. environment in which a story takes place.
o The social environment of the characters, C. The background information that is important to
including the manners, customs, and moral a text
values that govern their society. D. The steps a reader takes to use details to
determine what may happen next in the story.
2) While we often associate setting with “where” and
“when,” it also has an emotional effect and can create a Mood can be defined as: the feeling a text conveys to
mood or atmosphere. Mood is the feeling that a text readers.
conveys to readers. Authors deliberately choose a
setting and include specific details to conjure a certain
reaction/feeling in their readers. Once I have identified What is the setting of “The Lottery?” What mood do
the story’s setting, I can identify the mood by asking : these details establish, and what does this lead you to
o What things, thoughts, or feelings do I typically think about the lottery that’s about to occur? Use
associate these details with? evidence from the text to support your answer.
, If the setting is a decrepit, abandoned, and
old building, I might feel tense or anxious Sample Student Response:
since I’ve seen many scary movies where “The Lottery” is set in a small, unnamed town on a
something bad happens in these types of summer day. The details in the text tell us that:
locations. Possible Details:
th
If the setting is a warm, sunny beach, I feel • It is the morning of June 27 .
relaxed. • The day is clear and sunny.
o Given this, what mood is the author trying to • The flowers are blossoming profusely and the
create? grass is green.
If I’m feeling tense or anxious, I think the • All of the people in the village are gathered in
author is trying to create a mood of the village square, and they gather here every
suspense or even fear. year for the lottery.
If I’m feeling relaxed, I think the author is • Because the people are always present for the
trying to create a mood of happiness and lottery, it suggests that they place importance
calm. on tradition.
• While together, the townspeople seem to be
3) As readers, it’s not enough to just note where and relaxed and happy: the children are playing
when the story takes place. By identifying the setting and laughing, the men are telling jokes, and the
and the mood it conjures, we can make better women are gossiping.
predictions about what may happen in the text. To do
this, I should ask myself: These setting details help establish a mood of a
o What is the setting, and the mood it conjures, relaxed excitement because the day is beautiful, all of
leading me to think might happen? the townspeople are present, and they seem happy
I’m thinking something bad is going to and carefree.
happen to our main character.
I’m thinking that something good or maybe Given the warm, sunny day and the sense of happy
lucky will happen. excitement of the townspeople, it’s likely that the lottery
o What do I need to be aware of as I continue is a fun, community event for the townspeople.
reading?
I’m going to be on my toes to see what
might happen next… there will probably be
some more clues about what catastrophe
is about to occur.
I’m going to look for additional elements
that indicate positive events will occur.
CONNECTION TO SUMMER ACHIEVEMENT GOAL:
In order to achieve growth on their institute assessment, my students will need to read various texts and discern
how the author creates meaning. Setting is a key literary element across many texts that my students will have to
be familiar with and interpret in order to comprehend and, in many cases, determine a text’s theme. By focusing
on setting and how it helps to establish the text’s mood, as well as using this information to make predictions,
students will begin to develop the habit of identifying and interpreting these key details in a text to increase their
understanding. This is a critical life skill – as readers, my students will need to be aware of the different ways in
which authors create and convey meaning to make sense of and analyze texts in high school, college, and
beyond.
PRE-READING (25 min.)
Do you need to:
Activate prior knowledge or build background knowledge to help students comprehend key ideas?
Pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary words that are important to the text’s meaning?
Introduce students to the knowledge, skills, and strategies important to the text?
Connect students to important ideas from a previous lesson?
• (4 min.) Students will silently complete the Do Now (below).
Note: Students should write their responses on the structured note-taking handout included at the back of this
plan, which you may choose to teach this lesson. If you do not choose to use the note-taking handout, be
sure the Do Now is written on the board before the beginning of class.
1. After 10 hours on the job, the greeter at Wal-Mart gave everyone a perfunctory hello while mostly staring
at his cell phone and reading text messages.
, Based on the sentence above, what does the word perfunctory mean? Choose the correct answer below,
and underline the words in the sentence that helped you determine its meaning.
a. acting with enthusiasm and with energy
b. done routinely with little interest or care
c. acting with sadness and dismay
d. done with anger toward others
2. What would you do if you won the lottery? List the first five things you would do with your winnings.
• (4 min.) Pre-teach today’s vocabulary.
o Give the correct pronunciation for perfunctory so that students hear and read the word correctly. Then,
begin by going over the Do Now to see how students defined the word based on the clues provided in
the sentence.
“Today’s vocabulary word is perfunctory, and it’s pronounced per-FUNC-to-ry. Say it with me: per-
FUNC-to-ry. (Students repeat proper pronunciation with teacher). Great. I need a volunteer to read the
sentence on the Do Now for us. (Call on student to read sentence out loud.) Let’s take a quick poll –
hold up 1 finger if you choose A, 2 for B, 3 for C, and 4 for D.”
o Review the word, its correct definition, and ensure students understand the specific context clues that
suggested the word’s meaning. Depending on student responses on the Do Now, you may want to do
this in one of two ways:
If over half the class got the correct definition, have a student explain how they used clues in the
sentence to determine the word’s meaning. “It looks like most of you choose letter (B) done
routinely or with little interest or care, which is exactly right. Who can tell us what specific words
or clues in the sentence helped you figure out the meaning?”
If more than half the class got the wrong definition, show students how you used clues in the
sentence to determine the word’s meaning. “It looks like we’re all over the map on this one, so
let me show you how I figured it out. I chose letter (B), because I thought perfunctory meant
done routinely, with little interest or care. When I read the sentence, here’s what stood out to
me: when greeting customers at Wal-Mart, the greeter kept staring and playing with his cell
phone. This suggested to me that he was bored and not really all that interested in saying a
nice, friendly ‘hello’ to all of the customers walking through the door. In addition, the beginning
of the sentence helped me confirm this. Since he’d been at the job for over 10 hours, I figured
that he was likely tired and bored, and so he didn’t have enthusiasm or energy. I didn’t really
have any evidence to show me that he was sad or angry, so I determined that perfunctory must
mean to do something routinely or with little interest.”
o As a class, give students an opportunity to brainstorm 1-2 synonyms, antonyms and write these in the
appropriate spot on their handout.
Possible synonyms: indifferent, cursory, routine, unconcerned
Possible antonyms: enthusiastic, thoughtful, spirited, zealous
Then, have students use the word in a sentence. Though you will want to provide students with the
opportunity to write their own sentences with future vocabulary words, you should to create a sentence
together as a class for the first lesson.
“Let’s write a sentence using the word perfunctory. To do so, I’d like someone to volunteer to explain an
activity that they do in a perfunctory manner. (A student provides a suggestion; shift it into a sentence.)
Great—let’s write that down on our handout: “Because I wanted to find my cousins, I gave my
grandmother a quick, perfunctory kiss before rushing to the basement to find them.”
• (4 min.) Use the second question on the Do Now to introduce students to the text.
o Use this as an opportunity to activate prior knowledge and prepare students for reading (since generally,
lotteries evoke pleasant experiences and conjure ideas of luck and winnings).
“All right, let’s discuss the second question on your Do Now. It’s your lucky day… you’ve just won the
lottery. Who can volunteer to share what they would do with the winnings?” (Invite 2 students share. It
is important that you limit student responses here to maintain pacing in this lesson.)
