What makes a place safe? What makes a setting effective? Explore the safe spaces and descriptive language with a prereading activity for Willa Cather's My Antonia. The teacher describes his or her own safe space and then prompts pupils to imagine and then describe in writing their own favorite settings.

Concepts

setting, willa cather, my antonia, prereading, sensory language, descriptive writing, imagery

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Increase the connection to My Antonia by reading more than one quote from the novel to your class

Classroom Considerations

• The plan does include a teacher sample, but you will likely need to draft your own to make the assignment truly personal

Pros

• The plan is clearly written
• Provides an opportunity for pupils to prepare for reading while practicing their own descriptive writing skills

Cons

• None