IT+Home+Learning

Ignore the lessons posted on the English Language IT Week website. Instead, do these lessons that have been customised for your class. ** //I hope you will find the lessons engaging and enriching.//
 * You will find on this page online lessons for the first week of Term 3.

Text: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
 * Topic: Book Discussion**


 * Lesson Objectives: **
 * To gain insights into the text through critical analysis of selected excerpts.
 * To increase personal enjoyment of the text through peer discussion.
 * To gain an appreciation of Literature's relevance to life.

Go to the Home link and post your input accordingly.
 * Day 1: Book Circle Input**

In today's task, you will read several excerpts from the text (which you should already have) and do a critical analysis of Christopher's character. Read all the excertps but choose only one to for analysis. In your analysis, answer the following questions: (i) What do we learn about Christopher's character from the passage? How far is he similar or different from normal people? (ii) How has Christopher's disability affected the people around him? Craft a thesis statement to answer each question and work out 2 to 3 arguments to support your point. Each point must be clearly explained and supported by textual evidence. Post your answers in the discussion thread "Critical Reading". Each part of the analysis should be at least 250 words. Click on the discussion tab to enter the forum.
 * Day 2: Critical Reading**

__**Excerpt 1**__ //"In the bus on the way to school next morning we passed 4 red cars in a row which meant that it was a **Good Day**, so I decided not to be sad about Wellington.

Mr Jeavons, the psychologist at the school, once asked me why 4 red cars in a row made it a **Good Day**, and 3 red cars in a row made it a **Quite Good Day**, and 5 red cars in a row made it a **Super Good Day**, and why 4 yellow cars in a row made it a **Black Day**, which is a day when I don't speak to any to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks. He said that I was clearly a very logical person, so he was surprised that I shuld think like this because it wasn't very logical.

I said that I liked things to be in a nice order. And one of the things being in a nice order was to be logical, especially if those things were numbers or an argument. And that was why I had **Good Days** and **Black Days**. And I said that some people who worked in an office came out of their house in the morining and saw that the sun was shining and it made them feel happy, or they saw that it was raining and it made them feel sad, but the only difference was the weather and if they worked in an office the weather didn't have anything to do with whether they had a good day or a bad day.

I said that when Father got up in the morning he always put his trousers on before he put his socks on and it wasn't logical but he always did it that way, because he liked things in a nice order, too." (Chapter 47)//

__**Excerpt 2**__ //"All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to all them stupid, even though that is what they are. I'm meant to say that they have learning difficulties or that they have special needs. But this is stupid because everyone has learning difficulties because learning to speak French or understanding Relativity is difficult, and also everyone has special needs, like Father who has to carry a little packet of artificial sweetening tablets around with him to put in his coffee to stop him getting fat, or Mrs Peters who wears a beige-coloured hearing aid, or Siobhan who has glasses so thick they give you a headache if you borrow them, and none of these people are Special Needs, even if they have special needs.

I am going to prove that I am not stupid. Next month, I'm going to take my A level in Math and I'm going to get an A grade. No one has ever taken an A level at our school before and the headmistress, Mrs Gascoyne, didn't want me to take it at first. She said they didn't have the facilities to let us sit A levels. But Father had an argument with Mrs Gascoyne and he got really cross. Mrs Gascoyne said they didn't want to treat me differently form everyone else in the school because then everyone would want to be treated differently and it would set a precedent. And I could always do my A levels later, at 18.

I was sitting in Mrs Gascoyne's office with Father when she said these things. And Father said, "Christopher is getting a crap enough deal already, don't you think, without you shitting on him from a great height as well. Jesus, this is the one thing he is really good at." ...

Then, when I've got a degree in Maths, or Physics, or Maths and Physics, I will be able to get a job and earn lots of money and I will be able to pay someone who can look after me and cook my meals and wash my clothes, or I will get a lady to marry me and be my wife and she can look after me so I can have company and not be on my own." (Chapter 71)//

__**Excerpt 3**__ //"That was because when I was little, I didn't understand about other people having minds... It's like computers. People think computers are different from people becayse they don't have minds, even though, in the Turing test, computers can have conversations wiht people about the weather and wine and what Italy is like, and they can even tell jokes.

But the mind is a complicated machines.

And when we look at things we think we're just looking out of our eyes like we're looking out of little windows and there's a person inside our head, but we're not. We're looking at a screen inside our heads, like a computer screen. ...

And people are different from animals because they can have pictures on the screens in their heads of things which they are not looking at. They can have pictures of someone in another room. Or they can have a picture of what is going to happen tomorrow. Or they can have pictures of themselves as an astronaut. Or they can have pictures of really big numbers. Or they can have pictures of chains of reasoning when they're trying to work something out.

And that is why a dog can go to vet and have a really big operation and have metal pins sticking out of its leg but if it sees a cat it forgets that it has pins sticking out of its legs and chases after the cat. But when a person has an operation, it has a picture in its head of the hurt carrying on for months and months. And it has a picture of all the stitches in its leg an the broken bone and the pins and even if it sees a bus it has to catch it doesn't run because it has a picture in its head of the bones crunching together and the stitches breaking and even more pain." (Chapter 163)//

__**Excerpt 4**__ //"And the day after that the office where Mother worked rang and told her she couldn't come back to work because they had got someone else to do her job for her, and she was really angry and she said that it was illegal and she was going to complain, but Mr Shears said, "Don't be a blooody fool. It was a temporary job, for Christ's sake." And when Mother came into the spare room before I went to sleep, I said, "I have to go to Swinton to take my A level." And she said, "Christopher, not now. I'm getting phone calls form your father threatening to take me to court. I'm getting it in the next from Roger. It's not a good time." And I said, "But I have to go because it's been arranged and the Reverend Peters is going to invigilate." And she said, "Look. It's only an exam. I can ring the school. We can get it postponed. you can take it some other time." And I said, "I can't take it another time. it's been arranged. And I've done lots of revision. And Mrs Gascoyne said we could use a room at school." And Mother said,"Christopher, I am just about holding this together. But I am this close to losing it, all right? So just give me some..." The she stopped talking and she put her hand over her mouth and she stood up and went out of the room. And I started feeling a pain in my chest like I did on the underground because I thought I wasn't going to be able to go back to Swinton and take my A level. ... And in the afternoon Mother took me to Hampstead Heath in a taxi and we sat on the top of a hill and looked at the planes coming in to Heathrow airport in the distance. And I had a red ice lolly from an ice crean van. And Mother said she had rung Mrs Gascoyne and told her that I was going to take my Maths A level next year so I threw away my red ice lolly and I screamed for a long time and the pain in my chest hurt so much that it was hard to breathe.//

//And I hadn't eaten anything since I threw away the red ice lolly on Hampstead Heath so Mother made me a chart with stars on it like when I was very small and she filled a measuring jug with Complan and strawberry flavouring and I got a bronze star for drinking 200 ml and a silver star for drinking 400 ml and a gold star for drinking 600 ml.

And when Mother and Mr Shears argued I took the little radio from the kitchen and I went and sat in the spare room and I tuned it halfway between two stations so that all I could hear was white noise and I turned the volume up really loud and I held it against my ear and the sound filled my head and it hurt so that I couldn't feel any other sort of hurt, like the hurt in my chest, and I couldn't hear Mother and Mr Shears arguing and I couldn't think about not doing my A level or the fact that there wasn't a garden at 451c Chapter Road, London NW2 5NG or the fact that I couldn't see the stars." (Chapter 233)//

In today's task, you will compare the challenges faced by Christopher and Sam in their attempts to live "normal" lives. Although strictly speaking, Sam isn't autistic in the same way that Christopher is -- he is actually on the other extreme end of the intelligence scale, having only the IQ od a seven-year-old child -- he too, faces seemingly insurmountable difficulties in merely coping with life. Watch the trailer to get the gist of the story.
 * Day 3: Comparison with "I am Sam"**

media type="youtube" key="EROTbDCr5ag" width="425" height="350" In brief, the movie "I Am Sam" is about the story of a mentally challenged man who struggles to raise his daughter by his own efforts. He appears to be coping well until his daughter's school alerts the State Department of Social Services who, together with the court, decide that he isn't fit to raise his own child. The movie chronicles his herculean feat of winning back custody of his daughter. Does he succeed? What are the issues invovled? Just who is "society" (in the form of educators, judges, social workers etc.) helping when it takes Sam's daughter away from him? For a fuller synopsis, go to: [|I Am Sam on Wiki]

Watch all the segments below and choose one to comment on. Your comments will be structured as such: 1. In what ways are Sam's feelings and actions similar or different from that of a "normal" person? You may compare the way he goes about his work, his attitude towards people, his daughter etc. Make sure your answer has depth. 2. How is Sam then similar or different from Christopher? Be specific and concrete. Post your comments in the forum discussion (click the discussion tab at the top of the page) and post your comments in the appropriate thread. Identify yourself.

media type="youtube" key="t8RbcdnKguI" width="425" height="350" Thie first half shows us what Sam is like as a person holding down a regular job at Starbucks Coffee. The second half shows us his experience as a new father. Is he just like any regular guy?
 * First Segment: Sam's Day Job**

media type="youtube" key="YFZWI-fbjWA" width="425" height="350"

This segment shows Sam coping with his newborn daughter. What does he do right and where does he go wrong? Do you think all new parents go through the same travails? Does he have the capacity to care for the infant?
 * Second Segment: Changing Diapers**

media type="youtube" key="MA0kGwJ1CP8" width="425" height="350" This segment shows Sam fulfilling the role of fatherhood to the best of his ability. Does he fall short in any way or is he a better father than most? Is he a better parent than Christopher's father and mother?
 * Third Segment: Bringing up Lucy**

media type="youtube" key="s79AcXJcKbM" width="425" height="350" This segment shows Sam in court taking the stand to defend himself in the fight for custody of Lucy. Listen carefully to the questions posed to him as well as his answers. Is society being fair to him? Is Lucy better off living with him or with foster parents? Think of all possible implications.
 * Fourth Segment: In the Eyes of the Law**


 * Day 4: Reflections**

In today's task, you will reflect on the following questions: a) What is normal? Who is a normal human being? b) Who gets to decide on the definition of normalcy? c) Are people who are labelled "sub-normal" (Sam) or "abnormal" (Christopher) less capable of living a meaningful life? e) In what ways are you normal or not quite normal? Do not craft your reflections as a comprehension style answer to the questions posed. They are merely meant to guide your thinking. Craft your reflections as a short, unified response and it should not be less than 300 words.
 * Post your reflections to the iVLE workbin "IT Week Submission" where they will remain private.**

**Postscript** All submissions and contributions will be considered for CPs and OPs.