Visualizing Bruno's Observations in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Lesson Overview and Purpose
The first time I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, it struck me as a plot that was structured around a very clear "character verses environment" conflict. John Boyne created this conflict both in his choice of setting for his novel and also in the way he crafted specific character flaws in his tragic hero, Bruno. Bruno lived a privileged and sheltered lifestyle that caused him to be ignorant of the tragic events that were unfolding around him. John Boyne combined Bruno's naivety and ignorance with a passion for exploring, and the combination of these character traits would lead to Bruno's downfall.
Since this was a novel that written with an audience in mind that was younger than my English 10 class (and since many of the students would likely have read this novel or have seen the movie), I wanted to go deeper with them in their analysis of the plot; looking at the conflict in detail seemed like an appropriate challenge for the class.
That being said, this particular English 10 class was a very "high needs" class with many students requiring different adaptations and supports in both their reading comprehension and their writing. In guiding them in their analysis of the setting and Bruno, one of the techniques I used was giving them an opportunity to draw their ideas first, connect their ideas to specific examples from the novel, and then use that to scaffold to larger paragraph-responses to the novel. In this particular lesson, I provided the students with the option of describing Bruno's observations of one of two settings:
The students were required to draw a relatively detailed illustration of their chosen topic and then choose three specific quotations from the novel that they used to inform their illustration (and the page number where the quotation is found). Students would then have those materials available to them in the following lesson, the focus of which would be the longer written response to the question of why Bruno noticed those specific details.
Since this was a novel that written with an audience in mind that was younger than my English 10 class (and since many of the students would likely have read this novel or have seen the movie), I wanted to go deeper with them in their analysis of the plot; looking at the conflict in detail seemed like an appropriate challenge for the class.
That being said, this particular English 10 class was a very "high needs" class with many students requiring different adaptations and supports in both their reading comprehension and their writing. In guiding them in their analysis of the setting and Bruno, one of the techniques I used was giving them an opportunity to draw their ideas first, connect their ideas to specific examples from the novel, and then use that to scaffold to larger paragraph-responses to the novel. In this particular lesson, I provided the students with the option of describing Bruno's observations of one of two settings:
- his old house in Berlin vs his new house in "Outwith"
- his view of "Outwith" from his bedroom window
The students were required to draw a relatively detailed illustration of their chosen topic and then choose three specific quotations from the novel that they used to inform their illustration (and the page number where the quotation is found). Students would then have those materials available to them in the following lesson, the focus of which would be the longer written response to the question of why Bruno noticed those specific details.
Lesson Plan
Reflection
Overall, I feel that the lesson was a success.
I found very early that giving the students something meaningful and purposeful ("for marks") at the beginning of class was a very effective way of reigning in their focus (especially since this was their first class after lunch). I made sure that the quizzes were simple and open-book so students exhibited very little anxiety when they were writing them. For students who were absent, most chose to "challenge" the quizzes on the readings that they had missed and were able to get caught up on the most important details in the chapter that they missed.
Reading the novel in class was a recommendation from my sponsor teacher. In part, it was because it was a limited class set and there were no extras to make up for novels that were lost or forgotten at home. Also, he believed that reading the novel as a class would provide students with extra support if they struggled with reading (or were less inclined to do homework, in general). I'm not sure if I would read the novel in class again if I were study this novel. The students who frequently missed class were still able to challenge the quizzes at the beginning of class and did very well, which for me proved that they were able to find the important details in the novel with relative ease (even if they had not done the readings). I also found that reading the novel in class used up a lot of class time, and in an outgoing survey that I did with the class at the end of my practicum, many of the students commented on how much longer it took to get through the novel because we were reading it one or two chapters at a time.
The response activity went well. Many of the students in the class welcomed the opportunity to draw their interpretation of Bruno's observations of his environment. This was an area of strength for those students in the class who might not have been strong writers, and it allowed them to approach the content of the novel in a way that made it easier for them to express their thoughts. This also proved to be a useful exercise for the students to revisit when they were writing their essays at the end of the unit; since the students would be required to write about the nature of the conflict between Bruno and his environment, the students found it helpful that they had started looking into these ideas so early in the novel study.
I found very early that giving the students something meaningful and purposeful ("for marks") at the beginning of class was a very effective way of reigning in their focus (especially since this was their first class after lunch). I made sure that the quizzes were simple and open-book so students exhibited very little anxiety when they were writing them. For students who were absent, most chose to "challenge" the quizzes on the readings that they had missed and were able to get caught up on the most important details in the chapter that they missed.
Reading the novel in class was a recommendation from my sponsor teacher. In part, it was because it was a limited class set and there were no extras to make up for novels that were lost or forgotten at home. Also, he believed that reading the novel as a class would provide students with extra support if they struggled with reading (or were less inclined to do homework, in general). I'm not sure if I would read the novel in class again if I were study this novel. The students who frequently missed class were still able to challenge the quizzes at the beginning of class and did very well, which for me proved that they were able to find the important details in the novel with relative ease (even if they had not done the readings). I also found that reading the novel in class used up a lot of class time, and in an outgoing survey that I did with the class at the end of my practicum, many of the students commented on how much longer it took to get through the novel because we were reading it one or two chapters at a time.
The response activity went well. Many of the students in the class welcomed the opportunity to draw their interpretation of Bruno's observations of his environment. This was an area of strength for those students in the class who might not have been strong writers, and it allowed them to approach the content of the novel in a way that made it easier for them to express their thoughts. This also proved to be a useful exercise for the students to revisit when they were writing their essays at the end of the unit; since the students would be required to write about the nature of the conflict between Bruno and his environment, the students found it helpful that they had started looking into these ideas so early in the novel study.