Teaching "Catcher in the Rye" Part 1

So I figured I would give some more posts about teaching a try. I want to talk about this groovy unit we are working through in my honors class on Catcher in the Rye. It turned out being a unit on perspective and point of view randomly. I think it began when we were teaching quotations and gathering evidence to make a point in our essay writing. While we were reading Catcher, I wanted to employ this skill in out literary analysis so I created one activity that fed into two others. I also scaled these activities based on how far the students were in the reading. They were assigned about 35 pages a week as we progressed.



Project One:
Students had read to page 66.
Students were split into 6 groups.
Each group was assigned a character and page numbers to look at for that character.
Faith Cavendish
The Cab Driver
Ackley
Stradlater
Spencer
Mrs. Morrow

Students are asked to gather quotes to understand what these characters think about Holden based on his actions and words. We want to ignore Holden's thoughts. We want to assume the point of view of these characters.
If you wanted to practice thesis writing, students would create a thesis of what each character thinks of Holden and why.
Then gather as a class, present each group's character, and as a class try to come up with a theory as to why Holden lies and pretends so much with other characters. When is he being authentic and why?

Project Two:
Students had read to page 104.
Students were split into 6 groups.
Each group was assigned a character and page numbers to look at for that character.
Laverne
Old Marty
Lillian Simmons
Phoebe
Allie
Jane G.

Students are asked to take Holden's point of view and work to understand what Holden thinks of these characters. They are asked to find three quotes and to create a thesis as to whether Holden dislikes or likes these characters and why. Students should not be proving if he likes the characters but why he likes them in their thesis.
Then join as a class as each group presents their thesis. Work as a class to brainstorm why and how Holden chooses who he likes and who he dislikes. What does he dislike in the world? What does he value in people? Why?

Project Three:
Students will have read to page 141.
Students will be split into 6 groups.
There are 3 passages that will be the subject of analysis. These are passages when Holden gives his opinion of himself.
"I'm a terrific liar"
"I'm a sex maniac"
"I'm a coward."
6 groups will be created and be assigned one of these passages.
1 group will prove Holden is a liar.
1 group will disprove Holden as a liar, or find passages where he tells the truth.
1 group will prove Holden is a sex maniac.
1 group will disprove Holden is a sex maniac.
1 group will prove Holden is a coward.
1 group will disprove Holden is a coward.

They will find three quotes to support their argument and create a thesis statement using these points.
The groups will present their points and we will assess what Holden thinks about himself. Is he too hard on himself? Is he not hard enough on himself? Why does he think this way?


The goal of the three activities over three weeks is to build skills in thesis writing, skills in collecting evidence and analysing quotes, and skills in understanding point of view and the complexities of a character.

My hope is that this will transition into the second half of our Catcher in the Rye unit that will discuss mental health. I want them to question Holden as a character and narrator and open up the line of thinking that something may be wrong with him.