Author: B. Wu, Murry Bergtraum HS, New York, NY

Subject: English

Grade Level: 9-12

Overview: This two-session lesson will lead students to decide whether or not Hemingway was heroic himself just like most of his male characters he created by reading online biographical information about him . They will also share the relevant information about Hemingway by reading aloud the information they gathered to the class. Every student will take notes while listening. To demonstrate their understanding of this lesson, students will write an illustrative essay by using details and quotes from the notes. (This lesson is especially effective for teaching New Regents Task I skills to your students.)

Objective: The student will

• read, interpret and analyze the information
• listen to the information and take notes
• write about the information

Procedures and Activities:

• Discuss the concept of hero; brainstorm and make a list of words that people normally use to describe a hero.
• Divide the class into five groups and each group will type the URL assigned and open the site
• First, ask every student to open this site-a collection of Hemingway's sites on the net: http://www.atlantic.net/~gagne/hem/hemlinks.html
• Group 1 Open this site http://www.atlantic.net/~gagne/hem/localhem.html and read critical essays on the most important works by Hemingway.
• Group 2 Open this site http://www.atlantic.net/~gagne/hem/quotes.html and read the famous quotes by Hemingway. How do these quotes reflect Hemingway's philosophy?
• Group 3 Open this site http://www.atlantic.net/~gagne/hem/time.html and select the most important events happened in Hemingway's life
• Group 4 Open this site http://www.ee.mcgill.ca/~nverever/hem/workbook/index.html; each student in the 5-member group will read 20 different questions out of 96. Make sure students are not reading the same questions from this site.
• Group 6 Open this site http://www.ee.mcgill.ca/~nverever/hem/workbook/index.html ; each student in the 3-member group will read 23 question out of 69. Make sure each student read a different set of questions.
• Read and search for the relevant information for twenty minutes. Remind your students that their task is to illustrate why Hemingway was heroic. While reading, bear this in mind.
• When the reading time is up, everyone should stop reading and get ready for taking notes. Each student will have one minute to present the information he has about Hemingway. When sharing the information, students are encouraged to use original sentences and paragraphs from their reading, although they may not sound like a coherent passage.
• Organize the notes ,and start writing the first draft of the essay by using quotes from the notes, or paraphrasing the notes.

Extensions: Students will search in the net for another source they think is the best for studying Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea. Forward the URL to the rest of the class, and make a page of links on Hemingway and his The Old Man and the Sea.