Lesson Plan

Teaching Guide: Exploring Beloved

Toni Morrison's powerful and painful Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved is not easy to read or easy to teach. Here's a teaching guide, loaded with primary source materials, that gives readers the background they need to understand the dilemma Sethe faces and the terrible choice she makes.

15 Views 11 Downloads
Instructional Ideas
  • Present the Medea materials before reading part one of the novel
  • Ask readers to bookmark passages they find confusing or troubling to bring to small group or full class discussions
Classroom Considerations
  • Requires individual copies of Toni Morrison's Beloved
  • Presumes class members have previously studied the Underground Railroad and the Fugitive Slave Act
Pros
  • Primary sources provide background information about Martha Browne Griffin
  • Includes discussion questions, activities, and links to additional resources
Cons
  • None