The Crucible by Arthur Miller The beginning…

Today’s Goals: By the end of class today (tomorrow), students should be able to articulate Miller’s argument in the opening section of the play. Gain a more complete understanding of the Puritan culture, specifically in Salem, MA in 1690. Practice close reading and paraphrasing. Work together to understand a very complex text.

Essential Questions Today: What is Miller trying to communicate to us about Puritans and Puritan culture? What is Miller’s argument regarding why the witch hunt began, in the opening section of The Crucible?

Consider the date of Publication—quickwrite! While we pass out books: When was this book actually written? Given when the book is written, why do you suppose an author might write a play about something that happened so long ago?

Cold Read of the Opening Let’s read the opening pages together, to get a general sense of the language. This will serve as a first read before we do some analysis.

Jigsaw—15 mins. Each Group: 1. Rereads their assigned section together. 2. Identifies any unknown words. 3. Produces a detailed paraphrase of each paragraph assigned. Don’t skip over certain parts…embrace the complexity. 4. Develops a short, 3-5 minute, presentation in which you share your paraphrases and understanding of your section to the class. Make sure to share why you think the information in your section seems important to our understanding of the play. 5. Each group member should take notes on this discussion and information.

Switch up! Recombine the groups, so that now there are larger groups with one member from each of the previous groups. (if there were 8 groups of 3…now there are 3 groups of 8…one from each of the previous groups.

Collaborative Teaching In your large group: Each person takes a turn to explain the section that they were assigned. Be thoughtful and thorough. Group takes notes and asks questions. After answering any questions, move to the next person. At the end of this work, you should have a decent understanding of the introduction.

Whole Class Dialogue What questions do you still have about the reading? What sections were particularly difficult to understand? Why?

Exit Slip: revisit the essential questions… 1. What is Miller trying to communicate to us about Puritans and Puritan culture? 2. What is Miller’s argument regarding why the witch hunt began, in the opening section of The Crucible? Please respond to each of these questions, referring to the text in your answers. This is due as you leave class today.