Analysis: Fun Lesson Plans for The Hunger Games

This is a book to instruct a teacher how to use The Hunger Games in the classroom with a basis in a dramatic play form.

It's an absolutely brilliant idea as long as you don't have problems with parents objecting and your students are extremely well behaved. If you are missing one or the other then the ideas won't work.

There are four lesson plans, core standards material and very good instructions.

The first lesson plan has students making a documentary by interviewing characters in the book/movie. This involves the students staying in character, both those being interviewed and those doing the interviewing.

The teacher guides this and comments on the results.

Lesson plan 2 involves the use of tableau (where people stand in one position and don't move) where the students focus on decisions the characters made and then move into positions to show what the character is doing/going through. Again, instructions for evaluation are included.

Lesson plan 3 has the students examining the author's true intent with the students being actors, directors or bloggers.

Lesson plan 4 is to illustrate a character going through a major decision. On all the lessons students need to be able to back up what they are doing with direct reference to the book, usually involving being able to point to what certain characters said.

The book ends with information about the author himself.

I know that if I were a student in his class I would absolutely love doing something like this. A student could have a lot of fun doing it but at the same time learn a whole lot.