Novels for Junior Cert English

Lockedout

I was wondering if anybody could recommend a novel for an honours group? They are C students. Few would rise to a B. Dont want to do Boy in the striped Pajamas! Or Mice and men. None of the usual suspects!

leogave1

I've used the following in class over the years...not all of them were used for their exam but some were just 'practise novel' over their three years:

-Lord of the Flies (this worked really well for exam and suited EVERY exam question...lovely imagery used throughout and great topics for debate...however some weaker ones may not be overawed by it! But The Simpsons have an episode on it which may help. I started studying it when the tv show Lost was popular)
-The Secret Life of Bees
-The Book Thief
-Goodnight Mister Tom (great choice for a mixed group...enough in it for strong HL and simple enough for weak HL/OL)
-To Kill A Mockingbird (after correcting JC exams I have vowed never to do this for the exam but instead I assign it as extra reading for them...it just wasn't answered well at all in the exams I corrected)

Have a look at Leaving Cert comparative texts over the years and you might find a text you like! You are able to study any novel so even if you have read a novel yourself recently and liked it (as long as it's age appropriate) you can do that with the students.

Students do like a novel that has a movie version and most of the time they end up preferring the novel which surprises them! So you could look to see recent movie releases and see which ones have been based on a novel i.e. The Hunger Games etc...

I haven't had JC English in a few years so I'm sure there are plenty of people here who might have better suggestions!

Icsics

Roll of thunder, hear my cry.......really like it & plenty to get their teeth into. Anything would be better than the dreaded 'Cay' which we had for years

Lockedout

leogave1 wrote: »

I've used the following in class over the years...not all of them were used for their exam but some were just 'practise novel' over their three years:

-Lord of the Flies (this worked really well for exam and suited EVERY exam question...lovely imagery used throughout and great topics for debate...however some weaker ones may not be overawed by it! But The Simpsons have an episode on it which may help. I started studying it when the tv show Lost was popular)
-The Secret Life of Bees
-The Book Thief
-Goodnight Mister Tom (great choice for a mixed group...enough in it for strong HL and simple enough for weak HL/OL)
-To Kill A Mockingbird (after correcting JC exams I have vowed never to do this for the exam but instead I assign it as extra reading for them...it just wasn't answered well at all in the exams I corrected)

Have a look at Leaving Cert comparative texts over the years and you might find a text you like! You are able to study any novel so even if you have read a novel yourself recently and liked it (as long as it's age appropriate) you can do that with the students.

Students do like a novel that has a movie version and most of the time they end up preferring the novel which surprises them! So you could look to see recent movie releases and see which ones have been based on a novel i.e. The Hunger Games etc...

I haven't had JC English in a few years so I'm sure there are plenty of people here who might have better suggestions!

Was thinking of Lord of the flies. They are honours but will probably fall around a C.

Gun Bob Camo Pants

Try the Cinammon Tree

leogave1

I've studied Lord of the Flies with two different groups with both groups ranging from a strong A+ to a low D at higher level and even having a couple of students dropping to ordinary level in 3rd year so really the novel suits all abilities.

There are tonnes of online resources for the novel and especially this online game if your students have access to computer room. It's great for revision or just as a little fun when they've finished the novel. Here's the link to online game:
http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/literature/golding/

The girls surprisingly loved the black and white version of the film too.

It's a great novel for the exam...if your students like adventure and action as opposed to lovey-dovey type novels, they'll enjoy it and will find answering the exam questions quite easy as the novel has everything to suit ALL types of exam questions.

Miss Lockhart

I'm not an English teacher but I know The Outsiders has been very popular in our school. Teachers have said they enjoyed teaching it and I have heard the students discuss it positively of their own free will!

This is a mixed DEIS context and would be weak HL.

thefasteriwalk

Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace is a really good one.