Jennifer Hoffman
Linda Miller Cleary
Unit Plan

Bram Stoker's Dracula: Taking a Closer Look At History, Psychology, and Folklore, Fiction, and Film

Prefatory Statement:

The unit will consist of three two-week sections: The first two weeks, will be spent learning about historical events/concepts/figures and relating it to the text-New Historicism. The teacher will present the topics of: Literary Illusions, Journals and Letters, and The New Woman. Students will sign up to research a particular topic in an assigned group and will bring their findings to class ready to present on the day specified. These topics will be: Ships/Shipping Industry, Captains, Immigration in Europe During the 1800’s, Sanitariums, Diseases, Medicine, and Treatment of the Dead in Different Cultures. They will help teach the class about the particular subject and relate it to the text. Any information the group does not cover, the teacher will go over. The next two weeks will be spent examining the vampire as a repeating character in literature/how it changes over time by reading folklore from the 1800’s to the present, examining the vampire in the media by viewing different types of media-ads, cereal boxes, film, television shows, learning about different kinds of vampires, questioning the appeal of the vampire, each creating our own vampire character, and learning how vampires relate with other immortal characters, namely werewolves, by examining other folklore. The last two and a half weeks will be spent looking at Bram Stoker’s Dracula from a psychological perspective. Students will apply the text to Freudian psychology. Psychological criticism is the most common criticism used by high school teachers when teaching this text and teaching about the criticism will take up a large chunk of time. I think if we focus on Freud, it will be clear. Students will write a final research paper about a specific theme of their choice from a list of themes provided or they can suggest one and ok it with the instructor. Students will have to touch on psychological criticism as it relates to Freud’s theory of dreams and repression of fears. I only expect them to use these two topics from Freud and how it relates to their theme. The most important question students will want to ask themselves is: How does their theme add to our understanding of Dracula?
Because this unit involves literary criticisms, the age group I am aiming for is eleventh and twelfth graders. This unit will benefit students in their life because they will learn to question what the media is telling them, how to relate characters to their own life, and how to see texts from different perspectives. This will benefit the world because students learn to be investigators of their world and think for themselves. Issues of race/ethnicity will come up when doing media literacy because students can question why most vampires are white and when we discuss history students will see how cultures differ in their views about the dead/undead. Issues of gender will come up when examining the characterization of female vampires vs. male vampires and discussing the historical perspective of “The New Woman”.

Class Speculation:
This unit is appropriate for eleventh and twelfth grade students. Some of its features that would be inappropriate for other grade levels are the rating of the films and Dracula as a text is difficult reading for other grade levels. If I was teaching this unit for other grade levels, I would use just the films and other media that are rated lower (cartoons, tv shows)
and a more simplified version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula-they are out there. I would also use the book on audio to reduce the bulk of reading for ESL and less proficient readers.
Significant Assumptions:
My assumptions in going into this unit are that students have been exposed to the character of a vampire and have ideas of what constitutes a vampire. I also assume that students know how to use the computer well enough to access the internet. I assume that students have done discussions of literature before and are familiar with journal writing.

Desired Outcomes/Standards/Objectives to be Met

1. Evaluate a literary selection from several critical perspectives

2. Demonstrate how literary works reflect the historical contexts that shaped them

3. Cite Sources of information using a standard method of documentation, using the style sheet from the Modern Language Association (MLA).

4. Research-the students will locate and use information in reference materials by printing materials from electronic databases and online resources; as well as, using books.

Possible Whole-Class Activities
~Discussions
~Read alouds
~Story-telling
~Paper Outlining
~Sample Paper Critiques

Possible Small-Group Activities
~Research
~Webquest
~Presentations
~Peer critique/criticism

Possible Individual Activities
~Journaling
~Research
~Presentations
Ongoing Activities
~Vocabulary
~Spelling
~Journaling
~Conferencing with the Teacher
Student Resources
One copy per student of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Journal

Unit Launch/Anticipatory Set/Set Induction
First Day Lesson:

Descriptive Data:
Teacher: Jenny Hoffman Class: Honors English 11 and/or English 12 Date: Day 1
Unit: Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Taking a Closer Look at History, Psychology, and Folklore, Fiction, and Film
Lesson Topic: Unit Launch
Time Duration: 50 minutes

Objectives:
1. Students will have questioned their own preconceptions and exposure to a reoccurring character.
2. Students will have recalled their own fears and realize they already hold some oral culture.
3. Students will have learned briefly about the history of the gothic genre
4. Students will have learned briefly about Bram Stoker and Dracula

Methods:
1. Begin by having students access Webquest and do Task One. (10 min.)
2. After students have filled out the questionnaire, have them share their responses with a partner. (5 min.)
3. Then, discuss responses as a class. (10 min.)
4. Read a passage from early vampire folklore. (5 min.)
5. Ask students if this characterization sounds familiar-what is the same/different?
6. Introduce the Gothic Genre
I. Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Ontranto started the genre
II. Gothic genre reflects architecture (show pictures) and it reflects a way of thinking: Superstitions, protestant religion, darkness, and the reoccurring images of the mystery of nature, villain/hero, and solitary/dark places.
III. Gothic genre is concerned with the supernatural but the supernatural is often hidden- it is held in the fear of the unknown. (10 min.)
7. Introduce Bram Stoker and Dracula
I. Abraham Stoker- Born in Dublin November 1847.
II. Active in the community with other writers in London-Oscar Wilde and Thomas Hardy
III. Stoker was known as a producer for the actor Henry Irving
IV. Stoker had three occupations during his life: civil servant, theater manager, and a writer
V. Largest person in his family: 6 ‘2, red hair, strong
VI. Born during the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-49)
VII. Mother told him of Irish supernatural myths when he was stricken invalid by an illness when he was 7.
VIII. These stories had an influence on his writing later in his life-plague, disease, led to resentment of the English for not helping the Irish.
IX. Finish with his brief history tomorrow

8. Pass out books and assign Chapters 1 and 2 to read