The end of the year is tough! Spring fever, core testing is finished....
Here are a few things I've done at the end of the year.
1. Make a vocabulary video. You can use school tablets or laptops, or just have the kids use their phones. It's great to go outside too! Here's the inspiration: http://www.vocabvideos.com/ I spend at least half of the first period watching the videos and having the kids choose their words and plan their script. Time: 3-5 class periods.
2. Have the students make a New Student Handbook for kids entering the school the next year. I have my students include the following: a map with important places labeled, a (nice) overview of each teacher with homework expectations for each, information on lockers, how to get school lunch, how to pay fines, where to go if you lose your ID card, how to check out books from the library, and anything else that you think new students need to know. It should be pretty and organized, with headers, pictures, and legible handwriting. Time: 2-5 class periods.
3. Go to Teen Tribute. Have the students read articles they are interested in and make at least three (appropriate) comments on the articles they read. Time: 1-2 class periods.
4. Have the students write a "Year in Review." This can either be a personal activity or a school/class activity. A big piece of butcher paper on the wall with divisions for months/terms works great, or it can be a personal writing or graphic activity. It's more fun when it's collaborative, though. Students can either write on the butcher paper or they can write on sticky notes and put them on the paper in the right place. Time: 1 class period.
5. Do book reviews for the books the students have read. The can write a review of the book and give it a score from -2 to 2. A 2 means they think next year's students should read it, and a -2 means Get Rid Of This Book Now. If you have the luxury of switching books, take the kids' opinions into account. If not, at least you know that the kids weren't really engaged and you can make some changes! Time: 1-2 class periods.
This website and this one have some other ideas. Heck, they have some of THESE ideas!
Monday, April 28, 2014
Outsiders Materials
Teen Violence Activity
Read the introduction to the class. Then give each pair or small group one of the following sections.Have them answer the following questions in their groups, then discuss as a class.
Think Sheet
Teen Violence and Friendship in The Outsiders "Think Sheet"
Group Members _______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
Brainstorm together what you know about teen violence from your own personal experiences, things you have seen in the news, television shows, movies, or in print, and consider the following when approaching your assignment:
· Who do you feel is responsible for controlling behavior of teenagers, why?
· How can responsible parties control their behavior?
· What are some possible consequences for violent or inappropriate behavior in teenagers? If any, who should enforce them?
· How would you prevent future incidents of violence in a teenager who has committed violent acts in the past?
· From your portion of the reading, why do teenagers become violent?
Article excerpt
Why Teenagers Turn to Violence
by Dr. Bruce Narramore, Psychologist
SCHOOL MASSACRE" and "DAY OF TERROR" screamed newspaper headlines reporting the carnage in Littleton, Colorado. It was the day two armed teenagers killed twelve fellow students, a teacher, and themselves, and wounded twenty-three more. That four-hour siege at Columbine High School Southwest of Denver, Colorado was the most violent day in the history of United States education. It followed six other murderous school shootings in less than two years. In all, these killings have taken the lives of more than two-dozen other students and teachers. In Jonesboro, Arkansas, the shooters were only eleven and thirteen years of age!
These disasters shock and sadden. We are shocked that such carnage can happen in America, let alone in towns like Paducah, Kentucky, and Springfield, Oregon. We sorrow for the young people whose lives were cruelly ended. We grieve for families who have lost a parent, children, friends and neighbors. And in the middle of the shocking horror of these seemingly senseless tragedies we ask, "How can this happen?" "What went wrong?" and, "What in the world is the matter with a child or teenager who would ruthlessly murder his schoolmates, teachers, parents, and others?" The answers are as different as the teenagers involved, but there are several very common characteristics of children and adults who commit these murderous acts.
1. These are angry adolescents.
You simply do not commit murder unless you are bitter, angry and resentful. Children and teenagers who kill have been living with rage for years. Sometimes it was obvious to those who knew them. They have lived counter culture lifestyles. Their dress, hair, music, looks and friends all tell us, "I'm angry and I don't want to be like the rest of you." "I don't want to fit in." "I don't like the establishment." Sometimes they run in cliques, unofficial clubs, or loosely or closely organized, so-called "Nazi" organizations. Their attitudes and actions reveal deep felt bitterness. The two Colorado youths who destroyed so many of their fellow student's lives purportedly belonged to an informal group called the "Trench Coat Mafia." Members wore ankle length, black trench coats, dark sunglasses, and black berets. They spent much of their free time playing war games and boasting of the guns they owned.
"I can't believe he did it.
He was such a quiet person."
Other angry adolescents hide their resentments so well that most observers are shocked when they turn to violence. For years, they have felt angry inside. They have lived with violent fantasies, books, television programs, and movies, but their outward behavior has shown few signs of their deep rage. People who know these teens nearly always remark, "I can't believe he did it. He was such a quiet person." Some even say, "He always seemed like a nice kid who never caused any trouble." But as the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it"1 Beneath their quiet exterior an angry emotional battle has long been raging. When they become old enough and strong enough to carry out their vengeful fantasies, they do it.
2. These are alienated adolescents.
The rage these teenagers harbor reveals a second nearly universal feeling among children who murder. They feel deeply cut off socially and emotionally. They usually just don't fit in. And if they appear to others to fit in, inwardly, they do not believe they do. They do not feel loved, nor do they have a sense that they belong. Sometimes they feel strange or different compared to others. These painful feelings of alienation and rejection are usually the cause of their intense hatred. When you feel you don't fit with anyone in this world, you become angry.
These alienated and angry feelings are nearly always rooted in social and/or family dynamics. For example, parents who feel socially or economically out of the mainstream, especially if they themselves are angry and resentful, will communicate their own sense of alienation to their growing children. Throughout their developmental years, these potentially antisocial adolescents are developing a world-view that says; "Other people aren't like us." "Don't trust them. They have life too easy." "We're from the wrong side of the tracks." "They think they are too good for us," or "Those jocks (athletes) think they are so great."
They may have a preoccupation with death, or show cruelty to animals.
Other times the alienation is within the family. One child grows up feeling different from his siblings, unwanted, unloved or resentful. Sometimes these children are physically or psychologically a bit different from early childhood, or even shortly after birth. They seem to be on another wavelength than other members of their family. They read different books or magazines. They listen to different music. They enjoy different television programs or movies. They may have a different sense of humor, a preoccupation with death, or show cruelty to animals. At school they either seem a little odd, angry, or on the fringes. Some push the limits by being overtly negative. Others are very quiet and creative, but their artistic or literary creations have a very strong fantasy component or a strong component of darkness, death, alienation or bizarreness.
3. These are deeply troubled, tragic teenagers.
Anyone who kills is a troubled person. But teenagers who ruthlessly take the lives of fellow students in mass murders are generally even more psychologically disturbed than an adult who kills a person in a fit of passion or during a crime. These teenagers have such distorted emotional lives and thinking processes that they lack some of the very most basic ingredients of a normal person. At the core, they have a very deep inability to love or connect emotionally in any meaningful way with another human being. They neither feel loved, nor are they able to love. They are tragic, lost souls seeking to find a place in life. Lacking almost any deep human connectedness, life becomes a game, and killing someone evokes no more remorse than shooting a tin can or a target at the county fair. One of the shooters in Colorado, for example, is reported to have been laughing as he murdered his fellow students. Such callous disregard for human life has to reflect a deep, deep absence of the normal human capacity to love and care for others.
Some of these emotionally disturbed individuals have psychotic features; that is, they have serious distortions in their thought processes and their capacity to judge reality. Others have a long-standing failure to form deep emotional ties, a severe lack of guilt or remorse, and a tendency toward impulsive or uncontrolled actions.
Most of these disturbed adolescents have a horrible self-concept. Whether that is because of long years on the receiving end of parental neglect, hostility, or abuse, or for other unknown causes, these teenagers fundamentally do not like themselves. They hate others because they hate themselves and believe others have it better than they do so they envy them.
When children see parents fight and argue and blame everyone else for their problems, they learn to handle problems the same way.
When the Colorado killers focused much of their rage on athletes, they apparently envied the athlete's success or stature and felt they could not live up to their abilities or status. Feeling inferior, less privileged or less gifted, they decided the best way to even the score was to strike out at someone they envied. And when they targeted minorities they were saying, "We disdain or despise you. We are better than you!" In both instances they were attempting to level the playing field in their own minds. They wanted to lift themselves up in their own distorted thinking by tearing others down-even to the point of death.
Nearly all violent teenagers come from violent homes or homes where there are serious emotional and relational problems, even if they are not apparent to those outside the family. When children see parents fight and argue and blame everyone else for their problems, they learn to handle problems the same way. In other families, there are silent battles, or emotionally uninvolved parents, or serious mental confusion. It is not uncommon to read that the parent of a teenager who murdered others says, "He didn't mean to hurt anyone."
Understandably, parents of these children would be horrified and devastated and have difficulty accepting what their child has done. But one cannot help but wonder what kind of thinking and relating was going on in a home where, after a teenager has murdered five people and wounded ten others, the parent says, "He didn't mean to hurt anyone." When parents are this incredibly unaware or naive or prone to make excuses for their children, is it any wonder the children feel confused? And how can a child learn to be a responsible, mature person in this environment?
4. Many violent teenagers are seeking to feel powerful, important, admired, or big.
They have vivid fantasy lives and dream of proving how powerful and potent they can be. Since they feel so alienated, unloved, and different, they try to silence their distressing feelings by turning to illusions of power and importance. They don't realize, of course, that their presumed strength is actually incredible weakness. Instead of having the strength and courage to face their hurts, admit their needs, and seek help from God and others, they turn to a pseudo strength-the pseudo-strength of violence.
This search for power is apparent in the military-type uniforms some members of fringe groups wear. It can be seen in Nazi dress, obsession with guns, identifying with angry music, or in the angry friends and fantasies that potentially violent adolescents harbor in their minds. In a perverse sort of way, violent teenagers also imagine that others will admire them. They believe their plans are incredibly brilliant and that they will demonstrate their exceptional intelligence, superiority, cunning, and power by showing that they can outsmart others and commit horrible murders. Since they idealize destructive men like Hitler, or devious, malicious men, they assume that others will admire their imagined "strength," "cunning," "intelligence," or "power."
5. Some acting-out teenagers are suffering from neurological problems or attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.
While such physiologically based problems do not excuse hateful, destructive acts (since most people with these difficulties do not commit murder), the physical difficulties can help us understand why some teenagers act the way they do. To live maturely, we need to feel at least reasonably good about ourselves and others, and we need to learn to control our impulses and our negative emotions.
When hyperactive children and those with attention deficits become upset, they tend to act without thinking. Children with neurological difficulties that make it hard for them to learn, or to concentrate and pay attention, can have great difficulties feeling good about themselves in our competitive world. They also often have trouble controlling their thoughts, feelings and responses.
When most of us become upset, we try to calm ourselves so that we don't do anything irresponsible. But when hyperactive children and those with attention deficits become upset, they tend to act without thinking. Recent research actually shows neurological differences in the brains of many criminals who impulsively act out crimes of violence. The combination of feeling negatively about themselves, being angry, and being impulsive, increases the likelihood that they will engage in various kinds of antisocial activities.
They have grandiose and bizarre fantasies of being superior to everyone else.
6. Adolescents who turn to violence are also spiritually confused or lost.
Most have no real relationship with God at all. In fact, their weird clubs or odd choices of friends typically substitute for a relationship, not only with healthy people but also with God. Lacking any spiritual purpose and direction, they attempt to create meaning in life by building their own view of how the world should be. They decide who the bad people are-"sinners" who are different from them. They decide who the good people are-the underdogs or inferior feeling people like them. And then they decide to even the score. In essence, they have created their own mini-religious worldview. They have become their own omnipotent gods, deciding who should live and who should die. They may not be psychotic like mentally ill people who believe they are Jesus Christ. But they do have grandiose and bizarre fantasies of being superior to everyone else. They have an arrogant pride in their own devious plans. And they have their own completely distorted way of understanding the world.
Once in a while, these disturbed individuals actually have faith in God and may even be born-again Christians. When they are, however, their Christian experience is extremely distorted by their mental confusion and their emotional pain. Even if they are active in a church or other spiritual activities, they are not personally and emotionally connected to God and others in a healthy way. They may even wrench a few verses of Scripture out of context to justify their distorted thinking.
7. Teenagers who kill have lost hope for any enjoyable, meaningful life.
We see this rampant in ghetto areas and among gang members who will cavalierly shoot another human being as an initiation rite. Feeling cut off from the larger society, hopeless about ever getting ahead in life, and with nothing much to live for, they see no reason not to steal or kill or participate in a drive-by shooting. Many of these teenagers simply do not expect to live beyond their twenties so when you try to dialogue with them, they don't really seem to worry about dying. They have no hope anyway.
The only way they know to mask their hidden hurts and their longings to be held, known, and loved is to quite caring.
They have given up the dream of a better life. They have given up hope that their parents and other significant people in their lives will understand. And they have given up hope that they will ever be happy. Some school murderers even plan to kill themselves at the end of their murderous rampage. They have absolutely no additional desire to live.
8. Having lost all hope for a decent life, many violent teenagers no longer care.
After years of feeling different and unloved, they have now given up hope. They no longer care about themselves, others, or the consequences of their actions. The only way they know to mask their hidden hurts and their longings to be held, known, and loved is to quit caring. So, after hundreds or even thousands of times at being ignored or hurt or misunderstood, they can't stand the pain of trying to connect again. So they mask their last vestiges of human love and concern, put on a tough, uncaring front, devalue all of life, and choose to leave at least one mark on this world, even if it is tragically hurtful for others.
9. Many violent teenagers live in subcultures that don't value human life.
Although topics like euthanasia and abortion repeatedly point to a decline in the perceived value of human life, the problem actually goes much deeper. Millions of people in America scarcely value human life at all. As our culture becomes less Christian, people increasingly lose the only solid foundation for a sense of dignity, worth and value. Instead of seeing every person as created in the image of God, many now see themselves and others as chance beings in a meaningless universe.
When this devaluing of human life is combined with spiritual lost-ness, despair about the future, an incapacity to love or feel love from another human, you can see why some might turn to murder. They are depressed. They don't value human life. They have no meaning or purpose. They have no hope. And they have no deep feelings of love and concern for others. So why not lash out and kill? The life of another human being means nothing to them, and neither does their own.
10. There are often precipitating factors that lead to adolescent violence.
Sometimes violence is triggered merely by children becoming old enough to gain access to a gun and the ability to plan and execute their violent fantasies. Other times, acquaintances and family members recall significant changes in the mood, friends, clothing, or use of alcohol and drugs in the months leading up to the violent outbursts. A Southern California student who recently killed himself had been a top school student until the year before he committed suicide. Then his grades fell, he changed his friends, and he began using and selling drugs. Apparently, he had felt sad and confused for years. When being a straight A student did not bring him any satisfaction, he turned to drugs, negative peers, and increasing rebellion. The drugs and peer influence added fuel to the fire of his smoldering anger. Then, when he was caught with drugs on campus, he violently ended his own life.
Violence can also be triggered by the loss of a loved one, most likely a girlfriend.
This pattern of long-standing inner sadness and emotional isolation from friends and family, followed by increasing withdrawal or association with counterculture or fringe friends, along with actual or perceived ridicule or alienation from peers, often becomes a deadly mix. During the year before the Colorado massacre, for example, the potential murderers had adopted the long hair and black clothing of the "Gothic" look, clearly identifying themselves as being profoundly against their culture. By joining a group of similarly disaffected youth, they found one place to belong. But their friends only added to their disdain and hatred of others. More and more, they were on the receiving end of ridicule from other students because of their fringe attitudes, dress and actions. Consequently, they decided to gain revenge.
Violence can also be triggered by the loss of a loved one, most likely a girlfriend. When a teenage boy, who deep down feels unlovable, finds someone who cares for him, he is like a starving man who has just found food and water. But in time she tires of his attention and may even become troubled by his possessiveness, moodiness, or other aspects of his personality. When she breaks off the relationship, it is more than he can handle. He feels abandoned, depressed and alone. He is enraged that his sole support would abandon him.
The combination of depression, rejection and revenge apparently were the major motives when a seventeen-year-old Mississippi student went on a shooting spree and murdered his mother, his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends in 1997. After the killings, the student seemed genuinely remorseful. He sobbed and apologized and said, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," and then told how devastated he was when his girlfriend broke up with him. He said, "I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I didn't want to live. It destroyed me."
Notice that he said, "It destroyed me." That telling comment reflects one of the best ways of understanding the mind of teenage killers. They feel they have been destroyed by life. Murder is their way of getting justice. Since they feel psychologically and emotionally destroyed, they want to destroy others.
The average child sees over 10,000 murders on television before he graduates from high school.
Murdering someone you love because that person rejects you seems senseless to most of us. When we love someone, why would we want to hurt or kill that person? But the potential murderer is thinking and feeling on a different level. His "love" is more "need" than love. His focus is on being loved and receiving love, not on being a loving person. And his focus is on himself, not his girlfriend. Consequently, when she breaks off the relationship, his true feelings come out. He was in the relationship for what he was receiving, not for what he was giving or for mutual love. And when he no longer receives it, he is so hurt and resentful and so convinced that he will never have another love that he strikes out in rage. Again, he feels destroyed so he destroys.
11. Finally, we live in a society where violence has become an accepted part of our entertainment industry and an acceptable way to solve conflicts.
What can we say when the average child sees over 10,000 murders on television before he graduates from high school? And what can we say when nearly every day we can pick up a local newspaper, or turn on the television and receive reports of one murder after another at home and thousands of deaths by violence abroad? The accumulation of these television murders, violent films, and daily reporting of death leave their impact. We become accustomed to violent death. All of us become somewhat inoculated to tragedy until it comes to our own doorstep. But for troubled teenagers who are already prone to violence, this deadening of caring removes one of the last barriers to carrying out their angry, vengeful fantasies. In fact, rage music, murderous films and violent video games can not only give disturbed minds permission to kill-they even provide ideas and practice in how to do it.
Now let's tie this entire picture together. Teenagers who kill are universally unhappy. They feel alienated from others, odd, different, or left out. Emotionally, they feel unloved and they have not developed the capacity to form healthy emotional relationships, usually even within their families. Consequently, they do not care for other people. They are either spiritually disinterested, rebellious, or confused and are extremely resentful and angry. Their anger comes from feeling hurt, wounded, rejected, or abandoned. These teenagers have lost or failed to develop a regard and respect for other people, and they tend to live in their own world, either with a few other fringe friends, or in their fantasies, secret thoughts and plans. Although they occasionally turn to violence without any warning, there were nearly always serious danger signs and symptoms. Those include increasingly bizarre thoughts and feelings, serious drops in grades, preoccupation with thoughts of violence, desires for revenge, feelings of persecution, grandiose thoughts, and identification with fringe groups, guns, and violent historical figures. Given this mixture of painful feelings and confused thoughts, all it takes to trigger an explosion is one serious trauma or rejection, one final bit of ridicule, one song glorifying violence, one horrible movie example, or one "friend" to egg them on to action.
References
National Council of Teachers of English Standards Page, http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm
Dr. Bruce Narramore, "Why Teenagers Turn To Violence" http://www.gospelcom.net/narramore/bk_102_violence2.htm
Biopoem
Description: During this unit, you will be asked to look closely at the characters within the story. For this assignment, you will choose a character from and create a Biopoem based on how you view the character at this point. In addition to writing the poem, you should include a personal drawing, a magazine clipping, or a web image that represents your chosen character.
Parameters: The Biopoem should follow the template below.
Line 1: First name
Line 2: Four traits that describe character
Line 3: Lover of — [list three things or people]
Line 4: Who feels — [three items]
Line 5: Who needs — [three items]
Line 6: Who fears — [three items]
Line 7: Who gives — [three items]
Line 8: Who would like to see — [three items]
Line 9: Resident of —
Line 10: First name
Heroes Activity
The Heroic Archetype
adapted from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with 1,000 Faces and other sources
This explains the heroic archetype. Fill out each step for Ponyboy.
Pattern/Step
Description
Luke
1. Unusual birth
This can be as simple as being the son or daughter of a king. Sometimes, this will be a secret. Possibly the unusual circumstance will be very odd, perhaps even magical. The hero could be born into danger, or the birth could be a fulfillment of prophecy.
Son of one of the greatest Jedi knights of all time (who has gone over to the Dark Side), his true parentage is hidden from him and nearly all around him.
2. Departure: Leaves family
Something compels the hero to leave his or her family. Heroes may begin their heroic journeys because of a discovery of their true identities and a desire to fulfill them. Sometimes it’s because he or she has done something wrong and needs to get out of town quickly! Often, someone will bring the hero a message from afar that precipitates the departure. Occasionally the hero will try to avoid accepting the destiny of being a hero, but usually this doesn’t last.
The deaths of his aunt and uncle and Princess Leia’s message in R2D2 instigate Luke’s departure from his home planet of Tatooine.
3. Special weapon
The hero often has a special weapon that only the hero can use. The weapon may have magical powers.
Luke has his lightsaber and the Force.
4. Journey/Test The hero must go on a journey or a quest to prove him/herself a true hero. Sometimes the test is just one large task, but it can also be a series of challenges. If the hero has to cross to a “dark side” in order to go on the journey, this is called a “threshold.”
Luke faces a series of challenges, including learning to be “one with the Force,” wielding his lightsaber, facing his father and destroying the Death Star.
5. Supernatural help
The hero is often aided by a helper, and the helper is frequently magical or supernatural. This helper may be a mentor or a guide.
Luke has Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. He also has the more human Han Solo.
6. Unhealable wound/Descen tinto hell
This wound can be physical or emotional. It is something that the hero encounters on his/her journey and from which he/she never recovers.
Han Solo’s going into the carbon-freezing chamber is a strong example of this; so is Luke’s losing his hand and going into the abyss rather than go to the Dark Side.
7. Return
The hero (sometimes reluctantly) will return to the place he/she began. This return is often accompanied by some kind of benefit the hero is
bringing back (perhaps a magic potion, weapon or salvation of some kind).
Luke’s return to “normal” life is accompanied by his gift of peace for the rebel forces and destruction of the evil Empire.
8. Atonement with/for father (or father figure)
The hero will make up with his/her father. Sometimes, the hero is making up for the misdeeds or evil done by the father.
Luke Skywalker saves his father and also makes up for the evil his father had done while serving the Dark Side.
9. Apotheosis (means “exaltation to a divine level”)
As with the step above, the hero’s apotheosis is part of the Return, but it merits its own step because this is when the hero crosses over into some type of eternal reward for his/her efforts. It may be simply a period of rest, or it may be a promise or realization of eternal reward.
Luke sees the “ghosts” of Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker, hinting at Luke’s future admittance into Jedi “heaven.”
Read the introduction to the class. Then give each pair or small group one of the following sections.Have them answer the following questions in their groups, then discuss as a class.
Think Sheet
Teen Violence and Friendship in The Outsiders "Think Sheet"
Group Members _______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
Brainstorm together what you know about teen violence from your own personal experiences, things you have seen in the news, television shows, movies, or in print, and consider the following when approaching your assignment:
· Who do you feel is responsible for controlling behavior of teenagers, why?
· How can responsible parties control their behavior?
· What are some possible consequences for violent or inappropriate behavior in teenagers? If any, who should enforce them?
· How would you prevent future incidents of violence in a teenager who has committed violent acts in the past?
· From your portion of the reading, why do teenagers become violent?
Article excerpt
Why Teenagers Turn to Violence
by Dr. Bruce Narramore, Psychologist
SCHOOL MASSACRE" and "DAY OF TERROR" screamed newspaper headlines reporting the carnage in Littleton, Colorado. It was the day two armed teenagers killed twelve fellow students, a teacher, and themselves, and wounded twenty-three more. That four-hour siege at Columbine High School Southwest of Denver, Colorado was the most violent day in the history of United States education. It followed six other murderous school shootings in less than two years. In all, these killings have taken the lives of more than two-dozen other students and teachers. In Jonesboro, Arkansas, the shooters were only eleven and thirteen years of age!
These disasters shock and sadden. We are shocked that such carnage can happen in America, let alone in towns like Paducah, Kentucky, and Springfield, Oregon. We sorrow for the young people whose lives were cruelly ended. We grieve for families who have lost a parent, children, friends and neighbors. And in the middle of the shocking horror of these seemingly senseless tragedies we ask, "How can this happen?" "What went wrong?" and, "What in the world is the matter with a child or teenager who would ruthlessly murder his schoolmates, teachers, parents, and others?" The answers are as different as the teenagers involved, but there are several very common characteristics of children and adults who commit these murderous acts.
1. These are angry adolescents.
You simply do not commit murder unless you are bitter, angry and resentful. Children and teenagers who kill have been living with rage for years. Sometimes it was obvious to those who knew them. They have lived counter culture lifestyles. Their dress, hair, music, looks and friends all tell us, "I'm angry and I don't want to be like the rest of you." "I don't want to fit in." "I don't like the establishment." Sometimes they run in cliques, unofficial clubs, or loosely or closely organized, so-called "Nazi" organizations. Their attitudes and actions reveal deep felt bitterness. The two Colorado youths who destroyed so many of their fellow student's lives purportedly belonged to an informal group called the "Trench Coat Mafia." Members wore ankle length, black trench coats, dark sunglasses, and black berets. They spent much of their free time playing war games and boasting of the guns they owned.
"I can't believe he did it.
He was such a quiet person."
Other angry adolescents hide their resentments so well that most observers are shocked when they turn to violence. For years, they have felt angry inside. They have lived with violent fantasies, books, television programs, and movies, but their outward behavior has shown few signs of their deep rage. People who know these teens nearly always remark, "I can't believe he did it. He was such a quiet person." Some even say, "He always seemed like a nice kid who never caused any trouble." But as the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it"1 Beneath their quiet exterior an angry emotional battle has long been raging. When they become old enough and strong enough to carry out their vengeful fantasies, they do it.
2. These are alienated adolescents.
The rage these teenagers harbor reveals a second nearly universal feeling among children who murder. They feel deeply cut off socially and emotionally. They usually just don't fit in. And if they appear to others to fit in, inwardly, they do not believe they do. They do not feel loved, nor do they have a sense that they belong. Sometimes they feel strange or different compared to others. These painful feelings of alienation and rejection are usually the cause of their intense hatred. When you feel you don't fit with anyone in this world, you become angry.
These alienated and angry feelings are nearly always rooted in social and/or family dynamics. For example, parents who feel socially or economically out of the mainstream, especially if they themselves are angry and resentful, will communicate their own sense of alienation to their growing children. Throughout their developmental years, these potentially antisocial adolescents are developing a world-view that says; "Other people aren't like us." "Don't trust them. They have life too easy." "We're from the wrong side of the tracks." "They think they are too good for us," or "Those jocks (athletes) think they are so great."
They may have a preoccupation with death, or show cruelty to animals.
Other times the alienation is within the family. One child grows up feeling different from his siblings, unwanted, unloved or resentful. Sometimes these children are physically or psychologically a bit different from early childhood, or even shortly after birth. They seem to be on another wavelength than other members of their family. They read different books or magazines. They listen to different music. They enjoy different television programs or movies. They may have a different sense of humor, a preoccupation with death, or show cruelty to animals. At school they either seem a little odd, angry, or on the fringes. Some push the limits by being overtly negative. Others are very quiet and creative, but their artistic or literary creations have a very strong fantasy component or a strong component of darkness, death, alienation or bizarreness.
3. These are deeply troubled, tragic teenagers.
Anyone who kills is a troubled person. But teenagers who ruthlessly take the lives of fellow students in mass murders are generally even more psychologically disturbed than an adult who kills a person in a fit of passion or during a crime. These teenagers have such distorted emotional lives and thinking processes that they lack some of the very most basic ingredients of a normal person. At the core, they have a very deep inability to love or connect emotionally in any meaningful way with another human being. They neither feel loved, nor are they able to love. They are tragic, lost souls seeking to find a place in life. Lacking almost any deep human connectedness, life becomes a game, and killing someone evokes no more remorse than shooting a tin can or a target at the county fair. One of the shooters in Colorado, for example, is reported to have been laughing as he murdered his fellow students. Such callous disregard for human life has to reflect a deep, deep absence of the normal human capacity to love and care for others.
Some of these emotionally disturbed individuals have psychotic features; that is, they have serious distortions in their thought processes and their capacity to judge reality. Others have a long-standing failure to form deep emotional ties, a severe lack of guilt or remorse, and a tendency toward impulsive or uncontrolled actions.
Most of these disturbed adolescents have a horrible self-concept. Whether that is because of long years on the receiving end of parental neglect, hostility, or abuse, or for other unknown causes, these teenagers fundamentally do not like themselves. They hate others because they hate themselves and believe others have it better than they do so they envy them.
When children see parents fight and argue and blame everyone else for their problems, they learn to handle problems the same way.
When the Colorado killers focused much of their rage on athletes, they apparently envied the athlete's success or stature and felt they could not live up to their abilities or status. Feeling inferior, less privileged or less gifted, they decided the best way to even the score was to strike out at someone they envied. And when they targeted minorities they were saying, "We disdain or despise you. We are better than you!" In both instances they were attempting to level the playing field in their own minds. They wanted to lift themselves up in their own distorted thinking by tearing others down-even to the point of death.
Nearly all violent teenagers come from violent homes or homes where there are serious emotional and relational problems, even if they are not apparent to those outside the family. When children see parents fight and argue and blame everyone else for their problems, they learn to handle problems the same way. In other families, there are silent battles, or emotionally uninvolved parents, or serious mental confusion. It is not uncommon to read that the parent of a teenager who murdered others says, "He didn't mean to hurt anyone."
Understandably, parents of these children would be horrified and devastated and have difficulty accepting what their child has done. But one cannot help but wonder what kind of thinking and relating was going on in a home where, after a teenager has murdered five people and wounded ten others, the parent says, "He didn't mean to hurt anyone." When parents are this incredibly unaware or naive or prone to make excuses for their children, is it any wonder the children feel confused? And how can a child learn to be a responsible, mature person in this environment?
4. Many violent teenagers are seeking to feel powerful, important, admired, or big.
They have vivid fantasy lives and dream of proving how powerful and potent they can be. Since they feel so alienated, unloved, and different, they try to silence their distressing feelings by turning to illusions of power and importance. They don't realize, of course, that their presumed strength is actually incredible weakness. Instead of having the strength and courage to face their hurts, admit their needs, and seek help from God and others, they turn to a pseudo strength-the pseudo-strength of violence.
This search for power is apparent in the military-type uniforms some members of fringe groups wear. It can be seen in Nazi dress, obsession with guns, identifying with angry music, or in the angry friends and fantasies that potentially violent adolescents harbor in their minds. In a perverse sort of way, violent teenagers also imagine that others will admire them. They believe their plans are incredibly brilliant and that they will demonstrate their exceptional intelligence, superiority, cunning, and power by showing that they can outsmart others and commit horrible murders. Since they idealize destructive men like Hitler, or devious, malicious men, they assume that others will admire their imagined "strength," "cunning," "intelligence," or "power."
5. Some acting-out teenagers are suffering from neurological problems or attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.
While such physiologically based problems do not excuse hateful, destructive acts (since most people with these difficulties do not commit murder), the physical difficulties can help us understand why some teenagers act the way they do. To live maturely, we need to feel at least reasonably good about ourselves and others, and we need to learn to control our impulses and our negative emotions.
When hyperactive children and those with attention deficits become upset, they tend to act without thinking. Children with neurological difficulties that make it hard for them to learn, or to concentrate and pay attention, can have great difficulties feeling good about themselves in our competitive world. They also often have trouble controlling their thoughts, feelings and responses.
When most of us become upset, we try to calm ourselves so that we don't do anything irresponsible. But when hyperactive children and those with attention deficits become upset, they tend to act without thinking. Recent research actually shows neurological differences in the brains of many criminals who impulsively act out crimes of violence. The combination of feeling negatively about themselves, being angry, and being impulsive, increases the likelihood that they will engage in various kinds of antisocial activities.
They have grandiose and bizarre fantasies of being superior to everyone else.
6. Adolescents who turn to violence are also spiritually confused or lost.
Most have no real relationship with God at all. In fact, their weird clubs or odd choices of friends typically substitute for a relationship, not only with healthy people but also with God. Lacking any spiritual purpose and direction, they attempt to create meaning in life by building their own view of how the world should be. They decide who the bad people are-"sinners" who are different from them. They decide who the good people are-the underdogs or inferior feeling people like them. And then they decide to even the score. In essence, they have created their own mini-religious worldview. They have become their own omnipotent gods, deciding who should live and who should die. They may not be psychotic like mentally ill people who believe they are Jesus Christ. But they do have grandiose and bizarre fantasies of being superior to everyone else. They have an arrogant pride in their own devious plans. And they have their own completely distorted way of understanding the world.
Once in a while, these disturbed individuals actually have faith in God and may even be born-again Christians. When they are, however, their Christian experience is extremely distorted by their mental confusion and their emotional pain. Even if they are active in a church or other spiritual activities, they are not personally and emotionally connected to God and others in a healthy way. They may even wrench a few verses of Scripture out of context to justify their distorted thinking.
7. Teenagers who kill have lost hope for any enjoyable, meaningful life.
We see this rampant in ghetto areas and among gang members who will cavalierly shoot another human being as an initiation rite. Feeling cut off from the larger society, hopeless about ever getting ahead in life, and with nothing much to live for, they see no reason not to steal or kill or participate in a drive-by shooting. Many of these teenagers simply do not expect to live beyond their twenties so when you try to dialogue with them, they don't really seem to worry about dying. They have no hope anyway.
The only way they know to mask their hidden hurts and their longings to be held, known, and loved is to quite caring.
They have given up the dream of a better life. They have given up hope that their parents and other significant people in their lives will understand. And they have given up hope that they will ever be happy. Some school murderers even plan to kill themselves at the end of their murderous rampage. They have absolutely no additional desire to live.
8. Having lost all hope for a decent life, many violent teenagers no longer care.
After years of feeling different and unloved, they have now given up hope. They no longer care about themselves, others, or the consequences of their actions. The only way they know to mask their hidden hurts and their longings to be held, known, and loved is to quit caring. So, after hundreds or even thousands of times at being ignored or hurt or misunderstood, they can't stand the pain of trying to connect again. So they mask their last vestiges of human love and concern, put on a tough, uncaring front, devalue all of life, and choose to leave at least one mark on this world, even if it is tragically hurtful for others.
9. Many violent teenagers live in subcultures that don't value human life.
Although topics like euthanasia and abortion repeatedly point to a decline in the perceived value of human life, the problem actually goes much deeper. Millions of people in America scarcely value human life at all. As our culture becomes less Christian, people increasingly lose the only solid foundation for a sense of dignity, worth and value. Instead of seeing every person as created in the image of God, many now see themselves and others as chance beings in a meaningless universe.
When this devaluing of human life is combined with spiritual lost-ness, despair about the future, an incapacity to love or feel love from another human, you can see why some might turn to murder. They are depressed. They don't value human life. They have no meaning or purpose. They have no hope. And they have no deep feelings of love and concern for others. So why not lash out and kill? The life of another human being means nothing to them, and neither does their own.
10. There are often precipitating factors that lead to adolescent violence.
Sometimes violence is triggered merely by children becoming old enough to gain access to a gun and the ability to plan and execute their violent fantasies. Other times, acquaintances and family members recall significant changes in the mood, friends, clothing, or use of alcohol and drugs in the months leading up to the violent outbursts. A Southern California student who recently killed himself had been a top school student until the year before he committed suicide. Then his grades fell, he changed his friends, and he began using and selling drugs. Apparently, he had felt sad and confused for years. When being a straight A student did not bring him any satisfaction, he turned to drugs, negative peers, and increasing rebellion. The drugs and peer influence added fuel to the fire of his smoldering anger. Then, when he was caught with drugs on campus, he violently ended his own life.
Violence can also be triggered by the loss of a loved one, most likely a girlfriend.
This pattern of long-standing inner sadness and emotional isolation from friends and family, followed by increasing withdrawal or association with counterculture or fringe friends, along with actual or perceived ridicule or alienation from peers, often becomes a deadly mix. During the year before the Colorado massacre, for example, the potential murderers had adopted the long hair and black clothing of the "Gothic" look, clearly identifying themselves as being profoundly against their culture. By joining a group of similarly disaffected youth, they found one place to belong. But their friends only added to their disdain and hatred of others. More and more, they were on the receiving end of ridicule from other students because of their fringe attitudes, dress and actions. Consequently, they decided to gain revenge.
Violence can also be triggered by the loss of a loved one, most likely a girlfriend. When a teenage boy, who deep down feels unlovable, finds someone who cares for him, he is like a starving man who has just found food and water. But in time she tires of his attention and may even become troubled by his possessiveness, moodiness, or other aspects of his personality. When she breaks off the relationship, it is more than he can handle. He feels abandoned, depressed and alone. He is enraged that his sole support would abandon him.
The combination of depression, rejection and revenge apparently were the major motives when a seventeen-year-old Mississippi student went on a shooting spree and murdered his mother, his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends in 1997. After the killings, the student seemed genuinely remorseful. He sobbed and apologized and said, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," and then told how devastated he was when his girlfriend broke up with him. He said, "I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I didn't want to live. It destroyed me."
Notice that he said, "It destroyed me." That telling comment reflects one of the best ways of understanding the mind of teenage killers. They feel they have been destroyed by life. Murder is their way of getting justice. Since they feel psychologically and emotionally destroyed, they want to destroy others.
The average child sees over 10,000 murders on television before he graduates from high school.
Murdering someone you love because that person rejects you seems senseless to most of us. When we love someone, why would we want to hurt or kill that person? But the potential murderer is thinking and feeling on a different level. His "love" is more "need" than love. His focus is on being loved and receiving love, not on being a loving person. And his focus is on himself, not his girlfriend. Consequently, when she breaks off the relationship, his true feelings come out. He was in the relationship for what he was receiving, not for what he was giving or for mutual love. And when he no longer receives it, he is so hurt and resentful and so convinced that he will never have another love that he strikes out in rage. Again, he feels destroyed so he destroys.
11. Finally, we live in a society where violence has become an accepted part of our entertainment industry and an acceptable way to solve conflicts.
What can we say when the average child sees over 10,000 murders on television before he graduates from high school? And what can we say when nearly every day we can pick up a local newspaper, or turn on the television and receive reports of one murder after another at home and thousands of deaths by violence abroad? The accumulation of these television murders, violent films, and daily reporting of death leave their impact. We become accustomed to violent death. All of us become somewhat inoculated to tragedy until it comes to our own doorstep. But for troubled teenagers who are already prone to violence, this deadening of caring removes one of the last barriers to carrying out their angry, vengeful fantasies. In fact, rage music, murderous films and violent video games can not only give disturbed minds permission to kill-they even provide ideas and practice in how to do it.
Now let's tie this entire picture together. Teenagers who kill are universally unhappy. They feel alienated from others, odd, different, or left out. Emotionally, they feel unloved and they have not developed the capacity to form healthy emotional relationships, usually even within their families. Consequently, they do not care for other people. They are either spiritually disinterested, rebellious, or confused and are extremely resentful and angry. Their anger comes from feeling hurt, wounded, rejected, or abandoned. These teenagers have lost or failed to develop a regard and respect for other people, and they tend to live in their own world, either with a few other fringe friends, or in their fantasies, secret thoughts and plans. Although they occasionally turn to violence without any warning, there were nearly always serious danger signs and symptoms. Those include increasingly bizarre thoughts and feelings, serious drops in grades, preoccupation with thoughts of violence, desires for revenge, feelings of persecution, grandiose thoughts, and identification with fringe groups, guns, and violent historical figures. Given this mixture of painful feelings and confused thoughts, all it takes to trigger an explosion is one serious trauma or rejection, one final bit of ridicule, one song glorifying violence, one horrible movie example, or one "friend" to egg them on to action.
References
National Council of Teachers of English Standards Page, http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm
Dr. Bruce Narramore, "Why Teenagers Turn To Violence" http://www.gospelcom.net/narramore/bk_102_violence2.htm
Biopoem
Description: During this unit, you will be asked to look closely at the characters within the story. For this assignment, you will choose a character from and create a Biopoem based on how you view the character at this point. In addition to writing the poem, you should include a personal drawing, a magazine clipping, or a web image that represents your chosen character.
Parameters: The Biopoem should follow the template below.
Line 1: First name
Line 2: Four traits that describe character
Line 3: Lover of — [list three things or people]
Line 4: Who feels — [three items]
Line 5: Who needs — [three items]
Line 6: Who fears — [three items]
Line 7: Who gives — [three items]
Line 8: Who would like to see — [three items]
Line 9: Resident of —
Line 10: First name
Heroes Activity
The Heroic Archetype
adapted from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with 1,000 Faces and other sources
This explains the heroic archetype. Fill out each step for Ponyboy.
Pattern/Step
Description
Luke
1. Unusual birth
This can be as simple as being the son or daughter of a king. Sometimes, this will be a secret. Possibly the unusual circumstance will be very odd, perhaps even magical. The hero could be born into danger, or the birth could be a fulfillment of prophecy.
Son of one of the greatest Jedi knights of all time (who has gone over to the Dark Side), his true parentage is hidden from him and nearly all around him.
2. Departure: Leaves family
Something compels the hero to leave his or her family. Heroes may begin their heroic journeys because of a discovery of their true identities and a desire to fulfill them. Sometimes it’s because he or she has done something wrong and needs to get out of town quickly! Often, someone will bring the hero a message from afar that precipitates the departure. Occasionally the hero will try to avoid accepting the destiny of being a hero, but usually this doesn’t last.
The deaths of his aunt and uncle and Princess Leia’s message in R2D2 instigate Luke’s departure from his home planet of Tatooine.
3. Special weapon
The hero often has a special weapon that only the hero can use. The weapon may have magical powers.
Luke has his lightsaber and the Force.
4. Journey/Test The hero must go on a journey or a quest to prove him/herself a true hero. Sometimes the test is just one large task, but it can also be a series of challenges. If the hero has to cross to a “dark side” in order to go on the journey, this is called a “threshold.”
Luke faces a series of challenges, including learning to be “one with the Force,” wielding his lightsaber, facing his father and destroying the Death Star.
5. Supernatural help
The hero is often aided by a helper, and the helper is frequently magical or supernatural. This helper may be a mentor or a guide.
Luke has Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. He also has the more human Han Solo.
6. Unhealable wound/Descen tinto hell
This wound can be physical or emotional. It is something that the hero encounters on his/her journey and from which he/she never recovers.
Han Solo’s going into the carbon-freezing chamber is a strong example of this; so is Luke’s losing his hand and going into the abyss rather than go to the Dark Side.
7. Return
The hero (sometimes reluctantly) will return to the place he/she began. This return is often accompanied by some kind of benefit the hero is
bringing back (perhaps a magic potion, weapon or salvation of some kind).
Luke’s return to “normal” life is accompanied by his gift of peace for the rebel forces and destruction of the evil Empire.
8. Atonement with/for father (or father figure)
The hero will make up with his/her father. Sometimes, the hero is making up for the misdeeds or evil done by the father.
Luke Skywalker saves his father and also makes up for the evil his father had done while serving the Dark Side.
9. Apotheosis (means “exaltation to a divine level”)
As with the step above, the hero’s apotheosis is part of the Return, but it merits its own step because this is when the hero crosses over into some type of eternal reward for his/her efforts. It may be simply a period of rest, or it may be a promise or realization of eternal reward.
Luke sees the “ghosts” of Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker, hinting at Luke’s future admittance into Jedi “heaven.”
Outsiders Unit Plan
Here is my unit plan on The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The students write in a journal for each of the four sections, and we do a class activity after we read each of the sections.
Ongoing Assignment for students: Keep a story map. When an important event takes place or at least once a chapter, record the plot as initial incident, rising action, falling action, exposition, or resolution.
Ongoing Journal Assignment: While reading The Outsiders, focus on the conflicts Ponyboy faces. Who or what is the opposing force? Is it another character, the society, himself, or nature? How is each conflict resolved? How is each type of conflict different, and how does Ponyboy change in how he perceives conflict over the course of the novel?
Introduction
Take a Stand. In the four corners of the room, put the words "Strongly Agree," "Agree," "Disagree," and "Strongly Disagree." Have the students move to one of these corners when you read the following questions.
1. You can tell a lot about a person by the clothes he/she wears.
2. Most people pick friends who have similar interests and backgrounds.
3. It's easy to make friends with lots of different people.
4. You can tell a lot about a person by the friends he/she has.
5. You can recognize intelligent people by the way they look.
6. Loyalty is extremely important between or among friends.
7. Despite outward differences, people want the same things: love, acceptance, and respect.
8. It's easy to form opinions about people without getting to know them.
9. Friends should always stick up for each other.
10. It is fair to judge people based on their appearance.
11. Brothers and sisters can be your best friends.
12. People who love you always say, “I love you”
13. Boys should help with household chores.
14. Beating someone up is okay if it is for a good reason.
15. You should always help people even if you get hurt because of it.
16. Running away from home is the only way to escape problems.
17. Gangs always want to get into fights.
Discuss as class/write in journal: Who am I? What is your personal identity? What is your group of friend’s identity? Is there anything you want to change about your identity? How could you do that? Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs. How do you fill each of these needs? What are other options? Discuss 7 prejudices (SES, gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, looks, sexuality)
Section 1: Chapters 1-3
Journal: How do you see yourself as different from others? Consider money, social status, extracurricular activities, looks. What specific social groupings exist in our school?
What characteristics does each social grouping possess?
Who makes up the criteria for membership in different social groupings?
How easy/difficult is it to get out of a social group that you have been placed in?
What do people need to do to change their social status? Are they easily accepted into a new one?
Activity: In groups of 3 or 4, assign each group a character:
Ponyboy, Soda, Darry, Dally, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Cherry. Each poster will include:
• Character’s name
• Physical characteristics
• Personality traits
• Relationship to other characters
• Any other relevant information
As a class, discuss the differences and similarities of each character
• Are the identities the same? Different?
• Does gender play a role in identity or position?
• What makes the characters different? Money? House? Clothes?
Section 2: Chapters 4-6
Journal: One of the main themes of The Outsiders is the differences between the rich and poor. What do you see in this section that describes the unfairness suffered by the greasers? Do you see unfairness based on any of the prejudices we talked about in class in your own experiences? (SES, gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, looks, sexuality)
Activity: Read and analyze “Nothing Gold can Stay” by Robert Frost. 1. Write about something you thought would never change but did, in fact,change. Was it a change for the better? Or did it make you feel sad, angry,betrayed?
2. If you live in a part of the country that experiences a change of seasons, write a short personal narrative that shows the change you like the most or the least and why.
3. Make a list of things you wish would never change.
Section 3: Chapters 7-9
Journal: Johnny does not have a good relationship with his mother. What affect does this have on Johnny? How did the gang fill his need for love and belonging? How does Johnny’s goodness affect the rest of the greasers? How does his death affect individual greasers?
Activity: Biopoem for 2 characters (see Outsiders Materials post)
Teen Violence Activity (see Outsiders Materials post)
Section 4: Chapters 10-12
Journal: How do the events in The Outsiders change Ponyboy and his brothers? In what ways do they stay the same?
Activity: Heroes worksheet (see Outsiders Materials post)
Quizzes
Quiz Chapters 1-3
1. How does Dally treat the Soc girls?
2. What are Ponyboy and his friends’ social status?
3. What do Cherry and Ponyboy decide is the main difference between Socs and greasers?
4. What is Darry’s main complaint about Ponyboy?
5. How did Pony's parents die?
Quiz Chapters 4-6
1. Why did Johnny kill Bob?
2. Are Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally heroes? Why or why not?
3. Why is cutting their hair such a big deal to Johnny and Ponyboy?
4. Why are Socs Bob and Randy mad at Ponyboy and Johnny?
5. Why doesn't Dally want Johnny to turn himself in?
Quiz Chapters 7-9
1.What threat does Juvenile court have on the Curtis family?
2. Why doesn’t Johnny want to see his mother?
3. What is Johnny’s condition in the hospital?
4. Why won’t Cherry visit Johnny in the hospital?
5. "We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason" (p.121). What do you think Pony means, and what is the reason?
Quiz Chapters 10-12
1. Why does Ponyboy think that Johnny is not dead?
2. Why doesn’t Johnny mind dying?
3. Why does Hinton repeat the same lines at the end of the novel as she begins the novel with?
4. How has Pony and Darry’s relationship affected Soda all along?
5. What happens to Ponyboy at the hearing?
Final Project
1. Write an obituary for either Johnny or Dally. Make sure you include a photo, dates of birth and death, cause of death, family, life history, and any other important items. (1 page minimum)
2. Create an iPod playlist for one of the characters. You should include at least 10 songs with a two or three sentence explanation of why the character would like each song.
3. Choose two characters you liked and create sentences based on the alphabet scheme that demonstrate your knowledge of the character. Do one for each character. For example, you might say
A is for the ABUSE that Ponyboy felt Darry gave him when he didn’t do his homework.
DON’T say “A is for ABUSE.” That doesn’t say anything about the book.
4. Select two or three people Ponyboy would think of as a hero or superhero. Describe the characteristics of the heroes and why those characteristics would be important to Ponyboy. Also describe which characteristics Ponyboy would most want for himself that the hero or superhero possesses.
Ongoing Assignment for students: Keep a story map. When an important event takes place or at least once a chapter, record the plot as initial incident, rising action, falling action, exposition, or resolution.
Ongoing Journal Assignment: While reading The Outsiders, focus on the conflicts Ponyboy faces. Who or what is the opposing force? Is it another character, the society, himself, or nature? How is each conflict resolved? How is each type of conflict different, and how does Ponyboy change in how he perceives conflict over the course of the novel?
Introduction
Take a Stand. In the four corners of the room, put the words "Strongly Agree," "Agree," "Disagree," and "Strongly Disagree." Have the students move to one of these corners when you read the following questions.
1. You can tell a lot about a person by the clothes he/she wears.
2. Most people pick friends who have similar interests and backgrounds.
3. It's easy to make friends with lots of different people.
4. You can tell a lot about a person by the friends he/she has.
5. You can recognize intelligent people by the way they look.
6. Loyalty is extremely important between or among friends.
7. Despite outward differences, people want the same things: love, acceptance, and respect.
8. It's easy to form opinions about people without getting to know them.
9. Friends should always stick up for each other.
10. It is fair to judge people based on their appearance.
11. Brothers and sisters can be your best friends.
12. People who love you always say, “I love you”
13. Boys should help with household chores.
14. Beating someone up is okay if it is for a good reason.
15. You should always help people even if you get hurt because of it.
16. Running away from home is the only way to escape problems.
17. Gangs always want to get into fights.
Discuss as class/write in journal: Who am I? What is your personal identity? What is your group of friend’s identity? Is there anything you want to change about your identity? How could you do that? Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs. How do you fill each of these needs? What are other options? Discuss 7 prejudices (SES, gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, looks, sexuality)
Section 1: Chapters 1-3
Journal: How do you see yourself as different from others? Consider money, social status, extracurricular activities, looks. What specific social groupings exist in our school?
What characteristics does each social grouping possess?
Who makes up the criteria for membership in different social groupings?
How easy/difficult is it to get out of a social group that you have been placed in?
What do people need to do to change their social status? Are they easily accepted into a new one?
Activity: In groups of 3 or 4, assign each group a character:
Ponyboy, Soda, Darry, Dally, Two-Bit, Johnny, and Cherry. Each poster will include:
• Character’s name
• Physical characteristics
• Personality traits
• Relationship to other characters
• Any other relevant information
As a class, discuss the differences and similarities of each character
• Are the identities the same? Different?
• Does gender play a role in identity or position?
• What makes the characters different? Money? House? Clothes?
Section 2: Chapters 4-6
Journal: One of the main themes of The Outsiders is the differences between the rich and poor. What do you see in this section that describes the unfairness suffered by the greasers? Do you see unfairness based on any of the prejudices we talked about in class in your own experiences? (SES, gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, looks, sexuality)
Activity: Read and analyze “Nothing Gold can Stay” by Robert Frost. 1. Write about something you thought would never change but did, in fact,change. Was it a change for the better? Or did it make you feel sad, angry,betrayed?
2. If you live in a part of the country that experiences a change of seasons, write a short personal narrative that shows the change you like the most or the least and why.
3. Make a list of things you wish would never change.
Section 3: Chapters 7-9
Journal: Johnny does not have a good relationship with his mother. What affect does this have on Johnny? How did the gang fill his need for love and belonging? How does Johnny’s goodness affect the rest of the greasers? How does his death affect individual greasers?
Activity: Biopoem for 2 characters (see Outsiders Materials post)
Teen Violence Activity (see Outsiders Materials post)
Section 4: Chapters 10-12
Journal: How do the events in The Outsiders change Ponyboy and his brothers? In what ways do they stay the same?
Activity: Heroes worksheet (see Outsiders Materials post)
Quizzes
Quiz Chapters 1-3
1. How does Dally treat the Soc girls?
2. What are Ponyboy and his friends’ social status?
3. What do Cherry and Ponyboy decide is the main difference between Socs and greasers?
4. What is Darry’s main complaint about Ponyboy?
5. How did Pony's parents die?
Quiz Chapters 4-6
1. Why did Johnny kill Bob?
2. Are Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally heroes? Why or why not?
3. Why is cutting their hair such a big deal to Johnny and Ponyboy?
4. Why are Socs Bob and Randy mad at Ponyboy and Johnny?
5. Why doesn't Dally want Johnny to turn himself in?
Quiz Chapters 7-9
1.What threat does Juvenile court have on the Curtis family?
2. Why doesn’t Johnny want to see his mother?
3. What is Johnny’s condition in the hospital?
4. Why won’t Cherry visit Johnny in the hospital?
5. "We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason" (p.121). What do you think Pony means, and what is the reason?
Quiz Chapters 10-12
1. Why does Ponyboy think that Johnny is not dead?
2. Why doesn’t Johnny mind dying?
3. Why does Hinton repeat the same lines at the end of the novel as she begins the novel with?
4. How has Pony and Darry’s relationship affected Soda all along?
5. What happens to Ponyboy at the hearing?
Final Project
1. Write an obituary for either Johnny or Dally. Make sure you include a photo, dates of birth and death, cause of death, family, life history, and any other important items. (1 page minimum)
2. Create an iPod playlist for one of the characters. You should include at least 10 songs with a two or three sentence explanation of why the character would like each song.
3. Choose two characters you liked and create sentences based on the alphabet scheme that demonstrate your knowledge of the character. Do one for each character. For example, you might say
A is for the ABUSE that Ponyboy felt Darry gave him when he didn’t do his homework.
DON’T say “A is for ABUSE.” That doesn’t say anything about the book.
4. Select two or three people Ponyboy would think of as a hero or superhero. Describe the characteristics of the heroes and why those characteristics would be important to Ponyboy. Also describe which characteristics Ponyboy would most want for himself that the hero or superhero possesses.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)