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.
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