Another idea would to be use the historical context of the book. Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding in 1954. He had personally participated in World War II and lived in the United Kingdom. It would be good to have an idea of what was going on in the world during this time that could have affected the mood of the book. Not only was World War II over, but the Cold War had just ended the year before the book was released. Students could research the different war tactics used in the 1940s and 50s and compare them to the tactics that are presented in the book by Golding.
Students could also look at the geography of a tropical island which deals with the setting of the book. Western fiction and nonfiction often romanticize the idea of a tropical island, but students could find out what it was really like and compare it to the descriptions in the book. Was Golding giving an accurate description of what life was like on a tropical island or was he romanticizing the novel to meet the entertainment needs of the readers? They could create a diorama or minecraft map of what an actual tropical island would look like based on their research.
Other ways to include differentiation in this unit would be through the use of point of view. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in third person omniscient. Students could have the opportunity to compare and contrast point of views and present their findings in some type of chart. There are also multiple themes in the book including: good and evil, appearances and reality, reason and emotion, morals and morality. Themes could be looked at and students could be given the chance to rewrite part of the story without a particular theme. How would that theme being taken out effect the story? There is also a lot of symbolism in the book. Each student could create a symbol that represented who they were with an explanation of why.
The Maze Runner is about a group of kids that are put into The Glade and have to figure their way out of an ever changing maze which turned out to be a big experiment. There are nine major themes that run throughout the book. A way to differentiate from the typical question and written answer format of homework would be to do debates relating to each topic. Examples are listed below:
- Manipulation- Debate; For/Against: The dire circumstances justify what the scientists are doing.
- Memory- Debate; For/Against: Their struggle to escape the Glade would have been as urgent if their memories would have been left intact.
- Rules and Order- Debate; For/Against: Hierarchy necessary for a society to function properly.
- Fear- Debate; Pick a character and defend your position: Who is the most fearful in the group?
- Identity- Debate; For/Against: Having a sense of identity is important.
- Sacrifice- Debate; For/Against: Chuck’s sacrifice was necessary to the story.
- Exploration- Debate; For/Against: It was necessary for the Runners to persist in exploring the Maze.
- Justice and Judgment- Debate; For/Against: Thomas’ treatment was just and the exceptions were fair.
- Freedom and Confinement- Debate; For/Against: When they finally achieve freedom at the end, they are really freer than they were in the Glade.
The whole story can be aligned with the metaphor of life. The box represents the womb. Birth into the Glade represents childhood. The Maze represents adolescence. Changing represents a particularly difficult adolescence. The “real” world represents adulthood. The Maze can also be a physical representation of what it is like to go through life. There are sections that are easy to follow, but then you hit a dead-end and have to retrace your footsteps. There are straight paths that make you feel like you are going in the right direction until you run right into an obstacle, and there are those times when you feel hopelessly lost and can’t figure out which direction to go. Students could make a physical representation of their life as a maze, the choices they have made, where they led them, when they had to backtrack or find another way. They can be as real as they want with their struggles or if they aren’t open about their lives, they can create a false life to create a physical representation of a maze.
The main symbol in the story is the Maze, but there is also the Sun which is the symbol for hope and normalcy throughout the book. Just as students could create symbols that showed who they are in Lord of the Flies, students could create symbols that represent their class, since the sun was a representation for the Glade instead of individualism.
As I was thinking about the different options that I wrote about I kept thinking these were just assignments that could go along with the book. As I thought about it though, I realized that if we were to put all of our ideas together, we would have a solid unit that we could teach in the classroom and there would be a variety of choices for students.
For this experience, I am going to be creating a diffitool for Lord of the Flies because I have a familiarity with the book and I think that will make this experience more beneficial for the students and myself. I have thought of two different diffitools, one for scenario two and one for scenario three. I am going to focus on those students who may not necessarily be as much of a “gamer” as other students because while no one did my last diffitool it doesn’t mean that it’s not a good option to give students. They may have not know it was an option last time.
I developed both diffitools after researching what other teachers do in their classrooms while teaching units on Lord of the Flies. I then reworked some of the different ideas to fit the scenarios which the students will be going through in the unit. The first diffitool is for Scenario 2, where the plane has crashed and they need to find means of survival. They have options of electing a leader, developing laws, building structures, etc to basically build a new culture. Much like survival in the book, students must learn how to “survive” in school. Scenario 2 diffitool is called “School Groups.” Students must observe the student population in their school and the various groups that exist. They need to look at characteristics that define and distinguish each group, such a mannerisms or clothing preferences. What do these groups have in common? In what ways do individuals behave differently when in a group versus alone? Does each group have a leader? What distinguishes the leader from the other members of the group? Once they have thought through their own school culture, they need to create a chart that describes their school culture and post it to their wiki.
My second diffitool was developed with Scenario 3 in mind. Classes will be discussing the symbols throughout the book. Scenario 3 gives the examples: the conch, the signal fire, Piggy’s glasses, and the scar. The diffitool is called “Quote Collections.” Instead of collecting quotes and putting them in chests, students will need to keep a running list of descriptive quotes or quotes that relate to the four major symbols:
1) The conch
2) The signal fire
3) Piggy’s glasses
4) The scar
Sometime while working on scenario 3, students need to post their quotes to their wiki.
4 quotes for each symbol = Bronze “medal”
6 quotes for each symbol = Silver “medal”
8 quotes for each symbol = Gold “medal”
Resources for Lord of the Flies:
BookRags: Lord of the flies. (2006). http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-lordoftheflies/
Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the Flies. New York, NY: The Berkley Publishing Group.
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008). Lord of the Flies Learning Guide: Table of Contents. http://www.shmoop.com/lord-of-the-flies/table-of-contents.html
Resources for The Maze Runner:
Dashner, J. (2009). The Maze Runner. New York: Delacorte Press.
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008). The Maze Runner Tone. http://www.shmoop.com/the-maze-runner/tone.html
The Maze Runner Study Guide. (2015). http://www.gradesaver.com/the-maze-runner