In Pursuit of Civil Conversation

Guest Post by Mary Knight, 

author of Saving Wonder, winner of the 2017 Green Earth Book Award

As I’ve traveled to schools for author visits since the publication of my debut novel, Saving Wonder, teachers have been telling me how concerned they are about the divisive rhetoric their students are witnessing from our country’s leaders. 

In the spirit of encouraging the practice of civil conversation, I’ve created the following lesson, which invites students to activate their empathy as they see an issue from the “other’s” point of view. It also offers practice in close reading, as well as writing dialogue within a scene. I use Saving Wonder as a model text in this lesson, although I’m sure examples of civil dialogue exist in other novels as well.

In Saving Wonder, my protagonist Curley Hines has a conversation with the new coal boss (Mr. Tiverton) who is threatening to blow the top off his mountain through a devastating mining process called mountaintop removal. A lot is at stake for both characters, but they nevertheless have a civil (albeit passionate) conversation that allows each to express his point of view.

The following is an abbreviated lesson with a corresponding writing prompt. It assumes that students have at least read up to Chapter “P.” If you’d like an extended version with a fun, optional activity, please contact me through my message page at my website: www.maryknightbooks.com. I’d love to hear what you think and if you use the lesson, your results!

A Lesson on Civil Dialogue

Before engaging the lesson, explore the concept of “empathy” with your students. Say: One of the ways authors inspire readers to care is by writing with empathy. Does anyone know what empathy is? Empathy is the ability to walk in another person’s shoes, to see the world through another person’s eyes or point of view, or to imagine what another is feeling. You can empathize with someone who is feeling happy or sad or any other emotion. Invite students to think of examples from their own lives where they’ve empathized with another person or animal (pet).

Before reading and/or rereading Chapter “P,” pgs. 154-163, ask: Do you think Mr. Tiverton is a “bad guy” in this novel? Ask for a show of hands, yes and no. Then ask: Why do you think that? Be sure to remain neutral. After opinions have been expressed, invite your class to reread the following, saying: Let’s (re)read the following chapter and see what our thinking is then.

Read and/or reread the scene.

After reading: On a T-chart, title the page: “Red Hawk Mountain.” Under that, make two columns: one titled “Curley’s Viewpoint” and one titled “Mr. Tiverton’s Viewpoint.” Use a different color for each point of view. Ask students to first list what Curley thinks and feels about mining Red Hawk Mountain and the mountain itself, referring to the text as often as they like. Invite them to do this by “empathizing” with Curley, by putting themselves in his shoes.

After this feels complete, facilitate the same process with Mr. Tiverton. Be sure to invite students to step into the shoes of Mr. Tiverton. How does he see Red Hawk Mountain? What does he think and feel about the mining process? Again, invite students to refer to the text as often as they like.

After you’ve completed this exercise, ask again: So, who thinks Mr. Tiverton is a bad guy? Why or why not? It’s okay for students to still hold the opinion that he’s a bad guy. That’s not a wrong answer; it’s an opinion. Ask: Regardless of what we think of Mr. Tiverton, do you understand his viewpoint a little bit better after stepping into his shoes? When we empathize with someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we agree with them, right? Still, empathy can help us understand someone else’s viewpoint, an important skill in a world with lots of different perspectives.

Reader’s theater: If there’s time, “play out” this dialogue (pgs. 158-163) between the two perspectives through a Reader’s Theater activity, encouraging each actor to look at the chart and “step into the shoes” of his or her character, “seeing what he sees” and “feeling what he feels.” Encourage them to: “Read from the heart of your character—like you are passionate about everything you are saying!” Reading with empathy encourages fluency!

After Reader’s Theater, ask the actors: How did it feel to play your part? Is there anything more you understand about your character after speaking his words?

Ask the rest of your class: After watching and listening, do you feel any different about Mr. Tiverton now? In what ways does the author help us empathize with each of her characters?

Writing with empathy: Using the above dialogue scene as a model text, ask students to: Write a scene like the one we’ve just acted out, where you and a parent, a sibling, a teacher or a friend are having a conversation about something that means a lot to you . . . and the other person holds a different perspective or opinion than yours. Offer examples of family or school issues students might want to explore in their writing.   

Once students have decided on their “issue,” ask them to create a T-chart—two columns on a sheet of paper, one representing the writer / narrator’s viewpoint and the other column representing the viewpoint of the other character in their story. Encourage them to “step into the shoes” of each character and write down each character’s feelings as well as ideas and thoughts about this issue. 

Ask students to write at the bottom of this brainstorming page, where the conversation is taking place and when. After they’ve done this pre-writing activity, invite them to write a scene between themselves and another person using dialogue that explores two different points of view.

Bio: Saving Wonder is Mary’s debut novel, published in 2016 by Scholastic Press, and selected for numerous honors, including the Green Earth Book Award for Children’s Fiction, a Parents’ Choice award, and a Children’s Book Council Notable Book for Social Studies. Mary is also working on a professional development book called, CoreEmpathy: Transforming the Literacy Classroom, with her writing partner and literacy specialist, Christie McLean Kesler. www.CoreEmpathy.com  

“Literature Teaches Us Empathy”

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

Usually when we talk about diverse books, we mean books that enable children of all ethnic groups to see themselves in the books they read. In this year’s Zena Sutherland lecture, the African-American poet Marilyn Nelson added this notion.

“While reading about characters and experiences we already know is affirming, and while self-affirmation is an important aspect of self-knowledge, literature offers more than the experience of reading in a cubicle with a mirror. Literature allows us to extend our understanding beyond ourselves; it asks us whether we can understand others. Literature teaches us empathy.”

And this year’s Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Gene Yang wants young readers – all of us for that matter – to have empathy with people who are not like us. He is asking children “to read a book about a character who doesn’t look like you or live like you.” He calls it his “Reading Without Walls Challenge.”

Such reading opens the door to countless writing prompts.

· How is the child in the book different from you? What is the same?

· How are your days different or the same?

· What would you like to do with that child if you could meet her?

· What would you show that person if he came to your school?

The next question might be where to find such books – especially good, accurate ones. One answer is to look at awards such as the Children's Africana Book Awards (CABA) - and the African Studies Association’s Teacher’s Workshop Dec 3 in Washington, D.C. - the Middle East Outreach Council, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.

This year’s recently celebrated CABA awards include an exuberantly illustrated folk tale from Nigeria, Chicken in the Kitchen, written by Nnedi Okorafor, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria, and illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini, an Iranian artist living in Great Britain. Elizabeth Wein wrote Black Dove White Raven, a World War II young adult novel about a black boy and a white girl raised together in Ethiopia. Miranda Paul wrote One Plastic Bag and the Recycling Women of the Gambia, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, about Isatou Ceesay’s efforts to recycle discarded plastic bags in her community. An earlier Pencil Tips Workshop focused on the CABA honor book, Emmanuel’s Dream, written by Laurie Ann Thompson and illustrated by Sean Qualls, about Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboa who was born with a deformed leg yet grew up to play soccer and raise money for people with disabilities in Ghana.

The opportunity to read, think and write about any of these books gives children a chance to deepen their awareness of countries where they may one day live or travel or have a friend – and build pride in their own countries of origin.

http://childrensbookguild.org/karen-leggett-abouraya

WRITING WITH EMPATHY

guest post by Kerri Majors

Pencil Tips welcomes Kerri Majors who will give us a bonus-style sneak peak at the kinds of lesson plans contained in the Teacher's Edition (TE) of  This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World (TINAWM). This lesson on empathy is not in the TE—it’s an extra one just for you.

Empathy

It’s so important for writers to understand the inner lives of the people they are writing about. And beyond that, it’s essential for all young people (future writers, scientists, and politicians alike!) to be able to practice thinking against themselves, and even to try to think as other think. Trying to walk in another person’s shoes, and really empathize with them teaches us about diversity and compassion like nothing else.  This lesson helps students do just that.

Suggested reading from TINAWM: “Eavesdropping,” “Drafting,” “My First Big Mistake”

In this lesson, students will:

·       Practice empathetic thinking

·       Write in the voice of another person

·       Create an interesting character

·       Reflect on the power of empathy for writers, and others

·       Engage in active listening and productive critique

You Will Need:

·       TINAWM

·       The prompt, photocopied or emailed to students

·       Workshop Ground Rules (in the Teacher’s Edition)

To Prepare:

·       Give students the prompt and ask them to write the piece as homework.  You could also set aside the first 20 minutes of class for them to write a short dialogue, but that will truncate some of the discussion time. 

·       Assign students to read the “Workshop Ground Rules.”

·       You might ask your students to read the suggested chapters of TINAWM before this lesson.

The Prompt:

A writer must learn empathy—that ability to fully understand the emotional life of others. Yes, even those we find depressing, boring, or plain old annoying.  It’s that understanding of others that helps us shape compelling, three-dimensional characters.

Take a peek at the News Feed of someone* you once hid on Facebook, or unfollowed on Twitter, and select a particularly grating recent post (Maybe: “Off to Zimbabwe then Paris! Pictures to follow!  Send me a postcard from wherever you are!”), then write at least 500 words in the voice of that person about that post, in a way that helps you better understand him/her without anger, annoyance, or judgment. *NOTE: Please do not select anyone from this class!

In Class: (All times are approximate suggestions)

5 minutes:    Review the “Workshop Ground Rules” with your students, and ask if there are any questions about those.

15 minutes:  Ask for an intrepid volunteer to read his/her piece aloud to the class. 

·       Ask the other students to listen carefully and write down favorite words and phrases.

·       Per the Group Rules, lead with the positive.  After the piece has been read, ask students to talk about what it revealed about the person.  What kind of voice did the person have?  What personality traits were revealed?  Did the writer seem to be trying to really understand the character?  What other strengths did they hear?  Always ask student to be specific and mention lines and places in the text.

·       How could the piece have been improved?  Did the class hear any notes of dismissal, judgment, or willful mis-understanding?  How could those moments be transformed and made more empathetic?

·       You might want to discuss the difference between a “likable” character and an “interesting” or “understandable” character, since some of these pieces are likely to bring this difference to light.

20 – 35 minutes:    Repeat the above for as much time as you have (subsequent discussions will go faster than the first), or break the class into groups and let them discuss the pieces in threes or fours; when I do small-group workshops, I always rotate around the room to keep everyone on task and also answer questions. 

·       Save time at the end, or try to discuss throughout, what students learned from writing these pieces.  How do they think they can use this skill in other classes and situations?

·       Collect the writing so that you can deliver written comments, especially on the students whose writing might not have been discussed.

Reflection:

Ask students to write a brief reflection on what they learned through this writing (if you use journals in class, this is a great exercise for those).  In what other life situations might empathy be useful?

BIO: Kerri Majors is the founder and editor of YARN,the Young Adult Review Network (http://www.yareview.net), a literary magazine of YA writing and winner of the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize. This Is Not a Writing Manual has received wide acclaim and was called a “must-read” by School Library Journal. Kerri has taught writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Columbia, where she also received her MFA in Fiction. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and daughter.

Please feel free to use this lesson in your classes, but if you photocopy any piece of it, I ask that in the interest of fair use, you add something like “This prompt is courtesy of Kerri Majors, author of This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World (www.kerrimajors.com).”