Out of My Mind

Out of My Mind 

Out of My Mind

By: Sharon M. Draper

Copyright: 2012

Published by: Athenem Books for Young Readers

Genre: Diversity Text-Disability Experience

My rating: 

Grade Level Equivalent: Grade 4.3

Lexile Measure: 700L

Eleven-year-old Melody wants nothing more in life than to be heard by her peers.   With her exceptional memory and the smartest kid in her whole school, her inability to speak out loud limits her from being accepted and acknowledged by others.  Constantly being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind, until she makes a remarkable discovery that changes her life forever.  You will be able to put yourself in Melody’s mind and shoes as she takes her journey of heartbreak and hope.  

Suggested Delivery:

Small group discussions, independent

Words to Describe book:

Hopeful

Emotional

Intense

Compelling

Courageous

Useful Electronic Resources:

First-Person Narration Lesson

Great resource and lesson plan about analyzing the use of first-person narration.  The lesson outlines step-by-step instructions of how to best teach this book.  There is an interactive handout that allows students to read a section of the novel and then fill in the outline with character, conflict and theme evidence, what we learn from living with a disability (with regards to the quotes found) and what information the quotes give us as Melody as first-person narrator.  This outline and lesson plan is very easy to follow and helps students deeply understand the text as well as narration strategies. 

Author's Blog

This source is directly from Sharon Draper’s blog.  This is a study guide and reading guide with various activities and projects that students can work on while reading the text.  There are many discussion questions that the students can talk about in discussion groups or write about as well as various writing topics and projects that the students can work on after reading the novel.  This source is very helpful and provides the teacher with a lot of interactive and creative projects that students can work on and the CCSS are also laid out with each project.

Interactive Storyboard

This resource is not something that can only be used for Out of My Mind, but for many different texts and other subject areas as well.  This resource is an interactive storyboard that students can create to outline various parts of the novel.  The students can create a story map, a character map, communication boards, vocabulary storyboard, a conflict, a comparison, and many more storyboards about the novel.  This resource has created a few storyboards about Out of My Mind for students to reference and learn the different features that can be included in these boards.  This is a very fun activity that gets students to use technology, write and use evidence from the text!

Teaching Opportunities:

Key Vocabulary:

Sedative (16)- Taken orally to induce sleep or calm the body down

Cerebral Palsy (22)- A condition marked by impaired muscle coordination and or/ other disabilities, caused by damage to the brain before or at birth

Coax (33)- Persuade someone gradually or by flattery to do something

Indignation (158)- Anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment

Convulsion (165)- A sudden, violent, irregular movement of a limb or of the body; seizure

Roils (284)- Make a liquid turbid or muddy by disturbing the sediment

Reading Strategy Suggestions to increase literal and/ or inferential comprehension:

Pre-Reading Strategy

Book Trailer

This video is a book trailer for the novel, Out of My Mind and will help build students’ interest in the topic.  This video could also spark the discussion of what you would do if you could not talk or walk.  The students can begin to put themselves in the shoes of Melody before reading the novel.

During-Reading Strategy

First-Person Perspective

The students can use this outline to find evidence from the text and expand on the quotes they find by explaining how the quote helps you to see disability differently as well as the information we get about Melody from her first-person perspective.  This outline can help students to come to class prepared to discuss and can help to lead a discussion. 

Post-Reading Strategy

Popcorn review/share- quickly share responses to questions with a whole group, students will say an answer quickly and pass it on to someone else.

This would be helpful for this novel because there are a lot of different questions that can be asked.  This could also work where the students can choose the types of questions they want to ask, to spark motivation, and students can respond quickly. 

Writing Activity

Students will respond to a discussion question about a character’s point of view:

Put yourself in Melody’s chair. Write a paper from Melody’s point of view that tells what it would be like to be Melody for one day. Write about your feelings and frustrations.