Teaching Idea

For our unit, we will be reading and studying from the book Whirligig by Paul Fleischman.  This is a postmodern novel, meaning it's layout is not at all linear.  The timing of everything is confusing - we never really know at what time certain things are happening.  This though, adds meaning to the overall message/theme of the book.  In the Core Standards, one of the goals is to "Analyze how an author's choice concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g. parallel plots), and maintain time (e.g. pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise" (RL 9-10.6).  As a class, we would get together and attempt to put the events of the story in order.  After discovering that it isn't possible, we would talk in groups and discuss how the format of the story helps to make the point that a person's influence is never ending - it can span time, regardless of whether or not they are alive.