The+Dreamer

// Page by Makayla Schenkelberg //

Munoz Ryan, P. (2010). //The dreamer//. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. media type="youtube" key="NJPMi-o0xDQ" height="383" width="616"

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Summary: This story follows Neftali Reyes: a very shy young boy with a stutter and hoarding tendencies. Neftali's mind wanders often as he notices the beauty and wonder in everyday things, such as an old boot, or a heart-shaped rock. His father is ashamed of his "idiotic" son who would rather read and write and daydream than play futbol with the other boys. His dad is verbally abusive throughout the book and even resorts to forcing Neftali and his younger sister to swim in the turbulent waters of the ocean to toughen them up. Neftali's writing impresses his teachers and his uncle Orlando, who publishes one of Neftali's essays in his newspaper. Neftali's father is outraged and humiliated by this, but agrees to let Neftali work at the newspaper anyway. Uncle Orlando's newspaper building gets burned down by people who disagree with his fair treatment of the native people. Neftali goes off to college to become a writer, and he chooses to author under the pen name Pablo Neruda to continue writing without upsetting his father.

Discussion Questions: 1. Do you think Neftali's father pushing him to be a doctor is a good thing or a bad thing? Why do you think father does this? 2. Compare Neftali's father and stepmom with your own parent(s). How are they alike? Different? 3. Why does father forbid Rodolfo to sing and Neftali to daydream? How does this effect the entire family?

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<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">Classroom activity: <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">Objective: Students will use interesting adjectives and vivid language to write a riddle poem.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">1. Bring students outside to find a natural object that interests them (like Neftali)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> 2. Reread segments of // The Dreamer // where Neftali is describing an object he found on the ground. Note the descriptive and vivid words used.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">3. Have students brainstorm at least 15 words to describe their item.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">4. Have students complete the interactive riddle poem activity here: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">5. Have students pair and share their riddles to see if a partner can guess. If they cant, the partner should suggest revisions. What was confusing?

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">6. Have a riddle poetry slam where students share their poems and the class guesses what they're describing.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">Assessment: Listen to poems to determine if students accurately describe their item using interesting language.