Is history "little more than a relic," as one of the characters in "The Palace Thief" contends? Has Hundert's love of antiquity kept him from changing with the times? Readers consider how the author uses these conflicting views to develop one of the central ideas in his short story.

Concepts

conflict, internal conflict, close reading, literary analysis, independent reading

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Ask a class member to prepare a masterful reading of the portion of the story under study
• Distribute the rubric for the mid-unit essay, included in the lesson 7 packet, for class members to review before they begin to write

Classroom Considerations

• The sixth in a 13-lesson unit that uses Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief” as an anchor text
• In addition to the in-class readings, class members are also responsible for an out-of-class Accountable Independent Reading (AIR) assignment

Pros

• The 12-page packet includes a list of the Common Core standards addressed in the lesson, the plan, a vocabulary list, discussion questions with suggested responses, and the prompt for the next day's mid-term essay
• After a review of the purpose of an essay introduction, class members begin to draft the introductory paragraph in response to the mid-unit assessment prompt

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.9-10.2 W.9-10.2.a W.9-10.4 W.9-10.9.a L.9-10.1.a L.9-10.2.a L.9-10.2.c L.9-10.4.a