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For Educators
Lesson plans with activities for grades 6-12 dealing with nonfiction and documentaries, which can be tied to The Mystery of Love.

All lesson plans were developed by ReadWriteThink: a nonprofit MarcoPolo Web site maintained by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the International Reading Association (IRA) with support from the Verizon Foundation. The site provides free lesson plans, interactive student materials and Web resources linked to ELA standards for classroom teachers. The lesson plans include student-ready materials such as student reproducibles, student interactives, and related Web resources.

Key components within each lesson include:
bullet A Theory to Practice section showcasing ways strategies used within the lesson are derived from a research based publication
bullet Student Objectives that clearly delineate the literacy skills and strategies that students will learn from the lesson
bullet An Instructional Plan that includes detailed, step-by-step instructions for easy classroom implementation
bullet Classroom-based Student Assessment / Reflection materials that can be used to measure student progress

Family Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us (Grades 9-12)
After viewing the Love and Family vignette (DVD | Web site), invite students to explore similar themes in their own families with this lesson plan. By creating a memoir of a family member who is at least a generation older than they are, students both learn more about their own backgrounds and learn the power of storytellers and writing with love.

Star-Crossed Lovers Online: Romeo and Juliet for a Digital Age (Grades 9-12)
The Love and Romance vignette (DVD | Web site) explores a modern, Internet romance between a couple who negotiate their understandings of commitment in order to marry. Tie these themes to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, by asking students to create their own modern interpretation of specific events from the drama. As students investigate the themes of love and romance in Shakespeare’s play, they learn the timeless nature of romantic bonds between people.

You’re the Top! Pop Culture Then and Now (Grades 9-12)
Focusing on Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top!” this lesson explores pop culture of the past and present and to practice as students create updated versions of the song, extending the song’s analogies and the ways that humans describe their romantic love for one another.

Exploring Language and Identity: Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Beyond (Grades 9-12)
After viewing the Unconditional Love vignette (DVD | Web site), invite students to explore the relationship between language and identity in Amy Tan’s essay. As students increase their awareness of language in their family, home, peer, and work communities, ask them to reflect on the ways that the language of family, home, and culture contributes to the unconditional love that create family ties.

Childhood Remembrances: Life and Art Intersect in Nikki Giovanni’s “Nikki-Rosa” (Grades 6-8)
The poem “Nikki-Rosa” explains that “Black love is Black wealth” as it describes a series of family and cultural bonds that tie the speaker to those she loves. Pair the lesson with the Love & Family vignette (DVD | Web site), and ask students to consider how the “Black love” applies to the Swann brothers and their mother.

Building Vietnam War Scavenger Hunts through Web-Based Inquiry (Grades 9-12)
In the Love and War vignette (DVD | Web site), analyst and writer James Hillman explores the familial camaraderie of soldiers in the field. After viewing the segment, tap this lesson to invite students to research the effects of the war on a specific group of people who were involved (e.g., nurses, soldiers, protesters) using the Internet to then create Internet scavenger hunts that are then shared with the rest of the class.

A Collaboration of Sites and Sounds: Using Wikis to Catalog Protest Songs (Grades 9-12)
Explore how the Love and War vignette (DVD | Web site) presents the love that connects soldiers in the field. Then contrast that emotion with the love expressed in texts that protest war with this lesson which asks students to work in small groups to catalog protest songs in a class wiki.

Discovering Traditional Sonnet Forms (Grades 9-12)
Choose sonnets that focus on love and any of the related themes explored in The Mystery of Love (DVD | Web site) to connect this introductory lesson on sonnets to the documentary. As students read and analyze various sonnets discuss the differences between fiction and nonfiction accounts of love.

Analyzing Symbolism, Plot, and Theme in Death and the Miser (Grades 9-12)
Share the Divine Love vignette (DVD | Web site) with students and then use this lesson to consider how the early Renaissance painting Death and the Miser by Hieronymous Bosch presents similar issues of misguided and divine love.

Love of War in Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” (Grades 9-12)
Love and war may seem like opposites at first; but they hold a complex relationship, especially for those individuals who are involved directly in the events occurring at a time of war. In this lesson, students explore this relationship by examining texts on camaraderie among soldiers. After viewing the Love & War (DVD | Web site) vignette from The Mystery of Love and reading a short story, students compose a visual collage depicting their own beliefs about the relationship between love and war.

Finding Poetry in Prose: Reading and Writing Love Poems (Grades 9-12)
When students think of love poetry, they almost invariably think of poetry about romantic love. This lesson expands the concept of love poems to move beyond romantic love to explore other kinds of love, particularly the love within a family. This idea follows the message found in The Mystery of Love (DVD | Website) which asks the viewer to consider the many faces of love. After reading several poems that expand the definition of love poetry, students compose found poems based on the a personal memoir—either their own reminisces or a love story of another writer.