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In your planning for a novel unit, please note "Letterman's advice": |
Here, then, in general terms, is an overview of a typical novel unit: |
A N T I C I P A T I O N -- Pre-reading strategies |
M O T I V A T I O N -- During reading strategies |
ELABORATION -- Post-reading strategies and extensions |
EXTRAPOLATION -- Post-reading strategies and extensions |
INTEGRATION -- Linking with other subject areas |
EVALUATION -- Linking with outcomes and performance criteria |
NOVEL IDEAS: PRE-READING SUGGESTIONS
ANTICIPATION: These activities are done before students ever see or know the title of the novel.
Pre-reading activities achieve several important objectives: -- They can address the performance criteria for Listening and Speaking. -- They arouse a level of excitement about and interest in the novel to be read. -- They link student experiences to situations, characters, or themes of the novel.
Some techniques include:
-- Predicting -- works well with novels set in the future, or with POSSIBLE situations students may encounter. "Walk" students through the exercise, for example: Imagine that you are living in a time twenty-five years from now. Write down the year. Write down your age. Where will you be living? What job/profession/occupation will you be doing? How will you get to work? What food will you eat? What new laws or restrictions may be placed on people? Et cetera. You can then discuss student responses as a whole class, or have students share in small groups.
-- Visualizing -- is similar to predicting, but more limited. Students attempt to get a mental picture of a basic situation at the beginning of a novel or book. You describe it for them without making any reference to the book at this point. They then try to understand the limitations, possibilities, and reactions of people in such a situation. For example, to begin THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, you might ask students to visualize their home as a room no larger than the classroom, where they would spend twenty-four hours a day for two years with exactly the same group of people. During the day, they could not make a single noise, flush a toilet, run a tap, etc. In groups, students could "design" their space and visualize difficulties, advantages, possibilities.
-- Sharing Experiences -- through class discussion or small group brainstorming, students share some of their own experiences which may relate to the novel. For example, explain and list practical jokes students have played at home, school, camp, as an introduction to THE PIGMAN. Or, have students share some of the trials and triumphs of first-time camping experiences as an introduction to a "wilderness" or survival novel.
-- Role Playing -- Student
in groups are given situations similar to, or the same as, arise in the novel,
and asked to design and present a mini-drama arising from that situation. Thus,
students are able to relate their own experiences to the novel situation and
to suggest possible alternatives for the novel's characters which may be available
for later discussion.
NOVEL IDEAS: DURING READING SUGGESTIONS
MOTIVATION:
During the period of time that they are reading, students may require a variety of activities to keep them motivated. Here are a few suggestions for activities to motivate readers:
I. Reading ALOUD -- This is especially effective to begin a novel. Teacher reading aloud helps to model reading with expression and projection. Student. opportunities should be provided with students being encouraged to bring life to the text. Reading the beginning of every second chapter (with a chapter being assigned to be read at home each evening) is also a good strategy. Be sure to stop at a key suspenseful moment to encourage students to continue reading immediately.
2. Chapter CLOZE -- To get students through a novel quickly, a good strategy may be to prepare a CLOZE-type summary of one or two chapters at a time. Leave out key words, expressions, or actions which students can only discover by reading the appropriate chapter(s).
3. Content Quiz -- To encourage students to read a novel quickly and completely, provide a deadline for completion of reading on which date there will be a short content quiz. The quiz can be as simple as a series of ten or fifteen statements to be marked True or False. A series of statements, some of which are accurate and some of which are not is also a good strategy. Students receive one mark for marking a correct statement with a "C" and two marks for indicating inaccurate statements and providing the accurate information.
4. Chapter Questions -- These can be effective for a number of purposes: -- to highlight key elements of character or theme development -- to provide an opportunity for students to "notice" particular literary elements such as rich description, use of imagery or symbols, varied sentence structure -- to allow students an opportunity to predict possibilities or alternatives, or react to events thus far. Remember: Questions beginning with Who, What, When, or Where usually elicit straight content responses. HOW and WHY are more open-ended and require some analysis and synthesis on the part of the student. Some WHAT questions are very open-ended, for example, "What alternatives did Lorraine have at this point?" OR "What might have happened if John had done x instead of y?"
5. Response Journals
-- These provide an opportunity for students to synthesize their thoughts and
feelings about characters, situations and author intentions, and to react to
events in the novel. The usual procedure is to give a few starter questions
for these journals and require that students submit half a page to a page at
various intervals during their reading of the novel.
NOVEL IDEAS: PARTS OF THE NOVEL
It is best to introduce literary terminology during discussion of various elements of the novel, rather than to make it the focus of your study. These elements can form the basis of useful questions, either on the novel as a whole, or relating to specific chapters.
1. PLOT: The plot is the series of events which makes up the action of the novel. The question, "What happens?" elicits the progress of the plot. Discussion of plot may involve such terms as conflict, denouement, foreshadowing, crisis, resolution, tension, suspense, climax, protagonist, antagonist.
Predicting what may happen is a fun and interesting activity for students of all ages and encourages logical thinking and critical evaluation of characters and setting as well as typical outcomes of situations.
2. SETTING: Included in setting are the time period in which the action occurs, the place where the action occurs, and the atmosphere (the mood or feeling) around the action. Setting can be made relevant to students' lives through comparison of the circumstances in which the students live and the circumstances of characters in the novel. In some instances, a study of how language has changed (diction) or is different would be interesting.
3. CHARACTERS: The physical aspects of characters are usually revealed through fairly straightforward description. Personality traits of characters are revealed in a number of ways, for example through:
4. THEME: The author reveals a message, moral, or overriding idea about life and the consequences of human actions, for example, "crime doesn't pay," "human beings are their own worst enemy," "love conquers all." Often the author gives very clear signs and indications of this theme from the outset of the novel. Evaluating theme and thematic elements allows students to think critically and inferentially.
5. STYLE: Although style is a sophisticated concept, students at various levels can deal with some of the concepts. Some elements of style are arranged here, to some extent, from the fairly simple to the more sophisticated:
". . . talk is essential in our lives, not least because most of us. . . do not know what we think till we hear what we say." |
Aidan
Chambers, Tell Me
|
In the "Information Age," the ability to speak well is crucial to communication. But talking is also an important way to discover meaning. If you think about your own lively discussions about movies, television shows, events, people and books, you will realize that often we literally talk our way into meaning and understanding. As we discuss reactions, examine specific features or techniques, compare "notes" of things which each of us knows, we reach new levels of comprehension. Talking about things is a way of clarifying and modifying our own thoughts against the information and impressions of others. In conversation, we can literally re-shape our sense of meaning and develop our level of objective, critical thought as we justify our feelings and opinions. We can try out ideas on an audience, thinking out loud to shape ow own thoughts.
Provide opportunities for students to talk to each other - in pairs, triads, small groups, or whole class discussion with the teacher - about what they have read, experienced, or observed. Encourage students to express their first reactions, but to re-state what they think following the expression of other ideas in the class or group. Talking around the circle can allow reactions and revisions in an orderly fashion. * Aidan Chambers suggests the following simple structure for discussions, especially discussions about books in small groups or literature circles:
Use partner-recorded dialogue as one method of brainstorming prior to writing. That is, partner `A' is allowed three to five minutes to think out loud -throwing out ideas, remembering experiences, discussing reactions or opinions -- while partner `B' takes notes of partner `A's talk, recording important details in point form. Roles are then reversed as partner `B' talks and partner `A' records. At the end of the brainstorming session, `A' and `B' exchange pages of notes, so that each partner has a record of what he/she said.
Here are some suggested questions which may be appropriate for use with chapters or whole novel study. Almost all of them demand thinking on several levels.
INTRODUCTION: (address setting, character, plot, theme)
1. Why did the author choose this particular setting for the events of this chapter/ novel?
2. What do we learn about the particular abilities of the main characters? What gaps or flaws does each seem to have? How are these features best revealed? How do these characters resemble people whom you might know?
3. What do the initial events tell us about the character(s)?
RISING ACTION: (address setting, character, plot, conflict)
4. Why was _________ an appropriate setting for the actions which occurred there?
5. What effect have the events so far had on (certain) character(s)? How have they changed?
6. What alternatives are available to the main character at this point? Why did he/she make the choices which he/she did?
7. Which events have built suspense and concern for the characters?
8. What conflicts is/are revealed by the novel's events so far?
CRISIS/CLIMAX: (address plot, character, setting-atmosphere, theme)
9. Why might you label _____________ as the turning point in the novel?
10. How does the main character truly show his/her strengths (and sensitivities) during these critical events?
11. How was suspense heightened during these crucial chapters in the novel?
12. What does your reaction to these difficult events tell you about the author's intentions?
RESOLUTION/DENOUEMENT: (address character, plot, theme)
13. Which particular aspects of the main character's personality helped him/her through the circumstances and events of the novel?
14. Which characters changed the most? the least? Explain some reasons why.
15. How did you feel about the final situation of the character?
16. How were the concluding events satisfying or unsatisfying?
17. What message might the author have been trying to convey to you?
18. Now that you have read the novel, explain why the title is suitable (or not).
STYLE ELEMENTS:
19. How does ______________ act as a symbol in the novel?
20. Explain how the opening
chapter and concluding chapters are good "bookends.
NOVEL IDEAS: ELABORATION AND EXTRAPOLATION
ELABORATE: to work out in detail; work done with fullness or exactness.
EXTRAPOLATE: to infer; to conjecture from what is known; to project into a new area of experience or activity.
A few suggestions for moving out from and beyond the text:
1. Analytical writing: Students might compare or contrast for example:
They might also evaluate the themes) the author attempts to convey and which events or characters best convey the theme(s).
2. Narrative writing: Students might "continue" the story adding an episode or taking a minor character and predicting an outcome for him/her. They might take the point of view of a character different from the protagonist, for example, the antagonist, or a parent of the protagonist, and write about an episode from that point of view.
3. Seminar topics: Students research topics related to the background of the novel and present their information to the class in seminar or panel discussion form.
4. Debates: Students do research arising from themes of the novel and debate the issues) for the class.
5. Creative writing: Students write diary entries for a character in the novel, poems arising out of themes or settings or events in the novel, advertisements for the novel, television plays for one or more episodes in the novel, recipe books which would be appropriate for situations and characters in the novel, obituaries for characters in the novel, newspaper stories about events from the novel, etc.
6. Board Games: Based on setting, events, and characters, students working in groups create board games which will basically reflect the plot events of the novel.
7. Drama Structures: Based on situations in the novel, students create their own characters and responses and present them in dramatic forms: tableaux, in-role interviews, improvisations, choral readings, for example.
8. Soundscapes: Provide a way for students to link their own experience and interests with the novel. Students work in pairs or small groups to choose three to five significant events from the novel for which they will find appropriate musical background, eg. from current songs that they know. Class presentations might be dramatic or taperecorded readings of one or two events with the soundtrack accompaniment.
Fifty Activity Ideas for Novel Study
CHARACTER: |
1. How is the character like or unlike people you know? 2. Invite three music, TV or movie stars to a dinner for the character. Explain choices. 3. Make a time line of the events in the life of the main character. 4. As director of a film version of the novel, choose actors for the various parts. 5. Design menus for a day in the life of the character, or find pictures for his/her wardrobe, or decorate a bedroom for the character (diorama possible). 6. Make up five interview questions and answers for the main character. (Oprah-style). |
WRITING: |
7. Write two articles for a newspaper published at the time of/in the country of the book. 8. Write about an incident in the life of the main character ten years later. 9. Write a series of diary entries for one of the characters in the novel. 10. Create an anthology of poems which the main character would enjoy. |
VOCABULARY: |
11. Create an illustrated "alphabet" book appropriate for the novel's subject. 12. Find twenty-five new words to add to your vocabulary and define them. |
SPEAKING: |
13. Prepare and deliver a sales talk (pitch) for you book. 14. Tape a radio commercial advertising your book. |
DRAMA: |
15. Prepare and video-tape a commercial for your book. 16. Prepare a "shooting" script for a TV show of one episode in the novel. 17. Give a dramatic reading of one episode from the novel (with a partner). |
SETTING: |
18. Map the places and events in the novel. 19. Make a series of drawings showing places in the novel. 20. Create a diorama (3-D cardboard box setting) for a house or locale in the novel. 21. Write (and videotape) a travelogue about the setting of your book. |
AUTHOR |
22. Make up five interview questions (with answers) for the author. 23. In the author's voice, explain why you chose the title for your novel. 24. In the author's voice, tell about your life and how the book fits into it. |
THE PAST: |
25. Explain what you think happened before the story began. 26. Imagine it is one hundred years earlier. How would your character act? 27. If your character is from the past, what would be his behaviour and interests today? |
THE FUTURE: |
28. Research the main character's astrological personality and predict his/her future. 29. Why should your novel be included in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years? |
COMPARE: |
30 Compare this novel with another novel that you have read. 31. Describe an experience that you have had similar to the main character's. 32. Compare the book to the movie version or to a similar movie or TV show. |
ART: |
33. Design a book cover or a poster for your book. 34. Design a "Wanted" poster for the antagonist in the novel. 35. Create a collage revealing the personality of the main character. 36. Draw a comic strip version of the novel. |
LITERARY QUALITIES: |
37. Why does the novel begin and conclude as it does? 38. Record particularly effective passages of description or dialogue and explain choices. 39. Identify the narrator. Now write one scene from the point of view of someone else. 40. Find and write down twenty-five similes and metaphors. |
LIBRARY: |
41. Find a quotation applicable to your novel and explain your choice. 42. Find another novel with a similar setting or theme, or by the same author. 43. Research the place or time period or clothing styles appropriate to the novel. |
CAREER: |
44. Design a job application for the protagonist and fill it in. 45. Find three newspaper want ads. of interest to a character and explain your choices. 46. What information did you learn about the job or vocation of the leading adult? |
VALUES: |
47. How did this novel change your way of thinking? 48. Discuss the characters who changed the most and the least. How and why? 49. Did each character experience/receive what he/she deserved? Explain. |
FUN: |
50. Describe a field trip you would like to take after reading this novel. |
Novels need not be taught in isolation from other curriculum subjects. They can be linked quite nicely into other areas so that in effect, you are extending your Language Arts program, and reinforcing and enriching other subject areas. Here are some suggestions for linking and integrating subject areas:
NOVEL GENRE |
SUGGESTED SUBJECT INTEGRATION |
Historical Fiction | History and Geography -- place events of the novel historically, and emphasizing time, place, customs, manners, food. |
"Nature" Fiction | Geography and Science -- map making, environmental issues, outdoor education relating to orienteering, camping, animal behaviour. |
Mystery novels | Science and Maths. -- hypothesis, observation, inference, drawing conclusions, probability. |
"Issues" novels | Social Studies and Family Studies -- community and family relationships, background on specific issues, eg. abuse, drugs/alcohol. |
Here are a few strategies and approaches to evaluating the ideas suggested in this unit. On the pages that follow is an overview of how the various activities meet the perform- ' ance criteria for the transitions level Learning Outcomes.
1. Chapter CLOZE and Content Quiz -- evaluate out of five to twenty marks depending on the number of items required.
2. Chapter Questions -- it is not recommended that you mark all of the responses to chapter questions. These can be "check" marked by the teacher simply walking about and checking off students who have completed their work -- a homework check, perhaps, which accumulates for an appropriate percentage of the final grade. Some responses can be peer marked during a class discussion. The teacher may wish to ask students to hand in longer responses to stipulated questions which will then be teacher-evaluated.
3. Response Journals -- can be marked quantitatively for completion of a specified number of entries, or qualitatively by choosing two to four entries for submission to the teacher or for sharing with a chosen peer.
4. Writing Tasks -- Analytical, Narrative, Creative -- use process writing. Students will draft responses, engage in peer editing activities and then submit a good draft. Alternatively, good drafts can be read in conference or reflection groups. In this process, the group chooses the top two or three, and then assigns a mark out of 10 for each piece of writing. The "best" example from each group is then shared with the class. For teacher-marked pieces, it is recommended that you develop a "rubric" or set of scales, assigning a certain number of marks for content and creativity, for organization into appropriate paragraphs and sentences, and for technical elements.
5. Debates, Drama Structures,
Seminars, Soundscapes, Board Games -- These provide an opportunity to develop
assessment rubrics with student/class input. Students will invariably provide
you with the criteria you would have chosen yourself. You may have to classify
some of their suggestions into broader criteria, but seek their input on mark
weighting of the different elements. Peer evaluation as well as teacher evaluation
is appropriate for some of these tasks. Be sure to share the final marking form
with the students before they do any presentations.
LITERATURE WHICH WORKS WITH GRADE 7/8 STUDENTS
Avi, Wolf Rider, Collier/Macmillan A teenaged boy tries to track a would-be killer with chilling results.
Cole, B., The Goats, Harper An excellent story of scapegoating. A tender story of two young adolescents, one male and one female, who are regarded as misfits at their summer camp. Good read-aloud.
Craig, John, No Word for Good-bye, Irwin Publishing, 1978, ISBNO-7725-9006-0 Friendship between two teenaged boys, one native and one non-native
Doyle, Brian, Angel Square, Douglas & McIntyre, 1984, 0-88899-070-7. YRBE Approved. Set in Ottawa in 1945, this novel takes an unsentimental and sometimes hilarious look at prejudice.
Halvorsen, M., Cowboys Don't Cry, The Book Source, ISBN 0440-91303-9. Y R B E Approved. An easy and engrossing read for virtually all students. The major focus of the novel concerns a conflict between a boy and his rodeo rider father. Set in Alberta, this novel makes a good comparison to Hinton's novel Tex. A film version of Cowboys Don't Cry is also available from the YRBE Leaming Resource Centre.
Hinton, Sue, The Outsiders, The Children's Book Store, ISBN 0440967694. YRBE Approved. Underprivileged and overprivileged kids clash. A poignant reminder that family breakdown and parental neglect produced alienated kids in the 70's too.
Holm, A., I Am David, Methuen, 1965, ISBN NO. 0 416 23340. YRBE Approved. A boy who has spent virtually his whole life in a concentration camp begins a remarkable odyssey to find his mother.
Houston, Frozen Fire. YRBE Approved. See Approved listings for Junior Division. Northern survival story.
Hughes, Monica, Devil On My Back, Mammoth Paperbacks, 1984, ISBN 0-74970216-8 (science fiction adventure story - the power of the computer)
Hughes, Monica, Invitation to The Game, HarperCollins, 1990, ISBN 0-00-647414-4, Science fiction adventure
Hughes, Monica, Hunter in the Dark, Clark Irwin, 1982, YRBE Approved. Reflects the typical pattern of the journey of the hero (separation from the familiar world; a series of trials; transformation or a kind of rebirth). In this novel, the hero is Mike, a young adolescent who struggles to cope with a possible terminal illness.
Paterson, Katherine, Bridge to Terabithia, YRBE Approved. See Approved listings
for Junior Division. A long time favourite.
Paterson, Katherine, Jacob Have I Loved, Recently approved for Intermediate elementary. See Addendum to YRBE 1993 Approved listings. Female protagonist. A strong story of a girl who gradually comes to terms with her own identity and her antagonism for her twin sister. This is a substantial, compassionate, and subtle novel
Paulsen, Gary, Hatchet, Penguin, 1987. YRBE Approved. This fine coming-of-age novel centres on the adventures faced by 14 year old Brian who survives a plane crash and then must learn to survive in the wilderness with only a hatchet to aid him. An excellent novel for an Environmental Studies unit at the Gr 7/8 level.
Paulsen, Gary, The River, Dell, 1991, ISBN 440-40753-2 sequel to Hatchet. Follows the basic pattern of the quest story.
Spinelli, Jerry, Maniac Magee, The Children's Bookstore, paperback, a Newbery award winner. A marvellous story of an amazing twelve year old kid, orphaned when he was three, who becomes a legend in his small town. Chapters are short, reading level is easy, and interest rate is high. Recommended for reluctant readers.
Smucker, B., Underground to Canada, Puffin Books, 1977. ISBN 0-1403.1122 YRBE Approved. In this moving and powerful novel two young girls escape from brutal slavery via the famed underground railway to Canada.
Strasser, T., The Wave, Dell, 1981. ISBN 0440993717. YRBE Approved. Students discover how the desire and pressure to conform can lead to dictatorship.
Voigt, Cynthia, The Homecoming, YRBE Approved. Female protagonist. Dicey, stubborn, intelligent, and determined to keep her family together, walks her younger brothers and sister from New England to Florida in search of their cantankerous grandmother. For strong readers.
Walsh, Ann, Your Time My Time, Porcepic Books Umited, 1984, ISBN 0-88878-219-5 Time travel, female protagonist, contrast between the nineteenth century and present day Set in Barkerville, a ghost town in British Columbia.
Other Possibilities
Science Fiction:
William Sleator novels, such as Interstellar Pig, (Approved) consistently rate well with gr. 7/8 students - John Christopher novels, such as The White Mountains, also go down well
Prentice-Hall, Multisource, 1992, designed for grades 7-9. A number of titles, such as Heroes, Mystery, Challenges, etc., each dealing with a particular theme. The series also includes a glossy magazine for each theme.
EXCELLENT TEACHER REFERENCE:
Seeking Diversity, Linda Rief, Heinemann, 1992. Available from the Professional Library or Irwin Publishing. With plenty of examples and excellent suggestions, Rief shows us how she turns typical gr. 7 and 8 kids into readers and writers. Difficulties are neither minimized nor glossed over. This book is worth reading for many reasons. For example, there is a great deal of information on evaluation and the use of portfolios as well as excellent book lists. Strongly recommended