Back when I had time to read the New York Times every Sunday and devour Harpers Bazaar every month, I ran across two articles that sparked an idea for how to help students see what is really important to a character. (Shout out to my rambunctious boys who limit leisurely Sunday reading to Curious George and Brown Bear, Brown Bear.)
The NYT article examined the BBC’s “A History of the World in 100 Objects” radio series and book, which is exactly what it sounds like: historians, drawing from the British Museum’s collection, select the 100 most important objects to represent the world. Each object’s connection and importance is explained and added to a database.
The newspaper invited readers to create a 50-piece collection to represent the narrative of New York and the website subsequently curated a collection.
from The British Museum
Harpers Bazaar did a "Portraits of the Artists" series where a handful of designers selected their favorite objects to represent themselves-Lagerfeld chose a collar and glasses, Donatella Versace selected sky high heels and a few over the top rings-and the chosen objects were organized to form sculptures to represent each designer. Viewers can, in an instant, match designers to art pieces because of the iconic nature of the objects.
Karl Lagerfeld, in essential objects
Donatella Versace, pure glam
Both of these projects ask, What is essential? What is important to understanding this time, this place, this person?
These are all questions readers should ask themselves. Being able to boil down a narrative or a character into a few symbols shows a deep and critical reader. This is the type of reader I want to curate in my classroom, so I brought the 50 Objects to Represent… to life.
After reading Small Steps by Peg Kehret, my students worked collaboratively to create a list of the 50 most important objects to represent the main character.
I allowed them to include people (her family and classmates) and animals (her dog) as well as any other object deemed important. As they decided on objects, they reflected on both the whole book and the smallest of details. Their discussion was nuanced and, as they worked in groups to select objects not everyone would have on their lists (Scattergories style), they dug deep to find symbolism in the things Peg held dear.
The initial 50
After their initial selection of 50 objects, I had them narrow down their list to the 5 most essential objects to represent Peg.
This led to even greater discussions because they had to eliminate 45 objects and work to justify their choices.
Just when they thought we were finished, I told them to *gasp* select the single most important object to represent the protagonist.
The conversations were incredible as the students made a case for or against certain objects. “Yes, her wheelchair was important, but is it the most important object for understanding her?” “Her journey started and ended at her school, could that be the most important object to symbolize her pain and then recovery?”
Having students select objects requires critical thinking and then asking them to narrow down their list allows them to flex those muscles even more. Their explanations which accompanied their final choice were complex, nuanced, and demonstrated a multidimensional understanding of this character. Isn’t that exactly what we want to cultivate in our classroom of readers?
This lesson is ready to go for your classroom right here!
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