The Barren Grounds

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: “Attic Advice”

In this activity, students will revisit the attic in the novel and write advice Eli, Morgan, Ochek, and Arik might offer.

Eli and Morgan have some important conversations in the attic. Write a booklet of advice the characters might offer.

• Review the main traits of the characters and lessons learned on their journey together.
• Revisit and take notes on each character’s voice.
• List 10 pieces of advice upon which the characters would agree. Write each piece of advice in the voice of one of the characters and label it with the name.
• Incorporate fitting visuals.
• Create your final version of your booklet.

Share your project with your group and display it in the class collection. Discuss the importance of the attic as a place for large conversations. What is the symbolic meaning of the attic?

Teaching Suggestion: The attic is a place under construction, which could symbolize the journey instead of the destination. It is also a place Morgan and Eli escape to together, a place where they become closer, and a place where the rest of the world is shut out. Reflecting on the characters’ voices provides a chance to re-read sections of the novel closely and discuss character development. Developing the pieces of advice requires making inferences based on the details provided. Reviewing this skill and talking through some examples together could be important. Students might also present their projects in a gallery walk format or to the whole class.

ACTIVITY 2: “Create a Portal”

In this activity, students will create a portal to another land and explain parallels to the portal in the novel.

Eli’s drawing becomes a portal to Askí. Imagine another land and create a portal to that land. Consider different formats for your portal, such as a drawing, painting, 3D creation, or song. Eli’s drawing reveals some details from Askí. In your project, include a way to show glimpses of what the new land is like.

• Determine the new land’s characteristics: the weather, landforms, living beings, and other world building details.
• Sketch or free write about your ideas.
• Choose the format for your portal.
• Create your portal.
• Prepare to participate in our gallery walk; be ready to explain your choices and point out parallels to the portal in the novel.

Present your portal through our class gallery walk.

Eli connects to home through his drawing and Misewa. Journal about what details of your project were especially important to you and why.

Teaching Suggestion: This project offers a way for students to apply their creative skills and incorporate their voices and identities in different ways. Discussing details of Eli’s portal can emphasize connections to the novel and provide students with one way to approach this project: focusing on identity and home. It might be helpful to brainstorm together ideas for other lands. Alternatively, students might talk with peers in small groups as they work to share their ideas, ask questions, and get feedback. The portal reconnects Eli and Morgan to an aspect of their culture and identity; perhaps, this requirement is included in the student activity as well.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with attentional or executive function learning differences, a graphic organizer with specific steps and due times might be beneficial. For an extension for additional writing practice, adding a written scene would be an option. Students could develop characters and dialogue set in the land to which their portal connects.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The main characters explore different aspects of their identity.

• What does Morgan realize regarding her question about who she really is? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss 3 events or character actions that connect to the theme of Remembering Who You Are and that support your topic sentence. As you craft your essay, incorporate quotations and other details to develop your ideas.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, briefly explain how the novel shows that the past is important to identity.

2. Much of the novel takes place outside, with significant conflicts about the environment.

• What is the role of nature in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Explore at least 3 examples regarding nature and associated conflicts in the novel. As you write your response, include additional details to support your answer.
• In your conclusion, articulate a lesson about nature the reader can learn from the story.

3. Morgan and Ochek work together to return summer to Misewa.

• What is most significant point of comparison between Morgan and Ochek? (topic sentence)
• Cite 3 events, character actions, or pieces of dialogue to support your topic sentence. Analyze and discuss these examples, using additional details to support your study.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain what makes the two characters a strong team according to this novel.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider Morgan’s shifting definitions of home. What different physical homes has she experienced? What do her dreams tell her of home? How does Misewa connect to this idea? In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, analyze how Morgan’s definition of home shifts over the course of the novel. Connect your analysis to the theme of Remembering Who You Are.

2. Reflect on the pacing, sections, and organization of the novel. How does the format of a quest narrative inform the reader about Morgan? What is Morgan’s life like at the beginning of the novel? What inciting incident leads to her journey, and who becomes Morgan’s mentor? How does she change over the course of the novel? Write a 3- or 5-paragraph essay analyzing the novel as a quest narrative and what function that structure serves in revealing Morgan’s character.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. How do Morgan and Eli get to Misewa?

A) By bus, plane, and train

B) In their dreams as they sleep

C) Through the attic and Eli’s drawing

D) From a lengthy car drive

2. Which scene best illustrates an assumption that is unintentionally hurtful?

A) Katie’s gift making Morgan feel stereotyped

B) Ochek almost killing Arik by the food trap

C) Morgan walking Eli to school

D) Emily sitting with Morgan at school lunch

3. What best describes how Morgan reacts when she realizes Eli is in Askí?

A) Annoyed and terrified she will get in trouble

B) Overjoyed and hopeful for the journey

C) Worried and determined to help him

D) Disinterested and wanting to return to bed

4. Why does Eli not want to leave Misewa?

A) Misewa has endless supplies of food.

B) Misewa is far away from Katie and James.

C) Misewa offers a drawing competition.

D) Misewa reminds him of his home.

5. Why does Ochek save Eli and Morgan?

A) The Council tells Ochek to rescue them, and he always listens to the Council.

B) Ochek has a kind heart and does not think they deserve to die.

C) Eli offers to pay Ochek if he helps them escape from the wolf.

D) Arik taunts Ochek until he finally agrees to save the two children.

6. What best describes the relationship between Arik and Ochek?

A) Foes at first but then fast friends

B) Cousins who try not to speak to each other

C) Siblings who are close until a huge fight

D) Neighbors who later move apart but keep in touch

7. How does time compare in Misewa and back at home for Eli and Morgan?

A) Time in Misewa is one day behind Earth, then skips to two days behind.

B) Time passes much more slowly on Earth than in Misewa.

C) Time moves backward in Misewa and forward on Earth.

D) Time pauses in Misewa each season, so Earth time gets ahead.

8. Why does Morgan insist on returning to her home with Katie and James?

A) Morgan wants to get her upcoming paycheck and purchase new shoes finally.

B) Morgan told Katie she would not run away and feels responsible for the promise.

C) Morgan despises Ochek and will do anything to get away from him, even returning to Earth.

D) Morgan needs to turn in her poem for class to earn the scholarship she wants.

9. What best describes Ochek’s sacrifice?

A) Ochek risks his life to return summer to his home.

B) Ochek risks his life to open the portal to Earth.

C) Ochek risks his life to get a job promotion

D) Ochek risks his life to kill the wolf.

10. What do Morgan’s dreams and memories imply about her separation from her mother?

A) Morgan ran away from her mother when she was younger.

B) Morgan experienced abuse at her mother’s hand.

C) Morgan chose to live with her grandfather instead.

D) Morgan was taken forcefully from her mother.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. Why does Morgan agree to stay in Askí for a time?

2. How does Mahihkan change?