Arthur

Learning Intention:

I am learning to analyse the feelings and behaviours of characters in a story so that I can build a stronger understanding of myself and others in real life experiences.

 

Success Criteria:

• I can express an opinion about the choices made by characters in a story and justify my point of view.
• I can relate the attitudes in the story to my own life and reflect on my feelings, experiences and actions.
• I can write a self-reflection to help me form a better understanding of myself and others.

 

Understanding text:

Read the opening of the story, pausing after the sentence ‘That was super funny.’

Ask students to put their hands on their heads if they think Sophia’s parents are right about the way they have judged Arthur and to put their hands on their hips if they feel the parents are being unfair to him. Choose a handful of students from each side to explain their choice (e.g. he is being annoying, he is causing the dog to bark / his behaviour isn’t hurting anyone, he is just being curious and funny).

Continue reading and pause after the sentence ‘He was having so much fun.’ Ask the students to put their hands in their heads if they would be annoyed like Sophia’s dad at Arthur’s bounce-and-catch game or to put their hands on their hips if they would be unbothered like Sophia. Choose some students from both sides to explain their choice (e.g. The noise would bother me, he is doing it to be annoying / He is just having fun, he simply enjoys the sound of the ball against the fence).

Continue reading and pause after the sentence ‘I nodded, and Dad got up and walked off to have his breakfast.’ Ask students why Sophia’s dad came back home in a different frame of mind about Arthur. They should identify that simply having a conversation with Arthur’s parents and getting to know the family helped him be more understanding. Continue reading the rest of the story.

 

At the end of the story, discuss the way Arthur was judged by others by posing the following questions:

 

• Did your opinion of the situation change throughout the story? Why / why not?
• Why would Sophia’s parents initially tell her that Arthur is a rat bag, and she should stay away from him?
• Do you think Arhtur was trying to annoy Sophia’s family on purpose?
• What changed when Sophia’s dad went to speak to Arthur’s parents?
• Why did Arthur’s classmates ignore him before the presentation day?
• Do you think this was fair?
• Why did this change?
• Do you think students would have then realised they were wrong to misjudge Arthur?
• How would this understanding from others have affected Arthur into the future?

 

Discuss ways that this kind of judgment happens in our own lives and ask students if they can think of a time where they felt misjudged or misunderstood and how that made them feel. Further discuss if there are times, they can recall unfairly judging someone or maybe not being as understanding as they could have been and how this may have affected others. Have willing students share their stories with the class.

 

Creating text:

Students should then write a self-reflection in their books or on a piece of paper that address the following questions:

• How might I have misjudged or misunderstood someone?
• How did this impact our relationship? (e.g. Did we have an argument? Did we miss out on learning about each other and being friends?)
• How did / can I rectify this?
• What did this teach me?

 

Assessment for/as learning:

 

Ask children to share their work with a peer who will use the two stars and a wish strategy in order to give back against the following success criteria:

• I can express an opinion about the choices made by characters in a story and justify my point of view.
• I can relate the attitudes in the story to my own life and reflect on my feelings, experiences and actions.
• I can write a self-reflection to help me form a better understanding of myself and others.