Speak+-+Laurie+Halse+Anderson

=//Speak// by Laurie Halse Anderson=

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High school is hard enough under normal circumstances; but for Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, it is nothing short of a waking nightmare. On her first day of school, she sums up her situation: "I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with. I am Outcast" (Anderson, 4). =====

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It wasn’t always like this for Melinda, however. As recent as a month earlier, Melinda was a normal girl. She and her friends were sneaking into a high school party, drinking beer, and dancing with senior boys. At the beginning of that night, it looked like Melinda would enter high school with her close-knit group of friends still intact, and even a boyfriend to top it all off. But, as the night unfolds, Melinda’s world collapses around her and, when she calls the cops and breaks up the party, she is thrust into a new world: the world of a social pariah. =====

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Faced with the entire school hating her, her best friends deserting her, and the burden of a secret she can barely accept herself, Melinda seeks refuge in her art class, an old janitor’s closet, and silence. She explains her self-imposed muteness as such, "It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say” (Anderson, 9).﻿ =====

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Through Melinda, the silent observer to the throes of high school, we get a unique perspective on a world that most people would probably like to forget. The sarcastic, removed voice Laurie Halse Anderson creates for Melinda is a perfect vehicle for dealing with both the deep and the absurd. //Speak// deals with a wide variety of issues, ensuring that everyone can pull some meaning out and find something to relate to. If nothing else, we can all learn from the realization Melinda comes to at the end:﻿ =====

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﻿"IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding… And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow" (Anderson, 198). =====


 * Recommendations for Teachers**

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//Speak// can relate to anybody’s experience so it’s good if you can the students to experience the book through certain activities like brainstorming, discussions, journals, problem-solving activities, self assessments, personal book reviews, hearing from the author, and the movie. =====

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//Brainstorming//: Have them think about situations that are happening in their high school or constant problems that are always happening in high schools. List all the different problems on the board. Their main purpose throughout this book reading is to figure out what they can do to help stop these problems. =====

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//Journals//: Melinda had to keep a lot of her feelings on the inside, with this assignment the students will learn to express their opinions, surprises, and experiences while reading the book. Of course as a teacher you should have some questions that can be included in their journals but most of it is their experience with the book. They can try to predict what they think is going to happen in the next chapter or try to relate to Melinda’s situation. This is just a small little tool that will gauge them through their reading. They are becoming the reader and thinking about it after they read. =====

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//Discussions//: This book deals with a lot of decision making. You can pinpoint the decisions made by the character (Melinda) and in a large or small group discuss the consequences or the reason she made those choices. This type of discussion can range from all different topics such as friendships (cliques), family relationships, and depression. All these topics are key ideas within this book that will stick out to the reader and will be easy to expand on. =====

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//Problem-Solving Activities//: There are a lot of scenes in this book such as the party scene where the character is faced with a situation. You can bring your students into the book by placing them in the situation (role play). The students can be presented with a scenario such as the graffiti case where Melinda adds to the graffiti in the school’s bathroom knowing that the school had a problem with graffiti. In their role play they have to try to find ways to solve these problems. This activity puts their previous words, which were mentioned in the brainstorming activity, into practice. =====

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//Self Assessment//: Melinda eventually becomes strong enough to say no to her violator and becomes whole again. A lot of things happen to students because they don’t know what they value. Students don’t do self-assessments often on themselves. In here Melinda re-evaluates herself from her experience and does something that makes her feel much better about herself. In this self-assessment students will see how they deal with problems and how they can improve their problem-solving skills. In this case they need to figure out what is most important to them =====

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//Hearing from the author//: The author of //Speak//, Lurie Halse Anderson, in response to her readers wrote a poem called //[|Listen]//. You can go to YouTube and listen to her read it. In this poem she includes the responses that she got from her readers. This is a great way to show your students how many people responded to the book and how many people are actually going through situations such as Melinda’s. This poem will allow the students to listen to the voices of other people. If you want the lyrics to that poem you can access them through a pdf file called [|Lurie Halse Anderson] In that pdf file you will also find some engaging discussion questions. You can also introduce you students to her [|blog] page so that can know what the author is all about. =====

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//Movie //: The movie [|//Speak//]came out in 2004. If you have time, you can watch it as a class. It can be watched just for fun or you can have a small discussion follow it comparing the movie to the book =====


 * About Laurie Halse Anderson**



Best known for her young adult novels like //Speak, Catalyst, Prom, Twisted,// and //Winter Girls,// Anderson was born in October of 1961 and first fell in love with writing in second grade. Like many writers, she started as a freelance reporter for newspapers and magazines. From there, Anderson moved to writing picture books for young children. She still enjoys dabbling in this sort of writing today and has a couple more picture books in mind according to her website.

Anderson's main focus for the next decade or so is really young adult novels and historical fiction. This is where much of her passion for writing lies. When asked in an interview why she chooses to write about young adult issues such as depression, loneliness, and other serious and non-serious adolescent problems, Anderson replied that she feels that many adults avoid talking about these problems with the youth, or cannot talk about them honestly. Her goal is to simply be honest with what young people are dealing with and show them that "there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

Multimedia (Video or Audio) Below is a link to a conversation with the author. [|Conversation with Laurie Halse Anderson] [|Speak Movie Trailer] media type="youtube" key="uSCzahFXMrs" width="425" height="350" Laurie Halse Anderson's official website, which includes a skype page. [|Author website] Artistic Digital Interpretaion of //Speak// media type="youtube" key="32C7uNYu0xI" height="390" width="640" Additional Resources:

[|Mad Woman in the Forest] Laurie Halse Anderson’s Personal homepage. This has pertinent information about the author, the books, and even her own personal blog. [|Common Sense Media] This is a book review of // Speak //rating its educational value, age appropriateness, questionable themes, among other book content. [|Teacher Vision - Journal Lesson Plan] // Speak // is a good novel to teach students to journal. This is a lesson plan on journaling. [|Teacher Vision - Art Lesson Plans] Melinda finds sanctuary in her high school art class. This would be a good book to explore an artistic lesson plan. This website gives many options [|K-State Help Yourself] Kansas State University’s Help Yourself is a guide to surviving sexual assault and rape. This could be a valuable resource to help students deal with the reality of rape. [|Amazon] Other books by Laurie Halse Anderson available for purchase. [|eHow] One problem that Melinda faced was bullying. eHow gives us a look at how to get students to show respect. [|IMDB] The International Movie Database gives us information about the movie based on the book. [|RAINN] The Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network shows statistics on rape and assult [|The Best Notes - Study Guide] This is a study guide on the book // Speak //.

-- Ashlie Spisak, Danielle Ballantyne, Colleen Atkinson, Cathie Jean, Katherine Dobson