for Stephen Chbosky s The Perks of Being a Wallflower This unit is designed to guide students through Stephen Chbosky s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a novel that spans several themes and experiences typically encountered during adolescence. This dynamic novel is written through the voice of a teenage protagonist, Charlie, as a series of detailed letters to an anonymous reader; the letters, dated sequentially, provide a linier story arch touching upon a variety of common social complexities within an American high school. Although there are certainly several different avenues to pursue in teaching this unit to a freshman level English class, it seems that students would likely benefit most from exploring this novel after covering the themes of at least one other popular (or classic) works of fiction in the American canon, such as To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, or A Separate Peace. (These aforementioned novels are all mentioned at one point or another within this book.) Drawing connections to any (or all) of these other novels while reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower would fuel greater discussions through comparative analysis. Such comparisons are essentially boundless when centered on certain characters similarities and differences, plot, motivation, climax, resolution, author s vocabulary, etc. Because the book is written as a series of letters, it lends itself quite naturally as an example of journaling a useful writing technique whereby students can obtain an outlet for their own writing practices. Asking students to journal and/or to respond to the protagonist s letters would make for interesting avenues to pursue, requiring the class to dive into specific excerpts in a more thorough or personal manner. Additionally, the book is divided into four sections, and any one of the following unit exercises can be revisited while working on any of the four sections. Through class discussion and a developed line of inquiry, a teacher can steer his/her students toward several assorted areas of focus. For example, when discussing definitions of the reliable and unreliable narrator (a common and useful literary device), students will notice that Charlie could certainly be dubbed reliable, yet he is sometimes inaccurate in his assumptions; here the protagonist is a victim of his own naïveté, complicating how reliable his voice actually is. Other areas ripe for discussion and investigation in this book can be fashioned around the veritable whirlwind of social dilemmas included, such as stated and unstated rules of behavior among peer sub-groups, drug and alcohol abuse, dating roles and expectations, sexual identity, alternative lifestyles, pressure for success, date rape, curfews, physical and emotional abuse, mental illness, needs of accelerated students, teen counseling, pregnancy, STDs, etc. The expanse of social issues is seemingly endless coupled with literary references from the American cannon, The Perks of Being a Wallflower stands out as a wholly relevant experience.
LESSON #1 Title: Before and After Questionnaire (part 1, Before) Total time: Approx. 20 minutes Purpose: This lesson is a pre-reading activity assigned to students before they undertake the actual reading of Stephen Chbosky s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The text explores many sensitive issues for adolescents, and this activity is ideal for generating thoughts about various themes addressed within the narrative. Targeted Audience: This lesson is designed for 9 th grade English students. Prerequisites: It will be beneficial for students to have completed reading To Kill a Mocking Bird in order to draw connections to past and present themes of literature. Objective: Students will answer a brief questionnaire (ten questions) regarding the novel s themes, promoting introspection about social issues prior to reading the novel. Materials: The materials needed for this activity are writing utensil and individual copies of the questionnaire. Instructional Procedures: Introduction: After a brief dialogue on the nature of being observant and what it means to be empathetic, I will provide each student with a copy of the questionnaire, stressing that there are no right or wrong answers for this particular assignment. Each student will respond to the ten questions and share their results with the class only if they feel comfortable sharing. Teaching Procedures: 1 minute I will introduce the title of the book, explaining that the text is written in a journalistic style, narrated through the voice of a high school freshman. 5-7 minutes Through a line of inquiry, I will then engage the class in a discussion surrounding what it means to be a wallflower, eventually steering the conversation toward what it means to being observant and to empathize with others. 1 minute Questionnaires will be given to each student, with instructions to use careful introspection while answering each of the 10 questions. I will add that the answers they provide will be kept private, and there are no right or wrong answers for this assignment. 5 minutes Students will complete the questionnaire.
Closure: Before collecting the students work, I will ask if any student would be willing to share any answers for any of the questions they provided. If a discussion arises, I will then try to relate their responses under the umbrella of the earlier proposed themes: being observant, empathy, and what it means to be a wallflower. Time: 5-7 minutes Assessment: Students will turn in their questionnaires, which will be worth 5 points per student. Students will also be given credit/no credit for their participation in this activity.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower AGREE/DISAGREE Questionnaire Before reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, respond as to whether you agree or disagree with each statement by providing a check ( ) if you agree or an X if you disagree. After reading the novel, examine your answers in the before column and respond again in the after column. Have any of your answers changed? Before Reading After Reading It is normal for teenagers to feel as though adults do not really understand what they are going through. Being able to express yourself freely in emails, texts, and instant messages is a great way to bond with friends and helps you to get through certain problems and challenges. Making friends in high school is more difficult than it was in junior high school. Many adults have forgotten what having a crush feels like for a teenager. Drug use among teenagers is exaggerated by adults and the media. Kissing someone should be reserved for someone you truly love. Adults have no idea what really goes on at teenage parties. Life experience provides better education for teenagers than reading books. The frequency of sexual activity among teenagers is greatly exaggerated by adults and the media. Teenagers are closer to their siblings and friends than to their parents.
LESSON #2 Title: Academic Calendar for The Perks of Being a Wallflower Purpose: Considering the journalistic approach to the novel, this lesson is designed to spotlight the passage of time, while emphasizing social norms, customs, and rituals typical for high school students to encounter. These ritualized social customs (i.e. a homecoming game and/or dance) are linked to social themes surrounding stated and unstated rules of behavior for adolescent subgroups. Targeted Audience: This lesson is designed for 9 th grade English students. Prerequisites: In order to complete this lesson, students must have a basic understanding of the Gregorian calendar system as it relates to the academic school year. Objective: Students will follow the protagonist s journal entries by systematically marking each calendar day mentioned within the text. This will enable the students to visualize the setting and passage of time of the protagonist s school year as they travel through the text. Materials: Each student will need a writing utensil, a copy of Stephen Chbosky s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and a printed calendar provided by the instructor. Instructional Procedures: Introduction: As a class, we will discuss the typical events and holidays observed by the school, transitioning into a discussion about the social expectations for such events. This discussion should provide the rationale for keeping track of the novel s protagonist as he makes journal entries throughout the school year. Time: 10 minutes Teaching Procedures: 2 minutes Packets of individual calendars will be given to each student. 5 minutes The teacher will provide instructions as to how to chart Charlie s progress through the novel by explaining how and where to write a brief description for each of the book s journal entries. No more than one or two sentences will be needed in each of the spaces provided. 5 minutes As a class, we will make the first entry on our calendars together as to make sure each student understands how to complete the assignment. 3 minutes The teacher will then explain that the calendars will remain in the classroom, and each student will update Charlie s progress at the start of every class for the duration of the novel. This will ensure that everyone stays on track with their reading and will prevent students from copying answers before class.
Closure: The class will use their calendars to assist them with class discussions and activities throughout the course of the unit. Assessment: Students will turn in their calendars for 20 points at the end of the unit. Full credit will be awarded to those who have followed each of Charlie s entries, and points will be docked for missing entries.
LESSON #3 Title: Write a letter to Charlie Total time: Approx. 20 minutes Purpose: This lesson is a writing activity designed to allow the students to interact with the novel, Stephen Chbosky s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Since the protagonist, Charlie, is writing a series of letters to an anonymous reader, the students can pretend to respond to him in letters of their own. This exercise should give the students a certain amount of freedom in their personal writing while musing over issues directly stated within the narrative. Targeted Audience: This lesson is designed for 9 th grade English students. Prerequisites: Students should have a basic understanding of the format of traditional letter writing. Objective: Students will respond individually to specific letters in the novel (pre-selected by the instructor). Materials: The materials needed for this activity are writing utensil, a copy of the novel in question, and individual pads of notebook paper. Instructional Procedures: Introduction: The class will begin with a dialogue about letter writing, emails, texts, and blog-posts. Through a line of inquiry, the students will be asked to share their ideas regarding the varied purpose of such writing activities (keeping in touch, venting frustrations, sharing stories, offering advice, etc.), asking the students, Why do we write? 5-10 minutes Teaching Procedures: 2 minutes A handout will be given to each student containing a list of specific dates in which Charlie wrote letters. 5 minutes The teacher will explain to the class that they are to select any one of the entries from the list and to respond to Charlie with a letter of their own. They may respond to Charlie any way they would like, but they must make direct reference to certain points mentioned in the text. 10 minutes The class will work on the project individually, referencing the text when needed. 10 minutes The class will be invited to share their letters with the class, only if they are comfortable sharing their responses. 2 minute The students work will be collected by the instructor.
Closure: Individual notebooks will be distributed throughout the class for an ongoing journal assignment. Students will be asked to make a journal entry at the start of each class (in addition to their calendar assignments) for the duration of the novel, responding to Charlie s experiences as they make their way through the novel. Assessment: Students will turn in their letters to Charlie for 10 points each. They will also turn in their journals when the novel is completed for a total of 40 points. Students will be given credit/no credit for their participation in this activity.
Write a Letter to Charlie (half page handout save paper!) Select one of the dates below, and write a response in the form of a letter to Charlie. Imagine that he is writing to you in confidence and waiting for a reply. Be specific; make sure to respond to some of the details mentioned in his letter to you. Feel free to draw comparisons to your own life or people you know, or offer Charlie advice on how to deal with something he s struggling with. October 28 th, (page 28) November 7 th (page 42) November 15 th (page 50) December 23 rd (page 73)
Title: Literature Circle LESSON #4 Total time: Entire Class Time Purpose: This lesson is designed to have the students work within groups, analyzing various aspects of the novel among their peers. Students will have the freedom to investigate the text while sharing results from tasks dictated by each individual role. Targeted Audience: This lesson is designed for 9 th grade English students. Prerequisites: In order to take advantage of a full class period, it would be beneficial if the students were already familiar with the literature circle process and expectations. Objective: Students will be assigned individual roles (Discussion Facilitator, Connector, Illustrator, and Vocabulizer) whereby they will analyze a specific area of text and help each other to complete each job. Materials: The materials needed for this activity are writing and drawing utensils, paper, and the novel. Instructional Procedures: Introduction: At this point in the year, students will already be familiar with the expectations of a functioning literature circle. The initial part of the class should be spent dividing the class into groups and assigning roles for each student, making sure that no student has the same job as he/she did the time before. Time: 5 minutes Teaching Procedures: 10 minutes Once in individual groups, and after the teacher has indicated which section of the novel the class will be analyzing, the students should work individually to come up with initial results for each task. Naturally, more information can be added later as the discussion gets underway, but each student will need a little time to begin his/her own contributions. Here, the Discussion Facilitator should scan the text and create a list of discussion questions; the Illustrator should sketch some of the character actions and settings; the connector should scan the text, making real world/present day/big picture connections to events in the book; and the Vocabulizer should jot down unfamiliar words and look up their definitions. 15 minutes When each student has something ready to contribute, the discussion begins with the Discussion Facilitator leading the charge. As the students discuss their findings with one another, they should be adding to the work and making notes, developing more information from the conversation.
15 minutes The teacher will then ask each group to share their findings with the class, discussing and raising pertinent questions about the novel with each group. Ryan Nelson Closure: At the end of class, the teacher will collect each group s work and place them in individual group folders that will remain in the classroom. The discussion will continue at for the last few minutes with the teacher prompting the students to keep in mind certain ideas for their next class discussion. These larger scope ideas should draw upon other novels that the students have examined earlier in the semester, specifically ones mentioned in The Perks of Being a Wallflower: To Kill a Mocking Bird, A Separate Peace, and The Great Gatsby. Time: 5 minutes Assessment: Students will eventually collect all of their literature circle group work by the novel s end into one complete package for 100 possible points. Students will also be given credit/no credit for their participation in the day s activity.
LESSON #5 Title: Storyboard Total time: Full Class Period Purpose: This lesson is centered upon highlighting the novel s action through a visual means. The technique of using a Hollywood device such as storyboarding plot-points is beneficial for visually mapping the action. Furthermore, the activity can be directly linked to the graphic novel approach to storytelling a medium that could be examined before or after this particular unit. Targeted Audience: This lesson is designed for 9 th grade English students. Prerequisites: Students should have a general understanding of the traditional layout for comics. Objective: The students will delve into visual representations of characters, settings, and possibly dialogue (through word balloons) as a means of expanding individual perceptions of the text. Materials: To complete this task, the materials needed for this activity are paper, drawing utensils, the novel, and rulers (if available). Instructional Procedures: Introduction: The teacher will begin with a brief discussion about the comic medium, using visual representations through a PowerPoint slide show. Explanations of panel borders, word balloons, and sequential illustration as literature will be covered providing a range of illustration techniques (ranging from the hyper-detailed approach to stick-figures). 10 minutes Teaching Procedures: 1 minute Paper will be distributed among the students. 20 minutes Dividing the class into their literature circle groups of 4, the teacher will assign each table a section of the text to illustrate, whereby each student will select a page or a scene from their group s section to illustrate in sequential order. 5 minutes When the students have completed their storyboards, they will display them throughout the class in sequential order. 10 minutes The students will each explain their individual action sequence to the rest of the class, going around the room one-by-one in the proper order of the narrative until the entire chapter has been detailed.
Closure: The instructor will comment on each groups work, praising each effort on the merits of their individual vision. Time: 5 minutes Assessment: Students will turn in their storyboards, which will be worth 20 points per student. Students will also be given credit/no credit for their participation in this activity.