Seeing Power in Its Many Forms

Hello, fourth graders.

Well, this marks the last lesson that will be together

for this unit.

We have read Finished reading the entire book number, the

stars. And when you get to the end of a

novel, it's such a special time.

It's a time when we look back at the rest

of the book and try to piece together things that

we hadn't really known about at the start of the

book. But now we can see bigger meaning in once

we finished the book.

Can you take a minute right now?

And just to think about maybe some things that surprised

you, Um, in number the stars.

I know that what still stands out to me are

those handkerchiefs, right?

I still find that amazing that scientists were able to

come up with something like that to help this resistance

movement. And then all those people that bonded together to

help save the Jewish citizens of Denmark.

Um, you know, I was thinking at the beginning that

the story is about a brave family, you know, one

brave family.

But now I'm thinking this is all of Denmark.

How brave was this entire country.

But most of this country, right?

Resistance leaders.

Um, you know, like Peter organizing all of these escape

route all the fishermen being brave enough to risk their

lives to get these people across the waterways, Um, in

hidden compartments under their boats.

Scientists developing those handkerchiefs toe outsmart the German shepherds, right?

And just ordinary families like Anne Marie's who were helping

to guide the Jewish people to those fishing boats in

the middle of the night so that they could get

to safety.

Um, that is just incredible.

And it has stuck with me for years since the

first time that I read this book.

So when I look back to the beginning of this

book, I believe that I felt I thought it was

the Germans that had all the power here.

Um, you know, they're the ones that were making everyone

afraid who took people away who came in the middle

of the night?

Um, you know, in question people, I'm wondering how many

of you felt that way to the beginning of the

book that the Germans held all of the power here,

so I used to think that it was the Germans

who had all the powder, but right now, at the

end of this book, I'm not so sure that that's

the case.

There might be other kinds of power.

And that's what I want to investigate with you today.

In today's lesson, I'm thinking that all the people of

Denmark had more power than those German Nazis did.

They had the power of friendship.

Okay, Okay, so I couldn't resist Ha ha putting this

picture in because all of this talk about power and

resistance just brought out the idea of Star Wars.

So if you're familiar with Star Wars at all, I

think you'll be with me that you'll be able to,

uh, make some parallels off what we're talking about this

power struggle with Star Wars.

So what I want to teach you today is that

we can take a look at our books through the

lens of power.

And when we do that, it leads to all sorts

of new thinking, even deeper level of thinking.

And when we're looking at power, we want to take

a look at who has the power.

What form does that power take?

You know, how do you see the power in the

book in the story And how does that power change

or shift?

And when we spend time with those questions and try

to come up with answers to them, that's when we

see Mawr understanding in our book.

That's when we even can apply that information to the

ideas that we already have about the bigger themes in

the book.

Okay, so let's try this right.

Let's give this a go.

And when we're taking a look at power, there are

some predictable questions that you want to ask yourself at

the start of your investigation.

One is who makes the rules and who is in

charge. Okay, so I wanted to read to you a

little bit from number the stars.

I'm going to read a couple of just tiny excerpts

for you today, and I want you to think about

those two questions.

Um, So Okay, so the first one is the story

that starts with a scene where Ellen and Anne Marie

are dashing down the streets.

Right In the very beginning of the book on they

bump into those soldiers on the corner, right?

Oh, and one of the soldier gives them some orders.

So here it is.

Go home.

all of you go study your school books and don't

run. You look like hoodlums when you run.

Okay, so let's see, Where did you get the dark

haired one?

He twisted the lock of Ellen's hair from a different

father from a milk man.

Okay, so what I want you to do right here

is to just pause.

Um, if you're with a partner turning, talk with a

partner or jot down in your notebooks if you're by

yourself, what do you noticing in these?

Just two very small excerpts about power.

Who makes the rules?

Who is in charge?

Go ahead and press pause to do that work and

play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, Now that you've had some time to think about

that, I'm betting that you would agree that at this

moment it seems like the Nazis have all of the

power, right?

Based on those two excerpts, um, after a reader thinks

about who has the power, who makes the rules, who's

in charge?

The next step would be to think about who is

or what is the resistance.

Because whenever there is power, there is also going to

be resistance because people don't just give up.

It's not in our nature.

I should say Give in or give up right?

Either one.

Definitely not in our nature.

So we want to take a moment now to think

about the resistance.

Who is going against this power?

Think about that and number the stars Who's going against

the Nazis against the rules?

I think it's pretty clear to us now because we

finished the book that it is the Danish people.

They even call themselves the Resistance, right?

But the Danish people think about those scientists and fishermen

and just everyday families who believe that it's important to

save the Jewish Danes right?

That's a special kind of power.

That's the power to resist hatred and resist violence.

Okay, Mhm.

Now, when we go ahead and we look at our

stories with this new power, sorry, this new lens of

power and also resistance.

When we do this, we're going to realize that there

are all kinds of different types of power, not just

one count, not just one kind.

And the other part of that is what is the

power of those who resist, right?

That's a different kind of power.

Now, here is an anchor chart that might be helpful.

As you go ahead and talk about this with your

group. Not only do you wanna ask who makes the

rules and who is in charge, who has the power

and what's the sign of that power?

But also, what is the resistance and what is their

power? Okay, I know that you are continuing to ask

yourselves in your groups.

What is this story really about?

And I want you to work today on drafting and

revising those ideas about a theme that sort of acts

like a big tent for your whole book.

That the sort the story sits under.

Okay, think now about ways that people use their power

in relationships to those big ideas.

So add this statement of power onto your theme as

another layer.

Okay, so dig a little deeper.

Spend some time with your groups today.

Uh, continuing.

You're reading, but thinking about this lens of power and

talking about that with your group.

Okay, I think you're ready.

Off you go.

Seeing Power in Its Many Forms

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