Bringing Book Characters to Life in the Classroom with Collage

Are you looking for an alternative to character profiles in the classroom? What about giving this project an artistic twist? You could always try some collage . . . 

A collage is a piece of art created by combining different elements. In the classroom we often see collages made from coloured paper and magazine or newspaper cut outs, but you can also use fabric and other textiles, recycled materials, photos and other materials.

A collage is a great way to represent a character since it allows the creator to show different elements of a character and even the experiences they have throughout the story. It can be used to show a snapshot of a book or as a book report alternative.

Here’s one way you might like to approach this activity with your class

1. Identify the Features of the Character

The collage begins with planning. That may not be too exciting for the students, but it allows them to produce a higher quality piece of work and allows them to demonstrate that they really understand the character and the book.

Students need to identify the features of the character - the characteristics they want to represent in the collage. They might also like to represent relationships the character has in the story or make a reference to some of the most important events in the book.

2. Use Colours, Images and Shapes to Define the Character

Students need to consider what kind of collage they want to create. Are they beginning with the shape of a person (or animal, if the character is an animal!) and filling it in with collage. Or are they intending to fill the whole page with different elements of the character. This might be a decision you wish to make for the students - you can even provide them with outlines of bodies or heads - or you may like to let them make this decision themselves.

Once they have that worked out, students need to start adding in the material. What they use will be dependent on many things - including classroom resources, time and space, but you might like to ask students to bring in material from home, you might like to provide them with additional resources, or you might like to restrict them to particular materials - such as scrap paper in the classroom or recycled packaging or coloured paper.

Remind students to refer back to their characters’ features as they choose their materials, how much of it they want to use and how they want to place it.

3. Adding Text and Other Features

Once the student has the basic shape of their collage down, they might want to consider what else they can use to make their collage meaningful. Some students might want to add words - they can use the features they started with - to highlight certain characteristics. Others might want to add a paint wash over the top to highlight some parts and dull others. Bits and bobs like sequins, bottle caps, beads, string or wool might be interesting additions, or students might like to choose nature elements such as leaves or sticks.

Don’t forget you may like to let the initial work dry before adding extra material.

4. What Can a Collage Tell Us?

Once students have finished their collages, they should take the time to reflect on their work and the choices they made. This can be done by writing down some ideas, by engaging in a discussion with the teacher, by recording their voice or by making a video. Students can point out the different features they have represented in their work and why they made those particular choices based on what they know about the character. 

Have you created character collages in your classroom? Share your experiences in the comments

Related posts to read:

• Lessons from Three Characters in The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Adventure Girl and Reclusive Author

• 5 Reasons to Explore The House that Cleaned Itself in the Classroom

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How to Use Book Talks to ‘Sell’ Books to Your Students

So, you’ve just bought a brilliant book to add to your classroom library. But how can you ensure that it doesn’t sit there, unloved and dusty? How can you make sure it gets into the right hands? The answer is . . . the humble book talk.

What is a Book Talk?

A book talk is a speech or talk recommending that others read a particular book. The person giving the book talk stands or sits in front of their audience (or films or records themselves for their audience) and shares information about the contents of a book. They are working to convince the listener that they absolutely HAVE to read the book.

Teachers are well placed to give book talks to their students. They’re already there in front of them. In many cases they’re selecting (and buying) the books for the classroom. And teachers often have great relationships with their students. 

But what do you need to know when you’re planning to give a book talk?

What Do They Need to Know?

You should definitely start a book talk with the title, the author and the basic premise of the story. Students will want some information about what it’s about - but the challenge is sharing that without giving away too much information.

If the author or illustrator has created other books which are well known in the classroom, you might like to mention that. Students can be very loyal to creators who have given them a good experience in the past.

You Know Your Audience . . . So Don’t Forget to Hook Them In

As the teacher, you’ve usually got a pretty good idea of the likes and dislikes of your students. Remember this when you’re talking about the book. What parts of the book will appeal to your audience? Will they like the characters? The language used in the book? The plot? The appearance of a character from another story or series? Make sure you refer to those parts in your book talk.

Tell your audience enough about the book to get them interested and then stop . . . let them read the book to find out what happens next. If it’s a novel, you might even like to read a little from the book to make it extra intriguing. 

It’s Ok to Share A Personal Response

While you don’t have to tell your students every thought you had while you were reading the book, you might like to share some information about how the book made you feel or how it’s connected to an experience you’ve had. This both gives the students more information about the book and allows them to see how it might connect with someone.

Don’t forget to be enthusiastic either! Try to get the book into hands as soon as possible (though you may need a sign up system for this!)  Use the book as a prop if you can so students can see the cover and remember it in the future.

Challenge them to give the next book talk

While it’s great for teachers to give book talks, students can be the best ambassadors for new books in the classroom. If students are interested in giving book talks, you can always offer them a new book and ask them to read it and talk about it. Letting your students ‘sell’ the books can help them jump into hands like hot cakes!

Do you use book talks in your classroom? Tell us about your experience in the comments

Related posts to read:

• Allowing Students to Fail in the Classroom

• 5 Ways to Plan and Differentiate for Young Gifted Readers: Part One

• Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

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Examining Storytelling in the Classroom through Number the Stars

If you are teaching Number the Stars in your classroom, it’s hard to ignore the element of storytelling. The author makes reference to storytelling at several points in the story, allowing it to frame one of the most important moments in the novel. Here’s some ways you can explore storytelling with your students.

Storytelling in Number the Stars

Early in the novel, Annemarie tells a story to her little sister Kirsti, helping her to fall asleep. She reflects on the stories which make up her life, including the stories about the king and the stories her mother told her little sister when explosions at the harbour occur on Kirsti’s birthday. 

As the events of the book push forward, Annemarie finds herself part of stories, the stories which her mother and uncle tell about a pretend funeral gathering in their house and the story of Little Red Riding Hood, which Annemarie tells herself as she runs through a twisting forest path on a dangerous mission.

As you explore storytelling, students can identify and discuss these moments. They might also like to see if they can find any more examples of storytelling in the novel.

Retelling the Story of Number the Stars

An easy way for students to engage in storytelling is to retell the story of Number the Stars like it is a fairy tale or a fable. They can examine the story of Number the Stars and discuss how it might fit into the structure of the more traditional stories. Students can write and illustrate these retold stories.

Why is It Important?

Why are stories important? This is a great guiding question which you could post to your students as they discuss this topic. Students can reflect on some of the different ways stories are used and some of the places you might find stories. They can look at the role of stories and when stories can do good or can do harm.

Students can also look at the role of storytellers and who storytellers are (or could be). They might like to look at cultures where storytelling is an important part of family and community and why stories are shared (and who is allowed to share those stories). 

Finally students can discuss how stories and storytelling are important when it comes to history. They can look at oral histories and what they tell us as well as the role of historical sources such as newspapers or written material like novels or plays.  

Create a Fairy Tale

To take the discussion of stories further, students can examine an event from their own life and how they might retell it as a fairy tale. They can look at the elements of fairy tales and reflect on how they might need to exaggerate or change their true story. 

Have you explored storytelling in your classroom? Share your experiences in the comments.

Related posts to read:

• 3 Ways Students Can Use Folding Resources to Make Comparisons

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

• Exploring Author Intention

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Why You Should Teach Number the Stars

Some books you can just return to over and over again. For me, Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars is a book like that. I still have my childhood copy, which I think was a Scholastic Book Club purchase. It’s a little battered, but I still return to it to enjoy the beautiful writing and thoughtful story within. Here’s some of the reasons you should use it for a novel study in your classroom.

Number the Stars is focused on Annemarie, a young girl living with her parents and her sister in Copenhagen during the Second World War. From the first chapter we learn that this isn’t the easiest life - a foot race home from school is interrupted by German soldiers who tell them to behave better. And as the story continues, we learn more about the impact of the war on Annemarie’s family and the looming danger to her friend Ellen who is Jewish.

As Annemarie’s family work together to help Ellen and her family, Annemarie is put in a difficult situation. 

Examining Historical Fiction

Number the Stars is a historical fiction book, a book based on real history, but with fictional characters. Although I’ve read it many times, until last year I’d never looked ‘behind the scenes’ to learn more about the history of Denmark in World War 2. 

This is a fascinating activity to engage in if you are exploring Number the Stars with a classroom - one of those times when the historical story is as engaging as the novel. Students can research the occupation of Denmark, the role of King Christian X and the rescue of the Danish Jews among other topics.

Asking the Big ‘Whys’ of History

As students identify the historical events covered in Number the Stars, questions of why these events happen are often raised. Number the Stars is a book which answers some of the questions, but also leaves many questions for further exploration. The behaviour of the soldiers is one of those questions - in the book the soldiers are never properly named, they are part of a system. 

It is important that students ask these questions, as well as questions about how books like Number the Stars can have lessons for us today. What can we learn from those events? What can we learn from those characters? Why is it important?

Examining Bravery and How it Looks Different 

In Number the Stars the adults in Annemarie’s life ask her to be brave, but it’s not a loud bravery that they need from her. Instead they need her to keep secrets, to keep quiet when it’s needed, to pretend to be someone she isn’t at the right moment. This bravery is essential to save lives, but it allows us to explore what bravery is - like we do in Coraline, Rowan of Rin and Boy Overboard.

Teacher Resources

There are four teacher resources for Number the Stars as well as a resource bundle available through Galarious Goods.

The Comprehension and Vocabulary teaching resource is a chapter by chapter study guide for Number the Stars. Different printable resources allow students to examine the comprehension and vocabulary of Number the Stars including chapter questions and more in-depth looks at an aspect of each chapter.

The Character and Setting teaching resource takes a look at the characters of Number the Stars as well as comparing some of those characters with each other. It also includes classroom activities where students describe and discuss the settings in the book.

The Whole Novel teaching resource encompasses the entire novel of Number the Stars. It includes reader response, retell, themes, discussion questions and creative activities.

The Digital Resource brings together elements of the Character and Setting resource and the Whole Novel resource in a resource designed to be used on Google Slides or other compatible digital platforms.

Have you read Number the Stars with your students? Share your experience in the comments

Related posts to read:

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Introduction to Rowan of Rin: Classroom Discussions and Teaching Resources

• Introducing The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

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How Not to Teach the Vocabulary of a Novel (and 4 ways to teach it instead)

Are you about to read a new novel with your class and you want to concentrate on vocabulary? Here’s a cautionary tale about how not to teach vocabulary with a classroom novel . . . and four ideas to improve vocabulary when exploring a novel sized piece of text.

When I was in high school, we were assigned a classic novel to read as a class. This classic novel was filled with vocabulary words which were unfamiliar or less familiar to us. To help us with this, our teacher gave us a vocabulary list . . . and then told us to define every word as we read the novel.

It turned the reading experience into an absolute slog. Every time I read a new chapter, I had to haul out a dictionary (these were pre-internet dictionary times!), search for the words in the list, look them up, write out the definition and then figure out what it meant in the context of the text. By the time I got a few pages into the chapter, I’d forgotten what happened at the start of the chapter and I’d have to start again. It completely frustrated the whole class and many students gave up on the novel altogether.

But how can you still focus on vocabulary without taking away the enjoyment of the novel? Here’s four ideas to try in your class - don’t forget you can mix and match them as you like.

1. Introduce Vocabulary Before You Start

One thing to reflect on is why you are exploring vocabulary. If you’re teaching dictionary skills, that can be done with any collection of words and probably shouldn’t be connected to a novel. If you’re trying to make it easier for students to understand the text, though, why not introduce any complex words before they start?

This is a great way to use vocabulary lists. Present them to the students before you explore a chapter or make them available for students to access while they’re reading. Students can use the list to identify any words they’re not sure of, they can engage in discussions about what those words might mean or they can look them up.

By doing this, students aren’t spending ‘busy time’ defining words they already know the meaning of and they’re already aware that there’ll be some words which they’ll have to think about when they’re reading. If they haven’t looked them up yet, they might be able to use context clues to get a better understanding of the word, if they have looked them up, then they’ll approach the text with that additional knowledge.

This is also a good way just to get students thinking about language used in a book, even if they don’t define them. They’re seeing that words and word choice is important, allowing for further discussions about this while they read.

2. Go On a Vocabulary Hunt

As students read a chapter or several set chapters, challenge them to find any interesting words - or words which are used in interesting ways. Students can make a quick note of these words in their notebook or on a post it note to come back to later.

When they’ve finished reading, students can compare the words they’ve found. They might like to see if there were any words which several students identified and discuss why those words stood out to the students. Students can also compare their words with a prewritten vocabulary list or make their own vocabulary list for the chapter or chapters.

Once students have these words they might like to add them to a classroom display of words or an online shared file. This student led activity opens the door for further exploration of the language used and serves as a prompt for students to use some of these words in their own writing.

3. Examine a Vocabulary Word in Context

This requires only one vocabulary word. However, if you have a lot of words to explore, you can assign different words to different students or different pairs of students. Ask the students to locate the word in the text and to write down the sentence it’s used in. The students can then explore how it works within the sentence - what type of word is it? Does it evoke a feeling or an emotion? Is it part of figurative language?

When students have discussed the word, they can try substituting a different word into the sentence. They can examine it to see if another word could work better or how it might change the sentence if another word was used.

4. Group the Vocabulary

Once students have a group of vocabulary words - either from a vocabulary list or a group they have created themselves, students can look at how these words might relate to each other. Students can organise the words into smaller groups, based on any characteristics they like. Working in a small group or partners, they can discuss why different words might belong in a certain group or why they should be in a different group. They can then try to rearrange them into new groups based on different characteristics.

This activity is a way of making the vocabulary from a novel more familiar to students, so they are more likely to identify it if they come across it in another context. Allowing students time to give characteristics to a word or to make connections with other words, allows the words to become part of their schema - generally making them better readers!

How do you teach vocabulary when you read class novels? Share your experiences in the comments.

Related posts to read:

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

• Addressing Controversial Topics in the Classroom

• 3 Ways Students Can Use Folding Resources to Make Comparisons

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The Power of Settings When You’re Teaching Coraline

What will be on the other side of that locked door? This is the question asked early on in the Neil Gaiman novel Coraline. As Coraline reaches up to get the key and turns it in the door, we aren’t sure whether there’ll still be bricks there, or if there’ll be something else there.

Just like this moment, the other settings in Coraline are filled with a little bit of uncertainty - which is why they’re so exciting to explore in the classroom!

Coraline tells the story of a girl who has recently moved to a new home. As she is exploring the environment around her, she is compelled to explore behind the door - even though when her mother opened it, there was nothing but a brick wall behind it.

The settings tell us a lot about the themes and ideas of Coraline. From the woods which aren’t really woods and just take her back to the ‘other’ house, to the flat where her neighbours live in (both in the ‘real’ world and in the ‘other’ world) to the well in the yard of the real house. As students work their way through the novel, it’s worth taking the time to explore the settings in more detail, allowing students to better understand it.

Here’s some ways you can explore the settings in more detail:

Create a List of the Important Settings in Coraline

What are the most important settings in Coraline and why are they important? This is a question which students can ask themselves as they are reading the story - maybe reserving a part of their notebooks or contributing to a collaborative list of important settings. Once they’ve finished reading the book, students can review the list and identify which of the settings are most important and why. Students can then take this further by identifying which of the settings are most important to which character and why.

Describing a Setting from Coraline

If students have identified the important settings from Coraline, they can extend it further by describing the setting. Asking students to describe a setting in their own words - or to draw and describe it - requires them to really focus on what is - and isn’t included in that setting. As students are describing it, you can further prompt them to think about what people might see, hear or feel in that setting.

Want to engage in a draw and describe activity with your students? Find this activity as part of the Coraline Characters and Settings teaching resource

Creating a Map of Settings

Coraline is one of those books where the characters need to go on a journey to solve a problem. As she goes on the journey, she visits a range of settings. This can be explored in the classroom as students look at the journey to create a map of the settings. 

As students make a map, they can explore which places Coraline chose to visit and why she chose those places. They can look at how her emotions change in the different places she visits and whether the setting has any influence over those emotions. They can also explore who she encounters in each of those settings and how that impacts the plot of the story.

Have you explored the settings of Coraline - or another novel? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

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• Three Connections to The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

• Adventure Girl and Reclusive Author

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Why You Should Teach Coraline as Your Next Novel Study

Are you looking for your next classroom novel study? Here’s why you should consider Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

Coraline tells the story of a young girl who’s recently moved into an apartment in an old house. In the process of ‘exploring’ she discovers a door that leads nowhere . . . until it does. She finds herself in the ‘other’ world, a world where the other mother wants to fulfill her every wish. Or does she . . . ?

This short novel is filled with interesting characters to explore, storylines to follow and themes to examine. But here’s some other reasons you should teach Coraline in your classroom.

Coraline is Filled With Wonderful Writing and Language

Neil Gaiman is a wonderful writer and his writing style shines in this book. It’s filled with beautiful descriptive language which makes it perfect for vocabulary lessons. Students can identify their favourite words within different chapters or sections. They can define these words, discuss why the author might have chosen to use them in the book and what feelings they evoke in the reader, then try to use the vocabulary in their own writing.

Coraline Explore the Notion that Everything Has Two Sides

The Other Mother and the other ‘other’ characters are fascinating to explore. They are probably one of the key ideas to discuss when engaging with a Coraline novel study. Students can compare and contrast the features of the ‘real’ characters and the ‘other’ characters. They can talk about why those characters might have certain characteristics and how that would impact their relationships with others in the story. Students can also explore those characters which don’t have ‘other’ counterparts and question why that might be the case - why the author made that decision.

Coraline Explore the Theme of Bravery

Bravery is one of those themes which we often find in children’s novels, even when it’s expressed in a range of different actions. Jamal in Boy Overboard, for example, needs to be brave when he finds himself and his sister in an awful situation without their parents. He often shows his bravery through quick thinking and being willing to make suggestions to those in positions of authority. Rowan in Rowan of Rin is another character who has to be brave to solve a problem. In his case, he has never thought of himself as brave in the village of people who appear to be brave - but it is his calm and caring nature which allows him to be brave. 

In Coraline, Coraline is required to say no at a time when it would be very easy to say yes. She has to use her brain to be a problem solver and at times, she simply has to run, and keep going.  Students could examine her different actions throughout the book and identify when she is being brave and when she isn’t and what bravery looks like in the world of Coraline.

Teacher Resources

There are three teacher resources for Coraline as well as a resource bundle available through Galarious Goods.

The Comprehension and Vocabulary teaching resource allows students to take an in-depth, chapter by chapter look at Coraline. Different printable resources allow students to examine the comprehension and vocabulary of Coraline including chapter questions and more in-depth looks at an aspect of each chapter.

The Character and Setting teaching resource takes a look at the characters of Coraline and some of the events which happen to them. It also includes classroom activities where students describe and discuss the settings in the book.

The Whole Novel teaching resource encompasses the entire novel of Coraline. It includes reader response, retell, themes, discussion questions and creative activities.

Related posts to read:

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Introduction to Rowan of Rin: Classroom Discussions and Teaching Resources

• Introducing The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

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Just Empty Your Head! How Students Can Create a Brain Dump When They’re Reading

“Just hold all these complex ideas in your head. Then add in some new vocabulary. And form some questions. And don’t forget to make predictions!”

What are we asking students to do when we ask them to read a complex text or a novel? When you start to break it all down, it’s easy to see that students are being asked to recall or process several things at the same time. And that is, of course, an incredibly important skill to have. But how can we scaffold this to ensure that every student in the class has success with the more complex task? Enter . . . the brain dump!

What is a Brain Dump?

Essentially, a brain dump is the act of taking everything that you’re thinking . . . and putting it down onto paper (or a technological alternative). Many people use them when they’re feeling stressed or anxious or overwhelmed; it allows people to grab all of the nagging little thoughts in their heads and put them into a tangible form. They’re also great if you’re in the habit of ‘remembering’ all of the things you need to get done in a day or a week. By putting them down onto paper you have something to help you remember, loosening the mental load just a little.

“So, that sounds great . . . but how does it work when you’re teaching reading to children?”

Using a Brain Dump when exploring a book

As I pointed out, reading a text involves a lot of different actions, particularly if the text is longer or is complex. There’s characters to remember, settings to put into place, plots to follow. There’s the basic act of decoding, then there’s understanding the vocabulary - either by using context clues, remembering words or by using word roots. Students then need to make predictions of what might happen next or why they think a particular character acted the way they did or why the author might have chosen to use that particular word. The act of reading is a complex one!

By creating a brain dump, students can get everything they’re thinking about the text out of their head and onto the page. They’re able to see what they do and don’t know and use their brain dump to create new connections. 

“That’s great . . . but how do we teach it?”

How Do We Teach Brain Dumps for Reading

It might be best to start with a short piece of text - a poem or a picture book - which is familiar to the students. On the first read through, students should simply listen to the text. On the second read through, you demonstrate the brain dump. As you read through it again, model writing down everything which comes into your head - from observations on the characters’ names (“Oh, that dog is called Trevor. I went to school with a Trevor. Just like the Trevor from Fireman Sam . . .“) to questions (“I wonder why Pig never seems to learn his lesson. Or does he learn his lesson and just constantly make new mistakes?”) to random thoughts which are unconnected to the text but came into your brain anyway (“I wonder if it’ll be wet at lunch?”)

Once you’ve modelled your brain dump you can use the same text or another familiar text for the students to have a try. Remind them that it doesn’t need to be perfect - it’s not being used for assessment - it’s just a way of helping them better understand the texts they are reading. Give students plenty of opportunities to practice - remembering that they can be used with texts students use in history or civics, science or technology as well.

Tip: Students can use any piece of paper - or a computer or tablet - for brain dumps. However, you can find a range of free brain dump templates by signing up for the Galarious Goods free resource library.

“Ok, I get that. But what do we do with them once we have them?”

Using the Brain Dumps

Once students have their brain dumps, they can use them in a range of ways. Again, this is something you might like to model to the students - but they might also develop their own ways of using them, which they might like to share with their classmates.

Students might like to use their brain dumps for basic recall references. They allow students to write down the important characters or the important dates and events, something to refer back to when they need them. Or they could use them to brainstorm questions they might like to ask about the text, going back through their information to see where there are any queries.

If students create brain dumps for two different texts, they might like to use them to find connections - once they see the information written in front of them, it can be easier to see where those themes or ideas overlap. Students might also like to share their brain dump with a classmate to see how different people have responded to the same text.

Have you used brain dumps for reading in your classroom? Tell us about it in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• Three Connections to The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

• Exploring Author Intention

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Drawing and Describing a Place: Exploring Settings in Novel Studies

How important is the setting when we’re exploring a novel? For some people the obvious answer is - well it depends on the novel. But many novels we explore in the classroom have rich and vivid settings and many of those settings benefit from a closer look. Here’s one easy way you can explore the settings when you engage in a novel study with your class.

Why settings are important

There are a range of reasons why settings are important to our stories. Sometimes even the seemingly mundane setting - a school or a suburban house - still tells us a lot about our characters and the events which are happening. But many settings are important for other reasons.

Sometimes the setting plays a starring role in the action of the story. The twisty path which requires Annemarie to move a little slower in Number the Stars has a direct impact on the events of the story. Similarly the magic of Terabithia comes as much from the place itself as it does from Jess and Leslie playing there with their imaginations - and has a direct impact on the most important part of the story. The different places Rowan and the other characters journey through in Rowan of Rin often decides who can go on and who will have to stop the journey at that point.

Other settings set the scene to allow us to better understand the story. Barringa East Primary tells us so much we need to know about the whole neighbourhood - and Erica Yurken - when we read Hating Alison Ashley. The refugee camp and then the detention camp which Jamal and Bibi find themselves in during Boy Overboard allow us to see both opportunities and hopelessness. 

Sometimes the settings allow us to ask more questions. What does Coraline’s other house tell us about her real house? What does Leslie’s house tell us about her and her parents in Bridge to Terabithia? Why do the Rangers live tucked away in little cabins in the Ranger’s Apprentice books?

Why should we draw the places?

Once we recognise that the settings are important, we need to look at how our students can further explore them. One easy way is to look at what that setting contains.

By drawing the settings, students are looking at them from a different point of view, away from the words on the page. Students may not draw a setting perfectly, but they can think about what details they should include, beginning to think about which features are the most important. Students can also use this experience of drawing the setting to develop more questions about it. They might ask why an author chose to include a particular detail or why one aspect of the setting was more important to the main character than another.

Students can go further by labelling or annotating their drawing. They can add words, arrows or symbols to their drawing to add extra meaning or to help them gain a better understanding of the place created by the author.

Another way to draw the setting is from the bird's eye view, like a map or a diagram showing the different elements of the place. Students might like to combine a map and a drawing to show a better understanding of the setting.

Why should we describe the places?

Once students have moved the words from the book into pictures on a page, they can go back and describe the setting in their own words. This helps students to cement their understanding, to show how the characters interact with the setting or how the setting plays a role in the narrative.

An easy way to write a description is to think about what the setting looks like, what it sounds like and what it might feel like to the people who are standing in that setting. This way of describing a setting ensures that the experiences of the characters is related back to the setting. Students can also write a more traditional description or they could reflect on how a stranger or a different character might describe the setting differently to the main characters. 

These words and drawings can be placed together and students might like to return to one or both of them to adjust them as they continue to look at the novel. You can also combine the different drawings and descriptions in the class, allowing students to explore the different ways their classmates experienced the same setting. This is a great activity to put together as a classroom display or to show in the school office or the school library.

Have you drawn and described settings with your students? Share your experiences in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• Exploring Author Intention

• Addressing Controversial Topics in the Classroom

• 3 Ways to Engage Students with Folding Vocabulary Lessons

• The What Would You Take? Project - A Hands On Classroom Activity

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Exploring Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

Books which tell us the story from the perspective of one of the main characters can often have unreliable narrators - narrators you can’t quite trust 100%. These unreliable narrators can be fascinating to explore in the classroom - allowing us to take a closer look at the intentions of the author and what kind of person these characters are.

The Unaware Narrator

Jamal in Boy Overboard (by Morris Gleitzman) is sure that he and his sister have arrived at a soccer match. Only to discover that he is terribly wrong.

Jamal is a character who often only has part of the story. He is forced to fill in the gaps with the knowledge he does have, but many times his conclusions aren’t right and he has to reassess and draw new conclusions. As readers there are times when we are aware that he doesn’t have it quite right (or we soon find out that is the case) and we have to assess whether we will believe his next conclusion, or treat it with a level of scepticism.

Morris Gleitzman writes a LOT of characters like this. Which makes sense because childhood often feels like this - like you have some of the puzzle pieces, but someone’s hidden the picture which helps you put them together.

Another great example of a character like this is Mothball the Wombat from Jackie French and Bruce Whatley’s Diary of a Wombat story. In this case, the illustrations soon let us know that the scratching post is a ladder and the furry enemy is really a doormat, so we find ourselves carrying two narratives through the story - the narrative in Mothball’s head and the narrative we can tell from the illustrations.

Exploring Unaware Narrators in the Classroom

These can be great fun to explore in the classroom because our own knowledge, experiences and schema may be able to help us fill in the gaps. Comparing what our narrators think is happening and what is really happening allows us to understand where our characters come from - whether they’re boys or wombats.

It also allows us to explore the intentions of the author. An author study on Morris Gleitzman books would be particularly interesting, looking at what information he gives his narrators before the events of the book, what conclusions they draw from that information when they’re in unfamiliar circumstances and what they learn going forward.

When we explore a character like Mothball, we can also look at the choices the author has made - the wombat understands certain terms like sleep, scratch and - of course - carrots, but hasn’t come up across concepts like garden beds, door mats or washing lines. Why has the author made those choices for our wombat narrator? How would the story be different if there were different choices?

The Deliberately Unreliable Narrator

Erica Yurken is the best thing since sliced bread. Or at least she is in her own mind. And in the stories she tells others.

Robin Klein’s classic novel Hating Alison Ashley is told from the perspective of Erica Yurken who constantly creates stories about herself and others to amuse herself, get herself out of trouble or to impress other people - including Alison Ashley.

If we just listened to Erica, we would probably be inclined to hate Alison Ashley ourselves. But there are things which make us question Erica’s trustworthiness - times when she gets caught out in her stories, times when she contradicts herself and times when we glimpse her through the eyes of other characters. The author knows that Erica is not reliable and wants the reader to know this too.

We find another unreliable narrator in the Do Not Open This Book series from Andy Lee. Our narrator desperately wants us to stop turning the pages (because dreadful things happen to him when we do), so he’ll try anything to stop us - even turning the book around so we’ll turn the pages from back to front. The illustrations, eventual confessions and meta-knowledge of how books work allows us to know that our narrator is not the most trustworthy of characters - even if he’s only being unreliable to save his own skin.

A. Wolf is also just trying to save his skin in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. He’s found himself in jail and he wants us to know that it’s not his fault at all - it’s all because he needed to borrow some sugar.

In this case, it’s our own background knowledge - our understanding of fairy tales - which makes us question his honesty. After all - we’ve never heard this story before. But we keep reading to see how he’s going to justify his terrible crimes.

Exploring Deliberately Unreliable Narrators in the Classroom

The biggest questions we can ask in our classrooms when it comes to deliberately unreliable narrators is why do they behave like this? Why are they trying to mislead us - the readers - and what will they get if they manage this?

We can also challenge students to write first person narration like this. To consider what motivates a character and then have them tell a story where they work to convince the reader of something which may not be quite true. This works particularly well when students begin with well known stories like fairy tales and myths and try to tell the story from the perspective of the ‘bad guy’.

What unreliable narrators have you come across in your reading? Have you used a book with an unreliable narrator in your classroom? Leave a comment below.

Related posts to read:

• Introducing Nim's Island

• Introducing The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

• Using Boy Overboard in the Classroom

• Introduction to Rowan of Rin: Classroom Discussions and Teaching Resources

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