Generations of students remember reading Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s classic tale of adolescent boys marooned on an island.  But this year’s eighth graders are likely to have particularly vivid memories of the novel, thanks to middle school teacher Dianna Newton’s multifaceted exploration of its gripping and timely themes. 

To generate excitement about the novel, Newton designed a series of activities around Chapter 4, in which the character of Jack paints his face in preparation for hunting a pig.

First, students read Golding’s description of how Jack paints his face:

"Jack planned his new face.  He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then he rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw." 
 
Then, each student colored in an image of a face (drawn by art teacher Fred Kogan) to depict Jack’s “mask.”  They went downstairs to Lorrie Jones’ pre-K class, where the four and five-year-olds, who also have been studying masks, painted the eighth graders’ faces with red, black and white paint. 

“While the students enjoyed these activities,” says Newton, “it was also a way for me to check reading comprehension and student thinking, based on how they colored the faces.  Students were engaged and excited about the reading because of the activities.  As a teacher, I couldn’t ask for more.”

But Newton didn’t stop there.  She incorporated poetry into the exploration of masks by having her students read and analyze Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask.”  Then, students compared and contrasted why Jack wore the mask in Lord of the Flies with the reasons conveyed by the narrator in the poem.  “Our discussions were rich, and students offered many insightful observations and connections,” says Newton.

Newton pushed her students further by asking them to think critically and use a quotation about masks to explore Jack’s motivations and needs for the mask.  Students wrote vignettes from Jack's point of view.  They also delved into when and why they themselves wear masks and wrote personal reflections.  These final writing tasks yielded particularly powerful and self-aware responses, a few of which are included here.

“The variety of work and Tr. Dianna's approach are perfect examples of differentiated instruction at its best,” says Terry Kessel, middle school director.  “Further, the high level of achievement, understanding and engagement show how effective these kinds of lessons can be.” 

 

Newton is characteristically self-effacing about her Lord of the Flies unit.  “The activities were designed to create rich, meaningful and experiential connections for the students – to the text and to the students themselves – to enrich and enhance their understanding and their writing,” she says.  In other words, the goal was to get the students truly engaged with the compelling themes of the novel.  All evidence – masked middle schoolers in the dining hall, paint-smudged pre-K students, heartfelt student writing - indicates that Dianna Newton achieved her goal.

 

Those pre-K students know how to party!  Ask anyone who witnessed their Dia de los Muertos