Crime and Punishment Lesson Plan

Researching Russian Police

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Students will understand the text’s historical context.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.A, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.2.B, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.2.D, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1

Structure:

The final chapters of Crime and Punishment feature a police station and a jail. While these are familiar parts of American pop culture, the versions that Dostoevsky had in mind likely look very different.

To help students understand the historical context of Crime and Punishment, break the class into groups of 3-4 and ask them to research police and prisons in 19th-century Russia.

In their...