Responding to Literature: Relating events to illustrations

Lesson 1: Analyzing Events in New Gold Mountain

Objective: Students will analyze a positive and a negative event from the novel New Gold Mountain and explain how text structures and language features help understand the events.

Materials:

• Excerpt from New Gold Mountain by Christopher Cheng
• Whiteboard/Smartboard
• Worksheet: Event Analysis (sections for positive and negative event analysis)

Introduction

1.    Begin by discussing how stories often contain both positive and negative events that shape the characters and plot. Ask students to share examples of positive and negative events from other novels they’ve read.

2.    Introduce the task: students will be retelling one positive and one negative event from New Gold Mountain, focusing on how language features and text structures help convey the meaning of the events.

Activity 1

• Distribute the “Event Analysis” worksheet.
• Read an excerpt from New Gold Mountain that includes both a positive and a negative event. As you read, ask students to think about how the author uses language to describe these events.
• After reading, guide students through analyzing the events:
• Positive Event: What happened? What emotions or language features make this event feel positive (e.g., happy descriptions, uplifting dialogue)?
• Negative Event: What happened? How does the author create a sense of negativity (e.g., dark imagery, tense dialogue)?

Activity 2

• In pairs, students will discuss how the events influenced the main character. Encourage them to think about how the author’s choice of language and text structure influenced their understanding of the events.

Conclusion

• Recap the key differences between positive and negative events in literature. Explain that students will retell these events in their own words in the next lesson.

Lesson 2: Retelling Positive and Negative Events

Objective: Students will retell a positive and a negative event from New Gold Mountain, focusing on using descriptive language and specific vocabulary to highlight the tone of each event.

Materials:

• Event Analysis worksheet from Lesson 1
• Whiteboard/Smartboard
• Worksheet: Event Retelling Template (sections for positive and negative events)

Introduction

1.    Review the positive and negative events analyzed in the previous lesson. Discuss how students can retell these events in their own words while maintaining the tone (positive or negative).

2.    Model retelling an event by writing a brief summary on the board. Emphasize the use of descriptive language to reflect the mood of the event:

o   Positive Event Example: “As the golden sun rose over the hills, the settlers celebrated their first successful gold find, their laughter echoing through the valley.”

o   Negative Event Example: “The sky darkened as tensions rose. The discovery of false gold brought nothing but anger and disappointment.”

Activity 1

• Distribute the “Event Retelling Template.”
• Students will retell the positive and negative events from New Gold Mountain, focusing on using descriptive language and maintaining the tone of each event. Encourage them to expand on the original events, adding more detail to make their retelling vivid.

Activity 2

• In pairs, students will share their retellings and provide feedback to each other on how effectively they conveyed the tone and mood of each event.

Conclusion

• Recap the importance of using specific vocabulary and descriptive language to retell events in a meaningful way. Explain that in the next lesson, students will illustrate their retellings.

Lesson 3: Illustrating Events in the Style of Bruce Whatley

Objective: Students will illustrate their positive and negative events, using color for the positive event and black and white for the negative event, inspired by Bruce Whatley’s style from The Littlest Refugee.

Materials:

• Retelling templates from Lesson 2
• Art supplies (colored pencils, black pencils, or markers)
• Examples of illustrations from The Littlest Refugee

Introduction

1.    Introduce Bruce Whatley’s illustrative style from The Littlest Refugee. Show examples of his use of color for uplifting moments and black-and-white illustrations for more serious or somber moments.

2.    Explain that students will illustrate the positive event using color and the negative event using black and white. Discuss how color can evoke different emotions:

o   Color: Represents warmth, happiness, and hope.

o   Black and White: Conveys sadness, tension, or fear.

Activity 1 (20 minutes):

• Distribute art supplies and have students begin illustrating their events. Encourage them to think about how their use of color (or lack of color) can help convey the tone of the event.
• For the positive event, encourage the use of bright colors and attention to detail that highlights the positive emotions of the event. For the negative event, emphasize shading and contrast to create a somber mood.

Activity 2

• Once students complete their illustrations, they will pair up and discuss how their illustrations represent the mood and tone of the events. Ask them to explain their use of color or shading and how it connects to the event.

Conclusion

Recap how illustrations can enhance the meaning of a text and explain that in the next lesson, students will combine their retellings and illustrations into a presentation.

Lesson 4: Presenting Retellings and Illustrations

Objective: Students will present their retellings and illustrations to the class, explaining their choices in language and illustration to reflect the tone of the events.

Materials:

• Retellings and illustrations from previous lessons
• Peer Feedback Form (optional)

Introduction

1.    Explain that today students will present their retellings and illustrations, focusing on how they used language and art to convey the positive and negative events from New Gold Mountain.

2.    Remind students to speak clearly and explain how their choice of words and illustrations enhanced the meaning of the events.

Activity 1

Students will take turns presenting their retellings and illustrations to the class. After each presentation, encourage peers to provide positive feedback and ask questions about the choices made in both the written and visual aspects.

Activity 2

As a class, discuss which illustrations stood out and why. Ask students to reflect on how the use of color or black and white in the illustrations contributed to their understanding of the events.

Conclusion

Recap how both language and visuals work together to tell a story. Ask students to share one thing they learned about how illustrations can enhance a written text.

Assessment:

• Assess students’ ability to retell events using descriptive language and specific vocabulary to reflect tone.
• Evaluate the creativity and effectiveness of their illustrations in conveying the mood of the positive and negative events.
• Review their presentations for clarity and explanation of how both text and illustrations were used to express their understanding of the events.