Book ClubJessie Abernethy, Liz Madden, Jess

Robertson, Jason Robillard, Ashleigh Uhrich

Grade 8Schooled - Gordon KormanApril Raintree - Beatrice CulletonHoles - Louis SacharThe Princess Bride - William GoldmanThe Hobbit - J.R.R.Tolkien Grade 9Flowers for Algernon - Daniel KeyesHunger Games - Suzanne CollinsA Bite of the Mango - Mariatu KamaraA Midsummer's Night Dream - William Shakespeare To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee 

Grade 10Animal Farm - George OrwellPaddle to the Amazon - Don StarkellThe Gap - Ian RossFollow the Rabbit-Proof Fence - Doris Pilkington GarimaraAmistad - Walter Dean Myers 

Grade 11Night - Elie WieselBrave New World - Aldous HuxleyA Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews Twelve Angry Men - Reginald RoseThe Color Purple - Alice Walker

Grade 121984 - George OrwellCatcher in the Rye - J.D. SalingerHamlet - William ShakespeareLife of Pi - Yann MartelA Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

 

 

Rationale

The books were assigned grade levels based mostly on reading level and thematic material. 

We attempted to choose texts that represent a variety of genres and themes. We chose a combination of "classic"/canonical literature and contemporary literature.The authors chosen represent a variety of backgrounds.

Many of these books also have common themes that would recur throughout five years of literature study. Some of our books were also chosen to correspond with content from other subject areas to promote cross-curricular studies.

Grade 8 Book List

Schooled - Gordon Korman 

April Raintree - Beatrice Culleton 

Holes - Louis Sachar 

The Princess Bride - William Goldman

The Hobbit - J.R.R.Tolkien

Grade 8

Summary of Schooled    Capricorn "Cap" Anderson is a young teen who has grown up in virtual isolation on a small hippie farm commune. Cap's only connection with the outside world has been his teacher, mentor and grandmother Rain, who has always viewed their isolation as a blessing from the tumultuous, greed and money-driven mentality of the fast-paced outside world. However, when Rain has an accident that requires weeks of rehabilitation, Cap finds himself smack-dab in the middle of junior high: a world of which he never dreamed. With his clothing and mental character fresh out of the 1960s, Cap may as well have come from a different planet!   Cap's classmates immediately size him up as an easy target. They conspire to get Cap elected class president, thinking that the results of putting someone so clueless as to how the world works in charge will prove to be hilarious. However, what begins as a cruel joke becomes a perspective-changing experience, not only for Cap, but for his school peers as well. Slowly but surely Cap wins over the student body with his simple innocence, generous spirit and his refusal to compromise himself and his beliefs about the goodness in people.

Gallery Walk - Anticipation Guide (before reading):

    Throughout the novel Cap provides tidbits of wisdom, collected from his grandmother during his time at Garland. These short phrases could be used as an anticipation guide for students who are beginning the novel.

1.     Instructor will place poster paper at various places around the room at eye level. Each poster will have on it written a nugget of Rain's advice/sayings. The students will take the first 10 minutes of class to circulate and read each poster and mark whether or not they agree, disagree or don't know. 2.     Once everyone has placed a marker on each poster we will deconstruct the phrases and discuss, one by one. 3.     Keep these posters visible in the classroom. As the novel progresses, examples of these phrases, or notes and thoughts discovered through discussion and reading could be added to the poster. Students may find these posters handy when organizing thoughts or ideas from discussions in class later, especially if they are to write a paper or report on the novel.

• "You always know what you're doing when you do the right thing." • "If the front gets through, the rest will drag."   •  "When people are negative, they're trying to put duct tape on their own

damaged souls."   • "The money-crazy mindset was a big part of what was wrong with the

world."  • "Don't give up, and don't give in."   • "The apple never falls far from the tree."   • "A community thrives when each member does what he or she is best at."   • "Violence is not the answer."

Rain Says:

Character Silhouettes (during reading)

    The novel Schooled is told through multiple character points of view, and not solely that of the protagonist and this allows for an in-depth look at many characters in the novel since we can experience their own thoughts, and feelings, as well as what they say (dialogue), why they say it (intentions) and what others say of them (impressions). Keeping track of the various characters is an activity that the whole class can do together.  Materials needed:

• large poster-boards (one for each character chosen to study)• markers of various colours• lots of wall space

     Instructor will outline various student bodies onto the poster-boards (these will be "life-size" silhouettes) and each poster-board will be labelled with the character's name. These posters will be placed in an area where each student has visual access. As the students progress through the novel multiple aspects of these characters will be revealed, discussed, and analyzed. When aspects of the characters are revealed, impressions and opinions, as well as quotations that student's pull from the novel to support those opinions, will be written on the poster-boards.

    Inside the silhouette, quotes and impressions will be written that come directly from the character themselves. Outside of the silhouette will be written quotes and impressions about that character that come from others. Various colours of markers will help to keep the posters organized, ex: red could be used when it is a direct quotation, blue for internal thoughts of characters and green for class opinions.

    This is an on-going activity that can constantly be referred to and added to. It will help students to connect with characters and those characters' interactions with others. As a visual stimulus in the classroom this can also help students who are having a harder time keeping track of the various characters as well as working toward an understanding of how to collect evidence from a novel or book. Should the class be required at the end of their novel study to write a report or essay about the novel these posters can prove to be extremely useful for gathering thoughts, ideas and opinions. Activity adapted from Linda Christensen: Christensen, L. (2009). Teaching for joy and justice: re-imagining the language arts classroom. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools Publication.

T'ai Chi 太極拳 "Supreme Ultimate Fist":

    Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Capricorn Anderson frequently practices T'ai Chi and uses this ancient art of defense training and exercise to bond with other students in the school. T'ai Chi is a form of internal Chinese martial art. The martial art is referred to as internal because it is occupied with spiritual, mental or chi-related aspects (energy flow), as opposed to an external approach focused on physiology. Set-Up:    Using a set of guided questions that the class develops together, students will research the art of T'ai Chi Chen using the school library, personal knowledge and the internet. A class will be set aside to combine our collected knowledge and to discuss `what we know so far` and `what we would like to know`. This will be turned into a collection of questions.

Practicing T'ai Chi:    During the novel study the instructor, through communication with a local T'ai Chi group, will arrange a visit to the school by a member of the T'ai Chi community or for the classroom to make a visit to the T'ai Chi studio. At their visit they will be introduced to the art of T'ai Chi and learn a short series of movements to get a taste of its rich depth. Students will also have an opportunity to ask questions of the instructor about the movements and/or the history of the art form.

The Taoist Tai Chi Society, located on Pembina Hwy in Winnipeg has many practitioners of T'ai Chi who are graciously willing to share their skills and knowledge with any interested in the art form. These organizations exist throughout the world and the practitioners are usually more than happy to share their knowledge with those who seek it.

 

Complementary Texts:All You Need is Love - Beatles (Song)

Not Fitting In - Gabriel Fin (Poem)

Selected Quotations from Martin Luther King:• "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." • "At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love." • "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader

concerns of all humanity."

Selected Quotations from Mahatma Ghandi:• “Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.” • “Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.” • “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in

being able to remake ourselves.”

Selected Quotations from John Lennon:• “All you need is love.” • “I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak

all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people.” • “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.” • “If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and

peace are eternal.”

The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan (Song)

Grade 9 Book List

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

A Bite of the Mango - Mariatu Kamara 

A Midsummer's Night Dream - William Shakespeare 

 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Grade 9

Summary of The Bite of the MangoThis is the true story about Mariatu, a 12 year old girl living in a small village in Sierra Leone with her family.  One day they hear of rebel soldiers coming towards their village so they decide to flee to a neighbouring village.  They never made it.  Some of Mariatu's family was murdered in front of her and her hands were amputated by the soldiers, who were no older than she was.  After this traumatic experience Mariatu is sent to a refugee camp, when she was healthy enough, and was reunited with some of her family.  She deals with depression and suicidal thoughts but starts to deal with her depression by joining a theatre troupe.  In the refugee group, she met a Canadian journalist who decided to sponsor her to Canada. Mariatu now lives in Toronto, with a Sierra Leonean family.   She is also a UNICEF spokesperson on the impact of war on children.

Activity #1 - Pre-reading ActivityThis first activitity is something to do with your students before reading the book.  Split your class into groups of 3-5 and provide each group with a large piece of paper and markers to use to create a grafitti board.  Each group will have a different question to address and then present their question and the ideas they came up with to the class.  Some questions may be:• What do you know about Sierra Leone?• What do you know about the wars in Africa over the past

15 years?• Is war ever justified?• What do you think about dreams?  Do dreams have any

special meaning?• What stereotypes do people with physical disabilities face?• Why do people write autobiographies?

Example of Grafitti Boards

Activity #2 - During ReadingOnce the students have read enough the the novel to have an understanding of the actions and consequences of what was happening in Sierra Leone at the time of Mariatu's torture, have them look at different texts concerning war.  Provide a variety of mediums for students to interact with including but not limited to: poems, videos, short stories, songs and art.  

Have students pick one of the mediums/pieces presented and provide a brief explanation as to how the piece relates to the novel.  Students will then share these opinions with the class in a talking circle format.  

A way to really enhance student engagement could be to ask them to provide their own example of a medium/piece that relates to Mariatu's experience in the novel.

Example of Art

Art of War #4

 Activity #3 - Post-reading Activity    After reading the novel, have the students choose a social justice project. This project would inquiry based, where students choose a social justice issue, local, national or international, that they are interested in. Once they have chosen a social justice issue, have the students brainstorm ideas of how they could make a difference, such as fundraising, creating a video, starting a club or creating an info session for other classes concerning the issue. After brainstorming a few ideas, the group would chose one idea to pursue and then present the issue, the idea, the process and the product to the rest of the class.

    There would be a few restrictions, such as groups of 3 or 4 people, everyone must present part of the project to the class, there must be a written aspect in every project, a summary of every student's role within the group, and a rationale as to why you chose the particular social issue.

Complementary Texts

Hunger by Nicolas Guillen (poem)

Art of War #4 http://bit.ly/z72B9l  Art of War #102 http://bit.ly/y1Cquw

Art of War #51 http://bit.ly/y1Cquw

Imagine - John Lennon (song)

Hero of War - Rise Against (song)

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (novel)

Grade 10: Book List

 Animal Farm - George Orwell Paddle to the Amazon - Don Starkell The Gap - Ian Ross Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence - Doris Pilkington Garimara Amistad - Walter Dean Myers 

Grade 10Integrated Geography/ELA

                         Book Review       George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm is a great work of literature and a perfect complement to any course about 20th century history. It will also fit into an integrated English-Geography unit on "Food from the Land". The plot is simple. The owner of Manor Farm treats his animals badly. The animals revolt, chase away the humans, and rename their home “Animal Farm”. Led by the clever pigs, they build a community based on animal equality and avoiding the vices of humans.  A shrewd pig called Napoleon takes over and gradually destroys every ideal upon which the farm was based. Napoleon and the pigs become more cruel and corrupt than the humans. The novel is often seen as an allegory about the Russian Revolution, with Napoleon as Stalin. 

                           Book Review Continued        The novel contains dark humour, including an amusing episode in which the pigs discover alcohol and get very drunk. The book also includes sad episodes, such as when Boxer (literally the farm’s chief work-horse), who believes that Napoleon is always right, becomes too ill to work, and is sold by Napoleon to the glue factory.   Orwell includes some provocative minor characters, such as Moses the raven, who tells the animals about a magic place called Sugarcandy Mountain, in which all animals are happy. In the Russian Revolution analogy, Moses is the Russian Orthodox Church. Through Moses, Orwell raises questions about the role of organized religions. Incidentally, the novel is rich with biblical allusions.   

 Even More.....      Animal Farm is short. Orwell does not waste a single word and, at the end, the reader feels that there is no more to be said.  

Activity #1: Pre-reading Activity: 

Analysis of Book CoversTask: Viewing book covers, to predict what will happen in the novel.Criteria: The teacher selects a variety of book covers for the novel, divides the class into groups and gives each group a different cover. Each group has to analyse their cover, using a set of questions provided by the teacher, such as: “Why do you think the publisher chose these images?” Each group writes its answers on a sheet of chart paper. Each group presents its cover and conclusions to the entire class, and answers any questions that other students may have.Intent: To get students thinking about the relationship between images on a book cover and the content of the book.

Activity #2:Reading Activity:Farm Field Trip

Task: The class goes on a field trip to a farmCriteria: On the farm, the class will be shown a variety of animals (e.g. pigs, horses, chickens) and their living areas.  Students will take notes about how each type of animal lives, how it’s fed, where it sleeps, what contact it has with other animals. Intent: To allow the students to compare the daily lives of the animals in the novel with the lives of animals on a Manitoba farm today.

Activity #3:Post-Reading:Cue Card Plot Summary Task: To summarize the plot of a chapter in a concise format.Criteria: Students will be in groups of 3 or 4.  Each group is assigned one or 2 chapters of the novel. Each group will summarize the main events of their chapter(s) on a cue card (about 5x9 inches) using text and or pictures. Groups present their cards to the whole class.  Cards are all displayed in sequence (on a cork-board or other format) for the whole class to read. Intent: To build reading and writing skills; to teach students to comprehend plot, and to select the most important plot events using extremely concise language.

Additional Resources• Song: The Internationalehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DTbashsKic•         The Meatrixhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMOAaciER6o•  TED X: Birke Baehr (What's Wrong with our Food System?)•  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Id9caYw-Y•  • Animal Farm (full movie) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jP3d1JUrtg•  •  Poem: 1993 Tallangatta- Women on the Land by Andrew Kimber• Documentary: Food Inc. 

Grade 11 Book List

Night - Elie Wiesel

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews 

Twelve Angry Men - Reginald Rose

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

Summary of Night    Night is the memoir of Elie Wiesel's experience as a Jewish teenager during the Holocaust. The book was originally published in 1958 and was then re-translated by his wife, Marion Wiesel, in 2006. This edition includes a preface where he explains that the new translation has clarified details and has a voice truer to his own - both ideas that could be explored in a class.

     The story told in Night begins in 1944, when the rumours of Nazi aggression against Jews in Europe finally become a reality for Eliezer's town of Sighet in Transylvania. His home quickly becomes part of a Jewish ghetto, which then is evacuated to another ghetto until finally transports are unavoidable and his journey in Nazi concentration camps begins.      He is separated from his mother and sisters when they arrive at Auschwitz, but is able to remain with his father throughout most of his experiences there. Wiesel describes the horrors of the camps, the work, the sights, the orders, the living conditions, the food, the struggle to remain with his father, and, most importantly, the feelings evoked and transformations that occurred within the gates of oppression. Throughout the story, Wiesel describes the questioning of his faith, of humanity, of the will to live and the people we become when faced with extraordinary evil.

Interviews with Community SeniorsActivity:• After reading the preface of Night and discussing the issue of memory and

telling one's story, the class will take a field trip to a local senior's centre.• Before going students will develop general interview questions to ask the

seniors that they get paired up with and information they would like to share with them.

• The class will take at least two trips to the senior's centre.• On the first trip the students will get to know one of the residents by asking

them some of their interview questions• Following this, students will debrief and be given time to decide on a specific

area of their resident's life they want to know more about and to formulate new questions to ask.

• The class will go back to the senior's centre to talk with and interview the residents. This may be limited to only a second visit or be ongoing.

• After the students have heard the stories of the individuals they are paired with, they will report on the experience.

 

Interviews with Community SeniorsFollow-up:• Students' reflections on their visits and conversations will be

developed in a medium of thier choice• Examples: write a journal reflection about the experience, give a

verbal presentation to the class about your senior buddy, tell your senior buddy's story in poetry or prose, etc.

 Purpose: • Students will celebrate community and develop verbal

communication and listening skills• Students will explore the ideas of memory and voice through

experiential learning• By formulating interview questions, students will begin to assess

how information (such as details from a story) can be gathered, which can be translated into an effective reading strategy

 

Reader's TheatreActivity:• In small groups, students will be given a passage from the

novel to analyze and interpret.• They will decide how to present their passage to the class in

order to convey the message(s) or theme(s) that they identify.

• The goal of the groups' performances is not simply to act out the scene, but rather to play with the words in order to convey meaning

• Students will be encouraged to repeat words or phrases as necessary or to read parts as a group. They may position themselves strategically or move around the room. They may also choose to alter the order of the text or skip over parts to emphasize others. 

• After each performance a discussion of the group's rationale and interpretation will take place.   

Reader's Theatre Purpose:• This activity will allow students to examine their selected

passage critically and in depth.• Groups will have to work collaboratively to identify how the

use and construction of language creates and enhances expression.

• The discussion following performances will encourage students to consider how they and others form an understanding of the text and ways that can be expressed.

• The reading selections will highlight many themes from Night in a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic way.

  Silence    -    Remembering    -    Dehumanization    -    Faith        Existance of Evil    -    Transformation    -    Will to Live

Reader's TheatreSelected Passages:    #1 “Two ghettos were created…we helped the best we could.” (pp. 11-16)    #2 “The beloved objects… Never.” (pp. 29-34)    #3 “Comrades, you are now in…The iron gate closed behind us.” (pp. 41-46)    #4 “One Sunday… That night, the soup tasted of corpses.” (pp. 58-65)     #5 “The summer was… I felt a great void opening.” (pp. 66-69)    #6 “Pressed tightly against one another… I was sixteen.” (pp. 98-102)    #7 “Every day… Free at last…” (pp. 107-112)

Bearing Witness Activity: • Students will read Elie Wiesel's Preface and Nobel Peace

Prize Acceptance Speech where he talks about the importance of remembrance and bearing witness

• Students will then listen to Shane Koyczan's poem, "This is My Voice"

• After think-pair-sharing on the questions below, students will create a poem, speech, or short story about a wrong they have witnessed.o What does it mean to be an accomplice?o What does it mean to bear witness?o What is the message in Koyczan's poem?

 

Bearing Witness

Purpose:•  Celebrating student voice while examining the message

Wiesel is sending

Complementary Texts• Maus by Art Spiegelman (graphic novel)

 • "This is My Voice" by Shane Koyczan (poem)

 • "The Auschwitz Album" on YadVashem.org (video)

 • "First they came for the Socialists" Martin Niemoller (quote)

 • "To be or not to be" by William Shakespeare (soliloquy from

Hamlet) • "Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech", 1986 by Elie

Wiesel (speech, obviously) • See Table 9-4 (p. 292) and Table 9-5 (p. 293) for more

Grade 12 Book List

1984 - George Orwell

Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

Grade 12

Summary of 1984In the year 1984, Winston Smith lives in London, Airstrip One, part of the country of Oceania, a totalitarian society led by Big Brother, which censors everyone's behaviour and thoughts. Winston longs to join The Brotherhood, a group of underground rebels intent on overthrowing the government. Winston meets Julia, who shares these feelings, and the two begin to have an affair. Winston encounters O'Brien, an inner-party member who Winston believes to secretly be a member of The Brotherhood. O'Brian is in fact a faithful member of the inner-party and Winston and Julia are caught in a trap. They are sent to the Ministry of Love and Winston is tortured until his beliefs coincide with those of the Party. 

George Orwell's dystopian novel, written in 1948, warns of the dangers of absolute political authority. 

Introduction to DystopiaWatch the 1984 MacIntosh computers commercial and read the voice-over text from the commercial.

Have students list some of the characteristics of the commercial and create a class list of characteristics from the commercial.

Define 'utopia' and 'dystopia' and give the class characteristics of these genres. 

After reading 1984, view the commercial again to see if students can make more connections to the novel.

Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. 

We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology — where each worker may bloom, secure from

the pests purveying contradictory truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than

any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. 

Our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. 

We shall prevail!

Newspeak/Doublespeak

Newspeak is the official language of Oceania and it is meant to repress the citizens by limiting their language and their ability to express themselves. 

'Doublespeak' is language that deliberately deceives or misleads the audience. 

After reading "The Principles of Newspeak", students will discuss the purpose of Newspeak in 1984 and compare it to 'doublespeak' used today. 

        

Newspeak/Doublespeak

As a class, identify examples of 'newspeak' found in Part One of 1984.

In small groups, students will brainstorm examples of 'doublespeak' used in today's society.eg.   Ethnic cleansing = Genocide         Neutralize = Kill         Intervention = Invasion        Disinformation = Lie

Students will choose a segment of a newspaper article and rewrite it in Newspeak.The following class, students will switch with a partner and try to translate the Newspeak articles back into standard English.

JournalsThroughout the novel, Winston keeps a diary. Have students keep a journal as they read the novel. This novel raises many interesting topics for students to reflect on. Some questions for students to focus on include:

• What would an ideal society look like?• What are your reactions to the novel?• How does the society depicted in the novel compare to the society

we live in today?• Respond to the quotation: “Who controls the past controls the

future: who controls the present controls the past” (p. 26)• Does the past exist if no one remembers it? (pp. 203-204)• Do laws protect freedom or hinder it?

Throughout the novel, write some journal entries from the point of view as a character in the novel. (eg. Winston, Julia, O'Brien, an Inner Party member). Write a journal entry in Newspeak.

Hate Week Celebration

Hate week celebrates Oceania's ongoing war with Eurasia/Eastasia. It involves speeches, marches, films, banners, posters and songs aimed at building the citizens' hatred of the current enemy.

Have students create a poster/song/short film for Hate Week.

Complementary Texts

Literature Circles:• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Additional Texts:• "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (short story)• "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut (short story)• "The Ones who Walked Away from Omelas" by Ursula K

LeGuin (short story)• "The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden (poem)• 1984 Macintosh Commercial• "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell

(essay)