Fragments+of+Mister+Pip

One of the best things about //Mister Pip// was Mr. Watts' idea of recreating //Great Expectations// by having the students remember different parts of it and talk about it in class. I thought this was a brilliant idea to get the kids remembering the book, and examining it. I thought this might be an interesting way to begin discussion about the novel in the classroom. The teacher would instruct students to put their books aside, and either in groups or as a class, come up with fragments of //Mister Pip.// The novel is so vivid and the scenes come alive so well that I think this would be a good exercise. In addition, it would put students in the book in a way, by giving them a task the the novel's characters had to do. The idea is to create a discussion about the book started. After one student offers up a part of the book, they can talk about why they remembered it, and how it affects the story on a larger level.

This works well as the first activity for a day, to refresh students memory of the text. This moment occurs almost perfectly halfway through the book, and would work well as a mid-novel review. The students will almost certainly be able to remember the recent destruction of all the houses in the village. Do they remember how the book started? How were characters introduced? What is a quote which leaps out at them? Extending the exercise, students could be allowed to pick up their books again and select their favorite quote based on what they were able to recall in groups. These quotes could be collected on the wall. If chosen well, the class should be able to refer to them to conjure up key moments.

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