Challenging Authority: The Giver

Students explore the topic of "coming of age" through the story of one boy's life in a dystopian future, and his growing understanding that the world around him is not what it appears.

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ELA

Unit 2

6th Grade

Unit Summary


In this unit, students read Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal–winning novel The Giver. This novel, which has quickly become part of the essential canon of young adult fiction, is set in a highly controlled, seemingly perfect, futuristic world. The society has been stripped of colors, love, pain, and conflict by converting to the notion of "Sameness," a philosophy that eliminates any variability in the world. The novel explores twelve-year-old Jonas’ experience with memories of the past—a time much like the reader’s present day—in which people still had the freedom to make decisions for themselves. Jonas struggles to cope with all his new overwhelming emotions and must decide whether individual freedoms are worth experiencing pain and suffering.

Students will continue their interrogation of questions around personal choice and self-determination by reading a series of articles about parental control over children’s screen use. Considering the risks and benefits of screen time for young adults, students will culminate the unit with an essay in which they take a position on the question: should parents protect their children from making poor choices around screen usage?

In addition to being a cornerstone of the genre of dystopian young adult fiction, The Giver is a powerful coming-of-age story. In spite of the unfamiliar setting, students will strongly relate to twelve-year-old Jonas’ developing understanding of the world around him. Over the course of the text, Jonas progressively loses his innocence, coming to realize that ignorance is not, in fact, bliss. This text will provide ample opportunity for students to grapple with the essential question of the 6th grade curriculum: how do challenges and hardships shape a young person’s identity and understanding of the world?

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Texts and Materials


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Core Materials

  • Book: The Giver by Lois Lowry (HMH Books for Young Readers, 1993)   —  760L

Supporting Materials

Assessment


This assessment accompanies Unit 2 and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.

Unit Prep


Intellectual Prep

Unit Launch

Before you teach this unit, unpack the texts, themes, and core standards through our guided intellectual preparation process. Each Unit Launch includes a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning to ensure you're prepared to support every student.

Essential Questions

  • What is a utopia? What is a dystopia?
  • Is it worth sacrificing knowledge and wisdom for a life of peace, contentment, and ease?
  • Should people be protected from making poor choices?

Enduring Understandings

  • Knowledge of the past is essential for fully understanding the present moment and pushes us to think about what it means to be human. 
  • Authors of dystopian fiction encourage readers to think critically about the world around them. Dystopian fiction serves as a warning about what is happening and what could potentially happen.
  • People have differing ideas about whether people should have full autonomy to make choices about their lives. 

Vocabulary

Text-based

anguish apprehensive assuage bliss chastise compulsive disillusioned dystopia excruciating ignorance implore impose mystified obsolete transgression utopia vague vivid

Root/Affix

-topo -topia dys- u/ou-

Academic

central idea climax conclusion/resolution connotation credible denotation exposition falling action juxtaposition mood rising action structure tension thematic topic theme tone

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 2, view our 6th Grade Vocabulary Glossary.

Content Knowledge and Connections

Previous Fishtank ELA Connections

Future Fishtank ELA Connections

The remainder of the 6th-grade units will address questions around coming of age, and also around the way that significant life events and relationships shape who a person becomes; the ideas that students will begin thinking about in this unit will transfer across the texts we read this year.

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Notes for Teachers

  • Students should regularly return to the definitions of utopia/dystopia that they learned in the first lesson of this unit, particularly as different aspects of Jonas’ community become evident. Because there are several big "reveals" in the text, try to keep them secret as much as possible (some students may have seen the recent movie, so ask that they not spoil the book for those who haven’t seen it).
  • You may wish to show the movie version of this text at the end of the unit, and have students reflect on similarities and differences between the text and film.
  • There are very mild references to sexuality in The Giver. Students may find the scenes that describe war and "Release" upsetting. Be mindful of your students’ own experiences with death.
  • The articles about screen time—and particularly the negative effects of screen time—may be a sensitive topic for students and parents. Remind students that each parent makes their own decisions around what is best for their child.

Lesson Map


Common Core Standards


Core Standards

L.6.1
L.6.1.a
L.6.1.b
L.6.1.c
L.6.1.d
L.6.3
L.6.3.b
L.6.4
L.6.4.a
L.6.4.c
L.6.4.d
L.6.6
RI.6.2
RI.6.5
RI.6.8
RL.6.2
RL.6.3
RL.6.4
RL.6.5
SL.6.1
SL.6.1.a
SL.6.1.c
SL.6.4
W.6.1
W.6.1.a
W.6.1.b
W.6.1.c
W.6.1.d
W.6.1.e
W.6.2
W.6.5
W.6.8
W.6.9

Supporting Standards

L.6.1.e
L.6.2
L.6.2.a
L.6.2.b
L.6.3.a
L.6.4.b
L.6.5
L.6.5.c
RI.6.1
RI.6.4
RI.6.7
RI.6.10
RL.6.1
RL.6.6
RL.6.10
SL.6.1.b
SL.6.2
SL.6.3
SL.6.6
W.6.2.a
W.6.2.b
W.6.4
W.6.6
W.6.7
W.6.9.a
W.6.9.b
W.6.10
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Unit 1

Developing Resilience: The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

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Unit 3

Expressing Yourself: Women in the Arts

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