MYP 3 Engaging Students in Character Analysis: Unveiling the Depths of Ed Boone in 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time- Parul Khungar

Objective of the Learning Engagement:

Learning Objectives: 

• Understand the motivations and feelings of a character from the text. . 
• Analyze the character of Ed Boone deeply. 
• Discuss the situations from another character’s perspective. 
• Understand the difference between a close-ended and an open-ended Question. 
• Form open-ended questions.

Details of the Learning Engagement:

Activity Description: Students were asked to write that one burning question that they would want to ask the character named Ed Boone from the novel ‘The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time’. Ed Boone is the protagonist’s father in the novel. While the students came up with their questions, they were also taught how to come up with a good open-ended question instead of a question that required a yes/no answer. After this, the students uploaded their questions on a padlet. Some Questions that the students came up with are shared here:

Link to the document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jI9IRrz69o6GcoN7W-76gXpLC-K67uzW/view?usp=drive_link

One student from the class was selected by the teacher to play the role of Ed Boone. It was kept as a secret from the rest of the class as this was going to be a surprise activity. I chose Aryaman from 8A and Rohan from 8B to play the role of Ed Boone as a differentiation strategy to enable them to feel more engaged with the text. It also helped me develop a bond with them while also honing their skills of looking at a situation from another character’s perspective. Aryaman and Rohan were asked to select some good open-ended questions from the padlet and think of possible answers to those questions over the weekend.

In class, they came dressed as Ed Boone and invited their respective classmates to ask their questions which they answered from Ed Boone’s perspective.

Impact of the engagement on students and your reflection as a teacher:

Through framing open ended questions, the students were able to articulate what they have been wondering about this character's thoughts and actions all along. This promoted critical thinking skills as they were trying to find answers for why the character is the way he is in the novel. Also, the student who came prepared as the character, also had to do some deep thinking about the character's motivations, thoughts and feelings. This implored the student to view a character from another perspective.

One thing that really stood out in this activity was the way students started viewing this character in a completely new light. While reading the novel, they were constantly viewing the character in a negative light (as someone who is unpolished, abusive and violent) but when they heard the perspective of the character himself (through the student) they started understanding the reason behind his actions and his feelings.

-Parul Khungar