Rules

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you know about autism? How might people with autism navigate the world differently?

Teaching Suggestion: Catherine’s brother David has autism, and much of the book centers on her relationship with him. Building students’ understanding of this topic can help them fully access the book. Identifying complexities in autism and avoiding stereotypes is key. Discussing our society’s preoccupation with appearances and expectations that drives conflicts for Catherine, David, and Jason can guide students to see opportunities for new ways to view the world, ways filled with more compassion and acceptance. The Spectrum article emphasizes skills autism brings people, which can highlight the positive.

• This resource from the CDC explains facts about autism.
• “Finding Strengths in Autism” from Spectrum explores ways autism can bring a number of strengths.

2. What are some ways we communicate beyond words?

Teaching Suggestion: The resources here can illuminate specific different ways people communicate. It could be helpful to ask students to journal and study the resources and then add to their journals before discussing. Studying these ideas will help students identify ways the characters also communicate beyond words: Catherine in her art, Jason with his music, David with his actions.

• In her 10-minute “Communication Without Words” Ted Talk, Alisa Blokhina Alvares discusses ways communication goes beyond specific words and how music affects us.
• “This Serbian Artist Is Using Graffiti to Spread Her Message” from Teen Vogue focuses on art as communication.

Short Activity

Decide on an idea you want to share with your small group. Choose a method other than words to communicate your message. Prepare to present with your small group.

Teaching Suggestion: Brainstorming different methods of communicating could help students get started. Some ideas are through art, music, body language, and dance. Students might identify additional methods. The small groups can be a place where students might be more comfortable presenting than full-class, but this activity could adapt into full-class presentations or perhaps students can volunteer if they want to present to the entire class. After a presentation the group might discuss what feelings and ideas each person conveyed.

• In “Dance as an Expression and Communication of Culture,” the Dancing Rabbit Gallery explores the role of dance as a way to express the culture of First Americans.
• “Music in Motion” from Time for Kids examines the art of sign language interpretation at music concerts.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

How can we be more accepting of people’s differences?

Teaching Suggestion: Catherine learns greater acceptance of others and herself. This prompt might be focused on the class, the school, the town/city, or society as a whole. Drawing on specific examples from current events or other texts from the year can help students build more nuance in their writing or discussion. The prompt can expand into a class challenge to spread acceptance, which might be a specific challenge or remain more general, with opportunities to reflect.