Teaching Outloud

Update 6/30

For some reason, I’ve been having a hard time getting your addresses into the database for the group. If you haven’t gotten an email from me to join the group, and are still interested in participating in the discussion groups, as opposed to writing a traditional response journal, please click here. Once you get there, you need to apply to join the group. To apply, you must have a Google groups account. You can use your current email to join the group, and it only takes a few minutes to sign up. If you’re having any problems with this, please feel free to leave me a comment at the bottom of the page so I can help you out,

-ms. b

9^th Grade Summer Reading 2008
Ms. Bernier

House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer

Quick synopsis from teenreads.com-
Matt is a young child who is a clone, though he doesn’t know it at the beginning of this powerful novel. Set in the future in Dreamland, a drug empire that took over parts of today’s Mexico, Matt still has the normal concerns and fears that other children have. He wants friends and the freedom to do what he wants.

Being a clone of the powerful El Patron gives Matt safety that other clones, despised by his world, do not enjoy. Most clones are grown for horrible reasons and their intelligence is removed with a drug at birth. But he has been spared; he is highly intelligent and loves music.

Only a few befriend him: a bodyguard, a cook from the estate, and the daughter of a U.S. Senator who visits the house. Many others taunt and shun him, even some who seemed to be friends. When he has to leave the estate to save his life, new enemies appear.

Like Louis Sachar’s HOLES or Lois Lowry’s THE GIVER, the suspense in this book will surprise readers at many turns. Scary, evil people are all around Matt. Farmer is a gifted writer who makes this sort of science fiction seem eerily real. No reader will be untouched by this work that won several 2002 awards, including the National Book Award, a Newbery Honor Award, and a Printz Honor Award. Both teens and adults will be quickly drawn into THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION.

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You have two choices in how you respond to this book; please pick the assignment that suits you best.

1) You may keep a traditional reading response journal. After every chapter you will write your thoughts on the chapter. In this journal I am not looking for plot summary, but instead for your observations as you read. I want to know how you are reacting to text.

Some sample subjects you could touch on for each response would be;

· What surprised you?

· What did you like?

· What didn’t you like?

· Can you relate to anything in this chapter that the character is going through?

· Have you noticed any emerging themes or recurring messages?

· Or chose your own topic for your chapter response.

2) You may participate in an online discussion of the novel. I have set up a online discussion area where you can interact with your classmates and have a discussion as you are reading. I will begin the discussion after each chapter, but encourage each of you to move the discussion along. To get credit for this exercise you must comment after each chapter. A comment should be about paragraph long and should consider the responses before it. Join the discussion here.

When you return in late August you will use either your response journals or online discussions as a basis for a short paper.