![]() I break students into groups and give them a chunk of the text & either Nya’s or Salva’s point of view. After doing a simple Nya/Salva venn diagram with the first few chapters, I like to push my students’ thinking to the next level of analysis around chapters 8-9 (or whenever, really). ![]() POINT OF VIEW GROUP WORKĪ Long Walk to Water is the perfect book to explore the development of point of view. 1-6 activity pack HERE or in the unit bundle HERE. You can check out this photo gallery activity in the Ch. ![]() Then, we discuss what we think are the most important details to keep in mind as we read. After reading about the Dinka tribe, students “closely” read the photos and captions to learn as much as they can about Dinka culture. To answer students’ questions and strengthen their understanding of the cultural context, I created a lesson to accompany a photo gallery from The Guardian. PHOTO GALLERY ANALYSISĪfter reading the first few chapters, students will have natural questions about the Dinka and Nuer cultures. You can check out these print/digital pre-reading learning stations HERE or in the unit bundle HERE. These tasks prepare students for reading so that when we begin Chapter 1, everyone is engaged, confident, and curious to read more. During learning stations, students “get to know” Nya and Salva through key excerpts, learn about the setting and historical context, consider the impact of water on their lives, and more. Teaching A Long Walk to Water is no exception! Our pre-reading learning stations serve two purposes: to hook students before reading AND build essential background knowledge. If you know me, then you know it’s no secret that I begin almost every single novel/unit with learning stations. This book is powerful.īut that also means it’s intimidating! How do you do a book like this justice? How do you make sure students walk away with both engagement and empathy, comprehension and connections, proficiency and perspectives? It’s challenging, but doable! For my fellow ELA teachers who want it all – mastery AND meaning – here are 10 of my favorite activities for teaching A Long Walk to Water. It’s the fact that my students walk away from this book as better humans. It’s also the perfect novel to pair with powerful essential questions and practice important speaking and listening skills through a variety of discussions.īut the best part of our novel study? It’s the lessons Salva and Nya teach us along the way. This is one of the main reasons that it serves as our first whole-class novel unit in my 7th grade reading classroom.īecause the text itself is easier to read, I use the novel as an opportunity to dig into advanced literary analysis skills that we will practice the rest of the school year. I love teaching Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water because it’s such an accessible, engaging, and powerful text that provides the opportunity to practice so many essential ELA skills.
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