Lesson Overview 

The purpose of this lesson is three fold: 1) to make sure they understood - and to help each other (partners) understand Paradise Lost.  2) To practice how to quickly summarize material, in preparation for the research paper.  3) To write summaries of sections of Paradise Lost, that they will then use in the next lesson - where they will be dramatically acting out Milton's Epic.  The work is done in partners and with another group of partners to check each other's work.

Quiz

A choice - you can either divide the quizzes into two parts (1/2 of the reading ("Paradise Lost" excerpt and background material) OR  you can give a quiz on the entire reading at once.  I usually broke the reading into two parts, but then gave the Entire Reading Quiz after the reading for the second part was due.  As such, the quiz was usually worth 200 points.  I've included both versions below - though I have yet to find my quiz for the second part of the reading.

Instructions for Partner Summary Work

It makes the most sense to give the same directions that the students will get on their handouts, here.  Essentially - the students have the period to summarize the 15 different sections of their reading before the period ends.  Though a goal of the lesson is to teach students how to summarize thoughtfully and accurately - almost important of a goal is to teach them how to do so quickly (this was used right before they began their Research Paper project).   The students must have these finished by the end of the period - and bring them with them to the next class, so that they can epically act out John Milton's Epic Poem, Paradise Lost.  Here are my instructions to the students as they appear on the handout (found below):

 Find a partner.  You and your partner should then find another set of partners that you will check your work in-with periodically. EVERYBODY WRITES

1. You are to fill out the attached chart for the excerpt of Paradise Lost from your text.   One partner – put times next to every-other heading SO YOU FINISH.  When time runs out, Go to the next one – even if you don’t complete your summary.  Give yourself an extra minute for the first three summaries – to give yourself time to get into a groove.  DO NOT SPLIT these up – work together.

2. You will notice the first few heading are summarized (very roughly) for you.  Keep in mind that a heading (or a title for that matter) is in itself a summary.

3. For those Sections (V. onward) that do not have headings, you will need to supply one (or do a rough summary of the entire set of lines)

4. Next you will need to do a more detailed summary; one that captures most of what happens in those lines, but is clearly put in your own words.  Do NOT substitute word for word, and in most cases you will not paraphrase (no room) but will give a broader summary that does not cover every point found in the original.

5. After every two or three headings (sections) check with your other set of partners, compare notes, and check each other for plagiarism and misquotes.  

Remote Enhancements 

I did this remotely - and it worked well with groups of four students getting into their Google Meet Rooms.  Though we weren't able to do the next class's exercise (acting the epic poem out - we did watch what students from past years did - thereby giving a wonderful discussion on what we was different during the pandemic - and what we were missing.