Before Reading The Crucible Jig-Saw Activity

Purpose: To gather background knowledge about the Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism, Arthur Miller, a summary, the characters, the themes, and the literary devices used in drama in order to prepare to read The Crucible.

Activity: Students will initially gather information connected to the play. A worksheet for each topic has been provided in The Crucible reading guide. Then students will teach information to other students in the class.

Instructions: Students are first assigned to homogenous groups [Witch Trials, McCarthyism, Arthur Miller, Summary/Themes, Characters, and Literary Devices]. Students will use provided resources [video, textbook, and websites] to gather information about the assigned topic. Finally, students are then assigned to heterogeneous groups [one from each of the topic groups] in order to teach each other about the assigned topics.

BLOCK 1

Homogenous Groupings

Witch Trials / McCarthyism / Arthur Miller / Summary/Themes / Characters / Literary Devices
Amber / Hayleen / Ashanti / Brianna / Angelo / Derike
Justine / Klaudia / Ben / Catherine / Corrine / Jay-Lin
Krystal / Nick T / Nick N. / Karen / J.R. / Nyreef
Zahir / Sean / Paul / Jahney

Heterogeneous Groupings

Group 1 / Group 2 / Group 3
Amber / Justine / Krystal
Zahir / Hayleen / Klaudia
Nick N. / Ashanti / Nick T.
Sean / Paul / Ben
Catherine / Brianna / Karen
Jay-Lin / Nyreef / Derike
J.R. / J.R. / Jahney
Angelo

BLOCK 4ß

Homogenous Groupings

Witch Trials / McCarthyism / Arthur Miller / Summary/Themes / Characters / Literary Devices
Chris / Andrew / Corey / Jenna / Alfredo / Cody
Crystal / Brittney / Josh / Joe / Cherrielyn / Cory
Iliana / Gabby / Koch / Natalie / Kim / Derrell
Kiara / Gary / Stefano / Tylor / Rachel / Hector
Stephany / Kulanko / John / Satyra

Heterogeneous Groupings

Group 1 / Group 2 / Group 3 / Group 4
Kiara / Crystal / Iliana / Chris
Gabby / Stephany / Brittney / Andrew
Koch / Kulanko / Gary / Josh
Joe / Stefano / Corey / Jenna
Hector / Tylor / Natalie / Satyra
Derrell / Cody / Cory / Cherrielyn
John / Kim / Rachel / Alfredo