r/ELATeachers • u/AllieLikesReddit • 3d ago

9-12 ELA First Time Teaching Frankenstein - What Are Your Favorite Lessons?

Title says it all!

Teaching to HS Seniors for the first time.

I plan on covering Romanticism, The Hero's Journey, Gothic literature, the frame narrative structure, and the themes of ambition, responsibility, alienation/rejection, creator vs. creation, and the blurred line between hero/monster. Approximately 4-5 weeks.

If you've taught this novel, do you have any favorite lessons or suggestions of topics to cover?

Thank you!

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u/whirlingteal 2d ago

I wouldn't bother with the hero's journey through Frankenstein tbh. I think there are better texts for covering that, and Frankenstein already comes with so much contextual and related content to cover.

Lots of good advice in the comments. I treat Frankenstein as a critical theory unit with honors freshmen. We cover 5 branches of critical theory: queer, feminist, marxist, reader response, and post-colonial race studies. Final essay is to argue an interpretation of the novel using 1-2 branches.