GOAL:
To explore students' responses to the complex moral issues presented in the book
ASSIGNED READING:
Chapters 9-10
WRITING PROMPT:
Why do you think Ma agrees not to tell Dad about Shiloh for one day?
How does Dad feel when he finds out that Marty has been lying? How would you feel in his place?
Why do you think Dad agrees to keep Marty's secret until Shiloh is healed?
ONLINE PROMPT:
Participate in the online book club by using the Student Comment Form and the Student Comments About Shiloh page.
|
Students have already explored the issue of honesty in Lesson 3. Today's reading further explores the moral dimensions of Marty's situation. You might prepare students for reading with a brief discussion about what makes certain actions right or wrong. Ask them to rank the following in order of moral importance: following the law, being "one hundred percent honest," obeying one's parents, doing what one feels is right. Help them see that real-life situations can be so complex that it's not always possible to establish rigid guidelines in advance.
During community share, bring students' attention back to the issue of right versus wrong. Ask them to list the factors that make Marty's situation so complicated. Lead them to see that some questions are simply too complex to have definite answers. This point is made when Dad tells Marty, "I want you to do what's right," and Marty stumps him with the question, "What's right?" (Yearling Newbery, page 94).
When a person believes that someone else will do the right thing, we say that there is trust between the two people. Use students' reading log responses as a springboard to discuss trust as a bond that holds people together -- in families and in communities. Point out the relationships that are threatened by Marty's secret: Marty's relationship with his parents, Marty's relationship with David, Ma and Dad's relationship, the family's relationship with Judd and with the rest of the community. Ask students how they feel when someone they trust lets them down in some way. How can such an injury to a relationship be healed?
Click to go to Lesson 6.
|
