Washington Irving & Legend of Sleepy Hollow Bundle

This unit includes a complete bundle of the story of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving's biography/author profile, and background information on the character-narrator Diedrich Knickerbocker

The unit can can take between 1 and 2 weeks to complete, depending on if you have block or period scheduling and if you choose to use all of the resources.

All resources are editable and available in both digital (Google sites and Google Forms) and print formats. You can keep the lesson completely digital, go paper-based, or opt for a combination of the two. It can be used in a flipped classroom style, for sub-plans, or for e-learning.

The unit begins with a 1-2 day lesson on the historical context and bio of Washington Irving to help students better understand the time period in which Irving's short stories were written. It also introduces Irving’s character-narrator Diedrich Knickerbocker using the newspaper notices on Knickerbocker's "disappearance" and excerpts from Irving's first book, A History of New York. Furthermore, it prepares students for Irving's use of satire, folklore, and character development.

The complete text of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is also included in both a printable work packet and an interactive website with guided reading questions and vocabulary definitions. There are also supplementary games and activities to help students dig deeper into character analysis and Irving's use of metonymy to create a spooky tone.

Materials Include:

• A website with the full text of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the form of an online textbook with explanations of key literary terms and features of Romantic and Dark Romantic genres of literature.
• The website can be used in place of a slide presentation in class or shared with students for independent, self-paced learning. It can also be translated into another language, read aloud, or adjusted for visually impaired students at the click of a button.
• A website with background information and author bio on Washington Irving and this time period in American history, as well as descriptions of Romantic and Dark Romantic genres of literature. The website can be used in place of a slide presentation in class or shared with students for independent, self-paced learning.
• The second half of the website details Irving's scheme to "tease" the release of his first book by placing missing person notices in a local newspaper, and an excerpt from A History of New York describing his most famous character-narrator, Diedrich Knickerbocker - Note that Knickerbocker is the character that Irving uses to narrate all three stories, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and The Devil and Tom Walker.
• Editable self-grading Google forms and printable work packets with reading comprehension and higher-thinking analysis questions which require students to use evidence from the text to support their answers
• Answer keys
• Links to a vocabulary list of literary terms discussed on the website, with optional games to play in class.
• Character Analysis graphic organizer activity
• Suggested essay prompts for end-of-unit assessment
• Pacing guide to help fit the materials into either a one-week or two-week unit, depending on if you have block or period scheduling

Everything is ready to go. Just print or post to your online classroom and you’re set. The materials are copied to your own Google Drive, so you also have the option to edit or adapt them to suit your students’ needs if you choose to do so. 

Goals for the unit:

1. For students to gain an understanding of the author, Washington Irving, the time period he was writing, and his influence on American culture and society

2. For students to understand the features of Romanticism and Dark Romanticism and how they developed, in order to later try and classify Irving’s writing.

3. For students to recognize satire, frame stories, types of narrators, the point of view from which a story is told, methods of characterization, and apply these ideas in an analysis of one of Irving’s stories.

4. For students to have the tools necessary to identify the theme of a work by recognizing character flaws and whether or not the characters learned or developed as a result of the story.

5. For students to be able to identify and analyze multiple meanings or interpretations in a text

6. For students to make inferences about the characters and action in the story, especially when the author chooses to be deliberately vague

Literary terms covered:

Pseudonym

Satire

Forms of irony

Frame story

Unreliable narrator

Characterization

Character flaw

Character motivation

Character foil

Theme

Romanticism

Dark Romanticism / American Gothic

Imagery

Metonymy

& more!

Other lessons which can supplement this unit are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here:

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Little-Brown-Bird-Literature-Resources