Favorite Books to Teach: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

 

BLURB: 

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

This is an awesome book to teach. I used this as one of my summer reading books for my incoming ninth advanced students, and I had a lot of success with it because it was a book that they would actually read. The writing is awesome, and the characters are kids, really smart kids. 

Here are some of the reasons I enjoy teaching this book so much:

1. Hero's Journey: The story has a great hero's journey arc, which is an archetype we emphasized in our freshman classes. Students are able to see it pretty clearly and begin to recognize it in other texts as well. 

2. Character Development: Several characters in this novel have great development. Pay close attention to Ender, but also Peter, Valentine, Petra, and Bean.  

3. Themes: Alienation, Coming-of-Age, Leadership, Technology, Friendship, Morality, Survival, Manipulation--I could go on. 

4. Allusions: There are tons of historical and biblical allusions.

3. Science Fiction: This is also an opportunity to introduce students to the science fiction drama which, IMHO, is terribly neglected in the ELA classroom. Card has won numerous awards for his writing and this book is one of his best. Additionally, there is a series for students who want to continue in the Enderverse. Card also has a companion series. The novel Ender's Shadow is an interesting text which occurs during basically the same time frame as Ender's Game only from the point of view of one of the secondary characters, Bean.

WARNING: The author, Orson Scott Card, is a Mormon and has made some problematic statements about the LGBTQ community. However, that is not seen in the books.

You can find my Ender's Game unit here.

EASY MEALS: Crockpot Pork Roast

 

1 onion, sliced

Pork roast

1 cup water

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon pepper

1 small bag carrots

Put into freezer bag and freeze until needed.

 

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: 

Thaw the night before.

Put everything into crockpot.

Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Add some rice or mashed potatoes for a yummy, filling meal.

Book Report Alternatives

Book Reports? Ugh!

So, maybe your experience is different from mine, but I have had subzero success in assigning book reports, either oral or written. And I HATE grading them. Makes me want to scream!

Here is a list of alternatives to traditional book reports. Hope you find something you can use.

1. Reading Journal

2. Booktalk Presentation

3. Book Posters

4. Quotation Booklet

5. Story Timeline

6. Book Review

7. Character Poems

8. Stage an author's day.

9. Create a board game based on the book.

10. Reading fair

11. Have a bookseller's day.

12. Create a diary from one character's perspective.

13. Design a quiz for your book.

14. Write a scene from the book from another character's perspective.

15. Create an obituary for one of the book's characters.

16. Create a scrapbook for the characters in the book.

17. Create a collage for your book.

18. Create a powerpoint presentation for your book.

19. Create a comic strip for your book.

20. Interview a character from your book.

 

Journal Topics and Ideas

 

WRITING CAN BE FUN!

I love using student journaling, either weekly or daily. I find it's a great way to either start or end class. The problem I always had was coming up with topics. Below you will find some topic idea products from my TPT store that are different and fun. Hope they work as well for you as they did for me. 

Quotation Response Prompts

Would You Rather?

Books That Help Make You a Better Teacher: The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease Seventh Edition

BLURB:

he classic million-copy bestselling handbook on reading aloud to children—revised and updated

Recommended by "Dear Abby" upon its first publication in 1982, millions of parents and educators have turned to Jim Trelease’s beloved classic for more than three decades to help countless children become avid readers through awakening their imaginations and improving their language skills. It has also been a staple in schools of education for new teachers. This updated edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook discusses the benefits, the rewards, and the importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research (including the good and bad news on digital learning), The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.
 

Don't be fooled by the cover, this isn't just for elementary teachers. Jim Trelease is one of the foremost experts on the importance of reading aloud for students. And that doesn't end when they step into a middle school or high school classroom.

Trelease says: “We read to children for all the same reasons we talk with children: to reassure, to entertain, to bond, to inform or explain, to arouse curiosity, to inspire. But in reading aloud, we also:

• Condition the child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure;
• Create background information;
• Build vocabulary;
• Provide a reading role model.

I discovered this book years ago, when I realized that assigning books and book reports was a complete and total waste of time. What an eye-opener it was. It completely changed the way I thought about reading in my classroom. Trelease also addresses the important of silent reading of self-selected books, which is one of my favorite things ever. 

The book includes a lot of research and statistics to support what Trelease is saying. Some of those statistics are shocking. He also addresses such things as Accelerated Reader (a program I despise), standardized testing, classic literature vs. not-so-classic literature, the teacher's as well as the parent's role, etc. 

Chapters include the following:

1. Why Read Aloud?

2. When to Begin (and End) Read-Aloud

3. The Stages of Read-Aloud

4. Do's and Don'ts of Read-Aloud

5. Sustained Silent Reading: Read-Aloud's Natural Partner

6. The Print Climate in the Home, School, and Library

7. Digital Learning: Good News and Bad

8. Television and Audio: Hurting or Helping Literacy?

9. Dad-What's the Score?

10. A Hyper Kid's Road to Reading

There is also a "Treasury" of great read-aloud books in the back that is worth the price of the book for that alone.