Lesson 8: The Beauty of Language

What’s on for today and why?

            In this lesson students will examine the way the language is used to convey emotion and an overall mood.  Students will then trade their interpretations in their journals and read and respond to that entry.  Also, the students will act out a dialogue and through those different interpretations they will analyze who the characters are and what we can learn through they way they speak.

            This lesson is meant to emphasis the use of language in the novel and develop quick reactions and thoughts.  This really makes them pick out specific words and deconstruct the section down to the roots to decide what makes the passage so effective/beautiful.  By reading each other’s interpretations the students can add to thoughts or think about the passage in a different way and writing these thoughts is an exercise in generating thoughts.  Also, through using this interpretation of language they can build on it by acting out a scene.  This will give them the opportunity to hear the characters speak, even though it is their classmates who are reading.  This acting out will bring them out of their comfort zones and bring the book to life.  By reading this passage out loud the students can also hear the voice inflections and analyze how the words are said, not just the words themselves.  This will lead to greater interpretation and analysis.  The students can begin interpreting the demeanor of the characters and what that means, reading between the lines.

What to do?

1.      Journal:

Read page 137 (first paragraph) aloud to the class.  Ask “How does this passage make you feel?” Then instruct them to write constantly for the next three minutes.

2.      Quick-Writes:

Students will trade journals with a classmate, read what is written and respond to it.  This is a quick exercise and should take no more than 5 minutes total.

3.      Dialogue:

Give all students a minute to read over pages 138-140 and ask for volunteers to read and act out Redemption and Elvis.  Do this scene as many times as the period allows, stopping each time to ask: What do we learn through this scene?  What questions does this scene create intentionally or subliminally?  (ie. Who can you trust? Who should you trust?  What is trust?)  What do we learn about the characters through hearing them speak?  Evaluate the characters, are they genuine?  Get a few responses each time.

4.      Homework:

Read Chapter 14

How’d it go?

            If students wrote constantly and did not get bored it means they had a lot to say about that one passage and who each of them thought about it.  If students volunteered to read the parts they are excited about the novel and comfortable with the class.  If students discussed the passage effectively after each reading they are getting a sense for the characters and are adapting to a different way of analyzing through performance.  Quick-writes will be collected, graded and returned the next day to be put into their final portfolio. These will be graded according to the checklist.