Having students choose a favorite quote or scene from the book allows them to express which parts of the story resonated with them on a personal level. In this way, students are making a text-to-self connection that demonstrates their understanding of the characters and their development or the themes of the novel. Students can share their storyboards afterwards and have a short discussion about what the quotes mean to them.
Some students may end up choosing the same quote, but have different perspectives. This is always interesting for students to see and can open up a discussion as to how not everyone can read the same lines in the same way based on their own perspectives and personal experiences.
“I never had a brain until Freak came along and let me borrow his for a while, and that's the truth, the whole truth. The unvanquished truth, is how Freak would say it, and for a long time it was him who did the talking”
“Books are like truth serum - if you don't read, you can't figure out what's real."
"Sure it will hurt. But so what? Pain is just a state of mind. You can think your way out of anything, even pain."
“Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
“Remembering is just an invention of the mind . . . It means that if you want to, you can remember anything, whether it happened or not . . . You don't need a time machine if you know how to remember.”
"You ever notice how long it takes for things to happen when you know they're supposed to happen? My fake Walkman has a built-in alarm, and I set it for two in the morning and wear the headphones to bed, but before you can wake up you have to fall asleep, and I never DO fall asleep because I keep waiting for the alarm to go off.”
"I could tell you all the medical terminology," she says. "But what finally happened is his heart just got too big for his body."
“Expel the object!" Freak shouts. "Regurgitate, you big moron!" and he gives me another thump and I cough up this yucky mess, but I'm still laughing so hard my nose is running.”
“MASSIVES, fat heads who assume that television tells the truth"
“BOOK, a four-letter word for truth serum"
“READING, beaming up into books"
“LIBRARY, where they keep the truth serum, and the magic carpets"
“Freak is still holding tight to my shoulders and when they ask him for his name, he says, "We're Freak the Mighty, that's who we are. We're nine feet tall, in case you haven't noticed." That's how it started, really, how we got to be Freak the Mighty, slaying dragons and fools and walking high above the world"
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Due Date:
Objective: Create a storyboard that identifies your favorite quote or scene in Freak the Mighty. Illustrate your quote and write what it means to you.
Student Instructions:
Requirements: Quote or Scene, Illustration, 1-2 sentences about what it means to you.
Recommend the students to select a topic or two writings written by different authors conveying the same meaning. For instance, talking about sacrifice, friendship or freedom. There are many writers who have addressed these same topics from different perspectives so students can perform their research and select pieces that interest them the most.
Ask the students to perform some background research on the authors and find out what influenced them to write that certain work. For instance, authors born in different time periods could have been influenced by political events or personal experiences to write about the same things from two different perspectives.
Even if the central ideas of both writings are similar, there still might be some subplots or minor themes that authors have added to enhance the individuality of their work. Students can compare these ideas to find out how authors have maintained their perspectives with the help of different ideas. It is also possible that the authors have the same central ideas about different meanings and opinions.
Ask the students to identify or briefly describe the specifics of the comparisons they will make. These elements might include things like character development, narrative style, symbolism, how a certain topic is handled, etc. Students can also reflect on how different influences shaped the narrative and writing style of the author.
Encourage the students to consider the writers' decisions critically. Why may one author have gone with a certain narrative device while the other author went with a different strategy? How does this change the reading experience? Students can reflect on all the information they have gathered so far, organize their analysis and share their findings with the rest of the class.
A "Quote Connection" in "Freak the Mighty" is the process of choosing and scrutinizing individual quotations from the book to support or illuminate a given subject, character feature, or plot development. Teachers can first showcase an example in front of the students to help them understand and then give them an individual activity to apply the concept.
By offering tangible evidence to back up conclusions or analyses, quote connections enable readers to explore deeper into the text. They provide readers the chance to investigate the author's purpose and the importance of particular sections. Readers can get more familiar with their favourite characters and have a closer look at the intricacies of the plot.