Walking into my language arts classroom on the first day of school, I am greeted by the sight of seven young girls spattered through a sea of twenty-two boys. I realize this is not going to be a year to read Island of the Blue Dolphins (about the survival of a young native girl and her dog) as our first novel. After a few days it is obvious that we also will not choose the novel Homecoming, which has engaging male characters, but requires a lot of home reading due to its length. These students are highly unmotivated to read; they are alliterate – they know how to read, but most often choose not to read. How to engage them in text becomes my challenge and my mission.
I choose to teach Hatchet by Gary Paulsen for our first realistic fiction novel; I feel the author and the storyline will entice the students to read, if only I can break through the habit of non-reading that is so pervasive with this group. So I begin with read alouds and verbalizing my questions and wonderings. As the main character, Brian, talks about the “secret” that is causing him so much personal pain, I orally try to predict what it might be, based on the story clues. I use a variety of voices and change my pace of reading to build excitement when Brian is feeling anxious and worried – Gary Paulsen’s writing style works wonderfully for this.
And then after an exciting plane crash scene, I leave young Brian thrown to the edge of a small lake and left alone in the Canadian woods. It is Friday in our school, class is almost over, and I wonder aloud: “What might Brian use to build shelter, to survive, until he is found?” The boy scouts (current and former) in the class begin the discussion with their wealth of knowledge, others chime in and we have a short, but intense, brainstorming session. Then I give the students the first homework assignment for this novel: Create an exploration to predict what natural materials Brian may use (and in what manner) to provide shelter. My students have a choice to physically construct a shelter or draw and label one. They should be prepared to share their ideas on Monday. I tell them they will have to read a bit in the book to learn more about the Canadian woods through Paulsen’s description.
In my weekend planning, I decide to set aside some time during Monday’s class to share the students’ investigations. But it turns out I do not plan enough time because, for the first time in my teaching years, I have 100% participation. Every student brings in a model or a drawing that they are eager to share. One young man even describes how he tested his clay and rock shelter by leaving it out in Sunday’s rain and then drying it with his sister’s blow dryer to simulate the storms Brian might experience.
Although we do not do another investigation in the course of reading the novel, we do use a variety of read alouds, partner reads, literature circle and discussion activities to apply the necessary reading strategies and instructional points while engaging in this survival story. And engaging is the best word to describe the students’ behaviors. When we finish the novel, I ask the question: “What if Brian was not rescued before the winter set in?” After a babble of predictions I hold up the book Brian’s Winter and before I can say anymore, it is taken by one student and recorded as a “Book I Need To Read” (a constant list of future silent reading selections) by several others. The same thing happens for Brian’s Return and The River all of which are potential sequels to Hatchet. The students have found an author and a story line that invites them to be engaged readers.