A Story Like the Wind / After Reading / Review and Reflect /
Past, Present and Future
Using the text to identify key information about Rami’s past and present. Conjecturing what the future holds.
Lesson length: 1 session
Lesson from A Story Like the Wind series
Required reading: Whole book
Text potential
- Narrative features: Character development
- Inference opportunities: Prediction
Strategies used
- Comprehension: Inference Skills
Purpose
A Story Like the Wind takes place at a critical moment in Rami’s life story. We discover something about his past, and we know about his present. The story is left open. Rami’s future and the futures of his fellow passengers are uncertain. In this lesson, the children review the story to represent his past and present in images and conjecture about what the future might hold for him.
Preparation
- Copies of A Story Like the Wind, at least one between two.
- Materials for drawing and writing.
- Sheets of A3 paper, folded into 3 sections, one sheet per pupil.
Process
Start by asking:
- What do we know about Rami’s past?
Ask the children to revisit the book to find evidence about Rami’s past. Take some suggestions and write them on the board.
- What do we know about Rami’s present?
Revisit the book and find evidence that tells us what Rami’s life is like in the present moment.
- What do you think Rami’s future holds? What do you hope for him? What do you fear for him? There is any number of possibilities. Allow the children to share their ideas.
Working independently, ask the children to draw Rami in the past, present and future. Next, find quotations from the text to annotate their pictures.
Final reflection
- What can each of us do to ensure that people like Rami have as bright a future as possible?
Teacher’s Note: The Refugee Friendly School lesson could follow this session.
Contributors
Nikki Gamble
Director, Just Imagine
Nikki has worked extensively in schools across the UK and internationally. She is the author of Exploring Children’s Literature (4th edit) (2019) and co-author of Guiding Readers (2016) which was awarded the UKLA Academic Book of the Year Award 2017. Nikki is KS2 reading advisor and series consultant for Oxford University Press and content creator for the Oxford School Improvement and Oxford Owl websites. Nikki is Associate Consultant at the University of London, Institute of Education and Honorary Fellow at the University of Winchester