It was a tough day in language arts class today. I showed "The Outsiders" today. There are so many things that make this day bittersweet each year. First of all, Patrick Swayze is no longer with us. The boys all look so young and invincible in the movie, and now one of them is dead. That's hard to take. Another reason the day is tinged with sadness is that the girls in my seventh grade class no longer find these guys attractive. Not even Rob Lowe. Now that's uber sad. When I used to show this movie in the early 90's, the girls would literally squeal when Matt Dillon was onscreen. Today...nothing. I mean, Matt Dillon's a middle aged man now, and he can't hold a candle to Taylor Lautner, can he?
But, I digress. I want to talk about teaching this classic S.E. Hinton book, which I have done many, many times in my career. Despite the fact that it was written about 40 years ago and has aged to the point of nostalgia for many of us, The Outsiders is still a wildly popular book in the classroom. The kids still love it, and its themes and focus are still completely relevant to kids today. They still identify with the ideas of being on the fringes, finding common ground with others, conformity and nonconformity, and loyalty among peers.
As I have previously posted, I use guided inquiry as the base for all of my units of study. The Outsiders is the text we use for our unit on peer relations. Middle School students love to study this for obvious reasons: Their world revolves around them and their peers, and here we are, studying them and their peers! At the beginning of the unit, I present the students with the following essential questions, which then guide our studies for the unit:
1. What are the costs and benefits of conformity or nonconformity to a peer group? How do we measure these costs and benefits?
2. How does a person's relationship with his/her peers affect the kind of person he/she will become?
After introducing the guiding questions, we do a peer relationships opinionaire. The kids fill out the sheet, whether they agree or disagree with each statement. Then I read down the statements and the kids split into sides and argue about their responses. It's one of their absolute favorite activities, and it gets them thinking about all the aspects of peer relations that they don't generally think about. We have a number of discussions about peer relationships as we read the book. As we begin the unit, many are reluctant to reveal their feelings about their own peer groups, but by the time we've finished the book, they generally open up.
The book can be split up easily: six sets of two chapters. I give out a response journal assignment with corresponding activities that they must complete as they read. The last assignment for the journal is the book/movie comparison that they complete after watching the film. Before we watch the film, I do a lesson on watching movies with a critical eye. "The Outsiders" film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, one of the great directors of the 20th century, so it's worth discussing the way in which various aspects of moviemaking come together in a fine film.Now, "The Outsiders" is not "The Godfather," but it does contain some wonderful elements.
Another great activity to do with this book/unit is a grid activity I've adapted from the wonderful book Speaking Volumes: How To Get Students Discussing Books and Much More by Barry Gilmore (Heinemann, 2006). This lesson gets the students thinking about how people are multi-dimensional and how two seemingly opposite characteristics can exist in the same person. For this activity, I make a four quadrant grid on the floor using masking tape (like a 4-square game grid). I label the quadrants: Good person/Makes good choices; Good person/Makes bad choices; Bad person/Makes good choices; Bad person/Makes bad choices. I call out the name of a character from the book who makes some major decisions/choices: Ponyboy, Darry, Dally, Cherry, and Johnny are the best examples. The kids move to the quadrant where they feel that character belongs. I call on kids within each quadrant to explain their choices, and ususally, some excellent discussion ensues. The kids talk about what it means to be a good person and what it means to make good choices. They also discuss how these characters influence other characters' decisions in the book. This kind of activity lends itself to the students writing some great reflections about themselves and their peer relationships.
Tomorrow, we're writing six word memoirs on peer relations, using this book as our guide:
Thanks to Anne at Read...Write...Talk for turning me onto this book and activity. Very cool. I'll post some examples soon.
This year, I'm trying something new for the final project for this unit. The kids will create glogs, online interactive posters about peer relations. Here's the project description sheet: Peer relations unit glog project . If you have not used glogs in your classroom, they are a very cool way for the kids to show what they've learned through research, reading, etc., in a multimedia format. There is some set up involved beforehand in order to give each student an account, but it's not difficult at all. Go to edu.glogster.com to get started. I think this is a really valuable tool. The students have certain requirements that must be fulfilled in order for their glogs to be complete. It is through these requirements that they can show what they've learned through the course of the unit. You can view my glog example here:peer relations glog
I'll try to post some of these next week, too.
There is really so much you can do with The Outsiders. I asked our librarians to give a talk to the kids about S.E. Hinton during this unit. We then talk about which group she might have identified with, the Socs or the Greasers and which group each of them identifies with. I've also done an interesting lesson about 1960's music and how each group, the Socs and the Greasers, relate to different genres of music and why. We listen to the Beatles and Elvis and The Who and discuss why the different musical artists would appeal to the two social groups.
My unit takes about a month to get through. I change my curriculum fairly often, using new books and writing new lesson plans and activities. But I always do The Outsiders, and I think I always will. There may be a point where I stop showing the movie, though. When all of the actors are in assisted living facilities, it may be time to stop.