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Lesson Debrief: Ender’s Game

June 3, 2008 By 4 Comments

At a Literacy Committee meeting last September we were discussing the OSSLT (what else would an Ontario literacy committee discuss?!). During our conversation our Vice Principal suggested that our Applied level Gr. 9 English students should work with a novel that appeals to boys, our stereotypical reluctant reader crowd. “Some fantasy or science-fiction novel,” she said. “That’s what these students read.”

I couldn’t agree more. After some discussion about options, our department ordered a class set of Ender’s Game. Thank goodness. It’s been a great classroom experience.

Over the last month we’ve drawn pictures of the Battle School (encouraging students to visualize what they’re reading), writing imaginary emails from character’s perspectives (helping students recognize perspective and appreciate author’s choices), writing news articles (enabling students to extract major plot events and re-order them), and writing an essay (yep — a five paragraph one, much as I shudder at the thought).

We’ve been busy, but the class was completely hooked. They were completely quiet while we read the novel together. For those of you who regularly teach Gr. 9 Applied students, you’ll know just how special this experience has been.

What Worked Well

  • Ender’s Game is an excellent book to read aloud. My wife and I read it to each other about eight years ago, and were up until the early hours of the morning doing so. It’s that kind of book.
  • Science fiction is appealing to Grade 9 boys, and this particular novel has strong female characters with whom girls can relate. It helps that the main characters are all children and adolescents.
  • Sharing personal visions of the setting – the Battle School and the Battle Room in particular – through discussions and drawings was fun for students, and it helped them to see both the differences and commonalities in their individual visions. This was a good launch point for discussing how reading involves “filling in gaps” and creating pictures based on the author’s word choice.

      • What Needs Work

      • This is yet another unit that I wish I would have done earlier on in the semester. A month-long unit that centres on a novel feels too big for this time of year. But the question is, what type of unit would work when the weather is beautiful enough to distract all of us from learning?
      • The Cyberbullying WebQuest was a bit advanced for this group.
      • The five paragraph essay. I ended a unit that students enjoyed with an activity that students hated. I feel like I tainted the whole experience for them. On the other hand, perhaps the fact that the novel was so enjoyable saved the essay experience from being complete torture for them.
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          Comments

          1. julie says:
            August 5, 2009 at 2:37 pm

            I enjoyed your comments from Enders game and I also teacher high school students with learning disabilities. I am looking for other good books that would keep their interest as of course they don’t read on their own

          2. Kelly says:
            August 14, 2009 at 4:16 pm

            Thank you for posting this. I have been debating all summer long whether or not to use Ender’s Game in my grade 9 class this year. Reading your post has helped me decide!

          3. Kelly says:
            August 14, 2009 at 4:17 pm

            By the way, do you have any ideas about the best (and most inexpensive) way to purchase a class set?

          4. Brad W. says:
            August 14, 2009 at 5:57 pm

            Kelly, as far as an inexpensive class set, I wouldn’t know where to look outside of the Canadian School Book Exchange. If you find other avenues, please share! I hope that you’re as happy with “Ender’s Game” is I’ve been.

            Julie, for Grade 9 boys our English department is also fond of using the novel “Crabbe” by William Bell, and I like using “Bone” by Jeff Smith.

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