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This post is a continuation of Free Unit for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian-Part 1
Day 10
Today I started with a journal. I gave students a choice of two prompts:
Prompt 1: In this chapter, Junior/Arnold’s discusses his dual personality. In one paragraph, write about a time when you were caught between two worlds or someone whom you know was caught between two worlds.
Prompt 2: I read somewhere recently that we have many identities that serve us in different parts of our lives. Write about your different identities.
Next, I asked students to complete the partner essay on their Absolutely True Diary Reading Guide for Pages 100-117. The essay prompt was: What are some healthy and unhealthy ways to deal with stress? Do the characters in The Absolutely True Diary... deal with their stress in a healthy manner or an unhealthy manner?
First, I had the kids get with their assigned partner, brainstorm ideas, & outline for 10-15 minutes. Next, I called them back together as a class and did a mini lesson on introductory paragraphs (paid product). Then I released them back to partners and had them write a hook and book summary for their intro paragraph.
For homework, I asked students to catch up on their reading.
Day 11
Today we continued with the partner essay. I reviewed the elements of an introductory paragraph and then had the students try and write a thesis statement with their partners.
Once the kids had good thesis statements, I did a whole-class mini lesson on how to write body paragraphs, and then I asked the students to work together to try and write two body paragraphs.
Once they completed the body paragraphs, I reviewed the elements of a conclusion paragraph and had the kids attempt their own conclusions in order to finish up their partner essays.
For homework, I asked kids to catch up on any reading they were behind on.
Day 12
Once we finished the partner essays, we went back to doing a bit of informal writing. For today’s prompt, I posted quotations from the previous night’s reading and asked students to reflect on one of them OR to write about a connection they made to one of them.
Here were the quotations I chose:
Page 129: “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.”
Page 131: “ I know, I know, but some Indians think you have to act white to make your life better. Some Indians think you become white if you try to make your life better, if you become successful. If that were true, then wouldn’t all white people be successful?”
Page 132: “Well, life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.”
Once the kids were done writing, I asked them to share out with a person sitting near them, and then I gave them time to start their homework.
For homework, I asked kids to read pages 134-168 in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. This section of the text is very sad (Junior’s grandma dies), so I always give the kids a bit of a warning.
Day 13
I usually start the class after last night’s reading by acknowledging the sadness in it, and then we mimic what Junior does at the end of the chapter to try and cheer himself up. The prompt I give the students to start class is as follows:
“At the end of the reading, Junior tries to cheer himself up by making lists of things that make him happy. These are some of the lists he creates:
People Who Give You The Most Joy in Life
-Musicians Who Play the Most Joyous Music (according to you)
-My Favorite Foods
-My Favorite Books
-My Favorite Sports Players
Using Junior’s list headings or your own, create two lists of things that make you happy. You could also have kids use this handout, if you would like.
After writing time, share out is voluntary since this is a personal topic.
After writing time, I wanted to do a lesson on irony since there were a few good examples in last night’s reading. I also had the kids try and explain why the author would include these moments in the story, but this was a big leap for my freshmen. I briefly lectured, using just a generic PowerPoint that I made and use whenever I want to talk about irony. I had the kids take notes while we talked through the slides.
Here are the slides and the note-taking guide:
Next, I introduced some of the vocabulary words that were going to pop up in tonight’s reading. I did this by putting the words on a PowerPoint with an example sentence and asking students if they had heard the word before and if they knew what it meant, OR if they could figure out the meaning from the question. If I am really on my game, I put the actual sentence from the story on the PowerPoint, so then the vocabulary preview also serves as a story introduction.
Here were the words I chose for pages 170-196: scintillating, demoralized, primitive, and blubbering and here are the slides for The Absolutely True Diary vocabulary preview.
For homework I asked the kids to do the following:
Read pages 170-196 of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian and annotate by making 10 text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.
Complete this vocabulary handout. The vocabulary handout asked students to choose the definition that best matches the way the word was used in the story.
Day 14
Today I had kids complete this assignment: Write like Sherman Alexi assignment (paid product). It is a simple assignment where I asked the kids to mimic Alexi’s writing and I made this handout to give the activity a bit of structure. Once we finished, I gave them the rest of class to finish reading the book.
I assigned the following homework: Finish reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.
Day 15
Whenever kids get to the end of a book, I love to give them a chance to vent or talk about the ending. To start class, I had them complete this end of book reflection, and then I let a bunch of kids share their answers.
Next, I gave kids time to prepare for a Socratic Seminar by filling in this handout: Socratic Seminar. This usually takes a while, so I give kids a lot of class time to work on it.
Day 16
On this day, students participated in a Socratic Seminar.
There’s a lot that goes into a Socratic Seminar. Sometimes I love them and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I am good at setting them up and sometimes I’m not. But a Socratic Seminar is basically a student-led discussion. In short, students should prepare some ideas ahead of time and then sit in a circle to discuss their answers without much teacher involvement. The teacher should be busy tracking the quality of everyone’s answers. I had a very helpful resource teacher when I started at my new school, and she came in and did two 90-minute lessons to help my students (and me) understand how to participate in a seminar.
I am not an expert at seminars, and, as I mentioned before, I usually break the rules, etc., but if you would like to run a student-led discussion in your classroom, here are some books that may be helpful:
Days 17-19
After the seminar, I wanted to help the students write an essay, so I gave them this assignment sheet with three choices:
Option 1: Choose a character and describe how he/she changes over the course of the novel. Discuss the characters in the beginning, middle, and end. You can also choose a character and discuss how they do not change from the beginning of the novel.
Option 2: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a controversial book. Write a persuasive essay explaining why your school should or should not have students read this book.
Option 3: Create your own prompt and pitch it to me. The idea must lend itself to an analytical essay.
Once we talked through the prompts, I showed kids the essay rubric to see if anyone had any questions.
Once students settled on a prompt, I gave them time to outline ideas and write out a rough draft while my coteacher and I circulated.
Once the students had a rough draft, I gave them each a copy of an essay one of my AP students wrote and asked them to identify what made it such a strong essay. From there, we helped kids to improve their own essays and submit.
Day 20
After the essay writing, I was not done yet! I wanted students to take a unit test. To review the story, I had students watch this interview with Sherman Alexi and then compare and contrast his life to Junior’s.
I had students track their ideas in this note taking guide.
Day 21
The unit test that I gave the kids was part multiple choice (for ease of grading).
The multiple choice questions are for sale in my TpT store:
Sometimes I feel fine with just the multiple choice questions, depending on how the essays go, but if you wanted to add some open-ended questions, here are a few that you could add: Open-ended questions you could add.
Annnnnndddd that’s the end of my Absolutely True Diary unit. I hope some these free resources for The Absolutely True Diary are helpful to you.
Below are other odds & ends.
Other Random Handouts I Must Have Used At Some Point
Advanced Texts Connected to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
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I just came across a review for this book that said it was AWESOME! It is about a basketball team from the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana that made it to the state championships. This could be a great follow up for any kid that really enjoyed Absolutely True Diary. | I am not sure I would use this one in the classroom, at least not with the younger kiddos, but I could not put this down. A true story, David Grann digs into a series of murders of members of the Osage tribe in the 1920s. | This is the "young reader" version of Killers of the Flower Moon. I don't usually like adapted texts so have not read it. Please leave a comment if you have read it and let us know what you think. |
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I just started reading this and it's intense. I really have to clear the distractions and concentrate. Apple could be used in an AP/IB classroom for sure. I would use smaller excerpts for my grade level or reading classes. |
Shows & Media Connected to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
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I just watched this movie for the first time (May 2024) . Great pairing for ATD. |
Other Resources
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