While watching Lost on TV for the first time, I found myself thinking two things. One was, “Boy Matthew Fox looks great since ‘Party of Five’” and “Gee, I hope William Golding got some money for this show.” The connections between Lost and Lord of the Flies were uncanny. That was when it hit me. Why not make my students Lost? My high school English classroom would be transformed into an island and my students into contestants on a show. The prize: Being named the Ultimate Survivor (and of course best reader), and a good grade in their English Class.First, I split the class into tribes. Their first challenge was to create a name for themselves. Already, you could see the comradery. They enjoyed being competitive and tried very hard to make everyone friends in their groups. However, by day two, things would change.
Now, Lord of the Flies is all about human nature and conflicts between people. My class was learning this first hand. They were experiencing everything the boys in the novel were. My students fought over who would be tribe leader and they would switch players in the tribes to try and win the challenges. Friendships were broken up due to some of the challenges and people were kicked off of the island. The novel came alive for them since they were living it.
All of the challenges had to deal with the book. In order to win the challenges, everyone in their tribe had to read it. For instance, one challenge was to draw the island and label all of the parts. Other challenges were about characterization, themes, and conflicts. However, for every challenge, they would work so hard just because they wanted to win. For every win, that tribe would get immunity while the other tribes would have to vote someone off anonymously. Then, those people would help me devise the challenges for the next day using what they know about the book and the weaknesses of all the tribes.
They all learned about themselves and about the nature of working together. They were experiencing the themes from the novel firsthand. Are humans naturally good? What happens when you put people in a society without laws? Will people be fair? They answered these questions based on their own ability to work in their groups and as a result, they understood what the boys in the novel were going through better. While Ralph and Jack were fighting over leadership in the book, I had Mike and John fighting over leadership in my classroom. Often, if I wanted to interject and help them out, my own students made sure I was holding the conch! I wasn’t allowed to break their rules.
When there were only two people left, we would have a showdown, which also served as a review for the final exam. They would each be asked a series of higher level thinking questions about the book that the students created themselves until someone got a question wrong. The showdown was intense. I was impressed with the questions the kids came up with. They wanted to make sure the person that won, deserved it. This was the only unit I ever did where I had 100% passing on the final exam. They had all read the book with the desire to be named the Ultimate Survivor.
When Michael won the game, the class knew he was the one who deserved to win. I presented him with his “Best Reader” ribbon and he wore it proudly all day. The tribe has spoken. Reading can be fun.
