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CookbookTeaching and coursesNo. 23

A novel unit*Frankenstein* in four weeks, from the 1818 text

Recipe No. 23 · Teaching and courses

For: An English teacher planning four weeks on a novel

You get: A Frankenstein unit: weekly guides, a character map and a rubric

Time: An evening to draft, two to check quotes

See it in know.sh

Who’s who as a mind map, the De Laceys branching from the creature whose story holds theirs, and four “whose words?” flashcards on the key lines.

English 11Frankenstein, the 1818 text

1of 9

Who’s who

Observation, key section, 1 highlight, 420 words

The novel is a story inside a story inside a story: Walton writes to his sister, Margaret Saville, what Victor told him, and Victor tells what the creature told him, which includes the De Lacey family’s story. Keep track of who is speaking.

The unit, with its reading schedule as a table in the overview: the 1818 and 1831 chapter numbers side by side.

English 11No. 7

Frankenstein, the 1818 texta four-week unit

9 sections, 5,340 words, about 23 minutes, 4 highlights, revised 26 September

We read Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in the 1818 text, the one Mary Shelley first published. If your copy numbers its chapters 1 to 24, it follows the 1831 text: read the 1831 chapters given in brackets, and ask me about the differences.

Each week’s section has the passages we will read aloud, the discussion questions, and five words to know. The essay prompt is in section 9.

Sections

  1. 1Who’s whoObservation, key
  2. 2Week 1: Letters 1–4, Walton’s shipObservation
  3. 3Week 1: Volume I, chapters 3–4, the creationQuestion, key
  4. 4Week 2: Justine’s trial and the glacierQuestion

and five more sections

A week’s guide: passages to read aloud from the 1818 text, four discussion questions, and five words defined in the sentences they come from.

English 11Frankenstein, the 1818 text

3of 9

Week 1: Volume I, chapters 3–4, the creation

Question, key section, 2 highlights, 1 note, 640 words

In the 1831 text, chapters 4 and 5. Victor finds the secret of life, works for nearly two years, and runs from what he has made within minutes of its waking.

Read aloud. The opening of chapter 4: “It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.” Then, a page later: “I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created.”

Discussion.

  1. Victor breaks off his own story to warn Walton: “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example.” What is he warning him against, given what Walton says he wants in Letter 4?
  2. Victor chose the creature’s features “as beautiful”. What does he see when it opens its eyes, and what does he never look at?
  3. He says a human being “ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind”. Does he believe it, and does the novel?
  4. List every word Victor uses for what he has made in these two chapters. Which ones will he still use in Volume III?

How it works

Teach Frankenstein from one document the whole class reads. Your assistant drafts the unit from your own plans: a reading schedule that maps the 1818 chapters to the 1831 ones, a guide per week with passages to read aloud, a character map, and flashcards on the lines students must know. You check every quotation.

  1. Settle the text first

    Say in the overview which text the class reads. Ask your assistant to map every 1818 chapter to its 1831 number, then check the map against both editions yourself.

  2. Draft the unit from your plans

    Give your assistant your plans and past questions. Ask for the schedule as a table element, then a section per week with passages to read aloud, discussion questions and five vocabulary words.

  3. Check every quotation against the text

    Open the 1818 text beside the guide and check each quoted line word for word. Assistants misremember famous lines and slip in wording from the 1831 text.

  4. Map the characters and share one link

    Ask for a mind map element of who’s who and flashcards on the key lines. Then share the unit, leaving out your teaching notes and, until the essay is set, the rubric.

Try this prompt

Your assistant, connected to know.sh (Claude, ChatGPT or a local model):

Using know.sh, add a table element to the overview of my Frankenstein unit on the English 11 shelf: one row per week from 5 October, with two columns, Week (its number and dates) and Read, then in class (the 1818 chapters, the 1831 chapters in brackets, then a short phrase on the class). Tell me how you mapped the chapters, so I can check both editions.

Your assistant, connected to know.sh (Claude, ChatGPT or a local model):

Using know.sh, add a mind map element to “Who’s who” in my Frankenstein unit: Victor at the centre, with Walton, Alphonse, Elizabeth, William, Justine, Clerval and the creature branching from him, each labelled with their relation in a few words. Branch the De Laceys and Safie from the creature, and write a description that reads well on its own.

Made with

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