Making Connections with Literature
S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders, is an excellent book to use
as a springboard to cover some real in-depth issues. Homelessness, survival,
relationships that make “family,” and prejudice against lower
socio economic groups are all themes that middle school students can explore
and discuss. Though the book can be read by readers as young as 5th grade,
the themes are often better explored and understood by older middle school
students. Using this book and based on these themes, I created the following
activities from which students can choose.
This book was written in the 1960’s. Find out what was happening during this decade. What was life like then? What social issues were there? Who were the famous musicians, entertainers, athletes, writers, inventors, etc.? What was happening around the world? Research the time period that Ponyboy was living in and create a “culture capsule” of the decade.
- The Greasers were like a family unit. Create a “Greaser Family Scrapbook” to
portray their life. Include pictures, postcards, mementos, diary entries/letters,
and objects that tell us their favorite foods, places they visited, activities
they participated in, important moments in their lives, goals of the “family” members,
happiest and saddest moments, etc.
- Create a series of newspaper articles, editorial cartoons, and/or
editorials for the week of Bob’s death. Write about the “criminals” turned “heroes” from
two different perspectives: one from a reporter who sympathizes with
the Greasers and one who sympathizes with the Socs. Write articles
about the stabbing, the rescue from the fire, and the police shooting
of Dally.
- Design a series of collages that represent the main characters
of the book. Choose at least four of the following (try to do at least
one Soc):
Ponyboy, Darry, Sodapop, Cherry, Dally,
Steve, Randy, Bob, Johnny, Two-Bit.
- Ponyboy liked to write. Pretend he liked to write poems. Create
a series of poems that he could have written about running
away, about Johnny’s death,
about Dally’s death, about his brothers, about his goals in life,
about his parents’ deaths, or anything else you can think of that
he may have wanted to write about.
- Think about the qualities that make a hero. Create a book of Outsider
Heroes. Each page of the book should portray the characters of the
book who you
thought were heroes in some way. Write an essay for each
character telling why they are heroes.
- Dally was homeless. Did you know that 1.35 million children in the U.S. are
homeless every year? Find out about homeless children and create a picture
book about a home-less child to teach us what you have learned.
- What is a juvenile gang? Where are gangs located? What
are some gangs that are in our society? What is the profile
of a gang? What are some
identifications
of different gangs? Why do people join gangs? Are gang membership and
racism re-lated? How can gang membership be prevented? Find out as
much as you can about gangs and create a Power-Point,
Hyperstudio stack, or video called “Anatomy of a Juvenile
Gang.”
- A
clique is defined as “a narrow or exclusive circle or group of persons
held together by common interests, views, or purposes.” What cliques
are there in our society? Create a visual presentation that portrays
the various cliques in our school, in our community, and in our society.
Be sure you explain the common interests, views, or purposes that hold
each clique together.
The students truly love working on independent choice projects and moving at
their own pace while I serve as a “guide on the side” to them.
This allows me to spend more time with those struggling readers or those
who do not comprehend the novel at the same depth and breadth. These projects
also allow students to make deeper connections with the real world using
the themes of the book. My students who have worked on these novel tie-ins
have created some incredible projects.
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