Word Choice with Holes

Grade Level: 6^th

Focus Trait: Word Choice

Mentor Text: Holes

Author: Louis Sachar

ISBN: 0374332665

Supporting Text:

• Jumbo Shrimp: The Ultimate Oxymoron Book by Bruce Fein and John Accurso
• Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?: And Other Oxymorons by Jon Agee 
• Freezer Burn: Oxymorons and Other Contradictions of Everyday Life by Laine Vilensky, David Holmes and Jeff MacNelly
• Jumbo Shrimp: And Other Almost Perfect Oxymorons and Contradictory Expressions That Make Absolute Sense by Warren S. Blumenfeld
• Pretty Ugly: More Oxymorons and Other Illogical Expressions That Make Absolute Sense by Warren S. Blumenfeld and Lisa Amoroso (Illustrator)

Mentor Text Summary: At Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility,  is a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail. His conviction was all a case of mistaken identity, the Yelnats family has become accustomed to a long history of bad luck, thanks to their "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!" Despite his innocence, Stanley is quickly entangled in the Camp Green Lake routine, but when Stanley realizes that the boys may not just be digging to build character--that in fact the warden is seeking something specific--the plot gets as thick as the irony.

 

About the Author:  http://www.louissachar.com/Bio.htm

“I write every morning, usually for no more than two hours a day. I never talk about a book until it is finished. I spent two years on my latest novel, and nobody, not even Carla (wife) or Sherre (daughter) knew anything about it until it was finished. Then they were the first to read it.”

Lesson:

1. Show the backwards poem example on your overhead.  (Click here to open it so you can print it.)  Have your students create their own definitions of "Backward Poems" by discussing the poem.  Have students share variations of the poem they may have heard.
2. Define paradox, oxymoron, and verbal irony on chart paper with your students.   Talk about how backwards poems can be extreme versions of verbal irony from first line to last line (like the sample), but they can also be simply based on a title or a line that is an oxymoron or a paradox. 
3. Share the first line--perhaps the entire first chapter--of Holes.  Discuss how the first sentence contains verbal irony.  Talk about how dry lake is an oxymoron. Brainstorm, as a class, and write five or six interesting adjectives on the board.  For example: delicious, powerful, pathetic, hysterical, frozen.  Challenge your students to think of a noun that you wouldn't think should follow the adjective.  

      delicious garbage
   powerful weakling
   pathetic hero
   hysterical funeral
   frozen lava
4. These short pieces of verbal irony (which are actually called oxymorons) are to be the beginning inspiration for the students’ original "backwards poems." 
5. Students will need a blank piece of paper for sketching and labeling.  After reviewing the supporting texts listed above, students should begin their pre-write by completing a sketch and labeling it with words. Before beginning to write, students should meet with a partner and edit for ideas.  This Student Instruction Page with interactive word play might help inspire students to begin brainstorming for this poetry assignment.  If you click here an example of a brainstorming pre-write will appear. You could use it as an example for students to follow.  
6. Have the students use a checklist to revise their rough drafts.  An example of a potential checklist is the WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its.  For example, on this post-it, the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5” and then you could have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It Note rankings.  Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes    
7. After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write or type neatly, require them to find an editor.   With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. 
8. Most likely, your students will enjoy creating an illustration for this writing “backwards poem” as they are getting ready to place final drafts in their portfolios. Have students share their “backward poems” in an informal presentation to the class. 

Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Lesson:

Standard: Reading Applications: Literary Text

Benchmark:   

F. Identify and analyze how an author uses figurative language, sound devices and literary techniques to shape plot, set meaning and develop tone. 

Indicator: 

7. Distinguish how the author establishes mood and meaning through word choice, figurative language, and syntax. 

Standard: Writing Process

Benchmarks: 

F. Edit to improve fluency, grammar and usage.

G. Apply tools to judge the quality of writing.

Indicators: 

15. Proofread writing, edit to improve conventions and identify and correct fragments and run-ons.

16. Apply tools to judge the quality of writing.

Additional Resource: http://www.louissachar.com/HolesBook.htm