L4+Martemucci,+Amanda

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


 * __Teacher’s Name__****:** Ms. Martemucci **__Date of Lesson__:** Lesson 4 (Empathy)
 * __Grade Level__****:** 11 **__Topic__:** Narration, Point of View, //The Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold


 * __Objectives__**
 * Student will understand that** type of narration can lead to a certain point of view.
 * Student will know** narrator, point of view, character, 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** consider how the point of view is affected by narration.

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.//
 * __Maine Learning Results Alignment__**


 * Rationale:** Through this lesson, students will be exploring the point of view of a character other than the main character in //The Lovely Bones// through narration. Students will begin to understand how narration can lead to a certain point of view, and how that narrator can alter a reader's point of view on an event, character, idea, etc. in a novel.

During the Fishbowl activity, students will discuss how type of narration leads to a certain point of view. Students will be expected to give input in the conversation during the activity to allow me to see how well students are understanding that narration leads to a certain point of view. I will give feedback on each pairs' Sequence Chart before they begin making their Comic Life. Pairs will fill out a Status Check Form to think about where they need to focus to complete and finalize their Comic Life as well as how their partnership has been working out. 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.
 * __Assessment__**
 * Formative (Assessment for Learning)**

The formative/self-assessment will be for students to fill out the rubric that I will be grading their Comic Life on to reflect on how they think they did in creating their final product.

Students will be put in pairs and asked to explore the point of view of another character in //The Lovely Bones// other than the narrator, Susie Salmon, in first-person narration. The pairs will get to pick their character/narrator and scene from the novel that they wish to rewrite. Students will show their rewritten scene/narration by creating a visually stimulating comic using Comic Life. I will grade the Comic Lifes with the same rubric that the students fill out after completing their Comic Lifes. The rubric will be reviewed at the beginning of the lesson and given to the students to allow them to refer back to it as they are making their Comic Lifes. Product: Comic Life. This will be assessed by a rubric.
 * Summative (Assessment of Learning)**


 * __Integration__**
 * Technology:** Students will be using Comic Life, a technology based program that is used to create comic strips.


 * Other Content Areas:**
 * Art:** Students need to incorporate an artistic and creative style to make their comics visually stimulating with graphics, color, form, etc.

Students will be put in pairs to create a Comic Life. To form the pairs, I will write quotes from //The Lovely Bones// on cards. There will be two of each, and students must move around the room reciting the quote and trying to find another student in the classroom reciting the same quote. Before the students can begin their work, they must tell me who said the quote in the novel. This will get pairs thinking about characters so they can choose one as their point of view/narrator for their Comic Life.
 * __Groupings__**


 * __Differentiated Instruction__**
 * Strategies:**
 * Logical:** Working to think in the point of view of another character other than the narrator of the novel.
 * Verbal:** Writing a story/dialogue for the Comic Life.
 * Visual:** Creating the Comic Life with images.
 * Interpersonal:** Students will work in pairs to create the Comic Life.
 * Kinesthetic:** Students will be moving around the room during a portion of the "Point of View" game.
 * Naturatlist:** Students can depict a scene from the novel that involves the environment/outdoors.

//I will review student's IEP, 504, or ELLIDEP and make appropriate modifications and accommodations.//
 * 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 creating a comic using the technology program, Comic Life, to creatively depict a scene in //The Lovely Bones,// narrated in first-person and seen in the point of view of a character other than the narrator. Students who wish to go beyond the original objective can write their comic in both first and third-person narration to consider how a change in the type of narration and the change in the narrator affect their perspective of the story.
 * Extensions**

For Students: Laptop Comic Life Copy of //The Lovely Bones// Pen/Pencil
 * __Materials, Resources and Technology__**

For Teacher: Laptop Comic Life (in case a student’s program does not work) Quote Cards Materials for "Point of View Game" (masking tape, boxes, handouts, Answer Keys) Directions on "Point of View" Game [|Sequence Chart] Graphic Organizer Handout on Fishbowl Activity Explanation Handout on Point of View, Character, Narration Summaries of Important Events in The Lovely Bones Rubric Status Check Form

This lesson is similar to my lesson, as it requires students to rewrite the scene in the point of view of a character other than the original narrator. The lesson uses //The Giver//, rather than //The Lovely Bones//. In the lesson, students also learn about first and third-person narrative. [] This lesson is similar to mine in that it had students read a story (//Little Red Riding Hood//) and then write it in a new point of view. This lesson also has students think about third and first person narration. [] This is a powerpoint presentation on literary devices, which includes character, narration and point of view. 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, narration, and point of view. Students should be aware of these literary terms from both the first and third lessons. [] This is a site that focuses more on narration. Students should be aware of what narration is through the third lesson. [] This site gives a detailed explanation on the Fishbowl activity that I will be doing with the students to get them talking about narration and point of view. [] This is the Comic Life site where students and myself can upload a demo version of the program for the period of time needed for the lesson. [] This is a great site that explains the features of Comic Life and how to use them. This can be used by both my students and myself to begin making and knowing how to use Comic Life. [] This is the site of the online game of "Point of View" by //Cyberchase// that my game with the students is inspired by. I can use this site to understand the game and write directions to describe to the students. [] 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 is a great site to use when starting to make rubrics. The site gives you a template of a rubric, in which you can keep given the information or add your own to make the rubrics personal to your product. I will be using this to start planning the rubrics that both the students and myself will use to assess their Comic Lifes on. []
 * __Source for Lesson Plan and Research__**


 * __Maine Standards for Initial Teacher Certification and Rationale__**

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.
 * //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 work best when organized, I have incorporated a graphic organizer (Sequence Chart Graphic Organizer), for students to organize and plan their rewritten scene from //The Lovely Bones// with a new character as the narrator for their Comic Life. This will give students an organized visual to refer to as they make their Comic Life. __Beach Ball:__ For those students who learn best while they are active, I have three opportunities for them to get up and moving about the room. The "Point of View" game involves the students moving about the grid to look at different perspectives of the formation of the boxes I place. Students will need to move around the room reciting the quote on their given card in order to find their partner for the Comic Life. Students will also be active during the Fishbowl activity as they all stand in a circle and move in and out of the middle to speak their thoughts and ideas about a given question. These three events within the lesson all get the students learning some topic for the lesson as they are active. __Microscope:__ Students who like to think logically and make connections will be able to during the Fishbowl activity. Students will need to answer open-ended questions about narration and point of view and will need to make connections between the two. __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 Fishbowl activity in which students will get to work as a class to build upon and add questions to a conversation that gets them all learning). 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.

Students will know narrator, point of view, character, 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 are reading //The Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold, an age appropriate text and will be depicting and narrating a scene in the novel by a character other than the main character/narrator using Comic Life. Through this lesson, students will be able to consider how the point of view is affected by narration (Empathy). I am working to teach students that narration can lead to a certain point of view, and ultimately change their view as the reader on a piece of text if the point of view of the novel is changed.
 * //Standard 4 - Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, curriculum goals, and learning and development theory.//**
 * //Rationale://**

__Visual:__ Creating the Comic Life with images. __Linguistic:__ Writing a story/dialogue for the Comic Life. __Logical:__ Working to think in the point of view of another character other than the narrator of the novel. __Interpersonal:__ Students will work in pairs to create the Comic Life. __Naturalist:__ Students can depict a scene from the novel that involves the environment/outdoors. __Bodily/Kinesthetic:__ Students will be moving around the room during a portion of the "Point of View" game.
 * //Standard 5 - Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technology to meet students’ needs.//**
 * //Rationale://**

Students will be creating a comic using the technology program, Comic Life, to creatively depict a scene in //The Lovely Bones,// narrated and seen in the point of view of a character other than the narrator. Students who wish to go beyond the original objective can write their comic in both first and third person narration to consider how a change in the type of narration and the change in the narrator affect their perspective of the story.

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 games, 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 with the status check form and rubric, which are focused on the actual Comic Life project.
 * //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 Fishbowl activity, students will discuss how type of narration leads to a certain point of view. Students will be expected to give input in the conversation during the activity to allow me to see how well students are understanding that narration leads to a certain point of view. I will give feedback on each pairs' Sequence Chart before they begin making their Comic Life. Pairs will fill out a Status Check Form to think about where they need to focus to complete and finalize their Comic Life as well as how their partnership has been working out. 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 students to fill out the rubric that I will be grading their Comic Life on to reflect on how they think they did in creating their final product. Students will be put in pairs and asked to explore the point of view of another character in //The Lovely Bones// other than the narrator, Susie Salmon, in first-person narration. The pairs will get to pick their character/narrator and scene from the novel that they wish to rewrite. Students will show their rewritten scene/narration by creating a visually stimulating comic using Comic Life. I will grade the Comic Lifes with the same rubric that the students fill out after completing their Comic Lifes. The rubric will be reviewed at the beginning of the lesson and given to the students to allow them to refer back to it as they are making their Comic Lifes. Product: Comic Life. This will be assessed by a rubric. The class room will be arranged in two's in a u-shaped form. This will allow for pairs to be able to sit next to one another during work on their Comic Lifes. The u-shape form by the desks will allow room for the "Point of View" game in the center of the classroom as well as the Fishbowl activity where only three or four desks will need to be moved to the center of the room for students to either sit or stand around during the activity.
 * __Teaching and Learning Sequence__****:**

Agenda Day 1 (Hand-out Quote cards when students enter the room) "Point of View" Game (both online and in the classroom)/Discussion about the purpose of the game (5 min to play online and practice how the game works, 10 min to play in the classroom and have brief discussion) Discuss Objective (Hand out Rubrics) (5 min) Pairing of Students/Pairs working on Sequence Chart graphic organizer (45 min) Pass in graphic organizer for feedback (2 min) Downloading of Comic Life Demo (5 min) Conclusion- Homework is to play around and explore Comic Life and check out tutorial website (5 min)

Agenda Day 2 Pass back Sequence Graphic Organizers with Feedback (5 min) Fishbowl Activity (35 min) In-Class work time on Comic Life. Chance to ask questions about feedback/Comic Life program (35 min) Final Questions/Conclusion. Homework is to do anything needed for Comic Life (photos, editing story, etc) (5 min)

Agenda Day 3 In-Class work time on Comic Life (65 min) Filling out of Status Check Forms by each member of pair (Pairs must sign one another's forms) (10 min-can be done while working on Comic Life) Final Questions/Conclusion (5 min)

Agenda Day 4 Sharing of Comic Lifes (65-70 min) Filling out of Rubrics by each member of pair (5-10 min) Final Questions/Thoughts (5 min)

Students will understand that type of narration can lead to a certain point of view**.** I will explain to students that person's vision/point of view on a subject, event, idea, etc. may change depending on the narrator/point of view they are focusing on**.** //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 be having students students participate in a short game inspired by //Cyberchase//'s online "Point of View" game ([]) (**Please see instructional handout on the "Point of View" game)**. Students will play the first level of the game online to understand the rules and how to answer each “point of view” on the grid. Students can ask clarifying questions during this period before moving to playing in the classroom. For the in-class portion of the game, I will make a grid on the floor like in the game and set boxes in the grid in a design (boxes will be large in size so they match up with most students’ eye level to make each students “point of view” easier). Students will stand on one of four sides of the grid and explain what design they see. Every side will have a different perspective or point of view, allowing students to understand how people have a different point of view depending on where they are in a situation. I will conduct a conversation with the students about this as we play the game. This game will help lead my students into what they will be doing and learning through this lesson.
 * Where, Why, What, Hook, Tailors:** Visual, Bodily-kinesthetic. Logical

Students will know narrator, point of view, character, 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 Content Notes).** Students will form pairs by reciting a quote on a card from //The Lovely Bones//, and finding another student in the class reciting the same quote. Before I give students their graphic organizer, the pairs must tell me who said the quote in the novel. This will get students thinking about different character so they can begin choosing and character and scene to rewrite. In pairs, students will fill out a Sequence Chart to plan out their Comic Life and decipher what they need to reveal to their audience from the point of view of another character other than the narrator in a scene from the novel.
 * Equip, Explore, Tailors:** Linguistic/Verbal, Visual, Logical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal

Students will be able to consider how the point of view is affected by narration. Students will participate in a Fishbowl activity to get them thinking about how to think in the point of view of their chosen character and how narration leads to a certain point of view (**Please see handout on Fishbowl Activity)**. The Fishbowl activity requires at least four desks to be pushed together. Four students can volunteer to sit at these desks while the remaining students stand around the "fish" in the "fishbowl." I will give the students an open-ended question, such as //How might the point of view of your scene change if it is in third person rather than first person? (//**More questions provided in the Fishbowl Activity handout)**//.// Students in the "fishbowl" will need to discuss their ideas and start a conversation among one another. Whenever a student outside of the "fishbowl" wants to comment, they need to tap a "fish" and switch places with them. During the Fishbowl activity, students will discuss how type of narration leads to a certain point of view, allowing me to see whether or not they understand this concept**.** I will give feedback on each pairs' Sequence Chart before they begin making their Comic Life. I will give student class time to work on their Comic Life. Pairs will fill out a Status Check Form to think about where they need to focus to complete and finalize their Comic Life as well as how their partnership has been working out. 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.
 * Experience, Rethink, Revise, Rehearse, Refine, Tailors:** Logical, Verbal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal

After each pair shares their Comic Life, each student will fill out the rubric that I will be grading their Comic Life on to reflect on how they think they did in creating their final product. The rubric will be reviewed at the beginning of the lesson and given to the students to allow them to refer back to it as they are making their Comic Lifes. I will be assessing the Comic Lifes with the same rubric that the students fill out.
 * Evaluate, Tailors:** Intrapersonal

[|Narrator:] one who tells a story, the speaker or the “voice” of an oral or written work. Although it can be, the narrator is not usually the same person as the author. The narrator is the direct window into a piece of work. (In //The Lovely Bones,// Susie Salmon is the narrator. For this product of this lesson, pairs will need to choose a character other than Susie Salmon to be the narrator or a scene in the book).
 * __Content Notes__**

[|First-Person Narrative:] First person narrative means writing from the "I" point of view. As in**:** I walked down the alley, I picked up the phone, I told Tony that he was going down if he didn't cough up the money by Saturday. I thought about it, then shook my head. I told myself I didn't care, but I picked up the paper anyway and glanced over the business column. [|Third-Person Narrative:] Third person narrative form is writing from the omniscent point of view. Here, you use the he-she form. As in**:** he walked down the alley, she picked up the phone, and Jason told Tony that he was going down if he didn't cough up the money. Mort thought about it, then shook his head. And Cleary told himself that he didn't care, but picked up the paper anyway. Writing in the third person allows the writer to be omniscient, to see and understand all elements and characters in the story, to show the story from more than one set of eyes. This may be as simple as including a few lines about the people left in the room after the main character exits. It may be as in-depth as showing complete scenes and events for which the main character isn't present. However, being omiscient does not mean that you should scatter the focus of your story. It is a common misconception that writing in third person allows you to show the POV of all characters fairly equally. The reality is, you can show them fairly, but not usually equally--readers still need something specific with which to identify. The power of the omniscient view is not the ability to get into more than one mind, but the ability to point out elements to the reader that the main character might not have noticed or cannot (because of the circumstances) have noticed. This is the overview, the information, the 'big picture' that you can give the reader until the main character catches up with you at the end. For example, third person allows you to find out what else is going on even if the main character: a) had turned away. b) had just stepped out of the room. c) was on the phone with X and so couldn't see X's expression, etc. d) isn't in the scene at all, etc. When the main character is interacting with other characters, third person allows you to record the reactions of those other characters for the reader. You should never be "telling" what is going on in someone's head. In third person, you get the scene from both points of view. We also get some tension because both characters are blind to something the other party knows. Each little detail that isn't known by one or the other character can be built on to create or resolve more tension, can be used to forward the story. In third person, the reader can see all of these little tensions, not just the ones from Joe's point of view. [|Which Is Better? First of Third?:] Some people instinctively think of storytelling in the "I" form. They find it easier to unfold a story from the personal point of view. Others want to offer readers the additional insight they can achieve in the "he-she" form. For some writers, it's simply impossible to write in first person. Others find it mandatory for their craft. (In both school and at the university, I was always writing in the opposite point of view as everyone else. When everyone else wrote in first person, I wrote in third; when everyone else wrote in third person, I wrote in first or second. I could never figure out what I had missed in the assignments that made it so much easier for everyone else to write in the opposite voice.) For the most part, I recommend writing in third person when you're starting out. Why? Because I've noticed that the "I" form to a new writer is like the temptation of the suicide ending--it's not usually done well when you're first starting to write. In first person, it's easy to be stilted and boring in your delivery. It's easy to use too many "I did X" sentence structures. It's easy to forget how to include description and emotion; easy to spend far too much time thinking, and not enough time in the here-and-now of the story. First person can also force you to contrive trite or unbelievable situations so that the character overhears, sees, or somehow finds out about things which you (the author) want the reader to know. This is where the overused ploys come in. For example, picking up the phone when someone else is on the line, while that other person never notices the other open receiver. Or walking by the open office door during a sensitive conversation. Overhearing the murderer conveniently incriminate himself. Correctly guessing the bad guy's password in three tries, in order to access the encrypted data that was, of course, conveniently left in a directory titled something like "Villainy", etc, and which can be copied directly to disk without having to reset any permissions. You can see where this is going. First person stories can be executed very poorly when it comes to unfolding motivations and plots. You might ask why first person so pervasively requires such contrived settings and situations. Simple. Because the main character in the "I" form cannot be inside the heads of the other characters. It's obvious, but first person doesn't allow hero to see or hear anything the bad guy is doing if he's not right there to see and hear the bad guy himself. That limits the way the villain and other characters' motivations are unfolded. In contrast, in third person, the narrator is in the minds of all characters. This allows the narrator to use a simple description or hint of expression, or even a side scene to give the reader the information that the main character can't know, but which the reader must know in order to follow the story. Third person is often perceived as 'harder' by new writers, since they now have to deal with all characters, not just the main character. However, if that's your reason for wanting to stick with first person, that in itself indicates that you're not using the first-person form correctly. First person doesn't mean you can ignore the other characters. It means you somehow have to develop them all, with depth and realism, through the eyes of a single viewpoint. Yes, that's often harder. If you can't do realistic, believable character development in first person, then work with third person until you improve your skills. Experiment with the first and second person in short pieces, exercises, or in an experimental novella. Once your characterization skills improve, you should be able to tell a story from any narrative view (first, second, or third) and still have a solid tale. Is one narrative form actually better in general than the others? No. Third person is more popular, certainly. Second person is least popular. However, it's how well you tell the story, not which viewpoint you choose, which is most important. Is one narrative form better than others for a particular type of story? This depends again on your skill level as a writer, in the type of story you want to tell, and on the tone you want to set. Consider what you want the reader (and you) to get out of the story, where you want the depth of characterization to come from, then choose the appropriate narrative form. ( Students will be writing their scene for the Comic Life in first-person narration just like in //The Lovely Bones.// All of the above information can lead to questions for the Fishbowl Activity, such as //How might the point of view of your scene change if it is in third person rather than first person?)//
 * ||  || Do you want more intimacy with all characters? Do you have a more sweeping canvas than a single, narrow view? Then perhaps you should pick third person. ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  || Do you want the single-eye view of the world? Do you want the reader to 'wallow' or be immersed in a single man's fallacies, triumphs, and fears? Consider first person. ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

[|Point of View:] The vantage point from which a story is told. The way the events of a story are conveyed to the reader. Told through narrative from author to reader. Their are [|four types of point of view/narration]. First person narrative is a character (typically the main character) in the story. He or she can express his or her own feelings and thoughts as they tell the story but they cannot express those of other's unless told by another character. This narrator refers to him or herself as "I" (Example: Susie Salmon tells //The Lovely Bones// in first person narrative). Third person objective is a narrator who is an outsider and not a character. The narrator tells what is seen and heard but cannot express what characters are thinking. Third person limited is a narrator who is an outsider and not a character who can tell what is seen, heard, and what one specific character is thinking. Omniscient is an all-knowing narrator. The narrator sees everything and hears everything, and can see into the minds of several characters in the story. (Point of view is a big focus for this lesson. As explained here, different types of narration show different points of view. This will be a focus in the Fishbowl Activity as well.)

[|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. 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 depict a scene in with their character narrating this scene so that the character's point of view if revealed. Students will need to pick a character other than Susie Salmon)

[|The Lovely Bones Important People/Events:] (Pairs are allowed to pick from any of these characters and scenes for their Comic Life. Pairs may pick a character or scene that is not on the list, but this is a good list for a teacher to use to help pairs who may be unsure of what to decide on. Reminder: Students do not have the option of Susie Salmon for their character as she is the narrator of the novel. However, it is good for students to be aware of her character as she affects many of the other characters in the novel.)

__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 gazebo and 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).

__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.

Sequence Chart Graphic Organizer Literary Device (Narrator, Point of View, Character) Handout (For Teacher or Substitute Reference) Summary of //The Lovely Bones// Events/Character handout (For Teacher or Substitute Reference) Directions for "Point of View" game/Grid Handout/Answer Keys (For Teacher or Substitute Reference) Fishbowl Activity handout (For Teacher or Substitute Reference) Rubric Status Check Form
 * __Handouts__**