Download MPTC Bass novel teacher ideas

Title of Presentation: Uncertain Soldier
Division 2 Activities:
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Research other escape stories. (eg., “The Great Escape” in WWII, escaping
over the Berlin Wall)
Research other imprisonments (eg., Ukrainian internment camps in WWI
including in Alberta, Japanese internment camps in BC & Alberta). Note that
Prisoners in the Promised Land by Marsha Skrypuch is a middle grade novel
that looks at Ukrainian internment in WWI.
Creative writing – have students create own escape or imprisonment story.
Interview – have students interview someone they know who was a child
during WWII.
Invitation – invite someone who was a child during WWII to talk to the class
about what life was like for them. Have students prepare questions ahead of
time. Have students write a response, or compare/contrast what they
learned with their own lives.
Comic Books – Max loves comic books in the story and uses them as an
escape. Have students compare comics from different eras (possibly via
Internet research). Compare and contrast comic books versus novels. Create
a comic book page to illustrate research done or story written.
Title of Presentation: Uncertain Soldier
Division 3 Activities:
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A full teaching guide is available at:
http://pajamapress.ca/category/book_resources/teaching_guides/
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Research other escape stories. (eg., “The Great Escape” in WWII, escaping
over the Berlin Wall)
Research other imprisonments (eg., Ukrainian internment camps in WWI
including in Alberta, Japanese internment camps in BC & Alberta).
Creative writing – have students create own escape or imprisonment story.
Interview – have students interview someone they know who was a child
during WWII.
Invitation – invite someone who was a child during WWII to talk to the class
about what life was like for them. Have students prepare questions ahead of
time. Have students write a response, or compare/contrast what they
learned with their own lives.
Comic Books – Max loves comic books in the story and uses them as an
escape. Have students compare comics from different eras (possibly via
Internet research). Compare and contrast comic books versus novels. Create
a comic book page to illustrate research done or story written.
Compare/contrast Uncertain Soldier to other Alberta novels for young
readers set in the same era. (e.g., The Comic Book War by Jacqueline Guest,
Obasan by Joy Kogawa, Goodbye Buffalo Bay by Larry Loyie).
Discuss whether residential schools were a form of imprisonment.
Compare/contrast treatment of residential school students with German
prisoners of war.
Read an action scene from Uncertain Soldier (e.g., Erich getting beaten in the
POW camp, p. 16). Look at techniques Bass uses to increase pacing or
tension. Have students use these techniques to write their own action scene.
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Title of Presentation: Uncertain Soldier
Division 4 Activities:

A full teaching guide for Uncertain Soldier is available at:
http://pajamapress.ca/category/book_resources/teaching_guides/
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Research escape stories. (eg., “The Great Escape” in WWII, escaping over the
Berlin Wall)
Research other imprisonments (eg., Ukrainian internment camps in WWI
including in Alberta, Japanese internment camps in BC & Alberta).
Creative writing – have students create own escape or imprisonment story.
Interview – have students interview someone they know who was a child
during WWII.
Invitation – invite someone who was a child during WWII to talk to the class
about what life was like for them. Have students prepare questions ahead of
time. Have students write a response, or compare/contrast what they
learned with their own lives.
Comic Books – Max loves comic books in the story and uses them as an
escape. Have students compare comics from different eras (possibly via
Internet research). Compare and contrast comic books versus novels. Create
a comic book page to illustrate research done or story written.
Compare/contrast Uncertain Soldier to other Alberta novels for young
readers set in the same era. (e.g., The Comic Book War by Jacqueline Guest,
Obasan by Joy Kogawa, Goodbye Buffalo Bay by Larry Loyie).
Discuss whether residential schools were a form of imprisonment.
Compare/contrast treatment of residential school students with German
prisoners of war.
Read an action scene from Uncertain Soldier (e.g., Erich getting beaten in the
POW camp, p. 16). Look at techniques Bass uses to increase pacing or
tension. Have students use these techniques to write their own action scene.
“Voice” in creative writing - Compare two scenes from Uncertain Soldier, one
from Erich’s POV and one from Max’s POV. Discuss how Bass creates two
distinct voices. Consider character vocabulary, action, and age-appropriate
word choices or similes/metaphors in the narrative.
View additional content to enhance understanding: The Enemy Within by Eva
Colmers (National Film Board, 54 min, available online). Search “prisoners of
war” on www.cbc.ca/archives/ .
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Title of Presentation: Graffiti Knight
Division 3 Activities:
A full teaching guide for Graffiti Knight is available at:
http://pajamapress.ca/resource/graffiti_knight_teaching_guide/
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Developing action - Read an action scene from Graffiti Knight (e.g., Wilm
slashing tires, pp. 52-54). Look at techniques Bass uses to increase pacing or
tension. Have students use these techniques to write their own action scene.
Developing character – read Chapter One of Graffiti Knight. Discuss how Bass
uses vocabulary and actions to differentiate among Wilm, Karl, and Georg.
Have students write a scene using similar techniques that involves at least
two characters who are very different.
Photo prompt – using other photos of settings, have students create a story
or story outline to go with that setting.
Drawing the setting - Read a short story or passage from a novel and have the
students draw the setting.
Setting activity – make a diorama of a setting from Graffiti Knight.
Photo essay – create a Powerpoint photo essay that shows setting and tells a
story.
Impact of setting on story – have students put the same story in three
different settings (their own story or an existing short story), and look at
how the setting might change the story.
Impact of setting in genre – have students use the same setting for different
genres (e.g., horror, restaurant, comedy)
Impact of setting in different media (e.g., play, novel, movie) – have students
consider or write changes for a scene from Graffiti Knight in other forms such
as a play or movie. How are settings depicted differently in those media?
Watch the Graffiti Knight trailer:
http://pajamapress.ca/resource/graffiti_knight_book_trailer/ - have
students create their own trailer.
Title of Presentation: Graffiti Knight
Division 4 Activities:
A full teaching guide for Graffiti Knight is available at:
http://pajamapress.ca/resource/graffiti_knight_teaching_guide/
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Developing action - Read an action scene from Graffiti Knight (e.g., Wilm
slashing tires, pp. 52-54). Look at techniques Bass uses to increase pacing or
tension. Have students use these techniques to write their own action scene.
Developing character – read Chapter One of Graffiti Knight. Discuss how Bass
uses vocabulary and actions to differentiate among Wilm, Karl, and Georg.
Have students write a scene using similar techniques that involves at least
two characters who are very different.
(Art activity) Drawing the setting - Read a short story or passage from a
novel and have the students draw the setting.
Photo essay – create a Powerpoint photo essay that shows setting and tells a
story.
Impact of setting on story – have students put the same story in three
different settings (their own story or an existing short story), and look at
how the setting might change the story.
Impact of setting in genre – have students use the same setting for different
genres (e.g., horror, restaurant, comedy)
Impact of setting in different media (e.g., play, novel, movie) – have students
consider or write changes for a scene from Graffiti Knight in other forms such
as a play or movie. How are settings depicted differently in those media?
Watch the Graffiti Knight trailer:
http://pajamapress.ca/resource/graffiti_knight_book_trailer/ - have
students create their own trailer.
Personal response – ask students how they think German identity changed
with losing the war and with the country being split into zones and
controlled by the victors.
Personal response – consider the Bahnhof protest scene in Graffiti Knight (pp
85-88), and ask students what it showed about German expressions of
national pride or nationalism. How would they feel in a situation where they
were not allowed to express pride in their nationality?
Connecting texts – compare/contrast the banning of German/Nazi pride after
WWII (as described in Graffiti Knight) with Canadian laws that banned
Indigenous cultural practices.
Title of Presentation: History Through Novels
Division 3 Activities:
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Discuss how the creative process - elements of fiction - are applied to
historical events. (e.g., fictional characters inserted into real events, or how
historical persons are inserted into fictional stories).
Compare a novel or movie to a nonfiction text on the same topic. (e.g., The
Great Escape vs The Tunnel King)
Compare other novels or short stories based on historical events.
Creative writing prompt – refugee family forced to flee a war zone. Create
setting, characters, story concept.
Creative writing prompt – imagine yourself being forced to move by the
government & write a scene/story/personal response about it. Some real life
Canadian events where this happened and that the students could research:
Acadian deportations, formation of reservations, moving Inuit/First Nations
to high arctic (Aug 1953, Inukjuak to Grise Fjord & Resolute), residential
schools, internment of Ukrainians in WWI, internment of Japanese – and
some Italians & Germans – during WWII.
Art project – do photo collage of WWII events Bass discussed, or of Canadian
WWII events.
Art project – create a new cover for one of Bass’ novels discussed.
Title of Presentation: History Through Novels
Division 4 Activities:
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Discuss how the creative process - elements of fiction - are applied to
historical events. (e.g., fictional characters inserted into real events, or how
historical persons are inserted into fictional stories). Is fiction a valid way to
learn about historical events?
Compare a novel or movie to a nonfiction text on the same topic. (e.g., The
Great Escape vs The Tunnel King)
Compare other novels or short stories based on historical events. Does the
author change the historical timeline to fit the story?
Creative writing prompt – refugee family forced to escape a war zone. Create
setting, characters, story concept.
Creative writing prompt – imagine being forced to move by the government
& write a scene/story/personal response about it. Some historical Canadian
events where this happened and that the students could research: Acadian
deportations, formation of reservations, moving Inuit/First Nations to high
arctic (Aug 1953, Inukjuak to Grise Fjord & Resolute), residential schools,
internment of Ukrainians in WWI, internment of Japanese – and some
Italians & Germans – during WWII.
Discussion – What role did nationalism and identity play in the internment of
Japanese, Germans and Italians in Canada during WWII? Was their presence
in the community a real threat or was the threat created by propaganda?
Title of Presentation: The Hill
Division 2 Activities:
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Art – make a paper mache or cut-paper mask of a legend or mythological
creature.
Art – draw/paint Wîhtiko as described in The Hill.
Research – learn about a creature/god/person in mythology from a different
culture.
Research – ask an elder in your own family about cultural
legends/mythology from your background.
Effects of setting – imagine a person from your own community/city/town
who is really good at a lot of things. Now imagine them in a very different
setting (e.g., ancient Japan, or the Middle Ages in Europe, or the Incan
civilization). What kind of problems would they face? What kind of things
would confuse them?
Creative writing – use the “effects of setting” exercise as a writing prompt to
write a time travel story.
Effects of setting – The Hill is about meeting Wîhtiko in the wilderness.
Imagine what might happen if Wîhtiko came into our world in a city. How
would that change the story.
Title of Presentation: The Hill
Division 3 Activities:
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Art – make a paper mache or cut-paper mask of a legend or mythological
creature.
Art – draw/paint Wîhtiko as described in The Hill.
Art – the art designer wanted the cover to look a bit spooky. Did it work?
Design your own cover for The Hill.
Research – learn about a creature/god/person in mythology from a different
culture.
Interview – ask an elder in your own family about cultural
legends/mythology from your background.
Effects of setting – imagine a person from your own community/city/town
who is really good at a lot of things. Now imagine them in a very different
setting (e.g., ancient Japan, or the Middle Ages in Europe, or the Incan
civilization). What kind of problems would they face? What kind of things
would confuse them? Turn it around and imagine a person from another time
visiting modern-day Canada.
Creative writing – use the above “effects of setting” exercise as a writing
prompt to write a time travel story.
Effects of setting – The Hill is about meeting Wîhtiko in the wilderness.
Imagine what might happen if Wîhtiko came into our world in a city. How
would that change the story.
Personal response: how do our experience and environment shape our
characters?
The Hill is the story of a Cree legend, and Kyle is also Cree. Find out which
First Nations live in your area. Research their culture and traditions.
Title of Presentation: The Hill
Division 4 Activities:
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Art – draw/paint Wîhtiko as described in The Hill.
Art – the art designer wanted the cover to look a bit spooky. Did it work?
Design your own cover for The Hill.
Research – learn about a creature/god/person in mythology from a different
culture.
Interview – ask an elder in your own family about cultural
legends/mythology from your background.
Effects of setting – imagine a person from your own community/city/town
who is very competent. Now imagine them in a very different setting (e.g.,
ancient Japan, or the Middle Ages in Europe, or the Incan civilization). What
kind of problems would they face? What kind of things would confuse them?
Turn it around and imagine a person from another time visiting modern-day
Canada.
Effects of setting – The Hill is about meeting Wîhtiko in the wilderness.
Imagine what might happen if Wîhtiko came into our world in a city. How
would that change the story.
Personal response: how do our experience and environment shape our
characters?
The Hill is the story of a Cree legend, and Kyle is also Cree. Find out which
First Nations live in your area. Research their culture and traditions.
Discussion/personal response - What are some of the conflicts in the story
between the two main characters, Kyle and Jared? To what degree are those
conflicts cultural? Environmental?
Discussion/personal response - What are some of the modern First Nations
challenges that are touched on in The Hill?
Discussion/personal response. How can we be respectful of people from
other cultural backgrounds?