Film & Television
The Giver: 7 Creative Classroom Activities
A perennial favorite with educators, The Giver has been widely taught in schools since its publication in 1993. Over the years, Lois Lowry’s dystopian classic has inspired the creation of countless thought-provoking classroom activities for students. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites below.
(Please note, in most cases these activities are adapted from several different sources. We’ve included links to relevant lesson plans where possible.)
1. The Giver Job Fair
As a class, compile a list of some of the jobs members of the Community are assigned at the Ceremony of Twelve.
Place each assignment in an envelope and have students pick one at random. Ask each student to complete a job application for the position they received, including the traits and qualities they feel the ideal candidate would possess.
- Lesson plan.
Lucy Knisley, via picturebookreport.com
2. The Giver Memory Book
As a class, come up with a list of common emotions—anger, fear, joy, excitement, etc. Ask students to compile personal memories they associate with each emotion in a journal. Students might choose to include photos or drawings along with their written memories.
Have each student choose a memory to “transfer” to the class, paralleling how the Giver transfers memories to Jonas. Discuss as a group whether there are any memories they might choose to forget, if it meant they would also forgo the emotions associated with the event (shame or trauma, for example).
- Lesson plan.
Via thecreativeplace.blogspot.com
3. The Giver Travel Brochure
Have students use multimedia tools and persuasive language to design a travel brochure for the Community. Students should consider aspects of Community life that might inspire tourists to visit, or families to relocate there. For example, they might include information on the local economy, government, schools, climate, transportation system and job opportunities.
- Lesson plan. ($ )
Robert’s Resources, teacherspayteachers.com
4. The Giver in 90 Seconds
Have students work in teams to create 90-second video adaptations of The Giver to submit to the Newbery Film Festival. Rather than try and cram every detail of the story into a minute-and-a-half, students should explore ways to add their own creative flair to the narrative. For more information about the festival, click here .
Example of a submission:
[wm_video id=”KmqNb7QANoo”]
5. The Giver Book Cover Redesign
The iconic cover of The Giver features a photo taken by Lois Lowry of an old man she met while researching an article in Maine. In her 1994 Newbery acceptance speech, Lowry told the story of how the man served as her inspiration for the character of the Giver.
“In the summer of 1979, I am sent by a magazine I am working for to an island off the coast of Maine to write an article about a painter who lives there alone. I spend a good deal of time with this man, and we talk a lot about color.
It is clear to me that although I am a highly visual person – a person who sees and appreciates form and composition and color – this man’s capacity for seeing color goes far beyond mine.
I photograph him while I am there, and I keep a copy of his photograph for myself because there is something about his face – his eyes – which haunts me.
Later, I hear that he has become blind.
I think about him – his name is Carl Nelson – from time to time. His photograph hangs over my desk. I wonder what it was like for him to lose the colors about which he was so impassioned. Now and then I wish, in a whimsical way, that he could have somehow magically given me the capacity to see the way he did.”
As a class, talk about the emotions Lowry’s cover evokes. Next, consider some of the elements of a successful book cover. Does it draw the reader in without revealing too much of the plot? Does it stand out on the shelf? Ask each student to design their own book cover for The Giver around an aspect of the story that resonated with them.
Amanda Miller via behance.net
6. The Giver Emotional Rainbow
Hang sheets of different colored paper around the room, with a notepad next to each color. Have students spend 30 seconds at each color, writing down the emotions the color inspires in them. When the time is up, have the students shift to the next color station.
After everyone has rotated through each station, review with the class the emotions inspired by each color. Were they consistent? Discuss why certain colors may have inspired negative emotions, while others inspired positive emotions.
Via design-emotion.com
7. The Giver Community Newspaper
Have the class create a newspaper for the Community, following a traditional front page layout. What sort of news might make the headlines? Consider the implications of “news” in a culture of Sameness.
- Lesson plan. ($)
via presentationmagazine.com
- Assignments
- Edit source
- View history
Assignments are given out in communities , at the Ceremony of Twelve .
All items (24)
- Assistant Director of Recreation
- Birthmother
- Caretaker of the Old
- Collection Crew
- Director of Recreation
- Drone Pilot
- Fish Hatchery
- Fish Hatchery Attendant
- Food Deliver
- Genetic Scientist
- Instructor of 3’s
- Landscape Worker
- Night-time Nurturer
- Receiver of Memory
- Security Guard
- Street Cleaner
- Swimming Instructor
Everything you need for every book you read.
IMAGES
COMMENTS
The job you will have is assigned when you become a Twelve. The Council of Elders has been watching you for the past few years. They have been watching what you like to do in your leisure time and ...
All of the jobs in the book The Giver are listed below: Committee of Elders: They are the people who pick what job you will be assigned when you turn twelve (19). They take their job very serious. Nurturers: These people are responsible for all the physical and emotional needs of every newchild during its earliest life (9).
Assignments are the occupations of the inhabitants of the Community. Assignments are designated when a member of the Community goes through their respective Ceremony of Twelve. All Assignments can be found here. Claire is given the Assignment of Birthmother at the Ceremony of Twelve. Coming soon... Assignments are made by the Elders may be appealed by contacting them, who form a committee to ...
The Giver Job Fair. As a class, compile a list of some of the jobs members of the Community are assigned at the Ceremony of Twelve. ... Place each assignment in an envelope and have students pick one at random. Ask each student to complete a job application for the position they received, including the traits and qualities they feel the ideal ...
The Chief Elder begins to announce the Assignments for Twelves. When it is Asher's turn, the Chief Elder laughingly mentions language mistakes Asher made. She recalls when Asher was three and confused the words "snack" and "smack." To teach him the difference, he was smacked with the "discipline wand" when he asked for a smack instead of a snack.
Analysis. After sharing, Jonas 's parents ask to speak with Jonas alone. Jonas's father tries to calm his fears by telling him that people are rarely disappointed in their Assignments, because the Committee of Elders monitors Elevens' interest so as to place them where they would best be able to do good work for the community.
Jonas's fun-loving friend who is assigned the job of Assistant Director of Recreation. Jonas's greatest concern for Asher is that he speaks without thinking and often confuses words, which is a great shortcoming in the community. ... Assignments, and rules. The Giver advises the Committee. Caleb. A four-year-old boy who drowned in the river ...
The Giver Chapter 8. Louis Lowry's ''The Giver'' is a young adult science fiction novel. It tells the story of Jonas, a twelve-year-old living in the Community, a society where there is no longer ...
The Giver Wiki. Jobs. Category page. Jobs are given to children in the Village when they come of age. Realize that jobs are not to be confused with assignment. Assignments are given to children in the Community.
A summary of Chapters 7-9 in Lois Lowry's The Giver. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Giver and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
The Giver by Lois Lowry, published in 1993, unfolds in a meticulously controlled utopian society where conformity and the elimination of individuality are paramount. The narrative follows Jonas, selected as the Receiver of Memories, tasked with bearing the weight of the community's suppressed history and emotions. As Jonas grapples with the ...
Analysis. After all the Assignments have been given out, the Chief Elder tells the crowd that she has skipped Jonas purposely. Jonas, she says, has been selected to be the next Receiver of Memory. The crowd gasps, and Jonas notices an elder who stands out from the crowd because of his pale eyes. He knows this man is the Receiver.
The more he understands, the more he feels separated from anyone else. His parents don't even realize how much they have hurt him. "Giver," Jonas suggested, "you and I don't need to care about the rest of them.". The Giver looked at him with a questioning smile. Jonas hung his head.
Assignments are given out in communities, at the Ceremony of Twelve. The Giver Wiki. Explore. Main Page; All Pages; Community; Interactive Maps; Recent Blog Posts; The Giver Quartet. About the Author; Book Series. Gathering Blue; ... The Giver Wiki is a FANDOM Books Community. View Mobile Site
Based on Asher's qualities and interests, he is given the assignment of Assistant Director of Recreation. Jonas's other close friend, Fiona, is a compassionate, sensitive girl who enjoys taking ...
The Giver has held the community's collective memory for many years and uses his wisdom to help the Committee of Elders make important decisions, even though he is racked by the pain his memories give him and believes that perhaps those memories belong in the minds of everyone in the community. Read an in-depth analysis of The Giver.
In Lois Lowry's "The Giver", the role of "Assistant Director of Recreation" is assigned to Asher. The job entails overseeing and organizing games for the community's children. The assignment is ...
When students respond to each other's writing, it's often more helpful to the responders than the receivers, writes Patricia A. Dunn. Even before complications wrought by AI, faculty members and students alike have often dreaded college writing assignments—students because of painful past histories with the process and faculty because of time-consuming, often-frustrating, grading ...
Analysis. The next day Jonas 's father brings home Gabriel. Although mirrors are rare so that he has only seen his own reflection a few times, Jonas notices that Gabriel has pale eyes like his, while most people in the community have dark eyes. Jonas thinks Gabriel's eyes have depth and are "solemn and knowing."
Jonas's Mother. Jonas's mother is the stricter of his two parents. She holds a prominent position at the Department of Justice, and her job involves punishing citizens who break the community's rules. Throughout the novel, she places value on performing to the community's standards and teaches her children about the honor held by ...