Teaching The View from Saturday

Instructions for You

Objective: One of the coolest things about The Souls, besides the fact that they are all really book-smart, is that they also have specific interests that make them each unique. Whether it's Phantom of the Opera, sea turtles, or drinking tea, their individual passions make the characters interesting.

What keeps your students ticking? What are their individual interests (maybe even obsessions, but you don't have to use that word)? This activity will allow your students to create a collection of trivia questions on a topic of their choice and then "stump" their classmates, though in actuality, their classmates will be learning about and from their peers. Boo ya—secret learning for the win.

This lesson can take anywhere from one to three periods, depending on how you decide to have students "play" their knowledge bowl questions. You can use this assignment at any point in reading the book.

Materials Needed: large notecards and markers; poster board (optional)

Step 1: It's obvious that The Souls know a lot about a lot of subjects. But we all have interests, passions, or topics that inspire us to hold a ton of info inside our heads. Ask your students to write down one topic in which they consider themselves an expert. It could be anything from baseball stats, stamps, Civil War battles (hey, you never know), or even—dare we mention him?—Justin Bieber. Okay, now we can move on.

Step 2: Give your students ten minutes to write down everything they know about their topic. And we do mean everything, even if it seems ridiculous or trivial—there's a reason the game is called "Trivial Pursuit," after all. Once they are done listing facts, have them do a little fact checking on trustworthy sites (take this chance to remind them that a trustworthy site Wikipedia is not). They should aim for five interesting or obscure facts, all verified.

Step 3: Pass out notecards and tell your students to write one fact on each, along with a clue for it. Then have students arrange their trivia in order from easiest to most difficult—assessing this is up to them—and mark the other side with monetary values, Jeopardy!-style ($200, $400, $600, $800, $1000). Put your students in groups of five and have them attach their notecards to the wall (or poster board, if you'd prefer), giving each column an appropriate title. In the end, there should be five columns, with five clues in each, going from easiest to hardest.

Step 4: It's game time, but this is a game with a twist. As much as students are going to try to figure out each other's clues, the winner isn't the team that gets the most right answers—it's the team that people score the least against, that stumps their opponent most successfully. Mwah ha ha…

If you're pressed for time, have two groups play one another (they'll need to pick a scorekeeper), but if you have more time, have each group take turns trying to stump the entire class (in this case, you should probably be scorekeeper). In either case, game play involves teams taking turns picking clues and doing their darndest to answer them until all clues have been turned over.

Step 5: Woo—that was fun, right? To wrap up, and tie this all back into the text, share the following questions your students:

• What is one thing you learned about someone that you didn't know before this? 
• Did you find you had something in common with someone? What?
• Did you learn anything about yourself from doing this? 
• Was any of the trivia that you learned valuable to you in any way? Why or why not?
• Is this kind of activity fun for you? Why do you think The Souls like it so much?
• The Souls enjoy competition—it's a theme in the book—but how do you feel about competition? Are there different styles of competition?
• What do you think it is that brings The Souls together in the book?
• How does knowing seemingly random stuff make The Souls likely/believable friends?

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: One of the coolest things about The Souls, besides the fact that they are all really book-smart, is that they also have specific interests that make them each unique. Whether it's Phantom of the Opera, sea turtles, or drinking tea, their individual passions make the characters interesting.

What keeps you and your classmates ticking? What are your individual interests (maybe even obsessions)? This activity will allow you to create a collection of trivia questions on a topic of your choice and then "stump" your classmates. And hey—you'll probably learn something about your peers in the process. You never know who you might have something in common with…

Step 1: It's obvious that The Souls know a lot about a lot of subjects. But we all have interests, passions, or topics that inspire us to hold a ton of info inside our heads. Write down one topic you consider yourself an expert in. It can be anything from baseball stats, stamps, Civil War battles (hey, you never know), or even—dare we mention him?—Justin Bieber. If possible, pick something that not everyone will know a lot about.

Step 2: Take ten minutes to write down everything you know about your topic. And we do mean everything, even if it seems ridiculous or trivial—there's a reason the game is called "Trivial Pursuit," after all. Once you are done listing facts, do a little fact checking on trustworthy sites. (Pro tip: Wikipedia is not a trustworthy site.) Your task is to collect five interesting or obscure facts, each of them verified.

Step 3: Your teacher will give you notecards, and on the back of each, write one fact as well as a clue to go with it. Then arrange your trivia in order from easiest to most difficult—assessing this is up to you—and mark the other side with monetary values, Jeopardy!-style ($200, $400, $600, $800, $1000). You'll be put into groups of five, and together, you'll arrange your notecards in columns, giving each column an appropriate title. In the end, there should be five columns, with five clues in each, going from easiest to hardest.

Step 4: It's game time, but this is a game with a twist. As much as you are going to try to figure out each other's clues, the winner isn't the team that gets the most right answers—it's the team that people score the least against, that stumps their opponent most successfully. Mwah ha ha…

Game play involves teams taking turns picking clues and doing their darndest to answer them until all clues have been turned over. Someone will need to be the scorekeeper in order to determine the winner. And now, without further ado, let the games begin.

Step 5: Woo—that was fun, right? To wrap up, consider the following questions:

• What is one thing you learned about someone that you didn't know before this? 
• Did you find you had something in common with someone? What?
• Did you learn anything about yourself from doing this? 
• Was any of the trivia that you learned valuable to you in any way? Why or why not?
• Is this kind of activity fun for you? Why do you think The Souls like it so much?
• The Souls enjoy competition—it's a theme in the book—but how do you feel about competition? Are there different styles of competition?
• What do you think it is that brings The Souls together in the book?
• How does knowing seemingly random stuff make The Souls likely/believable friends?