Lesson Plan form for  Paul Rombough/
Chateauguay Valley High School  (Tower University Grade 8 Site)
Date:   May 5th, period 5 of only45 minutes
Class:          English
Objective:   To go over last few chapters of Walkabout in search of 'messages' or themes.
Materials: 
Opening Motivational Set:   see #1
Procedure:

1.  read "death scene" on pages 94-95
--> discuss definition of Tragedy (final realization too late)
Q. -->  "What does Mary finally realize?"     A -->  Similar worlds  --> all people equal  -->  nothing to fear

2.  Show sample answers from questions from chapter 14. to discuss marking expectations.
[sample answers click here or go below]

3.  Groups of 4-5 (reading circle groups for next week)
1st -->  Vertical Table of a Timeline of 5 major scenes from 15-18, and their page numbers.  see sample below
2nd-->  Significance of each scene (The message or main point given to the reader)
3rd-->  Decide on the major point behind the book as a whole
 

4. Discuss each event as a timeline of page numbers is put on board. 
(if time, write event and the significance in a table form;  see sample below  

5.  Journal Entry:
"What is the main point of the story Walkabout, for you.  Give examples from the book and from life.

 
Followup/ Evaluation: 
Journals are due tomorrow.

 
 
 
 

Sample Answers for a couple questions from chapter 14.
 
 
4.      The Aboriginal Boy was worried that Peter and Mary did not know how to build his "burial table" (p87).  He was worried, because he knew Peter and Mary were strangers and probably didn't know his customs.  He was also worried because if he was not buried above the earth, he believed that "the serpent that slept in the bowels of the earth" would "molest" his body (p. 87).  Obviously, he believed that he would suffer after death, if he was buried in the ground.
 

6.      As the Aboriginal Boy gives his last dying, forgiving smile, Mary realizes two things, one that her world is no so very different from his, and two that she is essentially equal to him. By this point in the book Mary has seen the Boy find food and prepare it in sophisticated way, using the tools of his environment.  Remember how carefully he made the fire.  These things allowed her to see his society as more advanced than she had previously believed.  Certainly his ability to adapt to such a harsh environment must have impressed her.  His world was not so "primitive" after all.

But more than that, Mary also sees that the Boy is not to be feared, that he is just another human equal to her, who feels the same pains and hopes.  "Her inbred fears" (p95) told her that people of different races were of a different world.  She had been told Black people were inferior.  But in the Boy's dying moments her "inhibitions were sponged away,"  her fears were softly removed, and she was no longer scared of a Boy who could smile and "forgive" just like her.  In fact, I believe she was able to show him love and sympathy, and finally the respect he deserved, the respect of an equal.

 3 marks for
topic sentence

and two explanations of why he was worried
 
 
 

five marks for two ideas (topic sentences)
 
 

and two justifications each with at least one example from text

.

 
 

Chapters 15-18
Teacher's Sample Timeline of
Important Scenes and Their Thematic Significance
 
Important Scene Significance 
(in terms of "Theme" or Message)
p97-98
They discuss Heaven and the Boy.		 Yes, Heaven is for everyone, regardless of race or creed.
p99
They watch the Platypus		 A link to our prehistoric past, like the Boy (?), but still one we can understand, still an animal able to show it own natural pleasure and ability.
p102
They kill the yabbies themselves.		 They are adapting to their environment.  "Charleston was another world.
p107
They reach the top of the range and look out on the valley. 		 Paradise in the desert.  Trust (in the Boy) is proven to be worth it.
p111 on
They spend time in the valley.		 The value and complexity of this paradise.
p120
They encounter the aboriginal family		 Friendship and understanding is possible between cultures
p125
They head towards the house		 Symbol of return, but perspective has changed, and the house is now civilization, maybe a more moderate form of civilization which is able to adapt to differences