Can you judge a book by its cover? Decide who and what Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about with a prediction activity. Before reading the first three chapters of the book, kids answer questions based on their interpretation of the cover of the book. They then read Chapters 1-3 and decide if their predictions were true.

Concepts

pride and prejudice, literary elements, making predictions, critical thinking

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have kids work together to come up with predictions about the book based on the cover and prior knowledge about the setting
• Assign a writing prompt in which kids reflect on a time when they were prejudiced, or experienced prejudice aimed at them

Classroom Considerations

• Glosses over some pretty important background information about 18th century England; consider adding your own lessons about societal expectations during this time period
• Requires only one-sentence answers for each question, which may limit critical thinking when making predictions
• Includes a judge and jury element in the student worksheet, but doesn't reference this part of the lesson in the teacher version
• Kids' answers to the prediction questions will vary depending on the version (and cover) of the book you use in class
• Font on the worksheet is in all caps, which could hamper understanding for some learners

Pros

• An interesting way to introduce the literary theme of prejudice and judging someone before you get to know them

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.7.1 RL.7.2 RL.7.3 RL.8.1 RL.8.2 RL.8.3 RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3