1. Michelle Bonanno, Cate McNamara Instructor Smith ENG 363A 5/16/2012

2. Students will begin the lesson by watching this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=JKYRLLgxiUw http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=JKYRLLgxiUw  22:30 – 25:40

3.  Jess and Leslie face many problems in their life. Jess deals with an detachment from his father (and the rest of his family), bullies at school, and the loneliness of not having many friends.  Leslie experiences some of those same problems, including being the new kid in school.  From their shared problems, the two come together and create a land from their imagination – Terabithia – as an escape.

4.  The goal of this assignment is to help you understand and solve your own roadblocks in life by creating a land like Jess and Leslie do in The Bridge to Terabithia.  You will create a poster or creative writing piece that describes different aspects of your land.

5.  If you choose to create a poster, your poster must answer the following (but is not limited to):  Both lands  Your “bridge”  Favorite spot in the land  The people in your land  Places in the land  What you call your land  Would escaping to your land help or hurt you?

6.  If you chose the paper, include the following questions. Let your creative side show!  What problems are you escaping?  What would you call your land?  How would you get to your land?  What would your land look like?  Would you bring anything or anyone with you?  What would you do there?  How often would you go?  Would escaping to this land hurt or help you?

7.  Along with your paper, each student will present their poster and paper to the class, describing their land to the class.  After describing your land you will answer the question: “will escaping to this land help or hurt you?”  Jess and Leslie escape to Terabithia for awhile but finally confront their problems (family, bullies, friends) both before and after Leslie’s death. Terabithia no longer becomes an escape but a place for fun.

8.  Will better their understanding of the novel  Will help them confront their own problems  Will promote the use of drawing and writing to deal with problems as new ones emerge.  Will encourage them to try to fix their problems, not run away from them.