L5+Martemucci,+Amanda

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, HEALTH AND REHABILITATION LESSON PLAN FORMAT**
 * UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FARMINGTON

Maine Learning Results: English Language Arts- A. Reading A2 Literary Texts Grades 9-Diploma //The Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold //Students read text within a grade appropriate span of text complexity and present analyzes of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry using excerpts from the text to defend their assertions.// Through this lesson, students will learn that characters have both internal and external conflicts. The lesson will get students to begin understanding how people including themselves deal with different types of conflicts. During the Think-Pair-Share, students will be discussing how characters have external and internal conflicts, allowing the students to reflect on the purpose of the lesson and giving me insight into how well the students understand the topic**.** I will give feedback on the students' Cluster/Word Webs before they begin making their Garageband interviews**.** Pairs will fill out a Status Check Form to think about where they need to focus to complete and finalize their Garageband interview as well as reflect on how well the partnership is working. Each member of the pair must fill out a Status Check Form and sign one another's to give proof that they both agree on what needs to be done and how the partnership has been going.
 * __ Teacher’s Name __**** : ** Ms. Martemucci **__Date of Lesson__:** Lesson 5 (Perspective)
 * __ Grade Level __**** : ** 11 **__Topic__:** Character Conflicts, //The Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold
 * __ Objectives __**
 * Student will understand that ** characters have external and internal conflicts.
 * Student will know ** character, conflict (external and internal), and important events and people such as: Rape and Murder of Susie, Abigail's infidelity, Life of Susie's love interest after her death, Jack's pursuit of murderer, Ruth's obsession with the dead, Ruth's relationship with Susie, Susie Salmon, Jack Salmon, Abigail Salmon, George Harvey, Lindsey Salmon, Buckley Salmon, Len Fenerman, Ray Singh, Ruth Connors, Ruana Singh, and Samuel Heckler
 * Student will be able to do ** analyze the characters' external and internal conflicts.
 * __ Maine Learning Results Alignment __**
 * Rationale: **
 * __ Assessment __**
 * Formative (Assessment for Learning) **

The formative/self-assessment will be for each student to fill out a checklist to make sure they included certain components into their Garageband interview (character from novel, character's external conflicts explained, character's internal conflicts explained, five or more questions are asked in the interview, music/sound effects). This checklist will be handed out to students at the beginning of the lesson to allow them to know what is expected of them and use it as a reference while creating their Garageband interview. Students will be put in pairs and choose a character from //The Lovely Bones// to interview about his or her internal and external conflicts. The interview will be made using Garageband where students can add sound effects, music, and voice recordings. The finish product will be turned into a podcast for students' fellow classmates to listen to and find out what they learned about their character's conflicts. I will grade the Garageband interviews with the same checklist that the students fill out for their self-assessments. This checklist will include components such as character from novel, character's external conflicts explained, character's internal conflicts explained, five or more questions are asked in the interview, and music/sound effects. Product: Garageband/Podcast. This will be assessed by a checklist. __ Think-Pair-Share: __ Students will be participating in a Think-Pair-Share during a portion of the lesson to help them generate questions that they will ask their chosen character in the interview. First, students will think individually what types of questions they would want to ask their character in the interview. They will base these questions from the information they wrote on their Cluster/Word Web (3). The information in the Cluster/Word Web (3) is to be discussed with their partner for their Garageband interview before the Think-Pair-Share Activity. To get students into these pairs, I will ask the class to work together to line up by height. Pairs will be formed by those students who are next to each other in height. These pairs will also be used in the second part of the Think-Pair-Share. After students think about questions themselves they will pair up with their Garageband partners and will share their ideas for questions. Pairs will discuss which questions will work best for their interviews and may even develop new questions together. Pairs will need to write the questions on their Cluster/ Word Web (3) graphic organizers. Pairs will then share some of their questions with the class, allowing other pairs to get ideas from other pairs. //I will review student's IEP, 504, or ELLIDEP and make appropriate modifications and accommodations.//
 * Summative (Assessment of Learning) **
 * __ Integration __**
 * Technology: ** Students will be using Garageband to create their interviews. This technology based tool allows students to record and manipulate their voices, and add sound effects and music to their interviews. Students will also use the Podbean website to post their interviews online as podcasts.
 * Other Content Areas: **
 * Music: ** Students will be recording their voices and adding sound effects and music to their interviews to make them audibly stimulating for their audience.
 * __ Groupings __**
 * __ Differentiated Instruction __**
 * Strategies: **
 * Logical: ** Students will have to think and plan out how to best organize the Garageband interview. They need to think about where to place sound effects for the best flow, the order of the questions being asked, etc.
 * Verbal: ** Students get to record their own voices for the Garageband interview.
 * Visual: ** Students can visual internal and external conflict by watching //short films-Internal Conflict// and //Character Conflict// clips.
 * Musical: ** Students get to add music/sound effects to their Garageband interview.
 * Interpersonal: ** Students create Garageband interview in pairs.
 * Kinesthetic: ** Students can create their own sound effects by manipulating and playing with objects to make sounds.
 * Modifications/Accommodations **

__Absent Student:__ I will have a Wikispace set up with an agenda for each class period and the assignments that are due. When a student is absent, it is their responsibility to check the Wikispace and see what they are missing in class and assignments that are due. It is their responsibility to get any handouts or assignments from either a fellow classmate or through emailing me. It is also recommended that absent students come see me to get caught up and learn more about what happened in the class(es) that they missed. The student will also need to find a way to get their final product for the lesson to me on the day it's due if they happen to miss that day of class. If this is absolutely impossible, it is their responsibility to email me and I will work out an extension plan with the student. Students will be using the technology tool, Garageband to create their interviews on a character's external and internal conflicts in //The Lovely Bones.// These interviews will be used to show students' understanding of how characters have both external and internal conflicts and what the differences are between them. Students who wish to go beyond the original objective have the option of interviewing two characters or discussing their own conflicts with the character they are interviewing. __ For Students: __ Laptop Garageband Podbean Account Pen/Pencil Individual Copy of //The Lovely Bones//
 * Extensions **
 * __ Materials, Resources and Technology __**

__For Teacher:__ Laptop Garageband (In case a student's program isn't working) Podbean Account Video Clip of [|short films-Internal Conflict] Video Clip of [|Character Conflict] [|Cluster/Worb Web (3)] Graphic Organizer Checklist Think-Pair-Share Explanation Handout on Character, External Conflict, Internal Conflict Handout of Summaries of Important Events/People in //The Lovely Bones// Status Check Form This lesson is on //Romeo and Juliet// by William Shakespeare. Students need to focus on characters' actions and conflicts in the play that cause the actions. [] This lesson focuses on characterization with students creating a mystery character. This lesson could easily be taken further with having students come up with the character's conflicts as well as characterization. [] This site has several video tutorials on different components to Garageband. This can be helpful for both my students and myself when problems arise using Garageband. [] This is the Podbean website where students will be posting the interviews they made on Garageband as podcasts for the class to listen to. [] This is a site that gives chapter summaries and character descriptions from //The Lovely Bones//. It is a good source for myself or a substitute to use for quick information when assessing students' products and conducting class discussions. [] This site gives a detailed explanation of how to conduct a Think-Pair-Share and its purpose. It also includes additional links of video tutorials and other information about Think-Pair-Share. [] This is a powerpoint presentation on literary devices, which includes character, and conflict. Students should be aware of these literary terms from both the first and third lessons. __[]__ This is a site with a glossary of literary terms, which includes character. Students should be aware of this literary term from the first, third, and fourth lessons. [] This site goes into more detail about internal and external conflict. It also explains the importance of conflict and how to read for conflict in a novel. [] This site is an excellent tool when beginning to form checklists for student products. Although I will be making the checklist on on my own, I will be using this website as a guide on how to make the checklist for the students' Garageband/podcasts. [|http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/] I understand that students all learn in different ways. I planned this lesson so that students of different learning styles, intelligences, and levels could complete the objectives on some occasion(s) throughout the lesson.
 * __ Source for Lesson Plan and Research __**
 * __ Maine Standards for Initial Teacher Certification and Rationale __**
 * // Standard 3 - Demonstrates a knowledge of the diverse ways in which students learn and develop by providing learning opportunities that support their intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and cultural development. //**
 * // Rationale: //**

__Clipboard:__ For those students who like to keep organized, I have incorporated a graphic organizer (Cluster/Word Web (3)) to help them organize their ideas on their chosen character's internal and external conflicts as well as the questions they will ask their character in the Garageband interview. This will be the organized and visual representation that the students can refer to to help with making their interviews. __Beach Ball:__ For those students who learn best when active, I have incorporated into my lesson a chance for students to get out of their seats and move about the room. To get students into pairs, the entire class needs to get out their seats and work together and move around to line up by height. Students will then pair off with the person next to them of similar height. __Microscope:__ Students who like to think logically will get to in this lesson as students will be discussing what internal and external conflicts are, as well as finding examples from the novel and analyzing them throughout the lesson. __Puppy:__ I want all my students to feel like they are in a safe environment where they can easily talk to others around them. That is why all my lessons, including this one involve group activities (This lesson involves a Think-Pair-Share in which students will get to interact with another student in the class. Students are also creating their final product for the lesson in pairs). This will allow students to get to know each other and work on collaborative skills. Students will also learn how to respect everyone's ideas through the group activity so students do not feel uncomfortable sharing. Student will know character, conflict (external and internal), and important events and people such as: Rape and Murder of Susie, Abigail's infidelity, Life of Susie's love interest after her death, Jack's pursuit of murderer, Ruth's obsession with the dead, Ruth's relationship with Susie, Susie Salmon, Jack Salmon, Abigail Salmon, George Harvey, Lindsey Salmon, Buckley Salmon, Len Fenerman, Ray Singh, Ruth Connors, Ruana Singh, and Samuel Heckler. **Please refer to the Content Notes.** //Students read text within a grade appropriate span of text complexity and present analyzes of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry using excerpts from the text to defend their assertions.// Students will be reading //The Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold, an age appropriate text and will be creating an interview/podcast of a character in the novel that explains the chosen character's conflicts using Garageband. Through this lesson, students will be able to analyze the characters' external and internal conflicts (Perspective). I am working to teach students that just like in pieces of literature, people in the real world deal with their own external and internal conflicts. __ Visual: __ Students can visual internal and external conflict by watching //short films-Internal Conflict// and //Character Conflict// clips. __Interpersonal:__ Students create Garageband interview in pairs. __Logical:__ Students will have to think and plan out how to best organize the Garageband interview. They need to think about where to place sound effects for the best flow, the order of the questions being asked, etc. __Verbal:__ Students get to record their own voices for the Garageband interview. __Musical__: Students get to add music/sound effects to their Garageband interview. __Bodily/Kinesthetic:__ Students can create their own sound effects by manipulating and playing with objects to make sounds.
 * // Standard 4 - Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, curriculum goals, and learning and development theory. //**
 * // Rationale: //**
 * // Standard 5 - Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technology to meet students’ needs. //**
 * // Rationale: //**

Students will be using the technology tool, Garageband to create their interviews on a character's external and internal conflicts in //The Lovely Bones.// These interviews will be used to show students' understanding of how character's have both external and internal conflicts and what the differences are between them. Students who wish to go beyond the original objective have the option of interviewing two characters or discussing their own conflicts with the character they are interviewing.

I have incorporated six different multiple intelligences into this lesson as I know I will have many different types of learners in the classroom that I will need to try and connect the material to. These intelligences are either used through media samples, in-class activities, or assignments to allow different intelligences to flow throughout my lesson. I have several opportunities for students to show their learning throughout this lesson in both formal and summative assessments because I understand that not all students can show their learning in one form. Students will be aware of various ways I am assessing them on this lesson, particularly through the status check form and the checklist.
 * // Standard 8 - Understands and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and support the development of the learner. //**
 * // Rationale: //**

During the Think-Pair-Share, students will be discussing how characters have external and internal conflicts, allowing the students to reflect on the purpose of the lesson and giving me insight into how well the students understand the topic**.** I will give feedback on the students' Cluster/Word Webs before they begin making their Garageband interviews**.** Pairs will fill out a Status Check Form to think about where they need to focus to complete and finalize their Garageband interview as well as reflect on how well the partnership is working. Each member of the pair must fill out a Status Check Form and sign one another's to give proof that they both agree on what needs to be done and how the partnership has been going. The formative/self-assessment will be for each student to fill out a checklist to make sure they included certain components into their Garageband interview (character from novel, character's external conflicts explained, character's internal conflicts explained, five or more questions are asked in the interview, music/sound effects). This checklist will be handed out to students at the beginning of the lesson to allow them to know what is expected of them and use it as a reference while creating their Garageband interview. Students will be put in pairs and choose a character from //The Lovely Bones// to interview about his or her internal and external conflicts. The interview will be made using Garageband where students can add sound effects, music, and voice recordings. The finish product will be turned into a podcast for students' fellow classmates to listen to and find out what they learned about their character's conflicts. I will grade the Garageband interviews with the same checklist that the students fill out for their self-assessments. This checklist will include components such as character from novel, character's external conflicts explained, character's internal conflicts explained, five or more questions are asked in the interview, and music/sound effects. Product: Garageband/Podcast. This will be assessed by a checklist. The classroom will be arranged in two's to allow pairs to be sitting next to each other to work on their Garageband interviews, as well as for during the Think-Pair-Share activity.
 * __ Teaching and Learning Sequence __**** : **

Agenda Day 1 Watching the video clips, [|short films-Internal Conflict] and [|Character Conflict/] /Brief Discussion(10 min) Discuss Objective (Handout Checklist) (10 min) Class discussion on Internal and External Conflicts (15 min) Pairing of students/Pairs working on filling out Cluster/Word Web (3) graphic organizer (15 min) Think-Pair-Share Activity (20 min) More classtime to finish filling out graphic organizer (5 min) Collect Graphic Organizers and Conclusion-Homework is to play around with Garageband. Check out tutorial (**Listed in Sources for Lesson Plan and Research**). Start thinking of a script/plan for interview. (5 min)

Agenda Day 2 Pass back graphic organizers with feedback (5 min) Class time to work on Garageband interviews/Filling out of Status Check Forms (any scripting of interview (interview script should be clear with information on Cluster/Word Web (3), recording of interview) (60 min) Set up [|Podbean] Accounts/How to export interview from Garageband and upload onto Podbean as a Podcast (Information on exporting found on tutorial site listed in **Sources for Lesson Plan and Research**. Podbean site gives directions on how to upload. Site also found listed in **Sources for Lesson Plan and Research**) (10 min) Conclusion/Final Questions-Homework is to finish up interview on Garageband as much as possible. If complete, export and upload to Pod Bean.

Agenda Day 3 Final class time to finish up interview and export and upload onto Podbean (20 min) Listening of Podcasts (45-50 min) Students fill out Checklist for Self-Assessment (10 min) Conclusion/Final Thoughts on what was learned in the lesson (Possible 5 min)

Students will understand that characters have external and internal conflicts. I will explain to students that every person in real life deals with his or her own external and internal conflicts, and they can learn about it through becoming aware of a character's conflicts in a piece of literature. //Students read text with a grade appropriate span of text complexity and present analyzes of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry using excerpts from the text to defend their assertions//**.** I will start off the lesson by having the students watch //short films-Internal Conflict// ([]), a funny and creative short clip that demonstrates internal conflict, and //Character Conflict// ([]), another short, funny clip that demonstrates external conflict. These clips will be used to engage students into the lesson, transition me into explain the objectives of the lesson, and begin a class discussion about what internal and external conflicts are. Students will know character, conflict, and important events and people such as: Rape and Murder of Susie, Abigail's infidelity, Life of Susie's love interest after her death, Jack's pursuit of murderer, Ruth's obsession with the dead, Ruth's relationship with Susie, Susie Salmon, Jack Salmon, Abigail Salmon, George Harvey, Lindsey Salmon, Buckley Salmon, Len Fenerman, Ray Singh, Ruth Connors, Ruana Singh, and Samuel Heckler**.** Students will need to work together as a class to line up by height and then pair up with the person next to them. In pairs, students will pick a character from the novel for their Garageband interview and will each fill out a Cluster/Word Web (3) to organize their thoughts on the chosen character's external and internal conflicts. Student will be able to analyze the characters' external and internal conflicts. Students will be participating in a Think-Pair-Share to help them begin generating questions that they will ask their chosen character in their Garageband interview. First, students will think individually what types of questions they would want to ask their character in the interview. They will base these questions from the information they wrote on their Cluster/Word Web (3). After students think about questions themselves, they will pair up with their Garageband partners and will share their ideas for questions. Pairs will discuss which questions will work best for their interviews and may even develop new questions together. Pairs will need to write the questions on their Cluster/ Word Web (3) graphic organizers. Pairs will then share some of their questions with the class, allowing other pairs to get ideas from other pairs. This will get students thinking and planning the questions for the Garageband interview. The questions will be written on the graphic organizer**.** During the Think-Pair-Share, students will be discussing how characters have external and internal conflicts, allowing me to recognize whether the students understand the concepts**.** I will give feedback on the students' Cluster/Word Webs before they begin making their Garageband interviews**.** Students will have time to record and construct their Garageband interviews during class time, as well as export and upload the interview to the Podbean website as a podcast **.** Pairs will fill out a Status Check Form to think about where they need to focus to complete and finalize their Garageband interview as well as reflect on how well the partnership is working. Each member of the pair must fill out a Status Check Form and sign one another's to give proof that they both agree on what needs to be done and how the partnership has been going. After listening to other students' podcasts, students will fill out a checklist to make sure they included certain components into their Garageband interview (character from novel, character's external conflicts explained, character's internal conflicts explained, five or more questions are asked in the interview, music/sound effects). This checklist will be handed out to students at the beginning of the lesson to allow them to know what is expected of them and use it as a reference while creating their Garageband interview. I will grade the Garageband interviews with the same checklist that the students fill out for their self-assessments. [|Character:] a person or character in a story, play or literary work. Every character has his or her own personality, and his or her mannerisms, attitudes, and appearances effect other literary devices such as theme, and setting. (Example: Susie Salmon, in //The Lovely Bones,// is a character who is murdered in the beginning of the novel and the rest of the novel focuses on how her friends and family cope and try to find her missing body and killer). There are two types of characters:[| static and dynamic]. Static characters change very little or not at all in a piece of literature (Example: George Harvey does not really change throughout the novel. He continues the same manners of pursuing young girls or building doll houses). Dynamic characters change a lot due to the events that occur in the piece of literature (Examples: Abigail Salmon is a dynamic character in //The Lovely Bones,// whose mannerisms and life-style change after Susie's death. She begins to distance herself from her husband and later leaves her family and moves out to California. George Harvey is a static character who continues his pattern of murdering young women after he kills Susie). (For this lesson, pairs of students will need to pick a character, dynamic or static, and focus on learning about his or her external and internal conflicts and interview the character about them.)
 * Where, Why, What, Hook, Tailors: ** Visual, Logical
 * Equip, Explore, Tailors: ** Visual, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Logical, Interpersonal, Linguistic/Verbal
 * Experience, Rethink, Revise, Rehearse, Refine, Tailors: ** Intrapersonal, Linguistic/Verbal, Interpersonal, Logical, Musical
 * Evaluate, Tailors: ** Intrapersonal, Musical, Logical, Visual
 * __ Content Notes __**

[|Conflict:] conflict is a struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces in a piece of literature. Conflict helps create the plot of the story. There are four types of conflict in literature: man versus man (external conflict), man versus nature, man versus society, and man versus self (internal conflict). Man versus man is a conflict between one person and another (Example: Susie has a conflict with George Harvey when he kills her). Man versus nature is a conflict that a person faces when he or she encounters with the forces of nature (Example: In Lesson 1, students listened to and analyzed the song, [|Fireflies] by Owl City. Some of the lyrics deal with a man versus nature conflict. The Owl City singer is singing about how he wishes he could fight the forces of growing older in the lines "I'd like to make myself believe / That planet earth moves slowly/ It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake while I'm asleep / Cause everything is never as it seems / When I fall asleep "). Man versus society is a conflict between a person/people and the views of society (Example: Racism/Predjudice). Man versus self is a conflict that an individual has with his or her consciousness (Example: In //The Lovely Bones,// Abigail has a hard time dealing with her feelings of grief with feelings of passion as she pursues an affair with Len Fenerman as a mechanism to deal with Susie's death). (For this lesson, students will be focusing more on man versus man (external conflict) and man versus self (internal conflict).)

[|External Conflict:] A struggle between a character and an outside force is an external conflict. Characters may face several types of outside forces. The outside force may be another character. It may be the character and the community. The outside force may also be forces of nature. For example, a story might be the main character struggling against the arctic cold. [|Internal Conflict:] A struggle that takes place in a character's mind is called internal conflict. For example, a character may have to decide between right and wrong or between two solutions to a problem. Sometimes, a character must deal with his or her own mixed feelings or emotions. [|Importance of Conflict in a Story:] Conflict is necessary to every story. In short stories, there is usually one major conflict. In longer stories, there could be several conflicts. Conflict adds excitement and suspense to a story. The conflict usually becomes clear to the beginning of a story. As the plot unfolds, the reader starts to wonder what will happen next and how the characters will handle the situation. Many readers enjoy trying to predict the final outcome. The excitement usually builds to a high point, or climax. The climax is the turning point of the story. Something has happened to resolve the conflict. (For this lesson, this information will be helpful to allow students to understand why they are learning about external and internal conflicts.)
 * Man against man.
 * Man against nature.
 * Man against himself.

[|How to look for Conflicts:] As you read a story: (This will be helpful for students to know as they are looking for their chosen character's conflicts that they need to discuss in their interviews)
 * 1) identify the main characters
 * 2) decide what conflict they face
 * 3) look for steps they take to settle that conflict
 * 4) see if the steps cause other conflict
 * 5) watch for clues and try to predict what the characters will do
 * 6) enjoy the buildup of suspense
 * 7) put yourself in the story
 * 8) decide if you would have solved the conflict in the same way

[|The Lovely Bones Important People/Events:] (Pairs are allowed to pick from any of these characters to interview and learn about his or her external and internal conflicts. Pairs may pick a character that is not on the list, but this is a good list for myself or the substitute to use to help pairs who may be unsure of what to decide on. There is also a list of events that occurred in the novel that pairs may discuss in their interviews depending on the character that they choose. These events can be discussed by myself or the substitute to those pairs who may be struggling with finding their character's external and internal conflicts.)

__Susie Salmon:__ Susie is the narrator of the story. She has been raped and murdered and feels enormous pain, even in heaven, for what has happened to her. However, she also presents careful analyses herself about her family and friends. In these, we see her great love and compassion for those she misses dreadfully. We must not forget that she is also a character who must be examined for her own grief: Susie doesn’t want to be dead and she can’t break the chains that bind her to Earth. So we follow her agony as she slowly grieves her own death and says goodbye to the people she loves.

__Jack Salmon:__ As Susie’s father, he feel enormous guilt for having failed to protect his little girl, but he also remains devoted to her memory and actively seeks her appearance in some manner in his life. He is a man who is faced as well with the loss of his wife who leaves the family to resolve her own grief. He then takes over as father and mother to his two remaining children, bearing the burden of their pain as well as his own.

__Abigail Salmon:__ Abigail grieves several things: the loss of her daughter, the collapse of her family, and the loss of the life she never had the opportunity to live. She is profoundly unhappy even before Susie’s death and so she has tremendous hurdles to overcome. She is selfish and unfeeling as well when she has an affair with the detective who is investigating Susie’s death and when she decides to leave her family for seven years to take care of herself. In the end, she recognizes her faults and her mistakes and moves to rectify them for her family. She is able to let go of Susie and let go of the childish desires that caused her to walk away.

__George Harvey:__ He is the monster who rapes and kills Susie. He has been killing girls and women for a long time and has never been caught for his deeds. The author presents him in a somewhat sympathetic light, however, by showing the horrible childhood he experienced and how he draws buildings and builds dollhouses to keep himself from killing. Even though it doesn’t work, the fact that he makes the attempt gives him some sympathy. In the end, though, he is a pathetic horror of a human being, who seeks out the grave of one of his victims and when he discovers it’s empty, he sleeps in it. He dies through the will of Susie who needs him to be dead so she protect any other girls or women he might kill and so she can break the bonds of Earth. __Lindsey Salmon:__ Lindsey is the one of the family who suffers in silence and wills herself to be strong for everyone else. Yet, her pain is deep and she bears many burdens: because she looks like Lindsey, people see only a bloody body when they look at her; her mother has shut her out, lies to her and then leaves; the world moves on and soon comes to forget what happened to their family; she has a six year old brother who must lean on her when their mother leaves; and her father has lost much of his will to live. Because she is the strong one and is living the life Susie never had, Susie follows her and this is a burden that Lindsey feels only subconsciously. Nonetheless, it is a chain that binds her to her dead sister.

__Buckley Salmon:__ As the little four year old brother of a murdered sister, he might have been depicted as just a kid who doesn’t understand what has happened. However, the author shows him as being a very wise child who not only depends on his father and Lindsey, but watches over them as well. He sees and talks to Susie and he holds her in his heart just like everyone else. He builds a fort for her; he saves the little, old shoe from the Monopoly game, because it was her favorite; and he plants a garden just for her. He hates his mother for a long time, because she leaves him. But in the end, he too is ready to accept what has happened in the past and let it go.

__Len Fenerman:__ He is the detective who investigates Susie’s case. He has been doing this work for a long time and it’s obvious he is on the verge of burn-out. He lives in a lonely apartment above a barber shop and spends his time trying to solve cases of girls and women who have been murdered. He carries their pictures in his wallet and writes the date the case is solved on the back. Many of them remain blank. He is over-whelmed by his inability to solve all these cases as well as Susie’s, and turns to Susie’s mother for escape. We realize that what he’s done - the affair with Abigail - is reprehensible, but the loneliness he endures both before and after is heart-wrenching. In the end, he is left with nothing: George Harvey has not been caught; Abigail has returned to her husband; he has not found Susie’s body; he has many cases unsolved; and what’s even more devastating, his wife committed suicide and he has no idea why. He’s a lost soul, too, in some ways just like George Harvey.

__Ray Singh:__ Ray is the man who should have been Susie’s soul-mate. He too is tied to her memory and can never completely put her out of his mind. He is not very popular at school, like Susie, and he feels shy about making his feelings known. As a result, one kiss holds him to her for a very long time. In the end, the miracle that allows Susie to inhabit Ruth’s body creates closure for both of them. They are able to fulfill what death had denied them: the expression of their love. From that point on, Ray, now a doctor, is able to let Susie go and live his life knowing the possibilities of Heaven.

__Ruth Connors:__ She is depicted as a young girl whose status as a kind of outcast among her classmates makes her obsessive about Susie. Susie had touched her as she died in the cornfield and began to rise to heaven. This has a profound impact on Ruth who spends the rest of her life believing she has the second sight and can see girls and women who have been raped and murdered. She wanders New York City, looking to protect any living girls and women from becoming victims and she prays for the ones who do. In the end, because she wants it so much for Susie and because Susie wants it so much as well, she allows her body to be used by Susie to make love to Ray. However, she never lives a normal life again.

__Ruana Singh:__ She is like an alter-ego for Abigail Salmon. They both feel trapped in a situation they never wanted and look to escape somehow. However, Ruana ultimately doesn’t have the courage to leave, because of the bond she has with her son, Ray. She stays and tries to forget that soon her son will grow up and move away while her husband never comes home, because he is married to his ambition. Eventually, however, the word //divorce// will begin to ring in her mind and like Abigail, she will find her way.

__Samuel Heckler:__This character is a life-saver, particularly Lindsey’s life. He is a heroic figure who stands ever supportive and ever loving to help Lindsey, and even the rest of her family, deal with the tragedy of Susie’s death and the temporary collapse of the family. He first talks to Lindsey at school after Susie is murdered and then he brings her a Christmas gift that first holiday, just three weeks after Susie died. The gift is a pendant with a heart broken in two, as is Lindsey’s, but he wears the other half to show her he “has her back.” He stays beside her for the next seven years and finally proposes to her. He has been committed to Lindsey for all that time and he will stay with her forever.

__Rape and Murder of Susie :__ (Chapter 1) Susie Salmon (like the fish) introduces herself and gives the reader all the details of her murder. She was 14 years old and she took a shortcut home from school through the cornfield behind the junior high. It was already dark, because it was December 6, 1973. She wasn’t paying much attention and so was startled when Mr. Harvey, her neighbor just two doors away, spoke to her. Because she had been taught to respect authority and he was an adult, Susie spoke to him. She is surprised he knows her name, because no one in the neighborhood ever really knew him. Her __ father __ had spoken to him once, but they had never socialized. Mr. Harvey lures her into a hiding place he’s made in the ground, and Susie naively goes inside with him. In fact, she even tells him it’s “neato!” He offers her a Coke and convinces her to take off her parka. When she becomes nervous and tries to leave, he blocks the entrance with his body. She tells us that she fought as hard as she could, but it just wasn’t enough. At the time, she says this must be the worst thing in the world to have a sweating man on top of you and be trapped inside the earth with no one knowing where you are. She pleads with him over and over, but he finally shuts her up by stuffing the hat with bells her mother had made her into her mouth. The only sound she made after that was the “weak tinkling of bells.” She knows he is going to kill her, especially when he reaches for the knife on the ledge with his razor and shaving cream. He makes her say she loves him, and she does, hoping he might let her go. But “the end comes anyway.” After Mr. Harvey rapes Susie, he stabs her to death and then cuts her body into pieces, inadvertently leaving behind her elbow, which is later brought home by the Gilberts’ dog.

__Abigail's infidelity:__ (Chapter 12) When Jack is in the hospital for surgery on his kneecap, Abigail is not in Jack’s room, because she has put in a call requesting Len Fenerman meet her at the hospital. The nurses can tell by the way she takes his hand and whispers his name that he means something to her. They walk to a door which leads onto a balcony near Jack’s room and there, they smoke cigarettes and look at each other with a growing intensity. He tells her, when she asks, that his wife had committed suicide. Her mother’s reaction at this news reminds Susie of the mother she had only seen once before - in the photograph. He says her death occupies his thoughts during those times that he isn’t think about Susie’s murder. Abigail is grateful that he says the word murder, because she’s ready to have it said aloud. They begin to kiss and caress each other. (Chapter 15) Abigail calls Len Fenerman to meet her at the mall. He goes immediately, because try as he might, he just can’t say no to her. They meet at the mall where she leaves Buckley in the children’s play area. Len sees her in a trashy store called Spencer’s where he gently touches her back and then turns and begins to walk away. She follows him into the inner workings of the mall. The sounds in there are reminiscent of a large heart and Abigail imagines herself inside her own. That reminds her of a doctor’s visit where Jack had been sitting on the examination table and the doctor had been warning them of congestive heart failure. The memory very nearly causes her to let go in grief when suddenly the hallway through which she is walking dead-ends in a huge room where Len is waiting for her. He looks for the need in her “ocean eyes,” the same eyes that attracted Jack and in which he “could now drown.” If he had not reached out and touched her hand again, Susie thinks, “I might have kept her to myself. Susie is dazed as she watches them embrace, because at the exact moment her mother is cheating on her father, Mr. Harvey, her murderer, is easily escorting the police from his home. However, she also knows that the kisses and the caresses she watches ‘call her mother away from her and from her family and from her grief.’” They were ruinous and marvelous at the same time.

__Life of Susie's love interest after her death:__ (Chapter 9) Ray Singh stays away from the memorial, saying goodbye to Susie in his own way by looking at the picture she had given him that fall. He comes to the conclusion that the picture is not Susie. Instead, she is in the air around him, in the mornings he spends with Ruth or in the quiet times he spends alone between studying. He doesn’t want to throw away her picture, but he doesn’t want to look at it again either. He wants to set her free. He puts the picture in a book of Indian poetry which he and his mother used to press flowers. (Chapter 13) He wishes he could have that moment on the scaffold to do over again. He thinks if he had only kissed Susie, things might have turned out differently.

__Jack's pursuit of murderer:__ (Chapter 4)Two days before Christmas, Susie sees Mr. Harvey reading a book about tribes who used cloth and ropes to build shelters called bridal shelters. He wants to experiment again like he did with the hiding place where he killed Susie. He decides to gather the simple materials and raise it in his backyard. Susie’s father finds him there just after he sees Susie in the shards of glass. He asks Mr. Harvey what he’s building and even helps him erect it. Mr. Harvey leaves for a few moments, going upstairs to check on the knife he had used to kill Susie. He looks it over and then comes back downstairs to talk to Mr. Salmon. Susie’s father says to her just before Mr. Harvey returns, “I can hear you, honey. What is it?” When Mr. Harvey hands her father some of the tarps he is using for his new shelter, his hand sends an electric shock through her father and he says, “You know something.” Mr. Harvey just replies, “Go home. I can’t help you.” (Chapter 5)Susie’s father then turns to Detective Fenerman to tell him about his suspicions that Mr. Harvey is the murderer. Detective Fenerman has already accepted that Susie is dead and her father has little or no acceptable evidence that Mr. Harvey is their man. He tells him that he will take the time to check it out. Detective Len Fenerman’s trips door-to-door in Susie’s neighborhood prompt nothing unusual about Mr. Harvey: his wife had died before they could move in together and he built dollhouses for specialty stores. He talks to Mr. Harvey himself who readily admits he spoke to Mr. Salmon and that they had built the “bridal tent” together, a task he claims to do every year in memory of his wife, Leah. When Mr. Harvey asks how the investigation is coming, all the detective can say is that clues find their way in good time, if they want to be found. Mr. Harvey mentions that the Ellis boy had hurt some animals in the neighborhood and maybe he should be checked out. However, the boy has an alibi with witnesses. When Detective Fenerman reports all this to Susie’s father, Mr. Salmon remembers that Mr. Harvey told Susie’s mother that his wife’s name was Sophie. Detective Fenerman doesn’t find that convincing, so Susie’s father writes the names in the notebook he’s keeping. (Chapter 11)Everything is falling apart for Jack Salmon. The police won’t take his calls, they don’t believe Harvey is the murderer, and his wife agrees with them, not him. He is also having trouble doing his job and fears he’ll soon be unable to support his two remaining children. His only comfort is in his low green easy chair. “The room is like a vault,” says Susie, “the chair like a womb, and me standing guard over him.” He decides to take a late night walk when he sees what looks like a penlight in the cornfield. He first turns out the porch light which the family could not bring themselves to turn off even though they knew Susie was dead; then, he grabs a baseball bat with the words //find a quiet way// in his head. He heads for the cornfield where he last sees the light and finds Clarissa, Susie’s best friend. She has been waiting for Brian Nelson. He doesn’t recognize her, thinks she’s Harvey, knocks her over, and calls out Susie’s name. This attracts Brian, who has been planning to meet Clarissa there, and he begins to attack Jack with a survival kit flashlight.

__Ruth's obsession with the dead/Ruth's relationship with Susie:__ (Chapter 3) When Susie dies, she touches a girl named Ruth Connors, who went to her school, but whom she didn’t know very well. She says she couldn’t help herself touch the girl, because she died so violently and wasn’t able to calculate her steps. The next day, Ruth tells her mother that she had a dream that she saw a pale running ghost coming toward when she was crossing through the faculty parking lot. Her mother’s rejection of such an experience being real makes Ruth keep it to herself and begin writing dark poetry and looking up everything she can find out about Susie. (Chapter 18) She is also somewhat of a celebrity in heaven, because Susie tells all the dead around her how Ruth observes moments of silence and writes prayers in her journal for the women and girls who had died violently. Ruth even has visions of the moments of these deaths and she gives her prayers to them. When she sees a little girl in the park crawling away from her nanny, the nanny awakens when the cord attached to the little girl pulls on her arm. In this way, she calls her back from danger. It occurs to Ruth that all the women and girls who live to old age are now the cords that were never there for the ones who died. And, at that moment, she sees the ghost of a little girl who had wandered away many years before and had not had a cord to pull her back. She became “a little girl gone.” (Chapter 22) Susie sees Ruth collapsing on the road, but she misses Mr. Harvey driving away, “unwatched, unloved, unbidden.” She feels herself falling out of the gazeboand out past the farthest boundary of heaven. She hears Ray screaming Ruth’s name and in the next instance, she is in Ruth’s eyes looking up. She feels every sensation, but she cannot see Ruth. Susie feels herself fighting with Ruth who wants out of her body and at the last minute, Susie give in and Ruth, breaks all the rules, not dying, but going to heaven anyway. She also sees Franny calling for Susie and Holiday barking and then they are gone and something is holding her hand. She knows that she will not be granted this grace on Earth forever. Ruth’s wish will only last for a short time. (Ruth wishes for Susie to inhabit her body for a short time. Ruth wants that connection with Susie). Checklist Status Check Form Cluster/Word Web 3 Graphic Organizer Character, External Conflict, Internal Conflict (For Teacher, Substitute, and Student Reference) Important People/Events in //The Lovely Bones// (For Teacher and Substitute Reference) Think-Pair-Share Explanation (For Teacher and Substitute Reference)
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