Wonder - Auggie's Development!

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to understand how the main character –Auggie – is introduced and developed in R.J. Palacio’s ‘Wonder.’ In particular, students consider Auggie’s character traits in the opening section of the text, and how these alter as the novel progresses. They also consider R.J. Palacio’s intentions in her characterisation of Auggie.

There is easily enough content for at least 2 lessons here, following a step-by-step learning journey. Children learn through:

-Playing an interactive group quiz in order secure a base-level understanding of Auggie;
-Comprehending further details about how Auggie is introduced to the reader, through close re-reading and understanding of identified extracts in Wonder;
-Trackign Auggie’s personal development throughout the novel, whilst also considering J.P Palacio’s intentions in her characterisation;
-Creating their own additional chapter, describing the next stage of Auggie’s life, using information about his character gained over the lesson;
-Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts.

Included is:
Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive;
Character tracking template;
Writing to describe helpsheet;
Comprehensive lesson plan.

Due to the nature of the lesson, it works best when it is utilised post-reading of the text. All resources are provided in Word (for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure formatting remains fixed between different computers). Word documents are in the zip file. There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with a year 6 class, however colleagues have used them for between years 5 and 8 with only minor adaptations.

All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.