A Thousand Splendid Suns

[Perla]

A Thousand Splendid Suns takes place in various cities of the Middle East and focuses on the Afghan culture. As you may know, women in Afghanistan do not have the same rights as men and are often mistreated. This is the case Mariam who is married off to an abusive man Rasheed after her mother dies. During their relationship, they care for Laila who's parents were killed during the war between the Soviets and Afghanistan. Laila is in love with Tariq, but was conviced by someone hired by Rasheed that he is dead. Rasheed marries Laila and have a child together (who is really Tariq's son). Afterwards, they send their child to an orphanage when Rasheed's shop burns down.Mariam and Laila run away, but are arrested and returned to Rasheed. Mariam is executed by the Taliban after trying to protect Laila from Rasheed. In the end Laila inherets money from Mariam's family and ends up rebuilding the orphanage that had her son.

I would use this book with sixth grade because it does have situations of abuse that may not be suitable for younger students. I am sure in sixth grade they would be able to handle those situations and analyze how the events affect every character. For my reading TEK I would want the students to predict what is going to happen next after we get to a significant part of the book. I would want them to describe to me how the characters are feeling and why they think that. I would have them use their point of view as if they were looking inside of Rasheed's and Mariam's house through a window how would they describe their relationship. I would use the following TEK:

§110.18 (b)(6) (6) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

(A) summarize the elements of plot development (e.g., rising action, turning point, climax, falling action, denouement) in various works of fiction;

(B) recognize dialect and conversational voice and explain how authors use dialect to convey character; and

(C) describe different forms of point-of-view, including first- and third-person

For writing I would want to go back to the window activity and have them write their observations of them looking through a window. They could write about the characters emotions, their body language, what they think they are saying and even how they would help improve the situation if they could.

§110.18.(b)(15) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are expected to:

(A) write imaginative stories that include:

(i) a clearly defined focus, plot, and point of view;

(ii) a specific, believable setting created through the use of sensory details