I received a letter from a former student the other day, although I don’t remember him. It was about a short story I taught, “Miss Awful,” and a “Miss Awful” lesson plan. Here’s an excerpt from the letter.
Dear Former Teacher,
I used to hate teachers. The first several months in your class did nothing to change that. Then one day you taught a short story called “Miss Awful.” And you had this Making Inferences in “Miss Awful” lesson plan that changed my life. After reading the story and making inferences, I decided to become a teacher, too.
Sincerely,
Confucious.
Well, that’s a strange name, isn’t it? Anyhow, if this lesson changed this young man’s life then I thought it’d only be right if I shared it with my colleagues online.
Making Inferences in “Miss Awful” Lesson Plan
All you need to do now is download the lesson plan, print and copy the handouts, and let the magic begin.
“Miss Awful” Summary
Get the entire unit.
Miss Wilson has to fly to Omaha for a family emergency and Roger Clark gets a new teacher in the short term. Her name is Ms. Awful. That’s not her real name, of course. Her real name is Miss Orville. It’s just that she’s a little different than Miss Wilson.
Miss Wilson, and all the other teachers at St. Geoffrey’s, pretty much let the kids do whatever they want. Not Miss Orville. Miss Orville expects children to behave. She expects children to do their work. She demands accountability from students and parents.
And nobody likes her.
Although secretly I’m guessing some of the parents do like her, at least the ones that can get over the illusion that their children aren’t the perfect students they claim to be. Anyhow, Miss Orville has expectations—something new for the entire school.
She does make one mistake. She tells the kids it’s her last day of school a little earlier than she should have. And the kids turn into great big turds, again. They begin acting disrespectful and plot during lunch how to get even. Some of the harsher ideas include murder and neck-breaking. Then one of the girls suggests they take all the leaves off her plant.
Roger is starting to feel something. It’s his conscience. His parents had shown him a picture of Miss Orville in the newspaper after she was forcibly removed from her home because of an eminent domain construction project. The newspaper showed Miss Orville on the streets with her plants, which she was not allowed to take.
Well, apparently she took one because she had it in her classroom. After seeing the de-leafed plant, she spoke to the children about being civilized. After all the students left, Roger stuck around. Miss Orville thought he stayed to get his toys. Instead, Roger spelled a couple of words he had learned during Orville’s time as teacher.
“Miss Awful” Analysis
- Irony. It’s interesting how good teachers are sometimes disliked by students with their short term desire for ease. Turns out that Ms. Awful wasn’t so awful, after all.
- Character Analysis. Why would Orville come out of retirement to teach these ingrates? Why does Roger do what he does?
- Plot. The story follows a basic plot line that students should be able to analyze.
- Making Inferences. There are things that aren’t stated directly. The reader must infer meaning from the details.
- Narrative Writing. I wonder what happens when Miss Wilson returns.
- Conflict. Seems like a classic kids vs teacher conflict, but anyone who’s tried to inspire young people to rise above their current level of expectations understands the individual vs society conflict inherent in the effort.
Making Inferences in “Miss Awful” Lesson Plan Standards
If you’re looking for a similar story, but shorter, check out “Charles” by Shirley Jackson. Here’s a lesson plan for that.
If you haven’t done so, download the lesson plan. Here are the standards I write on the board when I teach this lesson.
- RL 9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- RL 9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
