With ANNE OF GREEN GABLES as the thematic
center of the class, I keep finding more and more material which adds to
student understanding of the problems of adolescence in literature. One
of the best is BANNER IN THE SKY, by James Ramsey Ullman.
I have an excellent dramatization of
the novel produced some years ago on record by the Newberry Awards group.
As the class listens to the story, they answer some fifty
questions which appear on the screens during the story. This keeps
the kids on task, paying attention, and gives us several places where we
can discuss the ideas in the book.
The kids have been able to take this
story of a 16 year-old Swiss mountain climber, and write a series of comparisons
to ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. Some of their observations have been quite interesting:
both sacrifice their dreams to help another; both have over-protective
parents; both make awkward adolescent mistakes that embarrass them, etc.
I was proud of the insightful way the kids responded.
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