Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson Read-a-loud 5-6

“Speak” is Anderson best known book winning many awards for her ability to talk about subjects that many other adults would not dare to talk about. Growing up Anderson has dealt with her own struggles, and her writings serve as a form of therapy for her to express herself and her thoughts. Throughout her books we can see her give her main characters similar therapeutic devices, such as Melinda in “Speak” who learns to express herself through her artwork. Depression, seclusion, and sexual assault are just some of the topics that come up throughout this book that the main character is struggling with. As Melinda learns to deal with these dark topics we see her find her voice and speak out and stand up for herself by the end of the book making it a great book for all students to read and learn that there is always hope.

Reading Level: 6.6

Vocabulary: Wheezes, waste case, orthodontia, indoctrination, fondly, morphing, monarch, and inconspicuous.

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

This is an excellent website the provides all different types of information on the book including the characters, and setting. Through the different links on the page, students can click on “theme” or “characters” and use this information to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the text!

This is also a great website to use in your classroom if your looking to extend the text. It talks about the author and other books that she has written, providing a link you can click on to gain more information. This would be a great website to use during an activity where students look at the writing style and voice that the author uses throughout her books.

Activities:

Pre-Reading:

Before students read “Speak” an initiation should be done where the student and teacher talk about the vocabulary and discuss it’s meaning in context to the book. Students could create a vocube to help themselves better understand what they will be reading.

During Reading:

While students are independantly reading, they can look for different ways that the main character is dealing with the stress in her life. Students can be scaffolded with questions such as “how does art play an important role in the book,” and “how do her friends help her overcome her obstacles?”

After Reading:

Once finished, students can make a text to self connection, and have an activity where they illustrate and depict a situation that they were once in that left them feeling stressed. How they dealt with it, can be compared to how Melinda dealt with her problems in “Speak.”

Anderson, L. H. (2006). Speak (Platinum ed.). London: Penguin Group.