Lesson Plan: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

This lesson plan was designed specifically for 8th grade students, but these lesson plan activities and discussion questions can be adapted to cater to older grades of students, special education, and inclusion classes.

Step 1 - Setting the Scene: 

It is important that the students have the ability to connect the themes, events, and personalities of the characters to themselves. Studies have shown that if a student is able to make some sort of personal connection to a piece of literature, they are more likely to carry something away with them from the writing. 

A)The first thing that I do with my students is called the “MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCIETY FREEWRITE”. This is a basic timed freewrite about their personal thoughs and feelings about the social groupings at their school. Freewrite means that grammar and spelling are NOT graded…the idea is to allow the kids to get as many of their uncensored thoughts out as possible, and concerning themselves with mechanics will only slow them down. The directions at the top of this sheet are as follows: 

DIRECTIONS: In every organized grouping of people, social cliques exist. Think about the social groups (cliques) that exist at our school. Where do you fit into this structure, and do you feel that your placement in this category/group is a fair and accurate one? Why or why not? Things to consider (I put these in bullet points below the directions):
What specific social groupings exist in our school?
What characteristics does each social grouping possess?
Who makes up the criteria for membership in different social groupings?
How easy/difficult is it to get out of a social group that you have been placed in?
What do people need to do to change their social status? Are they easily accepted into a new one?