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This From Ben’s Pen to Our Lives lesson plan also includes:
- Ben Across the Curriculum
- Activity
- Primary Source
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What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and satire in imitation. High schoolers study Franklin’s writing in pairs and use his approach as a jumping-off point for their own opinion pieces.
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CCSS:
Adaptable
Concepts
Additional Tags
Instructional Ideas
- Invite editors of local papers to watch student presentations and discuss the issues they raise
- Team with an English teacher and/or acting instructor to support cross-curricular initiatives
Classroom Considerations
- Dictionaries might help English learners due to the complex language of the papers
Pros
- Provides a well-constructed opportunity for students to go beyond linguistic intelligence
- Engaging activity brings current or historical issues to life
- Lesson creates interdisciplinary connections between Social Studies, English, and Drama/Acting
Cons
- Links to most of the resources do not work, but most materials are easily found online