The setting of a story is the location and time, or the where and when. Settings often play a crucial role. In the book The Stars Beneath Our Feet, Lolly lives in the St. Nicholas Housing Projects in Harlem, a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. In this activity, students will map the different settings throughout the book in a storyboard and include illustrations and descriptions that discuss their importance to the story.
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Due Date:
Objective: Create a storyboard identifying the different settings in the book The Stars Beneath Our Feet.
Student Instructions:
Ask the students to read the story carefully and pay close attention to all the settings present in the story. If students are not familiar with the concept of settings, teachers can first explain this idea by providing brief definitions and examples and then ask the students to highlight all the settings including time period from the story.
After students have identified all the major settings present in the story, ask them to analyze how the characters react to different places within the narrative. For instance, for Lolly the storage room where he builds the Lego cities with Rose becomes a place of comfort where he can forget about his past and trauma.
Help the students find out how the settings play an important role in the development of the characters. Students can track the progress of characters using storyboards and visual elements and try to understand the interaction among characters in different settings.
Take into account social, economic, and cultural facets to analyze how the context affects the characters. Analyze how characters' decisions and ways of living are impacted by society conventions, financial circumstances, and cultural customs. All these factors are relevant to the time period and environment of the characters which students can investigate and research.
Assist students in making connections between the complexity of the real world and fictitious settings by connecting the analysis to real-world contexts. Encourage an understanding of the importance of the relationship that exists between a character's surroundings and literature. Teachers can encourage critical thinking by asking students questions about their own interactions with their environment.
The characters' lives are profoundly impacted by the metropolitan environment of Harlem, which shapes their opportunities, relationships, and experiences. It presents difficulties like socioeconomic gaps and encourages a resilient feeling of community.
The relationships between the characters are greatly influenced by the surroundings. Character interactions are made richer by the way that the distinct community of Harlem influences friendships, rivalries, and alliances. Students can analyze how the characters interact with different characters throughout various settings and how it impacts their personality and development.
The novel's main themes of community, creativity, and pursuing aspirations are all strengthened by the surroundings. The urban environment becomes essential to examining these ideas since it offers a backdrop that supports the protagonists' journeys.