Mystery may be new for some students. But when students have the opportunity to interact with different kinds of literature good things happen. Most importantly they have a better chance of becoming life-long learners. They also develop an interest. Students need to be able to read books that capture their imaginations and that appeal to their affective and cognitive needs. By using mysteries students also learn to read more critically. Involvement in this kind of literature requires active reading and necessitates that students interact with the text.
Students' responses to any work of literature are likely to be richer if they can see it in relation to other works, similar or different, as well as to their own life experiences. For this reason, it is helpful from kindergarten on for children to have many experiences with different types of literature. By helping my students to become more familiar with different genres of literature, I will help to increase both their literary understanding and appreciation.
This curriculum unit will teach mystery fiction as a genre of literature to my sixth grade students. I want to instill in my students that they too are detectives of sorts. They have to use clues and problem-solving strategies to read thoroughly. Once students learn reading cues, signals and self- monitoring techniques developed through the unit on mystery, they can apply those same skills to reading for the Connecticut Mastery Test and to real life situations.
This unit on mystery will include: teaching mystery as a genre of literature; teaching reading strategies through mystery fiction; and independently reading mystery novels. Students will be quite immersed in mystery! We will look at how everything in the story revolves around a puzzle, or an unusual problem to solve. It could be a who done it? What is it? Or How did it happen? The characteristics of mysteries are very much the same. As a class we'll look at how characters are usually involved in the basic problem to solve or in the puzzle. The setting is realistic. The writer drops clues or hints that might help the reader solve the mystery. Some things in the story are meant to distract readers, that is, to lead them away from the solution. For the plot each major event is linked in steps that make sense. At the conclusion the story usually ends with a credible, rational solution to the mystery.
This unit will be separated into three parts. In one part literature circles will be used as students read mystery novels. This reading will mostly be done independently. The literature circle consists of a group of no more that five children who are reading the same novel. The group meets regularly to discuss the book and to respond to questions as a group. During this independent reading time students can read with a partner or read aloud. Students can readily put their reading strategies to use as they read with their peers. I have several mystery novels in mind from which children will be able to choose. For example, I would recommend The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Olive Eckerson. These are adapted versions that are appropriate for young readers. The House of Dies Drear or anything in the Great Brain series is also very good. Hopefully, students will experience the joy of reading and will come back for more. By reading with a group, students may be motivated to read and share.
In the primary part of my unit I will use short stories and reading passages, riddles and puzzles. I want to use short readings that can be easily done in class so there is time allotted for lessons and activities. The readings I will use are as follows: "The Chicken-Coop Monster" (Patricia McKissack), "The Case of the Stolen Ring" (Donald J. Sobol), "The Invisible Man" (H.G. Wells), and "Murders at the Rue Morgue" (Edgar Allan Poe). The unit will contain lessons and activities to improve reading strategies and critical thinking. I will focus on specific reading comprehension objectives that are particularly troublesome for my sixth grade students. They are:
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1. Identifying or inferring the central idea, purpose, or theme within a written work.
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2. Inferring important characters, settings, events, or relationships within written work.
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3. Using context clues to determine meaning of unknown or multiple meaning words, or figurative language.
My intent is to teach the necessary skills through a specific genre that students can relate to and enjoy. In the process, students should take an interest in reading for enjoyment and use their newly-acquired skills to become better readers.
I will need to align my unit with the objectives for the reading comprehension component of the test. Reading passages measure three areas of comprehension: constructing meaning; applying strategies; and analyzing, elaboration and responding critically.1 I intend to teach skills related to those areas that are measured. The lessons and activities in my unit will be directly related to these areas so students become familiar with these skills before the test.
In addition to receiving teacher-led lessons to develop their comprehension ability, students will also benefit from independent practice activities. In other words, I will first teach students about a particular area of comprehension, then I will give students seatwork assignments to be completed independently. This kind of assignment is designed to have students apply on their own the strategies, concepts, and other new information just gained from the lesson.
I look forward to sharing Wrapped in Mystery with my sixth graders. I sincerely feel that they would enjoy reading mysteries and become more skillful readers.
