Introduction
Rationale
Statement of Rationale
In her highly acclaimed novel, Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson (1999), tells the story of Melinda, a high school freshman, who suffers from isolation and depression as a result of being a victim of sexual violence. Throughout the school year, Melinda is ostracized by her peers for calling the cops at an end of the summer party. Her peers do not know about the traumatic experience which prompted the call, and Melinda struggles to find a voice to speak out against the fellow student who attacks her. Her peers will not speak to her, her parents and teachers ignore her, and no one realizes the behavior Melinda exhibits are signs of great problems.
While issues such as rape can be difficult to discuss, they are not inappropriate in a high school setting. This teaching guide is designed to use in a tenth grade classroom, but it could be used for grades 8-12. A problem novel like Speak brings many topics to the surface which have traditionally been pushed back or ignored in traditional classroom discussions. Students at this age are prepared to talk about the sensitive issues dealt with in the text. In fact, holding back on dealing with important issues like rape can negatively impact our students. According to Suzanne Reid and Sharon Stringer, authors of “Ethical Dilemmas in Teaching Problem Novels: The Psychological Impact of Troubling YA Literature on Adolescent Readers in the Classroom,” teachers who seek to empower their students must not be afraid of dealing with sensitive subjects in the classroom:
[…] we are in a prime position to affect our students' lives positively. As teachers who are in daily contact with students and who can influence them greatly, we need to avoid trivializing the dramas, and traumas, of adolescents. Our attention or lack of attention to an issue sends a powerful message. How much do we owe our students and/or our community in addressing these issues? What are we censoring by simply omitting or ignoring?
The truth is, too many of our students have parents like Melinda’s (the protagonist of the novel). They are too busy to pay attention to what’s going on in the lives of their children or too uninterested to notice when their children are dealing with personal crises. Teachers must consider the messages they are sending to students—what we discuss, what we ignore, what we make light of, how we treat interact with our students—because they are paying attention, whether we think they are or not.
We owe it to our students to discuss issues like rape because they are at great risks of becoming victims. As Dr. Lee Brown puts it in his introduction to a Speak teaching unit:
Date rape is not a pleasant topic to talk about, but the harsh reality is that date rapes account for 78 percent all rapes, making it by far the most common. One in four girls will become a victim to date rape before they reach the age of 25. Three of every five rapes that take place happen to girls before the age of eighteen. Even scarier yet, the University of Tennessee’s Daily Beacon reports that 84 percent of women date raped knew their assailant. (3).
This is an issue that directly affects our students. Shouldn't they be made aware of the dangers? Shouldn't they be given the opportunity to explore the consequences? Shouldn't they be allowed a chance to see a strong girl like Melinda work through the same struggles they may have? By discussing date rape in the classroom, we can show our students that there is hope and that there is power in speaking out. Many victims of sexual violence do not report the crime. They also feel like they have nowhere to turn and no one to confide in. Like Melinda, they become depressed, which leads to a whole range of problems, including isolation, failing grades, and sometimes, even suicide. This book has the power to save victims from the effects of depression before it is too late.
Teaching this novel provides a plethora of opportunities for student learning. First of all, this unit will meet many Tennessee State Standards for literature. While reading the novel, students will explore point of view, theme, elements of plot, symbolism, characterization, and make personal connections with the text. I plan to guide the students through several writing activities to help students synthesize their ideas and improve written language skills. Students can also work on speaking and listening skills during the cultural connections portion of the unit by researching information about rape and depression and creating presentations to share with their peers.
This novel does include some mature material. Teenage drinking, mild language, rape, and stereotypes are present in the novel. Censoring these issues will not help our students in the long-run, though. As Laurie Halse Anderson puts it in Platinum Edition of Speak: “[…] censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in darkness and makes them vulnerable” (Anderson, Bonus Material). To address these issues, I will implement a few different strategies. First, I will work to educate students about the facts regarding rape and depression. I will also provide lots of opportunities for students to reflect on their feelings about and personal connections with the text. Students will also be given the opportunity to discuss the consequences of their personal choices and actions. This text will also act as the backdrop for a powerful discussion about high school social dynamics and the effects of stereotypes and cliques.
As Gary Salvner points out in "Lessons & Lives: Why YA Lit Matters," “literature has the capacity to enter our lives, to interact with what we already know and believe, and perhaps even to change us.” Hopefully, after reading completing a unit on the novel, Speak, students’ lives will be changed for the better. This book is empowering. It shows readers that they are not as alone as they may feel. It shows readers that it only takes one person to touch someone’s life and change it positively or negatively. It also shows them that sometimes, it only takes one person to speak out in order to bring down a monster like Andy Evans. This book also teaches empathy. Students may be less likely to judge others and more cognizant of the signals for help which are being silently transmitted all around them on a day to day basis. This book just may help save a life.
If, for some reason, parents have objections to their children reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The following is a list of approved alternative titles:
· Hush by Eishes Chayil
· What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton
· Speechless by Hannah Harrington
· I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
· Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
· Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
These books are suitable alternatives because they are also problem novels which allow students to examine and explore complex themes.
Assessment of Need
This teaching unit is designed for use in the high school classroom, specifically grade 10; however, it can be used for grades 8-12. Speak has great value for multiple age levels but may be more appropriate for high school students. This is because, once they reach high school, most students have reached the Formal Operational Level described by Piaget and Inhelder in 1969. At this level, “In general, these students have reached intellectual maturity, and most are able to think in a systematic manner, to reason by implication at the abstract level, and to bring together variables through synthesis” (UYAL 6). This means that high school students are ready to read about complex issues like rape and depression, to comprehend the causes and effects, and to synthesize the sensitive content of this novel. High school students are also more focused on emotional growth than intellectual growth. They need to see themselves on the page, to connect with the characters and explore the emotional issues which concern them the most. Speak provides opportunities for emotional growth and exploration.
This unit was designed to be taught at Hancock High School in Hancock County, Tennessee. About 80% of students at this high school are considered economically disadvantaged. These students know struggle and hardship. They need to read about other teens who are also struggling. Even though the book is centered around the issue of rape, many other issues are touched upon which could also have a great impact on students at this school. For example, Melinda struggles with feeling like an outcast and not fitting in with her peers. Economically disadvantaged students are likely to have these same struggles.
Speak is a not just a novel for girls. While teenage girls are more likely than boys to be victims of sexual violence, boys can be victims too. The typical classroom at Hancock High School has a fairly proportionate male/female ratio, and Speak has many valuable lessons for both sexes. It is a sad fact that “44% of victims are under age 18” (RAINN.org). Unfortunately, as these statistics and Laurie Anderson’s novel, Speak, reveal, many of our middle and high school students are not strangers to sexual violence. I plan to use the RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) in combination Speak to help educate students about sexual assault. In Speak, teachers and students at Melinda’s school did not step in to help Melinda because they did not recognize what had happened to her. Simply using the website to help students understand what rape is and how victims are affected could go a long way in helping victims of sexual assault. Also, there is a general misunderstand among young people of what is considered to be rape. In the novel, the rapist, Andy, says, “Rachel blew me off at the prom, giving me some bullshit story about how I raped you. You know that’s a lie. I never raped anybody. I don’t have to. You wanted it just as bad as I did” (193). Students will research the website to find the definition of rape and use the handout “Was I Raped?” from the RAINN website to help students identify acts of sexual assault so that they can fight back against sexual assault. Discussing this topic in class is important because it is an immediate concern in the lives of young people.
The expected impact of using this novel in the classroom far exceeds any concerns about sensitive content. This is a book students need to read. I hope that after completing this unit students will be more aware of the issue of sexual violence. I also hope that they will be more in tune with themselves and their school community at large. Students can realize the impact they can have on their peers and will hopefully make more of an effort to reach out to those who appear to be struggling with extreme inner conflicts. If this book only helps one student find his or her voice, if it only saves one student from isolation and depression, if it only makes one student think twice about his or her actions, then it is worth it because it just might save a life.
Works Cited
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Penguin Group, 1999. Print.
Brown, Dr. Lee. “Speak Out! Reach Out!” Madwomanintheforest.com. n.p., n.d. Web. July 10, 2013.
RAINN Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. RAINN, 2009. Web. June 28, 2013.
Reid, Suzanne, and Sharon Stringer. "Ethical Dilemmas in Teaching Problem Novels: The Psychological Impact of Troubling Adolescent Literature on Adolescent Readers in the Classroom." The ALAN Review Winter (1997): 24.2. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter97
Salvner, Gary. "Lessons & Lives: Why YA Lit Matters." The ALAN Review 28.3 (Spring 2001): 9. Web. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v28n3/salvner.html
UYAL
Statement of Rationale
In her highly acclaimed novel, Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson (1999), tells the story of Melinda, a high school freshman, who suffers from isolation and depression as a result of being a victim of sexual violence. Throughout the school year, Melinda is ostracized by her peers for calling the cops at an end of the summer party. Her peers do not know about the traumatic experience which prompted the call, and Melinda struggles to find a voice to speak out against the fellow student who attacks her. Her peers will not speak to her, her parents and teachers ignore her, and no one realizes the behavior Melinda exhibits are signs of great problems.
While issues such as rape can be difficult to discuss, they are not inappropriate in a high school setting. This teaching guide is designed to use in a tenth grade classroom, but it could be used for grades 8-12. A problem novel like Speak brings many topics to the surface which have traditionally been pushed back or ignored in traditional classroom discussions. Students at this age are prepared to talk about the sensitive issues dealt with in the text. In fact, holding back on dealing with important issues like rape can negatively impact our students. According to Suzanne Reid and Sharon Stringer, authors of “Ethical Dilemmas in Teaching Problem Novels: The Psychological Impact of Troubling YA Literature on Adolescent Readers in the Classroom,” teachers who seek to empower their students must not be afraid of dealing with sensitive subjects in the classroom:
[…] we are in a prime position to affect our students' lives positively. As teachers who are in daily contact with students and who can influence them greatly, we need to avoid trivializing the dramas, and traumas, of adolescents. Our attention or lack of attention to an issue sends a powerful message. How much do we owe our students and/or our community in addressing these issues? What are we censoring by simply omitting or ignoring?
The truth is, too many of our students have parents like Melinda’s (the protagonist of the novel). They are too busy to pay attention to what’s going on in the lives of their children or too uninterested to notice when their children are dealing with personal crises. Teachers must consider the messages they are sending to students—what we discuss, what we ignore, what we make light of, how we treat interact with our students—because they are paying attention, whether we think they are or not.
We owe it to our students to discuss issues like rape because they are at great risks of becoming victims. As Dr. Lee Brown puts it in his introduction to a Speak teaching unit:
Date rape is not a pleasant topic to talk about, but the harsh reality is that date rapes account for 78 percent all rapes, making it by far the most common. One in four girls will become a victim to date rape before they reach the age of 25. Three of every five rapes that take place happen to girls before the age of eighteen. Even scarier yet, the University of Tennessee’s Daily Beacon reports that 84 percent of women date raped knew their assailant. (3).
This is an issue that directly affects our students. Shouldn't they be made aware of the dangers? Shouldn't they be given the opportunity to explore the consequences? Shouldn't they be allowed a chance to see a strong girl like Melinda work through the same struggles they may have? By discussing date rape in the classroom, we can show our students that there is hope and that there is power in speaking out. Many victims of sexual violence do not report the crime. They also feel like they have nowhere to turn and no one to confide in. Like Melinda, they become depressed, which leads to a whole range of problems, including isolation, failing grades, and sometimes, even suicide. This book has the power to save victims from the effects of depression before it is too late.
Teaching this novel provides a plethora of opportunities for student learning. First of all, this unit will meet many Tennessee State Standards for literature. While reading the novel, students will explore point of view, theme, elements of plot, symbolism, characterization, and make personal connections with the text. I plan to guide the students through several writing activities to help students synthesize their ideas and improve written language skills. Students can also work on speaking and listening skills during the cultural connections portion of the unit by researching information about rape and depression and creating presentations to share with their peers.
This novel does include some mature material. Teenage drinking, mild language, rape, and stereotypes are present in the novel. Censoring these issues will not help our students in the long-run, though. As Laurie Halse Anderson puts it in Platinum Edition of Speak: “[…] censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in darkness and makes them vulnerable” (Anderson, Bonus Material). To address these issues, I will implement a few different strategies. First, I will work to educate students about the facts regarding rape and depression. I will also provide lots of opportunities for students to reflect on their feelings about and personal connections with the text. Students will also be given the opportunity to discuss the consequences of their personal choices and actions. This text will also act as the backdrop for a powerful discussion about high school social dynamics and the effects of stereotypes and cliques.
As Gary Salvner points out in "Lessons & Lives: Why YA Lit Matters," “literature has the capacity to enter our lives, to interact with what we already know and believe, and perhaps even to change us.” Hopefully, after reading completing a unit on the novel, Speak, students’ lives will be changed for the better. This book is empowering. It shows readers that they are not as alone as they may feel. It shows readers that it only takes one person to touch someone’s life and change it positively or negatively. It also shows them that sometimes, it only takes one person to speak out in order to bring down a monster like Andy Evans. This book also teaches empathy. Students may be less likely to judge others and more cognizant of the signals for help which are being silently transmitted all around them on a day to day basis. This book just may help save a life.
If, for some reason, parents have objections to their children reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The following is a list of approved alternative titles:
· Hush by Eishes Chayil
· What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton
· Speechless by Hannah Harrington
· I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
· Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
· Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
These books are suitable alternatives because they are also problem novels which allow students to examine and explore complex themes.
Assessment of Need
This teaching unit is designed for use in the high school classroom, specifically grade 10; however, it can be used for grades 8-12. Speak has great value for multiple age levels but may be more appropriate for high school students. This is because, once they reach high school, most students have reached the Formal Operational Level described by Piaget and Inhelder in 1969. At this level, “In general, these students have reached intellectual maturity, and most are able to think in a systematic manner, to reason by implication at the abstract level, and to bring together variables through synthesis” (UYAL 6). This means that high school students are ready to read about complex issues like rape and depression, to comprehend the causes and effects, and to synthesize the sensitive content of this novel. High school students are also more focused on emotional growth than intellectual growth. They need to see themselves on the page, to connect with the characters and explore the emotional issues which concern them the most. Speak provides opportunities for emotional growth and exploration.
This unit was designed to be taught at Hancock High School in Hancock County, Tennessee. About 80% of students at this high school are considered economically disadvantaged. These students know struggle and hardship. They need to read about other teens who are also struggling. Even though the book is centered around the issue of rape, many other issues are touched upon which could also have a great impact on students at this school. For example, Melinda struggles with feeling like an outcast and not fitting in with her peers. Economically disadvantaged students are likely to have these same struggles.
Speak is a not just a novel for girls. While teenage girls are more likely than boys to be victims of sexual violence, boys can be victims too. The typical classroom at Hancock High School has a fairly proportionate male/female ratio, and Speak has many valuable lessons for both sexes. It is a sad fact that “44% of victims are under age 18” (RAINN.org). Unfortunately, as these statistics and Laurie Anderson’s novel, Speak, reveal, many of our middle and high school students are not strangers to sexual violence. I plan to use the RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) in combination Speak to help educate students about sexual assault. In Speak, teachers and students at Melinda’s school did not step in to help Melinda because they did not recognize what had happened to her. Simply using the website to help students understand what rape is and how victims are affected could go a long way in helping victims of sexual assault. Also, there is a general misunderstand among young people of what is considered to be rape. In the novel, the rapist, Andy, says, “Rachel blew me off at the prom, giving me some bullshit story about how I raped you. You know that’s a lie. I never raped anybody. I don’t have to. You wanted it just as bad as I did” (193). Students will research the website to find the definition of rape and use the handout “Was I Raped?” from the RAINN website to help students identify acts of sexual assault so that they can fight back against sexual assault. Discussing this topic in class is important because it is an immediate concern in the lives of young people.
The expected impact of using this novel in the classroom far exceeds any concerns about sensitive content. This is a book students need to read. I hope that after completing this unit students will be more aware of the issue of sexual violence. I also hope that they will be more in tune with themselves and their school community at large. Students can realize the impact they can have on their peers and will hopefully make more of an effort to reach out to those who appear to be struggling with extreme inner conflicts. If this book only helps one student find his or her voice, if it only saves one student from isolation and depression, if it only makes one student think twice about his or her actions, then it is worth it because it just might save a life.
Works Cited
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Penguin Group, 1999. Print.
Brown, Dr. Lee. “Speak Out! Reach Out!” Madwomanintheforest.com. n.p., n.d. Web. July 10, 2013.
RAINN Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. RAINN, 2009. Web. June 28, 2013.
Reid, Suzanne, and Sharon Stringer. "Ethical Dilemmas in Teaching Problem Novels: The Psychological Impact of Troubling Adolescent Literature on Adolescent Readers in the Classroom." The ALAN Review Winter (1997): 24.2. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter97
Salvner, Gary. "Lessons & Lives: Why YA Lit Matters." The ALAN Review 28.3 (Spring 2001): 9. Web. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v28n3/salvner.html
UYAL
Standards Covered
Tennessee English Language Arts Standards for English II
CLE 3002.2.5 Understand strategies for expressing ideas clearly and effectively in a variety of oral contexts.
CLE 3002.2.6 Deliver effective oral presentations.
CLE 3002.2.7 Participate in work teams and group discussions.
CLE 3002.3.1 Write in a variety of modes for different audiences and purposes.
CLE 3002.8.1 Demonstrate knowledge of significant works of world literature.
CLE 3002.8.2 Understand the characteristics of various literary genres (e.g., poetry, novel, biography, short story, essay, drama).
CLE 3002.8.3 Recognize the conventions of various literary genres and understand how these conventions articulate the writer’s vision.
CLE 3002.8.5 Know and use appropriate literary terms to derive meaning from various literary genres.
Tennessee English Language Arts Standards for English II
CLE 3002.2.5 Understand strategies for expressing ideas clearly and effectively in a variety of oral contexts.
CLE 3002.2.6 Deliver effective oral presentations.
CLE 3002.2.7 Participate in work teams and group discussions.
CLE 3002.3.1 Write in a variety of modes for different audiences and purposes.
CLE 3002.8.1 Demonstrate knowledge of significant works of world literature.
CLE 3002.8.2 Understand the characteristics of various literary genres (e.g., poetry, novel, biography, short story, essay, drama).
CLE 3002.8.3 Recognize the conventions of various literary genres and understand how these conventions articulate the writer’s vision.
CLE 3002.8.5 Know and use appropriate literary terms to derive meaning from various literary genres.