Grade 8, Unit 6: "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" by Rod Serling

Preview: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Grade 8, Unit 6: Perspectives
Genre Focus: Spotlight on Drama
Use Before Reading the Selection: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling

Background Builder Web Site

Students can explore the SciFi Channel's Twilight Zone Web site to learn about Rod Serling, the author of The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and the creator of the Twilight Zone, a science-fiction TV series that aired between 1959 and 1964. At the site, students will also find a brief description of each Twilight Zone episode.

Introduce

Brainstorm with students science-fiction TV shows and movies they have seen, and ask them to identify the monsters or evil characters in the shows. Then discuss what makes these characters frightening or chilling. Ask if students have seen or heard of the TV series Twilight Zone. Explain to students that the Twilight Zone Web site provides information about Rod Serling, the creator of the TV series and the author of the drama selection in their texts. Tell them they may find chilling characters or monsters in the show's episodes.

Twilight Zone
URL: http://www.scifi.com/twizone/twilight5.html

Student Project Sheet

Print the online student project sheet to create a blackline master. For best results, be sure that your browser's font size has been set to "12" and that your browser has been set to print in "portrait mode."

Develop/Apply

Distribute student project sheets and help students navigate the Web site to read about the Twilight Zone TV series and its creator, Rod Serling. Encourage students to think about the discussion of monsters and their characteristics as they read descriptions of the Twilight Zone scripts. Then ask students if their conception of the word monster has changed and why.

Read for a Purpose

Encourage students to discuss what kind of story they might expect to find in their textbooks after reading about the Twilight Zone scripts.

You may wish to have student volunteers assume roles and act out the script The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. From time to time as the script is read, have the student-actors freeze and then ask the student-viewers to make predictions about how the drama will progress and how it will end. When the drama is finished, ask students how accurate their predictions were. Discuss how reading about the Twilight Zone episodes helped them understand and anticipate the action in "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."