The People vs. Jay Gatsby: The Ultimate Literary Mock Trial Simulation

Stop analyzing the text—put it on trial. Transform your study of The Great Gatsby into a high-stakes, 1922 courtroom drama. This comprehensive 5-lesson unit moves beyond standard worksheets, forcing students to treat the text as law. Whether your students are Prosecution, Defense, or the Jury, they must navigate the Jazz Age legal system using only verbatim evidence from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.

Why this is a Best Seller:

• Zero-Prep Print and Play Design: Includes a complete Presiding Judge’s Script with stage directions, timing cues, and gavel-banging prompts to keep the energy high and the timing tight.
• The Text is Law Rule: Students are banned from speculating. To win, they must hunt for smoking gun quotes to prove charges of Involuntary Manslaughter and Obstruction of Justice.
• Immersive Aesthetics: Professionally designed Confidential Case Files, Witness Dossiers, and Art-Deco slides that transport your classroom to 1922 Long Island.
• Rigorous Assessment: Culminates in a formal argumentative essay and a creative 1920s Journalism task.

What is Included in the Bundle?

• The Master Unit Plan: 5 detailed lesson stages covering the Evidence Scavenger Hunt, Witness Prep, The Trial, and The Verdict.
• The Courtroom Script: A 6-part formal script for the Teacher or Judge to manage flow and handle objections like Hearsay and Speculation.
• Full Classroom Slide Deck: Visualizing the Valley of Ashes crash scene, legal strategies, and the Rules of Evidence.
• Character Dossiers: Deep-dive profiles for Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan, including trap questions to catch them in a lie.
• Curriculum Alignment Map: Clear mapping for USA Common Core and UK GCSE (AQA/Edexcel/OCR) standards.

Educational Targets:

• USA: Citing Evidence, Argumentative Writing, Speaking and Listening.
• UK: GCSE AO1 (Identify Information), AO2 (Writer’s Craft), AO4 (Critical Evaluation), and Spoken Language.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money. Will your Jury let them get away with it?