A Novel Study in Society
Essential Questions: Does conflict strengthen or weaken society? Individuals? What is the balance of independence v. interdependence?
Anticipation Activity
Discussion Goal: Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.
Utopia is a place where everything is perfect.
Utopia comes from the Greek ou = no and topos = place. Utopia means “no place.”
Goals: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text. Compare/Contrast with second text and relate to The Giver.
What’s the ideal society?
What makes societies “work” or function?
Support your answer with specific examples.
*Click to get more information and a graphic organizer for the paragraph.
Main writing goal: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Goal: Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position
Thematic Art
Objective: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Week 1 Discussion Questions
(CH 1-3)
Writing Activity Guide
Use the activity guide as you read through the novel.
Objective: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Before CH 7
Offering choice allows for freedom but does it allow for failure?
Imagine living in the Giver Society and you have been given your assignments….
Objective: Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
Giver Assignment Activity
Before CH 7
If you could pursue any career, what would you choose? Why?
What qualities are important to you when considering the kind of work you’d like to do in your life?
How would this career impact society?
Reading Comprehension
After CH 7
Objective: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
The Scream
Edvard Munch
What do you wonder?
2. Use your annotations and respond to the prompt.
Characterization
Use the following characterization web to make predictions about the story.
Objective: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Text to Text
Poetry
Read the poem by Emily Dickinson to see how “truth” and is validity has been questioned throughout history and into present day.
Objective: 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.
Giver Writing
Objective: Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
Objective: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Objective: 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.
Investigating the Impact of Color (1 of 2)
Activity
1. Watch and critique this video explaining color and its effects.
2. View the following presentation and interpret what your life would be like without color.
Objective: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. Engage in critical thinking through individual and peer discourse.
Investigating the Impact of Color (2 of 2)
3. Develop and support a position regarding color’s significance to you as an individual by completing this writing reflection.
Ted Talks
Listening
What does leadership look like in The Giver? Is it effective?
Objective: Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
Cause & Effect Writing
End of CH 10
Objective: Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as cause/effect.
Ch 11 Exit Slip
Record your answers in your composition notebook.
In 3 steps: Explain how training of the Receiver of Memories proceed.
Record 2 ways that Jonas has changed as a character in chapter 11(think: acts like, thinks like).
Make 1 prediction you have about Jonas' training. What in the novel made you think that?
Non-Fiction
Memory and Memory Receivers
I care for the generations before and after me. I live the lives of both, and my head is full of names. I don’t expect my children will memorize every detail of my life and guard and conserve my memories for me. That is why I prepare myself now. I try to imagine losing my memory, my starkest talent, my most characteristic feature. I try to imagine who I will be without it. I try to imagine myself as my mother, alone without her partner who shared her memory, trying to sweep everything up before it blows away.
3. Write a list following prompts: What role does memory play for you? In your family? In any of the communities you are a part of? How much of your parents’ stories do you know? What would be lost (think thematically) if, as in “The Giver,” those memories were gone?
Text to Self Connections
Memory Book
Text to World Connections
After CH 17
CH 17
Exit Slip
2. Find 2 new or challenging vocabulary terms. Write the definition based upon the context clues; state context clues.
3. Make 1 prediction about the twin's release. State where in the text led you to make the prediction.
Non-Fiction
An Ending for “The Giver”
When Lois Lowry first wrote “The Giver,” she never intended the story to continue. In this interview, she explains why she went on to write a series:
When you wrote “The Giver,” you did not plan any sequels. So why did you eventually decide to write three more?
I was somewhat surprised to find that readers — more kids than adults, I think — were distressed by the ambiguity of the ending. I didn’t think I needed to think about it anymore, but letters continued to come reminding me that I did. Nowadays it seems as though people sit down to write what they know is going to be a trilogy. I don’t know how they know, but it never occurred to me back when I wrote that first book.
Does the ambiguity of the ending bother you? Are you glad she continued the story, or do you wish she’d never written the sequels? When you first finished the book, what did you think might happen to Jonas and Gabriel? Why?
Literary Analysis
Plot Mapping
Genre Study
Non-Fiction Connections
Article #1
Article #2
Non-Fiction Comparative Text
Preamble, Constitution
Thematic Connections
Power of Words
Compare these two poems to discover the power of words through connotation.
Text to World Connections
Think about how our society looks at sameness and differences. Complete the following activity with your group.
Concepts and ideas discussed in the novel.
Genre Study
Short Story Connections
Read the following short story and complete a venn diagram that compares & contrasts it to The Giver.
Cinematic Analysis
Compare and contrast the film to the novel.
Essential Questions
Related Resources