This unit will begin with the whole group read aloud of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo which is a required text as a part of our CORE curriculum in The Plugged into Reading Program. This short chapter book takes place in the 1930’s and chronicles the physical and emotional journey of Edward Tulane, a vain china rabbit as he learns to love and learns to be loved. During this period, America suffered economic downturns as a result of The Great Depression and drought of the Great Plains. In the storyline Edward becomes displaced from his beloved owner Abeline. Over the course of many years Edward experiences a variety of transformations as he meets and becomes owned by many people affected by the economic decline of the Great Depression. Throughout the reading students will follow Edward on his heart wrenching journey while learning and discovering about a time period very different from a period they now live. The discovery center in the classroom along with class discussions will help support students understanding of life in the 1930’s. For example, many students will not understand of the concept of a china doll and will need to be shown pictures or realia of china dolls.
Edward Tulane Lesson Sample
This lesson can take place anytime after chapter 12 after Edward becomes displaced and separated from his beloved owner Abilene. Up until after chapter 7 in the text there is no evidence of economic decline.
Objectives:
Students will apply knowledge learned about the Great Depression in order to write a descriptive narrative of a photograph of The Migrant Mother.
Students will develop a narrative using story elements descriptively in clear event sequences.
Students will compare and contrast their narrative to the real narrative after listening to an interview of The Migrant Mother.
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To begin the lesson group students in small groups of 4-5 students and engage them in a brainstorming session in order to describe life during the 1930’s. Model an example for the students to help them get started. Suggest and discuss possible categories such as toys, school, hobbies, families, etc. Provide students with large chart paper with a matrix as shown below so they can make comparisons throughout the reading of the book. The charts can be displayed in the classroom and be added to as we continue reading the book. The charts will also serve as a resource for future student discussions and writing experiences.
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Life in the 1930’s versus Now
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Categories
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1930’s
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Now
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Display Dorothea Lange’s photograph of the “Migrant Mother”. Define the term migrant as it pertains to people who are very poor and travel around the country to find work, especially as a farm laborer harvesting crops seasonally. As a way to build student connections discuss the term immigrant and how it is related to the term migrant. As a quick review we will discuss how many people during the 1930’s experienced economic downturns as a result of the stock market crash and the drought of the Great Plains region of the United States. As students take several minutes to look at the overhead displayed photo of “Migrant Mother” play the popular song, “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” by Rudy Valle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llhRGUYMcfU.
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Briefly share any personal stories you may have about the Great Depression. For example, I will share my own family history of this time period of my impoverished grandparents travels from Missouri to California in order to find work when my mother was just a baby. When they arrived to California the work promised to my grandfather was gone and they had to camp out and find their way back to the Midwest. If you do not have personal stories of your own you can find personal stories with a quick internet search or use the websites listed in the Teacher Resources section of this unit. Also, invite students in an open discussion to share their own family histories which involve moving from one place to another in order to find better opportunities.
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Assign students to work in pairs to write a brief narrative based on what they know about the period and the feeling they receive from the displayed photo of “Migrant Mother” to tell the story of the photo. Students will be provided a rubric to guide focus their writing.
Migrant Mother Narrative Writing Rubric
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Fluency and Mechanics
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Writing is unclear and contains many errors in spelling and grammar.
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Writing is partially unclear and contains several errors in spelling and grammar.
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Writing is mostly clear and contains only a few errors in spelling and grammar.
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Writing is clear and contains proper spelling and grammar
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Elaboration
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Writing demonstrates little use of descriptive details and minimal use of content vocabulary words.
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Writing demonstrates some use of descriptive details and adequate use of content vocabulary words.
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Writing mostly demonstrates use of descriptive details and moderate use of content vocabulary words.
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Writing clearly demonstrates use of descriptive details and high use of a variety of content vocabulary words.
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Organization
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Writing is sloppy and unorganized. Lacks use of story elements such as character(s), setting, problem, and solution to tell the story of the photo.
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Somewhat sloppy and unorganized. Includes some elements of a narrative text such as character(s), setting, problem, and solution to tell the story of the photo.
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Writing is somewhat neat and organized and includes most elements of a narrative text such as character(s), setting, problem, and solution to tell the story of the photo.
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Writing is very neat and organized includes all elements of a narrative text such as character(s), setting, problem, and solution to tell the story of the photo.
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For closure students will listen to a brief interview of the woman in the “Migrant Mother”, Florence Owens Thompson from NBC’s Today Show http://www.today.com/id/51067427/ns/today-books/#.VWERxk9Vikr.
Extensions
In a follow-up lesson allow students to work in small discussion groups in order to share their narratives and compare and contrast them to the events of Florence Owens Thompson’s that they learned about in the interview during the prior lesson.
Throughout the rest of the chapters give students a graphic organizer in order track events of Edward’s experiences as he takes on new names, genders, settings, and owners. The graphic organizer will help students organize thoughts and ideas for discussions and to compare and contrast the changes Edward makes from the beginning to the end of the book.
Create a writing center for students to respond to the book and what they learned about the Great Depression. A bulletin board could be used to display student responses. Prompts could include:
How are the struggles of the 1930’s alike and/or different from our lives today? Use details to explain your answer.
How are people alike and different in the 1930’s from today? Use details to explain your answer.
How do you think Edward’s journey was similar to the people’s journeys during the Great Depression? Use details to explain your answer.
Can you think of a motto to describe life during the 1930’s? Do you think this motto could be used today to inspire your own life? Explain why and or how.
