Week 3 Lessons
Day 11, Monday- Trailer Time
1. The Relationship Between Photo and Story (Four Corners Activity) 15 minutes: Before students arrive, the teacher posts 4 images in the classroom (one in each corner). Each student will be given 4 sticky notes. Their task is to write one line that tells the story of the photo in front of them. Students will move around the room to reflect on each photo. Once they have written their line on the sticky note they will post the note next to the photo.
After each student has written a line about each photo they will return to their seats. The teacher will select 4 volunteers to read the lines posted for each photo. Since the responses will vary for each photo, the teacher will highlight that the relationship between photo and story is created by the author - each of us brings a different story to a photo based on our own experiences and perceptions. It is the author/ creator's responsibility to show the link between story and photo - a task that each group will have when they create their book trailers.
After each student has written a line about each photo they will return to their seats. The teacher will select 4 volunteers to read the lines posted for each photo. Since the responses will vary for each photo, the teacher will highlight that the relationship between photo and story is created by the author - each of us brings a different story to a photo based on our own experiences and perceptions. It is the author/ creator's responsibility to show the link between story and photo - a task that each group will have when they create their book trailers.
Photos retrieved from:
Distractify: http://distractify.com/culture/arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-the-world/
Walkingand: http://www.walkingand.org/dogs/dog-walking
NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/world/europe/23france.html
HomesByRagan: http://www.homesbyragan.com/about-muskoka.html
Distractify: http://distractify.com/culture/arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-the-world/
Walkingand: http://www.walkingand.org/dogs/dog-walking
NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/world/europe/23france.html
HomesByRagan: http://www.homesbyragan.com/about-muskoka.html
2. Where do I Begin?? (Microsoft Photo Story 3 Tutorial + Q&A) 15 minutes: Students will be introduced to Microsoft Photo Story 3, the program that each group will use to create their book trailer. This 10 minute tutorial provides all of the basic information that students need to know about using the program.
Video retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1rJm5HqN9A
Video retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1rJm5HqN9A
3. Scripts & Photos! (Partner Planning) Remainder of class: As a class, discuss what the ideal script length should be for a 2 minute book trailer. (suggestion: approx 14 lines). Next, discuss how many photos should be used for a 2 minute book trailer (suggestion: approx 25-35 photos). With these ideal perimeters in mind, allow students to use the remainder of the class to begin writing their script and gathering photos from online sources. Remind students that they should write their script before gathering photos.
Day 12, Tuesday- Novel Transitions and Trailer Time
1. Tell Me Your Opinion (Barometer Activity) 10 minutes: To begin this lesson, place the following statement on the board: "Hosseini's strategy of alternating perspectives in the novel (between Laila and Mariam) is an effective strategy". Have the students lineup on a continuum ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree". Poll several students (from either ends and the middle) to explain their opinion. The point of this activity is not to come to a consensus but to explore the purpose of Hosseini's strategy, the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the strategy, and the different responses it can provoke from the reader.
2. A Blurred Ending (Class Read + Discussion) 20 minutes: As a class, read aloud the final 3 pages of Book 2 (from the page break that begins "On the third morning"). Ask students to comment on the ambiguity of this final scene through the following key questions:
Why do you think the readers are not directly informed that a bomb has hit the house?
Why do you think the faces of Mariam and Rasheed presented but not identified?
What is the significance of Laila's daydream transitioning into the experience of the falling bomb?
Consider the items that Laila is holding (and drops) when the bomb hits; what is the significance of this, in light of your reading of Book 3?
What is the effect of having the details of the bombing presented in chapter 27 (from Mariam's Perspective rather than Laila's)?
3. "Lucky" (Journal Writing) 10 Minutes: Display the following quotations on the projector for the students to read:
"It was Rasheed who found the girl, who dug her out from beneath the rubble.
'Lucky i was home,' he said to the girl. He was siting on the folding chair beside Mariam's bed, where the girl lay. 'Lucky for you, I mean. I dig you out with my own hands'" (180).
"The girl was extraordinarily lucky. Mariam thought, to escape with relatively minor injuries, considering the rocket had turned her house into smoking rubble" (181).
It appears to be intentional that Hosseini describes Laila as "lucky" twice in such as short span of the novel - by both Rasheed and Mariam. Why might Hosseini have used the word lucky? Do you think its repetition is purposeful? Do you think Laila was lucky (in light of your reading of Book 3)? Respond in a journal entry. Make specific reference to the ways in which Laila's life changed from Book 2 to Book 3 in your response.
4. Trailer Time (Partner Planning + Teacher Check-in) 35 minutes: Students will have the remaining 40 minutes to continue working on their book trailers. The teacher will circulate around the classroom and check-in with each group on the status of their project. By the end of this lesson students should have a completed script and a collection of photo to use.
This will be the last "in class" time that students will have to work on their assignments.
2. A Blurred Ending (Class Read + Discussion) 20 minutes: As a class, read aloud the final 3 pages of Book 2 (from the page break that begins "On the third morning"). Ask students to comment on the ambiguity of this final scene through the following key questions:
Why do you think the readers are not directly informed that a bomb has hit the house?
Why do you think the faces of Mariam and Rasheed presented but not identified?
What is the significance of Laila's daydream transitioning into the experience of the falling bomb?
Consider the items that Laila is holding (and drops) when the bomb hits; what is the significance of this, in light of your reading of Book 3?
What is the effect of having the details of the bombing presented in chapter 27 (from Mariam's Perspective rather than Laila's)?
3. "Lucky" (Journal Writing) 10 Minutes: Display the following quotations on the projector for the students to read:
"It was Rasheed who found the girl, who dug her out from beneath the rubble.
'Lucky i was home,' he said to the girl. He was siting on the folding chair beside Mariam's bed, where the girl lay. 'Lucky for you, I mean. I dig you out with my own hands'" (180).
"The girl was extraordinarily lucky. Mariam thought, to escape with relatively minor injuries, considering the rocket had turned her house into smoking rubble" (181).
It appears to be intentional that Hosseini describes Laila as "lucky" twice in such as short span of the novel - by both Rasheed and Mariam. Why might Hosseini have used the word lucky? Do you think its repetition is purposeful? Do you think Laila was lucky (in light of your reading of Book 3)? Respond in a journal entry. Make specific reference to the ways in which Laila's life changed from Book 2 to Book 3 in your response.
4. Trailer Time (Partner Planning + Teacher Check-in) 35 minutes: Students will have the remaining 40 minutes to continue working on their book trailers. The teacher will circulate around the classroom and check-in with each group on the status of their project. By the end of this lesson students should have a completed script and a collection of photo to use.
This will be the last "in class" time that students will have to work on their assignments.
Day 13, Wednesday- Parallels of Restriction: In the Home and on the Street
1. House/ Home (Brainstorm/ Free Write) 10 minutes: To begin this lesson, write the word "home" on the board. Give students precisely 1 minute to write what they think a home is. Repeat this process with the words "house", "shelter", "dwelling", and "residence". Ask students to think of nuances between each of these words in their responses. Next, ask students to select one of these words, or provide an alternative word, to describe the physical location at which Mariam and Laila live with Rasheed. Why did they chose that word?
2. Rules and Regulations: (Group Work) 20 minutes: Divide the class into groups of 5. Provide each group with a piece of chart paper. Inform the class that their task is to write down all of the rules, regulations, and/ or restrictions that Rasheed imposes on Mariam and Laila within his house. Once students have created their lists they each present their list to the entire class.
3. Rules and Regulations, Part 2 (Reading + Journal Writing) 15 minutes: Next, the teacher distributes a handout entitled "Taliban Rules on Females". After students have read the rules silently, they are to write a journal response that draws connections between Rasheeds rules/ regulations/ restrictions and the official Taliban rules. See handout below.
2. Rules and Regulations: (Group Work) 20 minutes: Divide the class into groups of 5. Provide each group with a piece of chart paper. Inform the class that their task is to write down all of the rules, regulations, and/ or restrictions that Rasheed imposes on Mariam and Laila within his house. Once students have created their lists they each present their list to the entire class.
3. Rules and Regulations, Part 2 (Reading + Journal Writing) 15 minutes: Next, the teacher distributes a handout entitled "Taliban Rules on Females". After students have read the rules silently, they are to write a journal response that draws connections between Rasheeds rules/ regulations/ restrictions and the official Taliban rules. See handout below.
Taliban Rules on Females.pdf | |
File Size: | 189 kb |
File Type: |
4. Burqa: Constriction or Comfort? (Quotation Analysis + Class discussion) 20 minutes: This discussion will challenge students to think critically (from multiple perspectives) about the use of burqa as it relates to Mariam and Laila (since the novel resists a simple portrayal of burqa). Students will be given a handout that contains several key quotations from the novel that pertain to the use of burqa. These quotations will be analyzed together as a class. See handout below.
Key questions for discussion:
1. How does Mariam's opinion of the burqa change over time?
2. What simile does Mariam use to describe the burqa? What is the significance of this simile?
3. Compare/ contrast Laila and Mariam's opinion of burqa, as presented in the quotations provided.
Key questions for discussion:
1. How does Mariam's opinion of the burqa change over time?
2. What simile does Mariam use to describe the burqa? What is the significance of this simile?
3. Compare/ contrast Laila and Mariam's opinion of burqa, as presented in the quotations provided.
Burqa Quotation Analysis Handout.pdf | |
File Size: | 120 kb |
File Type: |
5. Lady Gaga: Appropriation? (Class Discussion) 10 minutes: In the final 10 minutes of the lesson, display an image of Lady Gaga in "burqa like" dress. Ask for student's responses. "Burqa swag" a topic that has received a lot of media coverage in the past few months and many students will have likely already encountered some of these images.
What message is Lady Gaga perhaps trying to send?
What message is she actually sending?
Key terms to inject in the conversation: Cultural appropriation, white/ western privilege
What message is Lady Gaga perhaps trying to send?
What message is she actually sending?
Key terms to inject in the conversation: Cultural appropriation, white/ western privilege
Image retrieved from: http://feminspire.com/lady-gagas-new-low-why-burqa-swag-needs-to-stop/
Day 14, Thursday- From Hostility to Friendship
1. Hostility to Friendship (Journal Reflection), 15 minutes: Prior to the start of class the teacher should bring in cups, tea and some sweets, such as timbits or biscuits (maybe from Tim Hortons or your preferable coffee shop) and encourage students to help themselves prior to writing their journal reflections. Students should then begin writing a reflection on the following quote:
"They sat on folding chairs outside and ate halwa with their fingers from a common bowl. They had a second cup, and when Laila asked her if she wanted a third Mariam said she did. As gunfire cracked in the hills, they watched the clouds slide over the moon and the last of the season's fireflies charting bright yellow arcs in the dark. And when Aziza woke up crying and Rasheed yelled for Laila to come up and shut her up, a look passed between Laila and Mariam. An unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enemies any longer." (Hosseini 250)
"They sat on folding chairs outside and ate halwa with their fingers from a common bowl. They had a second cup, and when Laila asked her if she wanted a third Mariam said she did. As gunfire cracked in the hills, they watched the clouds slide over the moon and the last of the season's fireflies charting bright yellow arcs in the dark. And when Aziza woke up crying and Rasheed yelled for Laila to come up and shut her up, a look passed between Laila and Mariam. An unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enemies any longer." (Hosseini 250)
2. What Changed? (Class Discussion), 30 minutes: The class should then have a discussion on the change in Mariam and Laila's relationship. The following guiding questions may be used to facilitate discussion:
Why did Mariam blame Laila for marrying Rasheed? Why did Mariam see Laila as a competitor for Rasheed?
What are the turning points in their relationship? How is Aziza a factor?
What are Mariam’s changing feelings as Rasheed becomes more upset with Laila?
How does Mariam's life change when she befriends Laila?
Laila, Mariam and Aziza pretend to be a family unit when they attempt to escape Rasheed. How is this significant? Are they really pretending?
Why did Mariam blame Laila for marrying Rasheed? Why did Mariam see Laila as a competitor for Rasheed?
What are the turning points in their relationship? How is Aziza a factor?
What are Mariam’s changing feelings as Rasheed becomes more upset with Laila?
How does Mariam's life change when she befriends Laila?
Laila, Mariam and Aziza pretend to be a family unit when they attempt to escape Rasheed. How is this significant? Are they really pretending?
3. Five Stars? (Critiquing Book Reviews), 30 minutes: Students should then read the following two reviews (individually) and compare them, answering key questions that will be provided by the teacher. Afterwards, the teacher should ask volunteers for their answers and facilitate a brief class discussion.
|
|
Day 15, Friday- Video Gallery
Today, students will display their book trailers in a gallery. The teacher should set up netbooks around the room (if netbooks are not available then the computer lab should be booked) prior to the start of class. On each netbook a different movie trailer will be shown. Students will be asked to walk around the class and view other group’s movie trailers. Additionally, students will be expected to write a review on one trailer of their choosing. The review will be due the following Wednesday (Day 18); however, students should start the review in class as they must choose the trailer that they will write on. The assignment guidelines for the review are in the file below:
Trailer Review Assignment Guidelines.pdf | |
File Size: | 589 kb |
File Type: |