Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2007.

Lexile Level: 550L

Recommended For: Grades 6-12

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary: Clay Jensen, a senior in high school, comes home to find a mysterious package filled with thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide two weeks before. He spends a heartbreaking night listening to all thirteen tapes with Hannah’s voice explaining what and who lead her to suicide.

Selling Tool: Please click here for a book talk on Thirteen Reasons Why.

Standards:

AASL: 1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects and make the real world connection for using this process in own life.

1.1.7 Make sense of information gathered from diverse sources by identifying misconceptions, main and supporting ideas, conflicting information, and point of view or bias.

Common Core Standards:

CC.8.R.I.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CC.7.R.I.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their developments over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

Learning Goal: Students will use poetry as a way of relating to the characters in the novel, Thirteen Reasons Why. Throughout the book, the main character, Hannah, describes how she likes and relates to poetry. She uses several lines from Shakespeare and often speaks in a very poetic way. Students will practice writing their own poems.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will discuss,  in small groups, coping mechanisms and different resources available to them to deal with stress and bullying.
2. Students will discuss, as a class, ways to help peers who are struggling emotionally and psychologically.
3. Students will use the website www.pongoteenwriting.org to find two poems written by teens that provoke some feeling for them.
4. Students will connect the poems they found to the text, Thirteen Reason Why and try to find connections shared with Hannah and her problems. The poem “I Just Thought You Should Know” on pongoteenwriting.org is addressed to Hannah and may be helpful.
5. Students will pick a character from the book (either Clay, Hannah, or any of the main subjects of the tapes) and write a poem from their point of view. Students may use the writing activities on the cite as a guide.

Learning Outcome:

1. Students will be able to identify ways to cope with stress and help peers in need.
2. Students will understand the effects of bullying.
3. Students will create original poetry relating to one of the characters from the book.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

By: Sherman Alexie

Lexile Level: 600L

Suggested Grades: 9-12

Genre: Realistic Fiction

2007 National Book Award Winner

Summary: Junior is a 14-year-old living on the Spokane Indian reservation. Trying to better his life, he starts attending a nearby all-white high school. His own people look at him like he’s a traitor and the kids in his new school look at him like he’s an outsider. He struggles to make friends and adjust to his new environment. This novel is based on the author’s own experiences. It features drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character’s art. It tells a story of one young Native American trying to break away from the life he was destined to live.

Possible Learning Activity: Throughout the novel, Junior talks about how he draws pictures and comics. Ellen Forney created illustrations to supplement the writing of Sherman Alexie. Students will write a mini biography about themselves and include a narrative comic. There are several examples from the text that students can use. Here are a few examples:

Standards:

New York State Learning Standards and Core Curriculum:

CC.RL.9-10.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CC.RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will draw parallels between themselves and the characters of the novel, develop an understanding of the internal and external expectations of their lives and will write a journal entry on how their lives relate to one of the characters from the novel.
2. Students will explore the roles that other people play in their lives to develop an understanding of how societal and familial expectations shape their choices and work in groups to write down the different ways family and society affects their choices..
3. Students will create a comic strip portraying an event in their lives. They will use examples from the text to creatively portray the event.

Possible Learning Outcome: Students will make connections to the characters of the novel and recognize that there are external and internal forces that shape their daily decisions. They will also create a mini comic strip that portrays an event in their lives.