Lesson Plan Reflection

Witness, by Karen Hesse, is a book about the KKK infiltrating a small Vermont town in the early 1920s. The book is a free verse novel told through many characters perspectives. The reader is confronted with racism, hypocrisy, prejudice, abuse, and neglect.
This lesson is really about deconstructing the text and identity of each character in Witness. Stephanie Jones wrote, "Deconstruction is the tenet of critical literacy that promises to keep us aware that all texts are constructed and therefore can be deconstructed, taken apart bit-by-bit to unveil power, perspective, and positioning(Jones, 2006).
Karen Hesse grew up in Baltimore; however, she has now lived in Vermont for many years. For this book, she researched Vermont in the 1920s and developed her story from the historical aspects of the time. I believe that she wrote Witness to make people reexamine their prejudices.
In the beginning of the novel, it would seem that only adults have power. At that, mostly white adult men had power. However, as the story progresses, the KKK loses much of its power. One of the interesting pieces is who gains power. There is an interesting change in power that drives the plot of the story. I designed this lesson to help students look more closely at the characters and really think about the decisions they are making throughout the novel.

Jones, S. (2006). Girls, social class, and literacy: What teachers can do to make a difference. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.