Erin Frary's Portfolio

I focused the following 16-day unit plan on Meg Rosoff’s What I Was. This compelling novel is told through the eyes of 100 year-old H. as he reflects on his life and “all that has passed.” As the story unfolds, readers are drawn into the complex friendship H. develops with another young character on the coast of England. Through vivid imagery, metaphors and characterization, Rosoff illustrates the uncertainties of first love and all of the awkward and intense emotions that accompany it. As the friendship deepens, this idyll begins to fade as these characters unexpectedly find themselves in the midst of a scandal that will change the course of their lives forever.

I think that this novel would work well with students because it encompasses many of the elements that make up a great novel: compelling story with an unexpected twist, captivating narrator, wonderful imagery, and a universal theme presented in an atypical way.

 

This unit examines the novel in several ways, and at the completion of it, students will be proficient in a number of things including: performance, listening comprehension, text editing, critical lenses, technology, critical thinking, and language analysis.

 

Because these lesson plans touch on difficult and sensitive subjects, as well as incorporate Regents preparation, this unit would work best with second-semester high school sophomores, or first-semester high school juniors.