Bring the drama of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea to class with a fun role-playing activity. Given a list of survival items, readers decide which items would be the most necessary for an adventure like Santiago's, and rank the items in order of importance.

Concepts

the old man and the sea, ernest hemingway, point of view

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have class members work in small groups to discuss their decisions
• Prompt individuals to brainstorm some ideas about their item of choice, and then turn their brainstorms into a persuasive or narrative essay about being at sea
• Bring some of the items into class, and have class members negotiate for each item
• Conduct the activity before and after reading the novel, noting the differences in the responses

Classroom Considerations

• Lesson plan does not include an assessment or check for understanding

Pros

• Engaging for all reading levels
• Can inspire some deep and meaningful conversations 

Cons

• Activity doesn't indicate how many items individuals can pick; consider putting a limit on the items to encourage critical thinking

Common Core

RL.9-10.1 RL.11-12.1