Dancing+Naked

Dancing Naked: Shelley Hrdlitschka



Synopsis of the text: ENG 1D: Grade 9 Academic English ENG 1P: Grade 9 Applied English Reading : 1. Reading for Meaning 2. Understanding Form and Style Writing: **__ Social __**** : What knowledge of our own personal experience and our society does this text elicit/explain/describe? ** **__ Cultural: __**** What questions can we ask and discover about our culture through reading this text? ** **__ Topic: __**** What topics does this text introduce, explain or inform us about? **   -Only people into smoking weed get invited to parities p. 76 -Lauren smokes weed “anything to get Mitch to like her” p. 76 -Students could have first hand experience related to any one of these issues, could make them feel uncomfortable about reading this novel Reading : 1. Reading for Meaning 1.6 Analyzing Texts: analyze texts in terms of the information, ideas, issues, or themes they explore, examining how various aspects of the texts contribute to the presentation or development of these elements. Journal 1: Journal 2:
 * Kia, 16 year old compulsive journal writer constantly reflecting on her life through journal entries
 * Kia is pregnant as a result of her first and only sexual experience with her 17 year old boyfriend Derek who later pressures her to have an abortion.
 * Kia keeps her pregnancy a secret from her family and friends with the exception of her Youth group leader Justin.
 * Kia decides to abort but does not to go through with the procedure.
 * Kia confesses to her parents she is pregnant and learns her mother had an abortion when she was younger and it is a secret she has kept from her father.
 * Derek cuts off contact with Kia once he hears she did not abort, and takes out his frustration by being sexually aggressive with her at a school party and by spreading rumors.
 * Kia then turns to Justin and asks him to support her at prenatal classes, which he does, her feelings for him lead to her asking him to be a father to the baby, and she tells him she is in love with him.
 * Justin turns her down and comes out to her that he is gay but continues to support her through the pregnancy and her later decision to put the child up for adoption.
 * Kia decides to start interviewing potential parents that could adopt her baby.
 * Kia has a successful pregnancy and has a baby girl named Brenna Grace.
 * Kia gives her new daughter her journal as a gift so when she is older she can understand what her mother was going through.
 * a) In what grade level/course I would teach this text? Other courses for which it might also be appropriate: **
 * 1.3 Demonstrating Understanding of Content: identify the important ideas and support details in both simple and complex texts (ie. Kia’s story versus Justin’s, Grace etc)
 * 1.5 Extending Understanding of Texts: extend understanding of both simple and complex texts by making connections between the ideas in them and personal knowledge, experience, and insights; and the world around them. (ex. Kia’s situation)
 * 1.6 Analyzing Texts: analyze texts in terms of the information, ideas, issues, or themes they explore, examining how various aspects of the texts contribute to the presentation or development of these elements. (ex. How would the story differ if it was told from Derek or Brenna’s perspective?)
 * 2.1 Text Forms: identify several different characteristics of literary, informational, and graphic text forms and explain how they help communication meaning. (Kia and Justin’s Journal entries)
 * 2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style
 * 2.1 Voice: establish an identifiable voice in their writing, modifying language and tone to suit the form, audience, and purpose for writing. (ex. Journal entries)
 * b) Main ideas/issues/teaching points that I would emphasize when teaching the text: **
 * __ Textual:  __**
 * First person point of view, main character Kia, told in the present tense
 * The intended audience is adolescents as several of the issues in the book are relevant to today’s adolescent.
 * The text is divided into three main sections that correspond to pregnancy trimesters.
 * All chapters are subtitled week X/40 and several chapters open with a description of the stage a baby is growing at a certain week within the pregnancy. Ex. Page 32 “the elbows bend, baby is the size of a chicken egg”
 * Text uses email format for conversations between Kia and Justin p. 72
 * Within these emails and also Kia’s journal entries are emoticons, acronyms, “SMS-Language” aka “Textese” ex. T.O.Y = Thinking of you, language used by teens today.
 * Within the text are Kia’s journal entries, on the page reads like a journal entry like the emails.
 * The text describes what it is like to be a pregnant teen in society. This allows us to think about what it means to be a single mother in society in general. P. 53 “It’s not easy being a pregnant teen in our society” –Reverend Petrenko.
 * Abortion: how does society view the choices made regarding abortion? Especially in regards to unwanted teenage pregnancies.
 * Coming out as a gay person. What does it mean to come out in today’s society in relation to family, coworkers, faith groups such as Justin.
 * Example of this addressed in the text is bullying and cutting: as a result of being bullied a student at one of the youth group member (Mike) school commits suicide by slashing his wrists. The student was bullied for being gay.
 * Drugs and alcohol: presented as what is expected by teenagers. Mirrors today’s society where drugs and alcohol are often used recreationally and often to be accepted by others.
 * Kia and Derek’s unhealthy relationship. Derek tries to be controlling of Kia, influences her to abort, takes advantage of her sexual, and threatens to spread rumors about her. Example of many teenage relationships in society, Kia keeps quiet at first because she is scared of Derek and what he will do to her. He later ends up causing her to fall out of a car pregnant.
 * Teenage pregnancy in relation to our culture. Is it accepted? In what contexts? In relation to religion, Kia’s church is “liberal” and does not look down at her. Including this suggests that our culture is becoming more accepting.
 * Justin is a gay youth group leader, accepted by the church. In the novel they mention the various types of family that Kia can choose for adoption. P. 60 The doctor talks to Kia about how families aren’t made up of what they used to be.
 * Teenage culture: Kia looses her friends once they find out she’s pregnant, she’s not welcome anymore because she can’t do what they consider normal at their age such as play sports or go to parties.
 * Kia feels she needs to live up to the “perfect daughter” image that her parents have for her. Page 70.
 * Adoption: Because Kia is young it is assumed she can not be a responsible parent and is encouraged to adopt. Her parents see this as culturally unacceptable for a girl her age to raise a child.
 * Responsibility: Brenna’s life, best choice for her
 * Pregnancy :Adoption: process, abortion p. 60
 * Briefly touches on views of pregnancy outside of marriage, Kia’s mom talks about Philippines vs. western world
 * c) Issues/Challenges I might encounter in teaching the text: **
 * Language: fuck off, bitch, faggots, fags, slut,
 * Drugs and Alcohol: presented and what is needed to be done to be accepted in high school.
 * Issues such as teen pregnancy, abortion, adoption and sexual assault:
 * Sex before marriage: depending on what culture/religions of students in class may be problematic, not understood
 * Coming out: presented as difficult for Justin to have done, does not encourage those who may feel the same way.p. 175
 * Bullying and cutting: personal connection, student committed suicide for being bullied for being gay p. 155
 * The novel includes several issues, which might seem unrealistic to some students, or reality for some to the point they might not want to read it, or read it because they relate to all of the issues in the novel.
 * Not sure if society is ready to discuss all these topics in one novel
 * d) One possible assignment/activity I could use when teaching the text:  **
 * How might a story change if it were narrated by one of the other characters in the story?
 * Mirroring the compulsive journal writing of Kia, students will write a series of three journal entries. One before the birth of Brenna, one after the birth, and one a year later after the birth of Brenna.
 * Students will choose to write from the perspective of Derek, Brenna, Justin, or Brenna’s possible adoptive parents. (writing in role)
 * Kia compares the choices she has made in her life to a road. “I came to a bend in the road. I took the turn” (p. 58).
 * Students would read “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
 * Compare the roads in Frost’s poem to two possible roads Kia can take regarding her pregnancy. (Keeping the baby, abortion, adoption etc)
 * Write three journal entries from Kia’s perspective. One where she chooses the road of abortion, one where she choose to carry her pregnancy to term and one where she chooses adoption. What would she say to her unborn child in each?