The Lemming Condition

Students will read the short novel "The Lemming Condition" by Alan Arkin. Through discussion and mini-lessons they will examine the characters, plot, theme and allegorical nature of the story. Students will work on using evidence in their writing about reading. This book is a fantastic kick-off to the school year because as an allegory,

Objectives:

Students will be able to ask questions and show curiosity by noting their own wonderings as we read a text together so that they become more attentive and attuned readers.
Students will be able to determine themes and major plot events by noticing and reflecting on questions that characters ask within a text so that they can see the overarching ideas within the text.
Students will be able to quote a specific passage from the text to support all claims, assertions or arguments about what a text means or says by using prompts/charts so that they can respond to questions with textual evidence, not conjectures or reader’s experience.
Students will be able to summarize the key ideas, details and events in the text and report on them with an emphasis on who did what to whom and when using the cite evidence choice board so that they can objectively summarize text.
Students will be able to explain how Bubber has changed throughout the book by analyzing how he acts throughout each section of the novel so that they can notice how a character drives the plot.
Students will analyze the development of theme in the novel by focusing on character lessons, inner struggles and change so that they can explain the theme using evidence from the text.

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.6 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.