Thursday, May 1, 2008

More fun inferences

We're reading "The Giver" (a FABULOUS book!) as a class. This week, I've really been focusing on characterization--and what we can learn about a character through his/her thoughts, actions, words, responses, and appearance.

Today, we read a segment in which Jonas, the main character, spouts off lots of information that he'd learned in school. I asked my students what they could infer about his character from those words, and was told, "he's not a follower."

As in, he pays attention at school. He does his work. He wants to be smart. And that, necessarily, involves not following the crowd. Of course, that isn't true for Jonas at all--everyone in his community does well in school.

It's just interesting to think about school climate and peer influences and how they affect our students.

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