A picture book that would work really well for this novel is Dr. Seuss' “The
Sneetches.” I would teach this strategy as a during‐reading activity. It would work
well ...
Picture Book Strategy Accepting Who You Are: Learning from the Sneetches Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Simon Pulse: 2005 Purpose Picture books work excellently in high school classrooms. All the students will feel more relaxed and be more engaged because of the easier texts. Struggling readers and ELL students will especially benefit from it. Hadaway and Mundy cite numerous researchers saying “Informational picture books provide that optimal input—chunks of texts in a digestible format—through their solid information, short length, small amount of text, and use of illustrations as comprehension aids.” It is easy to find picture books that go along with the novel you are already teaching, one that has the same themes but in a different format. Making connections from one text to another is a classic strategy to help students’ comprehension. These books can also be used to address difficult or abstract ideas, such as war. Context A picture book that would work really well for this novel is Dr. Seuss’ “The Sneetches.” I would teach this strategy as a during‐reading activity. It would work well at the point where Tally is deciding what to do when she is at the Smoke, deciding if being pretty or being loyal more important. In the novel Tally is shown the downsides to becoming a “pretty”. Why are looks so important? How do different social groups share similar appearance? Directions Materials: paper stars, at least one for every person in the class, two signs that says "machine," and a double‐sided sign on Popsicle sticks with one side a star and the other a star with the cancellation sign. Time: 25 minutes Steps 1. Tell students you'll play a game, and the winners get candy. You win by being popular. 2. Have the students push all the desks to the sides of the room. Place a sign "machine" on one desk in the center. Randomly hand out half the stars. 3. Now explain that those with stars don't like those without stars, and tell them to separate. Right now, those with stars are winning because they are popular. Say you're the character that runs the machine. Explain to those without stars that there's a way to get stars and be popular: Just come to the machine. With stars, they'll be
Barber, BYU, 2010
popular like the rest. Once they have stars, tell the other side that they can get rid of their stars, by dropping them off at the machine. 4. Allow the students to do this. Now put your double‐sided sign on a clip on the board, declaring that stars are now in again‐‐those with stars are popular. Before they can get their stars back, switch to the other side, with stars being out again, then in again. As it gets more confusing, put up the second sign on the other end of the board—sometimes have the signs matching, and sometimes have them not matching—some students should see the star side while others see the no‐star side. 5. Call the game to a halt. Ask students who is winning. Now give them all Jolly Ranchers and read the book with them. Segue Ask them how their experience compared to the experiences in the book. Ask them how important it is to be popular. Why was the goal in the game to be popular? Is this the overall goal? Now connect it to Uglies. Ask them to write down connections between the Sneetches and Tally’s society. Then ask students to share their thoughts. Ask them if we ever act like the Sneetches. Do we ever judge people based on how they look? What about on how they dress or how they do their hair? Assessment Have students get into pairs and fill out an 3x5 card with one significant connection between “The Sneetches,” Uglies, and their own life. For example, they could write “Tally’s society judge each other based on looks alone (if they are a Pretty or not) just like the Sneetches judge each other based on if they have a star on their belly. Sometimes I judge people if they have tattoos or lots of earrings.”
Barber, BYU, 2010
