This unit plan provides activities for teaching Lois Lowry's novel The Giver. Students will explore big questions about individual freedom and societal control. They will create a fictional utopian community and discuss topics like family, diversity, euthanasia and feelings. Activities include chapter readings, character descriptions, setting analyses and a book cover project. Students will consider how the community uses language and discuss themes in short essays.

1. Unit Plan

2. Background
The Giver is a gripping story that draws the reader into a
unique world with disturbingly close echoes of our own.
It asks deep and penetrating questions about how we live
together in a society.
Big Questions
 What must we give up, for example, in order to live in
peace?
 How much should the individual loss of himself or
herself for the collective good?
 Can we ignore and minimize pain in our lives--both
physical and emotional--to live happier existences?

3.  Create a "perfect" community, giving it a name, a system of
government, a physical description, and an account of how its
people spend their days. Discuss how that community would
change and grow. What roles would history and memories of
painful events play in the growth of the community? What
would have to be added to our own society in order to make it
perfect? What would be lost in this quest for perfection?
 Collect your ideas and present it on the poster paper provided,
you may convey your ideas in words and/or pictures. You need to
be ready to present your poster at the end of the period.
 The presentation will be recorded and embedded in our class
website.

4.  In your allocated “chapter” groups you will be responsible
for adding the following to class website:
 You will record and upload a reading of the chapter. You
will need to rehearse this as a group, each reading different
sections or roles.
To record: Go to http://vocaroo.com/ record your chapter, click
on ‘Click here to save…’ and click on ‘Embed’ and copy the code
(highlight, ctrl + c) and I can show you how to add to embed this
in our class website.
 Underneath the recording you will write a brief summary
of the chapter.

5.  In the centre of the page draw a picture of Jonas and
underneath the picture write four adjectives
describing him. For each adjective find a quote from
the book that supports it.
Pick four other characters from the book, and around
the drawing description of Jonas include the following:
 drawing
 their name
 their relationship with Jonas
 a thing that happened to them in the story

6. Select three settings from the story. For each do the
following:
 describe the setting
 find a quotation about the setting
 note one thing that happens there
 explain why it is important to the story

7. As a class we will discuss the following ideas:
 Family and Relationships (Parental)
 Diversity
 Euthanasia
 Feelings

8.  Family and Relationships (Parental) -- In The
Giver, each family has two parents, a son, and a
daughter. The relationships are not biological, but are
developed through observation and a careful handling
of personality. In our own society, the make up of
family is under discussion. How are families defined?
Are families the foundations of a society, or are they
continually open for new definitions?

9.  Diversity -- The Giver pictures a community in which
every person and his or her experience is precisely the
same. The climate is controlled, and competition has
been eliminated in favour of a community in which
everyone works only for the common good. What
advantages might "Sameness" yield for contemporary
communities? In what ways do our differences make us
distinctly human? Is the loss of diversity worthwhile?

10.  Euthanasia -- Underneath the placid calm of Jonas'
society lies a very orderly and inexorable system of
euthanasia, practiced on the very young who do not
conform, the elderly, and those whose errors threaten
the stability of the community. What are the
disadvantages and benefits to a community that
accepts such a vision of euthanasia?

11.  Feelings -- Jonas remarks that loving another person
must have been a dangerous way to live. Describe the
relationship between Jonas and his family, his friends
Asher and Fiona, and the Giver. Are any of these
relationships dangerous? Perhaps the most dangerous
is that between Jonas and the Giver--the one
relationship built on love. Why is that relationship
dangerous and what does the danger suggest about the
nature of love?

12.  Lois Lowry helps create an alternate world by having the
community use words in a very special way. Though that
world stresses what it calls "precision of language," in fact it
is built upon language that is not precise, but that
deliberately clouds meaning. Consider what Jonas's
community really means by words such as: released (p. 2),
feelings (p. 4), animals (p. 5), Nurturer (p. 7), Stirrings (p.
37), replacement child (p. 44), and Elsewhere (p. 78).
 Define each of the seven words according the meaning they
have in ‘The Giver’

13.  Examine the ways that Jonas's community uses
euphemism to distance itself from the reality of what
is called "Release." How does our own society use
euphemism to distance the realities of death, bodily
functions, aging, and political activities? What
benefits and disadvantages are there to such a use of
language?
 Look up euphemism in the dictionary and write out
the definition. Explain why you think the community
in The Giver use euphemism.

14. Create a new cover or a book trailer for the book ‘The
Giver’. For the illustration, select an idea/theme from the
text (see above for ideas).
Include the following things:
 title
 author
 illustration(s) (that conveys the idea/theme)
 a quote from the story (that supports the
illustration/idea/theme)

15. Select one of the following questions:
1. Choose two main characters from the novel. In 100
words, describe the relationship between these two
characters.
2. Describe two important ideas from the novel and
how they are presented (through events, actions,
setting and characters).
3. Choose an important event from the novel. Describe
what happens and explain why this event is
important (link to development of character, theme
or story line).

16. Paragraph One: Introduction
State title, author and outline of your answer
Paragraph Two: Answering first part of the question
Eg. Describing the two character or
Describing two important ideas (themes) or
Describing an important event
Support your discussion with quotes from the novel
Paragraph Three: Answering the second part of the question
E.g. Describing relationship of two characters or
How ideas are presented or
Why event is important
Support your discussion with quotes from the novel