Books are my ADVIL

Text: “A Telephonic Conversation” – Mark Twain

 

Plot description: A person comes in the room to make a phone call, and the narrator is overhearing a one-sided conversation, which ranged in topics from cooking to Biblical passages to outrageous prices and meeting times. The narrator doesn't make any comments or inferences.

 

Theme description: This short story has themes such as observation, assumptions, and gender identity issues. Observation is a critical skill to have, and assumptions are something students should be taught to avoid generalizing about. Gender identity issues can be discussed with a critical eye to this lens with regards to talking and differences between the genders.

 

Reason for appropriateness: Considering that telephone conversations are seen to be more commonly engaged in by females, this perspective might open up very interesting conversations with the students. I would like to remove any reference to gender from the beginning and end, and allow students to decide which it is on their own. It also relates to the Essential Question in that it discusses how telephones changed people's lives which can be related to students lives today.

 

Link to resource:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MldKwAt4Seo