Sample Lesson Plans

50-minute Comparative Literature class on Rachilde’s novel The Juggler.
Stiliana Milkova
Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

80-minute Biology discussion on “prokaryote gene regulation”
Yaxuan Yang, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology as a sample lesson from Bio 172 (under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Cadigan)

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50-minute Comparative Literature class on Rachilde’s novel The Juggler.

Objectives for student learning:

Students will be able to …

1. Place the novel and its protagonist within the context of Rachilde’s life and literary career.
2. Identify and analyze the “decadent” connections between Baudelaire and Rachilde.

On board:

Rachilde: Marguerite Emery Vallette (1860-1953)
“Mademoiselle Baudelaire”
Over 60 published works:
Monsieur Vénus (1884);  La Jongleuse/The Juggler (1900, 1982 reprint, 1990 translation)

1. Announcements and reminders (5 minutes)

2. Introduce the novel (10 minutes)

2.1. Prompts (5 minutes):
Poll: “How many read the introduction to the novel?” “Has anyone heard of Rachilde before?”
If many students have read it:

• “What was interesting, curious, or unexpected about the author?”
• “What are some connections between Rachilde’s life and what you have seen in the novel so far?”
• If just a couple or no one has read it:
• “The novel is said to be somewhat autobiographical: from reading the first fifty pages, what can you surmise about Rachilde’s life?
• “Why do you think she was called ‘Mademoiselle Baudelaire’?”

2.2. Connect novel and author through a short lecture on Rachilde’s biography (5 minutes) 

3. “Decadent” connections between Baudelaire and Rachilde (20 minutes)

3.1. Discussion: “What are some key images we have seen in Baudelaire’s poems that also appear in the novel?” (list images on board; e.g. make up, costumes, hair, Creole…) (5-7 minutes)

3.2. Group activity (5 minutes):

Split class into groups of 4 or 5; assign roles: one note taker, one reporter. Assign one image to each group and ask them to look for specific examples in the text of that image and answer the question: “How is Rachilde using this Baudelairean image in the text? And to what effect?” (write questions on board)

3.3. Class debrief of group work (8-10 minutes)

4. Check for understanding (10-12 minutes)

4.1. Discussion: “So how can we understand Rachilde’s nickname ‘Mademoiselle Baudelaire’? As praise, irony, condemnation?” (If no time, ask students to write for a minute, then discuss answers next time.)

5. Sum up main points and preview next class (the question of love in the novel) (3-5 minutes)

 

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80-minute Biology discussion on “prokaryote gene regulation”

Goal for student learning:

• To identify the structure and regulation mechanism of the lac operon and trp operon by using a role-play activity.

Materials:

• Lecture and discussion notes.

1. In-class quiz on previous three lectures (5 min).

2. Review and role-play set-up (20 min).

2.1 Review the structure of the lac and trp operon (7 min). Draw the structure on the board for reference and review the biological process and regulation of lac operon.

2.2 Ask the students to come to the board in pairs to complete the figure with important component molecules (5 min).

• If the students can successfully draw the pathway, ask another student to talk through the pathway again.
• If the students have difficulty drawing the pathway, the other students or the GSI could help them to figure out the pathway.

2.3 Review the trp operon mechanism (8 min).

• Ask students to work in groups of 3-4 people each for 5 min to talk through how this operon is being regulated while referring to the structure on the board. (Instructions: discuss how the trp operon responds to environment with/without tryptophan, what proteins are involved, and how they interact with each other).
• To debrief, ask someone to talk through the trp operon mechanism (3 min).

3. Check for Understanding: Play the “Lac Operon” role-play (45 min).

3.1 Introduce the lac operon and trp operon role-play activity and explain the process (5 min). Assign the roles of different molecules to volunteer students who will be the “actors,” while all the other students will be the “directors” of the play.

3.2 Role-play (15 min): The “actors” play the dynamic regulation of the lac operon, and the “directors” judge whether they play a functional lac operon or not. Change the environmental conditions, play the responses of the lac operon again (10 min). If time permits, repeat for the trp operon. (5min)

3.3 Group Discussion (10 min): As a large group, discuss the following questions:

• What are the ways to improve the play by better representing the regulation of the pathway?
• How would one exhibit specific versus non-specific interactions?
• What other responses will be stimulated under other conditions, such as mutations?

3. 4 Students discuss remaining exercise questions in small groups (15 min).

• Sample exercise question: What do you think would happen in each of the following?
• An E.coli missing a functional lacZ gene.
• An E.coli missing a functional lacI gene.
• An E.coli in which the repressor molecule no longer can bind lactose.

4. Summarize the discussion and any remaining questions (10 min).

 

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