Unit Plan

The Giver by Lois Lowry

BackgroundThe Giver is a gripping story that draws the reader into a unique world with disturbingly close echoes of our own. It asks deep and penetrating questions about how we live together in a society.

Big QuestionsWhat must we give up, for example, in order to

live in peace? How much should the individual loss of himself

or herself for the collective good? Can we ignore and minimize pain in our lives--

both physical and emotional--to live happier existences?

Create a "perfect" community, giving it a name, a system of government, a physical description, and an account of how its people spend their days. Discuss how that community would change and grow. What roles would history and memories of painful events play in the growth of the community? What would have to be added to our own society in order to make it perfect? What would be lost in this quest for perfection?

Collect your ideas and present it on the poster paper provided, you may convey your ideas in words and/or pictures. You need to be ready to present your poster at the end of the period.

The presentation will be recorded and embedded in our class website.

1) Pre-Reading Activity Group

In your allocated “chapter” groups you will be responsible for adding the following to class website:

You will record and upload a reading of the chapter. You will need to rehearse this as a group, each reading different sections or roles. To record: Go to http://vocaroo.com/ record your chapter, click on ‘Click here to save…’ and click on ‘Embed’ and copy the code (highlight, ctrl + c) and I can show you how to add to embed this in our class website.

Underneath the recording you will write a brief summary of the chapter.

2) Chapter Summaries Group Activity

In the centre of the page draw a picture of Jonas and underneath the picture write four adjectives describing him. For each adjective find a quote from the book that supports it.

Pick four other characters from the book, and around the drawing description of Jonas include the following:drawingtheir nametheir relationship with Jonasa thing that happened to them in the story

3) Character Activity Individual Activity (complete in your book or online)

Select three settings from the story. For each do the following:describe the settingfind a quotation about the settingnote one thing that happens thereexplain why it is important to the story

4) Setting Activity Individual Activity (complete in your book or online)

As a class we will discuss the following ideas:Family and Relationships (Parental) DiversityEuthanasiaFeelings

5) Thematic Connections Class Discussion

Family and Relationships (Parental) -- In The Giver, each family has two parents, a son, and a daughter. The relationships are not biological, but are developed through observation and a careful handling of personality. In our own society, the make up of family is under discussion. How are families defined? Are families the foundations of a society, or are they continually open for new definitions?

Family and Relationships (Parental)

Diversity -- The Giver pictures a community in which every person and his or her experience is precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been eliminated in favour of a community in which everyone works only for the common good. What advantages might "Sameness" yield for contemporary communities? In what ways do our differences make us distinctly human? Is the loss of diversity worthwhile?

Diversity

Euthanasia -- Underneath the placid calm of Jonas' society lies a very orderly and inexorable system of euthanasia, practiced on the very young who do not conform, the elderly, and those whose errors threaten the stability of the community. What are the disadvantages and benefits to a community that accepts such a vision of euthanasia?

Euthanasia

Feelings -- Jonas remarks that loving another person must have been a dangerous way to live. Describe the relationship between Jonas and his family, his friends Asher and Fiona, and the Giver. Are any of these relationships dangerous? Perhaps the most dangerous is that between Jonas and the Giver--the one relationship built on love. Why is that relationship dangerous and what does the danger suggest about the nature of love?

Feelings

Lois Lowry helps create an alternate world by having the community use words in a very special way. Though that world stresses what it calls "precision of language," in fact it is built upon language that is not precise, but that deliberately clouds meaning. Consider what Jonas's community really means by words such as: released (p. 2), feelings (p. 4), animals (p. 5), Nurturer (p. 7), Stirrings (p. 37), replacement child (p. 44), and Elsewhere (p. 78).

Define each of the seven words according the meaning they have in ‘The Giver’

6) Vocabulary/Use of Language Individual Activity (complete in your book or online)

Examine the ways that Jonas's community uses euphemism to distance itself from the reality of what is called "Release." How does our own society use euphemism to distance the realities of death, bodily functions, aging, and political activities? What benefits and disadvantages are there to such a use of language?

Look up euphemism in the dictionary and write out the definition. Explain why you think the community in The Giver use euphemism.

6) Vocabulary/Use of Language Individual Activity (complete in your book or online)

Create a new cover or a book trailer for the book ‘The Giver’. For the illustration, select an idea/theme from the text (see above for ideas).

Include the following things:titleauthorillustration(s) (that conveys the idea/theme)a quote from the story (that supports the

illustration/idea/theme)

7) Book Cover or Book Trailer Assessment (complete on paper or online)

Select one of the following questions:1. Choose two main characters from the novel.

In 100 words, describe the relationship between these two characters.

2. Describe two important ideas from the novel and how they are presented (through events, actions, setting and characters).

3. Choose an important event from the novel. Describe what happens and explain why this event is important (link to development of character, theme or story line).

8) Response to text essay Assessment (complete on paper or online)

Paragraph One: Introduction  State title, author and outline of your answer Paragraph Two: Answering first part of the questionEg. Describing the two character or

Describing two important ideas (themes) orDescribing an important event

Support your discussion with quotes from the novel Paragraph Three: Answering the second part of the questionE.g.Describing relationship of two characters or

How ideas are presented orWhy event is important

Support your discussion with quotes from the novel

Suggested Essay Structure