The Medicine Bag: Full Lesson Plan w/ PowerPoints & Graphic…

About this resource

What's inside this resource

This resource will give you everything you need to complete a full, comprehensive reading lesson plan for The Medicine Bag text by Virginia Driving Sneve. Files are offered as PDFs and Word documents.

Included:

-The Medicine Bag Lesson Plan

-The Medicine Bag Worksheet

-The Medicine Bag Answer Key

Graphic Organizers:

Author’s Purpose
Characterization Chart
Figurative Language Chart
Historical Analysis Chart
Imagery Chart
Peer Evaluation Sheet
Plot Diagram
Read for Detail
Setting
Style Chart
Symbol Chart
Symbolism Chart
Theme Diagram
Tone and Mood Diagram
Universal Plot Diagram
Venn Diagram

PowerPoints:

Characterization
Imagery, Voice, and Persona
Irony and Ambiguity
Narrator and Voice
Plot Structure
Symbolism and Allegory
Theme - How to Interpret
Theme

Thank You Bonus Stuff!

What's included

A lesson plan listing materials and roughly 2 to 3 hours of class time, three objectives, and a numbered instruction sequence from defining terms to the anticipatory set and text preview
A Write-Pair-Share procedure page setting out the discussion routine step by step
A five-page student worksheet: a K-W-L preview chart, seven pre-reading vocabulary words, fifteen Questions For Thought, two Literary Focus questions and a Critical Thinking prompt
A key giving full-sentence responses to the Questions For Thought section
Sixteen graphic organizers - Author's Purpose, Characterization Chart, Figurative Language Chart, Historical Analysis Chart, Imagery Chart, Peer Evaluation Sheet, Plot Diagram, Read For Detail 5W and H, Setting, Style Chart, Symbol Chart, Symbolism Chart, Theme Diagram, Tone and Mood Diagram, Universal Plot Diagram and Venn Diagram for The Medicine Bag: Full Lesson Plan w/ PowerPoints & Graphic Organizers.
Eight PowerPoints - Characterization, Imagery Voice and Persona, Irony and Ambiguity, Narrator and Voice, Plot Structure, Symbolism and Allegory, Theme How to Interpret Theme, and Theme
A Figurative Language reference chart with a definition and worked example for each term, including allusion and pun
Bonus classroom files: Sentence Frame and Transitions academic-language posters, four class posters, a Getting To Know Each Other sheet, a Pair-Share Primer, a Reader's Bookmark, a 3-2-1 Reflection Sheet and a Strategic Reading Log
A Word version and a PDF version of each document

Resource types: Lesson Plans, Teacher Tools

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Identify and apply literary terms related to symbolism and characterization, which the lesson plan names as its first objective
Draw inferences about character from story events — why the children hide Grandpa's picture, why the family feels guilty about his visit
Define seven story vocabulary words and use each correctly in a sentence of their own
Explain what the medicine bag stands for and how the narrator changes across the story
Take a position on Martin's choice to delay introducing his friends and support it with concrete evidence

Teaching tips

The story text is not part of the download — the lesson plan lists it under Materials — so have a class set or anthology ready before the sequence starts
All sixteen organizers are text-neutral, carrying blank Title and Author lines, so any of them can be turned on a different short story later in the year
If no projector is available, the lesson plan says to write the terms on the board instead of running the PowerPoint, which keeps the sequence intact
The anticipatory set asks students to talk about their own ethnic cultures — foods, holidays, games — with an alternative prompt about being somewhere everyone looked, spoke and valued things differently
Read the Write-Pair-Share page before the first run; it scripts nominating students, quietly fixing their mechanics, and ruling out "What did you get?" as a pair-share opener

Skills covered

Inference from character behaviour — fifteen worksheet questions ask what can be inferred about Martin, Grandpa, Mom and reservation life from specific moments in the story.
Symbolism — a PowerPoint separates symbol from allegory, and the Symbol and Symbolism charts ask students to pair a passage from the story with what it stands for.
Characterization — the PowerPoint distinguishes direct from indirect characterization with examples, and the Characterization Chart asks for a textual example plus the inference drawn from it.
Vocabulary in context — students define exaggerate, stately, holler, gasp, fatigue, dismiss and sacred, then write a sentence using each properly.
Structured academic discussion — the Write-Pair-Share routine, the Pair-Share Primer and the sentence-frame posters supply the wording for expressing an opinion, building on someone's idea and saying you are confused.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What does a teacher need to have ready before the lesson starts?

A copy of the story. The lesson plan's Materials list names "The Medicine Bag text by Virginia Driving Sneve and The Medicine Bag Worksheet", the graphic organizers for whichever literary terms are being taught, the Peer Evaluation Handout, and optionally a projector for the PowerPoints.

Can the graphic organizers be used with a different story?

They are written for it. Each carries blank "Title of Story" and "Author" lines with generic directions, and the lesson plan notes the story works with most of the other literary PowerPoints or organizers if a different literary element is the focus.

What is the Write-Pair-Share page for?

It scripts the discussion routine the lesson plan leans on: number students 1 and 2, give writing time while circulating and quietly nominating students to share later, have pairs read the question to each other rather than asking "What did you get?", then take the nominated shares.