1. Lesson 24: Finish reading “Flowers for Algernon”
About this lesson
Students finish reading “Flowers for Algernon” and complete their before/after surgery chart.

2. We assessed our ability to read, understand, and express our understanding of a text.
Let’s Review!
Teaching Notes
Suggested Pacing: ~1 minute
Directions:
Briefly review the previous learning.

3. Finish reading “Flowers for Algernon.”
Today we will:
Finish reading “Flowers for Algernon.”
Complete our before/after surgery chart.
Let’s Prepare!
Teaching Notes
Suggested Pacing: ~1 minute
Directions:
Read the slide.
Briefly explain how this lesson prepares students for another lesson and/or the end-of-unit assessments.
Throughout the lesson, compare students’ responses and work to the student look-fors. Determine the students who need additional support with reading, understanding, or expressing their understanding of complex, grade-level texts. During this lesson or before the next lesson, support those students individually or in a small group using the Additional Supports for Diverse Learners.

4. “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
You will need:
“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
Your before/after surgery chart
Your reading log
Let’s Prepare!
Teaching Notes
Suggested Pacing: ~ 5 minutes
Directions:
Distribute the text.
Ask students to locate their before/after surgery chart and their reading log.

5. As you read, complete your before/after surgery chart.
Read May 23-July 28 (Progress Report 12) from “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes.
As you read, complete your before/after surgery chart.
Let’s Read!
Teaching Notes
Suggested Pacing: ~ 15 minutes
Directions:
Say: “Your purpose as you read the last progress reports of ‘Flowers for Algernon’ is to determine whether you think Charlie has changed as a result of the surgery. Continue to take notes on your before/after surgery chart to track his characteristics in these progress reports.”
Direct students to read May 23 through July 28 (Progress Report 12) from “Flowers for Algernon.”
As needed, direct students to finish reading the text and/or to complete their before/after surgery chart for homework.
Possible Supports During the Lesson:
As needed, prompt students to pause at various points as they are reading to add to their before/after surgery chart.
If students need support reading the text:
Give students access to the visual dictionary for “Flowers for Algernon.”
Pair students with different reading abilities together to engage in paired/partner reading,
Read aloud the text. During the read aloud, provide a student-friendly definition or synonym for difficult words. For example, provide a synonym in context while reading aloud the word or phrase. For example, when reading, “The facts and the results of my experiments are clear, and the more sensational aspects of my own rapid climb cannot obscure the fact that the tripling of intelligence by the surgical technique developed by Drs. Strauss and Nemur must be viewed as having little or no practical applicability (at the present time) to the increase of human intelligence,” say, “The facts and the results of my experiments are clear, and the more sensational aspects or hard-to-believe parts of my own rapid climb cannot obscure or hide the fact that the tripling of intelligence by the surgical technique or way of doing surgery developed by Drs. Strauss and Nemur must be viewed as having little or no practical applicability (at the present time) to the increase of human intelligence.” Possible words for this section:
occasionally: sometimes
motivation: reason for doing something
significant: important
sheer: nothing other than
sharp: sudden
verified: checked
regression/regressed: go backwards or return to a previous state
disproving: prove something wrong
regard: think of
sensational aspects: hard-to-believe parts
obscure: hide
development: new event in a changing situation
logical extension: result that makes sense
impaired: damaged
reduction: slowing down or lessen
amnesia: loss of memory
proportional: related or equal
deterioration/deteriorates: to become worse
If students are not completing the before/after surgery chart with answers similar to the Student Look-Fors:
Read aloud: “I’ve got to find the reason for the sharp regression [or backwards movement] in Algernon. I’ve got to know if and when it will happen to me” (Keyes 17). Then ask: “What is happening to Algernon? Why is Charlie concerned it might happen to him?”
Read aloud: “The facts and the results of my experiments are clear, and the more sensational aspects [or hard-to-believe parts] of my own rapid climb cannot obscure [or hide] the fact that the tripling of intelligence by the surgical technique [or way of doing surgery] developed by Drs. Strauss and Nemur must be viewed as having little or no practical applicability (at the present time) to the increase of human intelligence” (Keyes 17). Then ask: “What does Charlie discover about his intelligence?”
Read aloud: “The surgical stimulus to which we were both subjected has resulted in an intensification and acceleration of all mental processes. The unforeseen development [or new event], which I have taken the liberty of calling the Algernon-Gordon Effect, is the logical extension [or result that makes sense] of the entire intelligence speed-up. The hypothesis here proven may be described simply in the following terms: Artificially increased intelligence deteriorates [or becomes worse] at a rate of time directly proportional [or related] to the quantity of the increase” (Keyes 18). Then ask: “What does Charlie discover about the results of the surgery? What is likely going to happen to him?”
Student Look-Fors:
Access the completed before/after surgery chart handout.

6. How does Charlie change in the progress reports from May 23-July 28?
In your reading log, answer both of the following questions. Use textual evidence to support your response.
How does Charlie change in the progress reports from May 23-July 28?
Is Charlie better off as a result of the surgery?
Let’s Express Our Understanding!
Teaching Notes
Suggested Pacing: ~ 10 minutes
Directions:
Say: “In the next section, you will be asked to write an essay that argues how Charlie’s is improved or worsened as a result of the surgery. We discussed this idea earlier in the unit when we had our first Socratic seminar. Now that you’ve read the rest of the story, your ideas may have been supported or they may have been challenged. Use this time to continue forming your thoughts about the effects of the surgery on Charlie by answering these two questions in your reading log: ‘How does Charlie change in the progress reports from May 23-July 28?’ and ‘Is Charlie better off as a result of the surgery?’ Be sure to use evidence to support your response.”
Possible Supports During the Lesson:
Direct students to access their notes from the Socratic seminar in Lesson 15 for ideas and evidence to use in their response.
As needed, prompt students to use their transitions and evidence sentence starters learning tools to support them in composing their sentences.
Student Look-Fors:
Possible responses:
How does Charlie change? This section begins with Charlie reaching the highest point of his intelligence. He begins to research his own condition and is even “given a lab of [his] own and permission to go ahead with [his] research.” He is deeply motivated by his research and admits that he is “driven on by something inside that won't let [him] stop.” Now, the motivation that Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur saw as the characteristic that made Charlie most eligible for the surgery is becoming even more evident As the section of the text goes on, Charlie begins to use words and phrases that only a researcher or a very highly educated person might use, such as “statistically significant” or “surgical stimulus.” Then, after Algernon dies, Charlie is emotionally affected, and begins to notice his own mental deterioration. Charlie’s mental regression is evident to the reader by his changing vocabulary and spelling, his own explanation of his mental deterioration such as when he states, “I try to read a little bit every day, mostly stories, but sometimes I have to read the same thing over and over again.” By the end of the section, Charlie can barely remember the operation, and resorts to his old familiar habits before the surgery of going to Miss Kinnian’s class and going to work. In a moment of clarity, Charlie realizes how much he has mentally deteriorated and chooses to leave New York so as to not hurt others, saying “Thats why Im going away from New York for good…. I dont want Miss Kinnian to feel sorry for me.” Thus, although he has experienced significant mental changes in this section, he is still a kindhearted, motivated man, much as he was in the beginning of the short story.
Is Charlie better off?
Charlie is not better off as a result of the surgery. Whereas he once had a job, “friends,” and a teacher, he now is alone and leaving New York. He explains, “Evry body feels sorry at the factery and I dont want that eather so Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good.”
Charlie is better off as a result of the surgery. Charlie, himself, feels like he is better off as a result of the surgery and admits, “If you ever reed this Miss Kinnian dont be sorry for me Im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never even new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a littel bit.”

7. In this lesson, you learned what happens to Charlie in “Flowers for Algernon.”
You also learned how changes in characters impacts the reader and develops meaning in a text.
Let’s Close!
Teaching Notes
Suggested Pacing: ~1 minute
Directions:
Read this slide.