The Outsiders
Reading Chapter 5
Lesson Plan: Reading with Expression
Clinical Student: Shikha Sharma
Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. Allen
Site: 6th grade Language Arts classroom at Oriole Park Elementary
Time Period: One hour-long class period
1. Introduction.
2. Agenda
3. Pass-around Face-Reading Activity and give instructions to work in pairs.
4. Ask students to volunteer what they wrote.
5. Connect that to reading. Tell students to look at my face. Make the connection
that the two – text and face—are connected. Share that Jim Fyfe is a broadway
actor from New York. Ask about setting.
Discussion on Setting: Where is this story taking place? What is mentioned in the novel?
Where is Jay Mountain or Windrixville?
Share the following website with students:
http://townofjay.com/picturesofjay/landscapes/landscapes.htm
6. Dive into the reading. Pause to ask questions and check for understanding.
7. Read until page 77. Ask for volunteers to read until the end of the chapter.
8. Praise the readers. Pass around the Explicit Training in Expressive Reading handout to class along with homework question sheet.
9. Express thanks.
Sources:
http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/discov/williamshgf.html
http://www.ttms.org/say_about_a_book/expression_equals_comprehension.htm
http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/inroads/feltongf.html
http://www.ehow.com/video_4402265_kids-reading-expression.html
http://www.face-and-emotion.com/dataface/expression/interpretations.html
Explicit Training in Expressive Reading
Go Slow. To increase expression, most readers have to lower their speed. If you feel like you’re going a
bit too slow, you’re probably doing just fine. It feels a bit strange at first, but you’ll get used to it with
practice.
Repeat Till It’s Complete. If you mess up, don’t go on, go back and repeat the sentence from the very
beginning. If you keep messing up, take a moment to practice the word or phrase you’re having trouble
with, then try again.
Sentence High and Low. Start a bit higher in pitch at the beginning of a sentence then, as you approach
the end, gradually lower the pitch of your voice.
Sentence Fast and Slow. Start out at a good clip but taper off your speed just slightly as you near the
end. This one should be very subtle, don’t over do it.
Up at the End for a Question Mark. The pitch of your voice should go up at the end of a question.
Straight Up for an Exclamation Mark. Shoot your voice straight up in both pitch and volume if you see
an exclamation mark.
Big Pause at a Period, Small Pause at a Comma. Pay attention to punctuation. Treat colons, semicolons, and dashes just like commas.
Character High, Narrator Low. In passages that contain dialog, raise the pitch of your voice for spoken
parts (the dialog), lower the pitch for attributions (the "He saids and She saids) and other text by the
narrator.
Emphasize the Important Word. Pick one key word in a sentence and call attention to it by raising the
volume of your voice, changing tone, or stretching it out to make it last just a bit longer than normal. This
strategy should also be used very subtly.
Face-Reading Activity
Instructions: Study the picture on the left. Imagine that you are an expert face-reader!
What do you think this person is saying? Is he/ she saying this in a whisper/ shouting it
out/ saying silently? Write this quote down on the right.
QuickTime™ and a
dec ompres sor
are needed t o s ee this pic ture.
QuickTime ™ a nd a
d ec omp res so r
are n ee de d t o s ee th is p ic ture .
QuickTime™ and a
dec ompres sor
are needed t o s ee this pic ture.
QuickTime™ and a
dec ompres sor
are needed t o s ee this pic ture.
QuickTime ™ a nd a
d ec omp res so r
are n ee de d t o s ee th is p ic ture .
QuickTime™ and a
dec ompres sor
are needed t o s ee this pic ture.
Short-answer Questions:
1. What is “fuzz?” What figure of speech is it? Does it make sense to you? Anyone
want to elaborate? (Metaphor; peach fuzz, always there, have to be careful/ look
out for its presence).
2. Why does the writer keep bringing up “cigarettes?” Is that a figure of speech too?
Could it be a metaphor for something? (instant gratification/ a quick-fix/
temporary high).
3. What is your take on Two-Bit so far?
4. Why is it bothering Ponyboy so much to have his hair cut off? Would it bother
you? Anyone it won’t bother? I know a couple that wears the same clothes
everyday: what do you think about that? (when you have a choice, you can do
whatever you want; the couple has chosen to dress in the same clothes to simplify
their lives.)
5. PG 72. “Boy howdy, I thought, this really makes me look tuff. I look like a
blasted pansy. I was miserable.” What figure of speech is used here? (sarcasm)
Read the line, first flat, then with expression to model reading with expression.
6. PG 76. “I liked my books and clouds and sunsets. Dally was so real he scared
me.” What is Ponyboy telling us about himself?
7. PG. 77. “There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the
sun rose.” What figure of speech is used here?
Long-answer Question:
1. PG. 77-78. What do we learn about Johnny in the progression of the writing on
this page? What connection can you draw between Johnny and the meaning of
Robert Frost’s poem? Compare Ponyboy and Johnny as students in school and as
students in life based on chapter 5. Include two quotes from the chapter. Freewrite one page.
Long-answer Question from Chapter 5 of The Outsiders:
PG. 77-78. What do we learn about Johnny in the progression of the writing on this
page? What connection can you draw between Johnny and the meaning of Robert
Frost’s poem? Compare Ponyboy and Johnny as students in school and as students in
life based on chapter 5. Include two quotes from the chapter. Free-write one page. Let
your thoughts flow!