DATE: October 19,
2013
The Book Thief and Personification
Sarah Semroc
TE 407
Lesson topic(s) and/or Essential Question(s)/Essential Understandings
As the overarching concept for my school year is to study various darker
aspects of society, most specifically within dystopian societies, this focus
on death and Death within the oppressive war-zone found in The Book
Thief will fit in quite well. As Liesel Meminger is living in Germany at a
time of political upheaval and a time of genocide, students will be able to
apply themes of oppression, war, genocide, and death to the text. These
themes are commonly found within dystopian societies, as quite often a
dystopia is a “utopia” gone wrong due to some kind of revolution or
mistreatment of humans and/or the environment.
Standards
What standards will be addressed by this lesson?
1. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3b Use narrative techniques, such as
dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to
develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
2. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.5a Interpret figures of speech (e.g.,
hyperbole, paradox) in context and analyze their role in the text.
Objectives
3. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a
point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from
what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
What will your students know and be able to do as a
result of this lesson?
1. Students will be able to create a product of personification. Students
will utilize the art of personification to develop an inhuman
object/abstraction into a character with agency and voice. Students will
complete this task by using Markus Zusak’s “Death” and Sylvia Plath’s
“Mirror” as a model.
2. Students will be able to recognize personification within The Book Thief,
specifically in characterization of the narrator: Death.
3. Students will be able to derive meaning from the use of Death as the
narrator. Students will be able to recognize and explain the significance of
such use in personification and character development.
Instructional
Materials and
Resources
What materials, texts, manipulatives, visuals, etc. will
you need for this lesson?
What technological resources (if any) will you need?
PowerPoint presentation containing riddles and an explanation of
personification, along with examples.
Students will also have the text copy of at least the Prologue to The Book
Thief
A copy of Sylvia Plath’s poem “The Mirror” may be used as a substitute
text for students who have identified their triggers based on personal
experience in relationship to themes found in The Book Thief (such as war,
death, and genocide).
Handout titled “Making Predictions” to guide students through their
reading of “Death and Chocolate” and onto the following text in the
Prologue of The Book Thief
Two sets of small papers: one set including nouns (inhuman
objects/abstracts to be personified) and one set including complicating
adjectives that will be used as a component in the personification of the
noun.
Students may choose to present their personification in any form they
wish, so I would hope to have a small set of computers available for
students to use for recording, editing, designing, formatting, or typing
purposes.
Learner Factors
How does this lesson accommodate different development levels of students?
How does this lesson accommodate individual differences in approaches to
learning, create connections between the subject matter and student experiences,
and/or include provisions for students with particular learning differences or
needs?
This lesson strives to involve a variety of tasks and activities to
accommodate to individual learner needs. The start of this lesson requires
students to do individual reflection as they aim to solve the three riddles
on the board. Students are then encouraged to speak with each other and
discuss their solutions to the riddle. Here, students are able to problemsolve on both an individual basis and in a group setting.
As my lesson continues on, I refresh upon the definition of personification
in a lecture format, which lasts for only 2-3 minutes. It is my hope that
students are able to stay engaged in the short lecture just after we discuss
the riddles.
After this quick review of personification, I pass out copies of the text to
the class and begin to read from the excerpt of The Book Thief. As I read
aloud to please the auditory learners, students who prefer to learn or read
visually may follow along on the page. Students finish the reading by
reading to or listening to their partner read aloud. Upon finishing the
reading, students work on the “Making Predictions” worksheet that is
meant to guide them through the process of noticing the characteristics of
the narrator. Through the worksheet and through a continued reading
and reflection through the Prologue, students will conclude that the
narrator is Death.
In the activity/assessment portion of this lesson, students will work in
small groups to produce their own personification of an
abstract/inhuman object. This portion of the lesson appeals to students
who would choose to express themselves in forms other than written
word. Students have the option here to be creative in their production of
their personified character.
As The Book Thief text itself contains some rather challenging vocabulary
terms, I would pass out either an annotated copy of the text (which
includes definitions of unfamiliar words), or a quick vocabulary “cheat
sheet”. This would hopefully aid the English Language Learners further
engage with the text.
This chosen text, The Book Thief, also addresses heavier topics such as
death, genocide, and war. If I have student refugees in my class I would
provide a trigger warning with them before I began teaching the text. I
would send out some kind of survey for students to take electronically in
privacy where they can disclose their level of comfort surrounding topics
such as death, genocide, or war based upon personal experiences. I think
that the classroom should serve as a setting that seeks to challenge
personal experience and bias, however I more firmly believe that students
must feel that the classroom is a safe place. I would then make
accommodations for students who would not wish to read The Book Thief
to read texts addressing similar themes of personification such as “The
Mirror” by Sylvia Plath.
Environmental
Factors
What student grouping will be used? What changes will you need to make in the
classroom due to instruction, materials, safety, etc., if any?
Students will be sitting in the classroom in pods of four, ideally. This will
allow for easy partner work as well as larger group work. I will not have
to make any changes in the classroom other than to possibly facilitate the
activity portion of the lesson. In this portion of the lesson, students may
choose to spread out around the room in order to find space to think and
discuss, or gain access to a computer.
Assessment
Students will be assessed in a formative manner throughout the duration
of the lesson to check for understanding and comprehension of the text
and theme of personification. Once I’ve read the first piece of the text
aloud and paused the reading, I ask the students to volunteer their
predictions about the narrator and the point of view of the text. Students
continue reading on in the text and then collaborate with each other as
they fill out the “Making Predictions” worksheet. This will assess the
process of students’ thought processes regarding the text in terms of
personification, the narrator, and the point of view. This worksheet will
serve as an assessment of the reading.
Once students have completed the reading of the prologue, we will have a
discussion about role of Death as the narrator and as a personified object
in the text. Through this discussion I will be able to assess student
comprehension of the relationship between personification and the text.
This conversation will lead into the main activity where students will
personify their own noun. I will assign a noun to each partnership and
they will fill out a personification worksheet. They will be able to assign
characteristics to their noun and illustrate their object of personification in
any medium they choose (i.e. illustration, poem, essay, song, video,
collage, blog, letter, monologue). This assignment will illustrate to the
teacher whether or not students have actually mastered the art of
personification.
Rationale
(300-500 words)
Please address the “why” of this lesson, how it connects to your school context,
over-arching theme and general unit, and how these particular objectives in this
lesson plan tie in to these. Make sure that the following is clear:
--What key activities will you and your students do and how are they
connected to the objectives?
--How will you determine what the students know and are able to do
during and as a result of the lesson?
The most academic purpose of this lesson is to understand the use of
personification within a text and to further examine the implications and
effectiveness of such use of figurative language. Through the examination
of the personification of Death as a narrator, students will challenge their
persona beliefs and bias about this historical connotation of “death”. By
comparing traditional perceptions of figures of death to Death in the
novel, students will come to explore a variety of differing uses of
personification.
This text addresses the topic of censorship, which is also found in another
class text Fahrenheit 451. This theme may also be addressed in cohesion
with the topic of a totalitarian government, such as that found in Panem
in The Hunger Games or historically in the Republic of China during the
rule of Chairman Mao during the Red Revolution. Through this theme of
censorship and governmental control, students will have multiple crosstextual and historical backdrops to discuss the relationship between
totalitarian governments and censorship.
Through this specific lesson addressing personification within The Book
Thief students will have a model of how to effectively characterize or
personify an inhuman object or abstract figure. The activity that students
will complete is one that allows them to experiment and be creative.
Students will be assigned an inhuman object or abstract figure that they
will need to personify. The students will be given a noun to personify and
they have the option of whether or not to use a challenging
personification. The students will be given an adjective to pair with their
object of personification that challenges any traditional characteristics that
may exist historically. For example, a student may have to personify a
rose in a way that makes it seem vengeful or malicious, rather than a
symbol of love as it is historically perceived. As students personify these
nouns, they will begin working on a way to present their noun. Students
may choose to model their work in the form of a monologue as Death was
personified in the textual example, or students may choose to write a
poem in 1st person as Sylvia Plath did in “The Mirror”. The creative
representations of their objects must demonstrate the use of
personification.
Instructional tasks and
activities
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What activities will you and your students do and how are they connected to the objectives?
(Make sure to include timeframes)
What will you be doing?
What will the students be doing?
Teacher will display three riddles on the board. Teacher will
not provide instructions other than to solve the riddles.
Teacher will walk around to hear what people are thinking. (3
minutes)
Teacher will ask for students to share if they believe that they
solved the riddle. Teacher will call of a few students and then
will display the answers on the next slide. (3 minutes)
Teacher will switch to the next slide, which provides a
definition and explanation of personification. Teacher will
explain the slide after students have read the slide aloud. (3
minutes)
Teacher will group students into groups of 4 if they are not
already. Teacher will also pass out the text, Prologue Part I,
and explain to listen for clues of personification and point of
view in the text. (2 minutes)
Teacher will read a passage of the text aloud to students. At
the end of the passage the teacher will ask students what point
of view the text is written in and will also ask students who
they believe the narrator might be. (6 minutes)
Teacher will instruct students to finish reading the passage and
then to complete the “Making Predictions” worksheet with a
partner. Teacher will walk around the room and listen in as
students read and discuss the worksheet. Teacher will listen to
hear who students think the narrator is. (5 minutes)
Teacher will gather class’ attention and will begin a lite
discussion on the “Making Predictions” worksheet. Teacher
will ask: What does the text tell us about the narrator? What
would YOU say about the narrator? WHO is the narrator? (5
minutes)
Teacher will instruct the students to finish reading the
1.
Students will read the riddles on the board and solve them
either in individually or in a partnership.
2. Students will share their guesses about the solutions to the
riddles.
3. Students will volunteer or be called upon to read parts of the
“personification” slide. Students will listen as the teacher
explains personification.
4. Students will move into tables of 4 if they have not already as
they are handed out the text.
5. Students will follow as the teacher reads a section of the text
aloud. Students will be looking for clues of personification and
who the narrator might be. When the teacher pauses, students
will share their predictions about the narrator and will share
what point of view they think the text is written in.
6. Students will continue to read the text and will work on the
“Making Predictions” worksheet in a partnership.
7. Students partake in discussion about the worksheet and share
their predictions and characterizations of the narrator.
8. Students will finish reading the Prologue and will finish filling
in their worksheet. At this point, students will know that
Death is the narrator based upon personification clues.
9. Students will point their attention to the teacher/discussion.
Students will share their newly informed predictions and
conclusions about Death as the narrator. Students will also
have the opportunity to come up to the board and write
specific quotes and words from the text that imply that the
narrator actually is Death.
10. Students will split into pairs and will be given a noun and a
worksheet. Students will complete the worksheet together and
begin planning how they want to personify their noun in a
Prologue and to then update their “Making Predictions”
worksheet. At this point, students should learn that the
narrator is Death. Teacher will walk around and help guide
student discussion so that they more easily discover the
identity of Death as a narrator is they were struggling at all. (8
minutes)
9. Teacher will gather class’ attention and will ask students to
share who the narrator is. Now, the teacher will ask for
students to share specific quotes from the text that imply the
narrator is Death. Teacher will have students write/type these
quotes on the board. Teacher will lead discussion and point
out the use of personification in the text. (5 minutes)
10. Teacher will break students into pairs and pass out a noun to
each pair. Teacher will have students fill out a chart that on
one half has “Traditional Meaning” and on the other half has
“Complicating Personification”. On the left half, students fill in
their personal beliefs and thoughts of their noun (ex: a rose
means love, passion, red, bright, remembrance, prom,
meaningful). On the other half of the page students will select
a series of adjectives that actually personify the object.
Students may choose to complicate their noun, or they may go
with the traditional associations. Teacher will guide students
through this chart. (15 minutes)
way that complicates or challenges the traditional thoughts
surrounding their noun.