Developing responses to 'The Girl of Ink and Stars' through rich discussions
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can develop my own response to 'The Girl of Ink and Stars’.
Key learning points
- Being heroic is not reflected by a character's gender, age or other protected characteristic.
- During a text, characters and their relationships change and evolve.
- Making connections & recommendations can enhance the reading experience & widen a reader’s understanding of literature.
Keywords
Character traits - Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.
Connection - How a text relates to a reader, another text or the wider world can be called a connection.
Recommendation - A recommendation is a suggestion for a text that is well-suited to a reader’s age and their interests.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that character traits remain fixed throughout a narrative.
The characters in 'The Girl of Ink and Stars' are complex. Governor Adori's decision in the climax of the story is very different to decisions he made at the beginning of the text.
Teacher tip
Pupils must have read the text in advance of this lesson. When sharing recommendations, make connections to texts that you have read with the class and texts read independently by pupils. Allow pupils to make their own peer-to-peer recommendations.
Equipment
You need a copy of the 2016 Chicken House edition of ‘The Girl of Ink and Stars’, written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, illustrated by Helen Crawford-White, for this lesson.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
Depiction or discussion of serious crime
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which character's perspective do we read from in 'The Girl of Ink and Stars'?
Q2.Who is the illustrator of 'The Girl of Ink and Stars'?
Q3.What is the name of the island that Isabella is trying to protect?
Q4.Match the fictional place names in Isabella's world to their real-life counterparts.
Egypt
America
Africa
Q5.True or False? Governor Adori was aware of the myth of Yote being real.
Q6.At the end of the text, who does Isabella dedicate the tree to that is the final landmark on her map?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the keywords to their definitions.
the qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting
how a text relates to a reader, another text or the wider world
a suggestion for a text that is suited to a reader's age and interests
Q2.Match the character's name to who they are in the text.
Pablo’s mother and the Riosse’s neighbour.
The daughter of the leader of the Banished.
The leader of Governor Adori’s guards.
Q3.True or false? Lots of Isabella’s character traits and skills are also shown in her father.
Q4.Which of the following might be considered heroic character traits that Isabella demonstrates in the text?
Q5.True or false? Character traits always remain fixed throughout a narrative.
Q6.Match the type of connection to what it means.
the content of the text relates to personal experiences and feelings
the content of the text relates to another text
the content relates to events and issues in the real world
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Developing responses to 'The Girl of Ink and Stars' through rich discussions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Developing responses to 'The Girl of Ink and Stars' through rich discussions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the 'Girl of Ink and Stars': book club unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.