Color Symbolism in The Giver

Color Symbolism in The Giver

Spencer Attick

Class Description

Jigsaw

Each group becomes the expert on one topic.

What Didn't Go Well

• Standard 8th Grade Language Arts
• One student with an IEP
• 32 students
• 15 male
• 17 female
• Students are very bright but are often chatty.
• This is always the last mod of the day so students tend to be harder to maintain engagement with.

• copying papers, not discussing
• off-task (Mod 9)
• missed larger application of color symbolism

• student-centered
• each student becomes expert
• high engagement/motivation
• less time to absorb material-more time to put it into practice

Lesson Content

Suggestions for Implementation

The students are re-grouped to share the information they now know with students from other groups who have different information to bring to the discussion.

What Went Well

• First three chapters of The Giver
• Graphic Novel
• Broken into groups
• Each group explores a color
• Re-grouped
• Exit Ticket

• give students a time limit in each group so they will have more motivation to stay on task
• emphasize that color symbolism can be found in many works on fiction, examples
• make sure it is clearly stated that students should not be merely copying each others papers
• add some thought-provoking questions to the worksheet for each group (i.e. What aspects of the symbolism do you agree with? Disagree with? Why)

• high engagement
• questioning of different meanings within groups
• many students presented their material to the group verbally
• students seemed to enjoy the activity
• their exit tickets reflected that they knew the material

Green

Overview

Green says “nature,” which explains why it is such a powerful symbol in the eco-friendly movement, as well as ‘initiative’ and ‘wealth’, but just as it symbolizes good, the extremes of green are considered to be bad, as in “green with envy” or its association with money which is sometimes deemed as “the root of all evil.” It is a color that soothes the eyes and produces a calming effect when seen. This is likely due to the association with the greenery of nature. It’s also the color of spring, a time of rebirth and renewal. For companies providing a pampered escape, green is a color that will signify rejuvenation and energy for your brand.

Visual Representation

Emotional Value

• Jealousy
• Envy
• Calm

Spin

Key Words

• Nature
• Go/Initiative
• Rebirth
• Renewal
• Escape
• Youth
• Envy

• Green will continue its rise in eco-conscious businesses. Green says nature as well as initiative, or go—particularly for western cultures (i.e. traffic lights).

• It’s also the color of spring, a time of rebirth and renewal. For companies providing a pampered escape, green is a color that will signify rejuvenation and energy for your brand.

• Spring implies youth and adolescents. Though green will continue to be the color of eco-friendly businesses, its uses in other industries will decline—as other connotations of the color are for personal gratification and envy.

Suggestions for Other Content Areas

Science: Several groups could each do different experiments to prove the same point. Students could be re-grouped to discuss their particular experiments and how each was was related.

History: Groups of students could explore different cultural perspectives on a certain issue (a war, international relations, economic issues, etc.) and could then re-group to share their group's thoughts.

Differentiation

• culturally diverse class- section for talking about each colors symbolism within their own cultures
• extra support- more structured graphic organizer
• ELL- colors and other key words defined for them on the organizer

Good Literacy Practices

• allows students to explore a deeper meaning
• color symbolism appears in many works of fiction
• must internalize what they read in order to share it with other students