concept vocabulary analysis

8/12/2019 Concept Vocabulary Analysis

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Roberts, BYU 2008

Concept/Vocabulary AnalysisThe View rom Saturday

E.L. Konigsburg

Organizational Patterns:The book is divided into chapters. Each chapter centers around a different characterwho tells his or her story. Four students; Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian tell of a journey they experienced in the past. Within the chapters there are small sectionswhen the outside narrator tells the story of the Academic Bowl. Students need to beaware of who is talking and when they are talking. Each of the characters stories isin chronological order, but the inserts from the Academic Bowl happen well after eachof the characters journeys.

Themes:One important theme is the meaning of friendship. The theme is explored by showinghow the students in the novel cooperate withand respect each other. Another theme is theeffect personal experience has on our lives.The diversity of each student is celebratedand each of their stories is important. This theme is explored by showing how each persons individual experiences led them tosuccess in both the Academic Bowl and also their friendship with their teammates.


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Roberts, BYU 2008

Setting:The stories take place in Florida and in Epiphany,New York. It is important to be familiar with theclimate, location, and land type of Florida in juxtaposition with New York. Students should beaware of where each state is on a map. They alsoneed to be aware of the beaches in Florida and also

where the Sargasso Sea is located in Florida.

Point of View:This is a great novel to use if you are exploring point of view in your classroom. Thisstory has five different narrators, but because the four students stories are dividedinto different chapters the students shouldnt have a difficult time understanding

who is speaking. Each student narrator has a very distinct voice. The fifth narrator isoutside of the story and narrates the Academic Bowl and explains the thoughts andactions of Mrs. Olinski, the students teacher.

Character Sketch:Konigsburg does a great job fleshing out her characters. She describes the charactersin unique and interesting ways that create vivid visualizations for her readers. Thecharacters are not only physically described byKonigsburg, but their personalities are veryapparent. The types of details Konigsburg uses

and when she introduces them could be exploredand discussed in order to help the students bemore active and visual readers. This could alsohelp them in their writing skills by making themaware of what details are most effective.

Analogy Metaphor Simile:The four students use very creative analogies,similes, and metaphors to describe some of theirsituations. You can explain what each of these are and how they function in the text.One example is when Ethan explains the new development The Farm. He says it is nomore a farm than the Aquarium at Epcot is the Atlantic (pg 63). Another example iswhen Jilian explains what chops are. He says, Chops is to magic what doing scales is to a chanteuse (pg 93) These descriptions allow for more vivid explanations. One final example is when the narrator comments that the opposing teams principalssmile was as genuine as a Xeroxed signature (pg 134).


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Irony: At the beginning of his narrative Noah is introduced to the term irony. He learns that it is the contrast between what you expect to happen and what really happens.Then throughout his narrative he applies the word to different situations. He does agreat job at describing what irony is and what situations can be considered ironic.For example he considers the fact that the bride and groom toppers of the cake fallingin a puddle is ironic (pg 16)

Affective Issues related to the work:The novel is about four sixth graders and is told by these four sixth graders. MiddleSchool students will relate to these characters because they are about their same age.

The books theme deals with friendship and thecharacteristics that make good friends. This is something that students will be able to identify with. The discussion

of the theme in the classroom can help students recognizewhat traits are present in good friendships. The studentscan then examine their own friendships and makeconnections. Another issue that relates to students thatcould be explored in the classroom is bullying. One of thestudents in the book is harassed by bullies when he firstmoves in. He explains some of his coping techniques andmore techniques could be explored in the classroom. A thirdissue that students will relate to is labeling. Throughout thenovel different characters are labeled in ways that are not

positive. Students will be able to explore different labels they have been given or that they have given to others and understand the effect labels can have on someone.

Vocabulary Issues: Although the story is told by sixth graders, the vocabulary is fairly advanced. Mostseventh and eighth graders would be unfamiliar with many of the words used. Wordsincluding: squalls, lulls, sarcasm, terminally, atrociously,mammoth, and coiffed (a complete list of words can be foundin the vocabulary activity included). This creates a greatopportunity to add useful words that they will probablyencounter in upper level reading to students vocabulary. Thereare also many American idioms used that most native Englishspeakers will understand, but non-native speakers may have adifficult time understanding them. One example is when oneof the students describes the rain as coming down in sheets,which is a strange image for a non-native speaker. Also, the phrase the competition isin the bag might be confusing but useful to know. These idioms need to be explained.


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Background Knowledge: One of the students is Jewish and tells about the

Jewish wedding of his grandfather. Many Jewishwords and customs are referred to. It would beuseful to students to explain and explore thesecustoms before reading the novel so they are familiar with the vocabulary and customs thatare discussed. Nadia, has an experience dealingwith sea turtles on the beaches of Florida.Creating some background knowledge about turtles and how and where they hatch could bevery helpful to the students. It would also bebeneficial to students to read through chapter

seven of Alices Adventures in Wonderland . This chapter is used in the book and is

referred to multiply times. Students need to be familiar with the story. On page 22Mrs. Olinski refers to The Cheshire Cat and the King. This section can have a lot ofmeaning, but if the students dont understand the reference they will not understand the meaning. You may need to walk through this section with your students.

Implications for Students of Diversity:The vocabulary and American idioms may need to be explained more thoroughly fornon-native speakers of English. Also, studentsunfamiliar with Jewish customs and words may

be confused. While exploring the Jewish marriagecustoms other customs that the students are familiar with can be explored. During this partin the novel some different marriagesuperstitions are discussed, which could be a jumping off point to discuss other superstitions that the students are familiar with in their owncultures and heritages. The teacher in this bookis a paraplegic. The issue of disabilities could beexplored in relation to this.

Gender Issues: Because the students are in the sixth grade gender issues are not overly prominentand wouldnt be discussed in relation to this book. There is a part in Nadiasnarrative when she discusses the fact that she is a prepubescent girl and theimplications of that. She is nervous about meeting Ethan and cant understand why.


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The Enduring Issue: What is true friendship and how is it achieved? The reader is mostly unaware of thisunderlying question until the end of the novel, but then is made very apparent. Theauthor does a good job of showing the traits of good friendship.

Research Issues Project Ideas: Visualization of Characters: The author does a very good job of describing in

detail the characters. To help the students visualize what they are readinghave them choose a character from the book and draw them based on thedescriptions in the book.

Academic Bowl: It would be interesting to have anacademic bowl in your classroom in order to familiarizeyour students with what an Academic Bowl is.

The novel introduces and discusses a wide variety of topics. Each student has different issues that they areinterested in, different factors that affect their lives, andalso the academic bowl questions give plenty of topics for students to explore. Allow the students to choosesomething that the novel discusses that interests themand have them do further research and prepare a presentation that they can share with the class.Examples include: turtles, tea parties, calligraphy,Indian customs, New York, or any of the questionsasked during the Academic Bowl.

Explore the techniques and characteristics of the personalnarrative and allow students to write their own.

Emphasize the importance of having and telling individual stories.

Information Functional Texts: Some texts would be online resources like Wikipedia that will give students easy to find background information on Jewish Customs, Florida, Turtles, and New York.Other internet resources include:

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/turtles/logger.htm This is a site thatgives information about Loggerhead turtles.

http://www.scholarsbowl.org/ This site gives the rules and format for a Academic Bowl

http://www.jewish-history.com/minhag.htm This site gives information on Jewish wedding customs

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