A TEACHING UNITTHE HUNGER GAMES
Andy Seburg
Mira Poncin
Amanda Kissman
SUMMARY OF BOOK
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest
district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts
waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district
agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The
Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change, but
one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up
to go in her place. (Collins)
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THE BIGGER THEMES DISCUSSED IN THIS UNIT
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Power- government control, big brother concept
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Society and Class
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Sacrifice
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Competition- survival
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Love- for self and others
A SURVEY ADDRESSING ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
• Give students a survey with statements revolved around themes
from the book. Make sure to give the survey before even
introducing the novel.
• They are to rate these statements from 1 to 5 (1 being strong
disagree and 5 being strongly agree).
• Allow students to talk with others after completing the survey.
Discussions comparing and justifying answers can be very
interesting.
THEORY TO PRACTICE
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“Naturally students will be asked to read lots of pieces of text to which they can bring no
related personal experience. Usually, however, they have personal knowledge from
movies, television, or other texts they’ve read. For example, I haven't personally
experienced war, but I have a lot of personal knowledge about war. I have seen movies
about war, watched documentaries, talked with veterans, and read books. True, my
concept of war is not as visceral as that of someone who has lived it. Nevertheless, there
is a lot of information I can bring to a piece about war that will help me understand it more
deeply,” (Tovani, 67).
I WONDER
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Place a large poster with the words “I Wonder”
somewhere in the room.
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Have students write things that they wonder about the text
before, during, and after reading.
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For example, before reading students may wonder the
following:
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During reading:
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“I wonder if Katniss will be able to get her hands on
a bow and arrows when she is in the arena.”
After reading:
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“I wonder why there is a bird on the cover and what
it represents.”
“I wonder if the capitol will eventually punish Katniss
for her last move in the games.”
It might be a good idea to color coordinate the “I Wonders”
based on whether they were before, during, or after
reading
THEORY TO PRACTICE
• In I Read it But I Don’t Get it, Tovani encourages students to constantly ask
themselves questions about what they are reading.
• “ Each time I ask a question, I put the words ‘I wonder’ in front of it. These
two words help to frame their curiosity as a question and lead them toward
inferential thinking. At first, students tend to make predictions instead of
asking questions. Adding ‘I wonder’ to a statement changes a predictions into
a questions and allows the reader to go beyond the text, which in turn makes
inferential thinking possible, ” (84).
• Visit the « I Wonder » poster every so often throughout the unit and have the
statements facilitate a discussion.
• The poster could also be used as a review of the novel at the end of the unit
as well.
SOUNDTRACK
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Students create a soundtrack for each reading assignment. They are to sign up for sections so
we will listen to at least one song in the class every day during the unit.
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Students select a passage from The Hunger Games and a song that applies to the story.
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Describe how specific song lyrics reflect specific portions/exact scenes from the book.
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How does the overall tone of the song fit with the book?
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Is there anything about the song that does not really work when compared to the book?
Examples:
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“Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 -- especially the following lyrics:
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And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die
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“Love is Battlefield” by Jordin Sparks
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“War Pigs” by Black Sabbath
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“Sharp Knife of a Short Life” (when Rue is killed) by Perry
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“Is There Anybody Out There” by Pink Floyd
THEORY TO PRACTICE
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In their book “Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys” authors Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm
note how music helps bridge the gap in literacy:
The tremendous impact of music on the lives of the young men in our study provides testimony to
scholars like Mahiri (1998) and Duncan-Andrade and Morrell (2000), who are investigating ways to
use music and other popular culture materials as a bridge to developing more canonical literacies.
(2002, p. 150)
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Smith and Wilhelm also explain the importance of getting to know students as individuals to
better engage them with learning, and they specifically point to listening to students’ music as
one of the means to accomplish this:
One of the things we discovered in our study is just how much the boys valued their music. We
started to think about the potential benefits of asking one student in each class to share an
especially important song each day… Listening to a few songs might only take us the ride home
from school, but could pay huge dividends in terms of getting to know students and developing
relationships with them.... The important thing is to engage in activities with our students that allow
us to get to know them and that communicates our care and concern for them as whole people. (p.
21)
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By sharing music, teachers can encourage students who would otherwise disconnect from
reading make connections to literature, in addition music can strengthen their relationships
through individual expression.
HIDDEN AGENDA-WHAT IS NOT SAID
THEORY TO PRACTICE
FINAL GROUP PROJECTS
• After finishing the novel let students get into groups of 3 or 4.
• Allow them to choose one of the three following options for a final project.
• Video Game
• Travel Guide
• Trailer/Movie
• Students will present their project to the class when they are finished.
VIDEO GAME
TRAVEL GUIDE
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Make a travel guide for someone visiting Panem.
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Possible things to include may be:
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A map of the country and its districts.
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Specific details of each district.
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Customs
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Language
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Things to do and see
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Things to avoid
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History
In addition to having students draw information from
the text, they also can make connections between
Text to World and Text to Text (Tovani) by referencing
popular travel guides to places around the world.
FAN-MADE TRAILER/MOVIE
• Have students either make a trailer for the novel or pick out a specific scene
and make a movie version of it.
• In Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm
note how sometimes students don’t even recognize when they are engaging
in a literate activity outside of class, such as with a movie, but that these
literate activities can ignite their passion for engaging in literacy (pp. 95-96).
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS SURVEY REVISITED…
• Have students take the survey again AFTER reading the novel.
• Their answers might have changed based on the events in the
novel or they may have stayed the same.
• Again, have students discuss their answers and justifications,
relating it back to The Hunger Games.
SOURCES
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Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Waterville, MI: Thorndike Press, 2008. Print.
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Tovani, Cris. I Read It, But I Don't Get It. Portand: Stenhouse Publishers, 2000. Print.
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Wilhelm, Jeffrey and Smith, Michael W. Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann, 2002. Print.