1. Today, we will be working in six groups (three categories), and then we will be sharing our work with the class. Please read about the different groups, and then sign up on the board for the group you want:
The Historians: These sleuths will be researching the timeline and setting of Catcher in the Rye.
The Freedom Writers: These creative folks will write a few creative pieces to share with the class.
The Prep School Kids: These elite specimens will be examining aspects of their “privileged lives.”
Warm Up 10/27

2. To compile some background information for reading Catcher in the Rye.
Learning Target

3. Today you will have 25 minutes to complete your tasks with your group mates.
Once your task is completed, the work that you create must come to me so that we can share it with the class. This work will be displayed on the overhead, so be sure that what you prepare is clear and readable for your classmates. I recommend using Google Docs, MS Word, or PowerPoint.
See the next three slides for the specific assignments for each group.
Today’s Group Work

4. This is an important group, as the information you compile serves as a historical and biographical basis for your class’s reading. Your group must find both information AND images on the following topics:
Manhattan
The 1950’s
The life of JD Salinger
Try to find the best, most well-rounded info for your class. Your group will need a minimum of FIVE sources.
The Historians

5. Imagine that Christmas vacation is a few days away.  Instead of leaving your private boarding school for the standard two-week vacation, you will be leaving for good because you are failing every subject (except English), and have been kicked out.  It’s Saturday, and you have five days before you are expected home, at which time your parents will have received the news about your permanent expulsion.
Your assignment: Write a journal entry for each of the five days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) that you’ll be on your own. These entries should be well-developed and include your thoughts about your current predicament, fears of what awaits you at home (especially as you get closer to Wednesday), and descriptions of how you are spending your four days. Consider where you’ll be spending your days and nights (your friends will be in school and your friends’ parents probably know your parents), and what you’ll do with the thousand dollars that you have to blow. Freedom as you know it will probably be lost as soon as you arrive home, so what will you do to make the most of these last four days?
To prewrite: talk to your group, assign each person a day, develop a start and end point/timeline for each person, and then each of you write independently. Let’s see how this comes together 
The Freedom Writers

6. Your group must create a graphic organizer that shares each of your perspectives (indications of the positives and negatives) on the following elements of the prep school experience:
Attending a prestigious prep school
Staying at a boarding school, away from your family
Attending a school where the student body is composed of only one gender
Attending on a scholarship
Comparing the above
Compile some images of famous prep schools, typical prep school attire, and any other image that your group deems relevant. You must have at least three.
The Prep School Kids

7. Sharing of Group Work!

8. What are the most important pieces of information that you learned today? Find at least one piece of information from each group, and explain each one.
Assessment of Lesson

9. Read the first chapter of Catcher in the Rye.
Homework