This is a suggested teaching schedule for a 10 day class study of Tobias Wolff's Old School. Lesson plans and handouts can be downloaded individually by clicking on the name of the file in the schedule below. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view these files.
Audio Guide CDs are available only for the communities participating in The Big Read. If your community is participating, contact the lead community organization to receive a free Audio Guide CD. Non-participating communities can listen to the full audio online.
Day One
FOCUS: Biography
Day One Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Listen to The Big Read Audio Guide. Read and discuss Reader's Guide essays. Write a description of your school.
Homework: Read Handout One and the
first chapter, "Class Picture" (pp. 3–25).*
Day Two
FOCUS: Culture and History
Day Two Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss America today versus fifty years ago. Write about the narrator's inner conflicts.
Homework: Read Handout Two, "On Fire,"
and "Frost" (pp. 29–60).
Day Three
FOCUS: Narrative and Point of View
Day Three Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss the narrator's basic personality. Write a description of him from the point of view of another character.
Homework: Read "Übermensch" and
"Slice of Life" (pp. 63–99).
Day Four
FOCUS: Characters
Day Four Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss the narrator's character development. Write about another character as a foil to him.
Homework: Read "The Forked Tongue"
(pp. 103–127).
Day Five
FOCUS: Figurative Language
Day Five Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Wolff's use of metaphor and simile. Write a brief description that contains figurative language.
Homework: Read "When in Disgrace with
Fortune" (pp. 131–152).
Day Six
FOCUS: Symbols
Day Six Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss the narrator's views on fiction and his plagiarism. Write about a favorite book and its author.
Homework: Read "One for the Books"
and "Bulletin" (pp. 155–175).
Day Seven
FOCUS: Character Development
Day Seven Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss the desire to be understood. Write about the narrator's potential unconscious motives.
Homework: Read Handout Three and the
novel's conclusion, "Master" (pp. 179–195).
Day Eight
FOCUS: The Plot Unfolds
Day Eight Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Explore Wolff's view of human nature. Write about a turning point in the novel.
Homework: Make a final assessment of the
novel's most important theme.
Day Nine
FOCUS: Themes of the Novel
Day Nine Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Explore Wolff's treatment of the themes of the importance of literature, honesty and deception, and tolerance and acceptance.
Homework: Prepare outlines and
begin essays.
Day Ten
FOCUS: What Makes a Book Great?
Day Ten Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Evaluate the greatness of the novel and its most important theme. Defend the universal relevance of Old School.
Homework: Finish essays.
Handouts
Handout 1: The Importance of Frost, Rand, and Hemingway. [PDF]
Handout 2: Prep Schools: Fact and Fiction [PDF]
Handout 3: The Narrator's Coming of Age [PDF]
* Page numbers refer to the 2003 Knopf hardcover and 2004 Vintage paperback editions of Old School.
