Here is a lesson on S. E. Hinton’sThe Outsiders

Subject(s): Language Arts Grades(s): Grades 6-7, Junior High/High School

Title – The Outsiders

By – Sheila Cordry

Secondary Subjects – Language Arts

Grade Level – 7-9

Topic and Instructional Goal: The students will read and comprehend the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Objectives:

The students will read three chapters each night of the book.
The students will demonstrate the KWL, know, want to know. learned, about gangs
The students will participate each day in class discussion
After reading the book, the students will be put into groups of three to generate a letter to the newspaper as if they are Johnny. They must justify the killing of Bob. The students will be given a list of 30 words that are taken from their vocabulary sheets from this book. These words must all be included in the letter. The first person will write the first paragraph, using as many of the words, in 5 minutes, then the second will write the next paragraph, again using as many of the words left, and so on until all people in the group have written. These letters will then be put into a class “newspaper” for all to read.
The students will view the movie The Outsiders for the last two days, with popcorn and soda.

Materials Needed: