The Hunger Games in the Classroom

In my quest to acquaint myself with recommended books for secondary level students I have wrapped up my reading of The Hunger Games – this is the easy part. After a total of six hours reading time over the course of three weeks I am now ready to wrestle with the planning process of implementing this into an ELA class. In a class of students whose abilities may range across the literacy spectrum this is where things get a little tricky. According to the Quantitative Measures listed on the Common Core Standards site, this book has a text complexity rating for 7th grade to adult level. But in an effort to boost student reading skills of my students to a higher level, I would use this as a whole-class novel for 7th graders. The process would begin with a diagnostic teaching assessment of the reading levels of each student in the class. I can assume that the class will range from those students who will read The Hunger Games at an independent level to a frustration level, with most students falling somewhere in between at the instructional level. There are a total of twenty seven chapters in the novel and each would have to be carefully assessed to determine which may require additional support, which may require some scaffolding and which are independently accessible for the class as a whole. The chapters that are independently accessible can be assigned to students to read outside of class on their own. For those that are a bit more challenging I would utilize some scaffolding strategies to build their comprehension. I would begin the scaffolding process by introducing vocabulary prior to beginning a particularly difficult chapter. As a dystopian fiction, The Hunger Games introduces some challenging vocabulary that would benefit the entire class to become familiar with, for example, apothecary, paraffin, tesserae, and the word Panem, which is Latin for “bread”. For chapters that require some further scaffolding, I would generate an outline of a graphic organizer as a class which I would then allow the students to complete as they read silently. If the chapter seems too difficult for some of the class then I could use the Oral Reading Strategy to model thinking strategies to instruct the students on ways to maintain focus as well as monitor comprehension. Sounds doable right? I realize that the realities in the classroom may not be so clear cut but these are just some ideas to shelve while I build my repertoire of young adult literature. I have yet to decide what’s next for me though I am tempted to start on the next book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire. As Collin does at the end of each chapter in the novel, the book ends unresolved with Katniss and Peeta returning home after winning the Hunger Games to confront their real lives. The big question still lingering is if the Katniss-Peeta romance was all part of the Hunger Games strategy.

Inequality in The Hunger Games

I have reached the climax of The Hunger Games and am neck-deep in the novels action. The book is an easy read with straight forward prose and crisp sentences that move the story along briskly. Collins is a master of ending each chapter with a hook that compels the reader to read into the next chapter, and then on to the next. I am beginning to see why this book is recommended in the Common Core Standards 7th grade and higher complexity band. If it were not for the avalanche of reading assignments I have for MAT coursework, I could easily devour this book. I began thinking about how I could use this novel to touch on broader themes that students will inevitably encounter in other books as well as in real life. I like how the book’s futuristic setting and action draw the reader in without meandering around complex themes like economic inequality and social justice. Students would be able to empathize with the novel’s protagonist, Katniss, who comes from a poor district where food is a scarce commodity and her family’s survival depends on her ability to hunt. The economic conditions in the nation of Panem create an allegoric representation for economic inequality in the world today. In the annual spectacle of the Hunger Games two tributes drawn from the twelve districts are randomly selected and forced to fight to the death on national television. However, due to the tessera system which forces the children of poor families to enter their names in the lottery multiple times in exchange for food and oil, they are most likely to be selected as tributes. The children of rich families, known as Career Tributes, receive better preparation and training and thus have more of an advantage at survival than the poor tributes. There are many parallels that can be drawn from the modern world which I would leave to the students to think of themselves. Some example issues that can be touched in a discussion about the novel’s theme of inequality are: economic mobility, social justice, and the market versus command economies. These can be sensitive topics to discuss which may inevitably encroach into political territory, but I believe the novel does a good job of subtly introducing the theme of economic inequality and students at the 7th and 8th grade levels are capable of making allegoric connections.

Staying on Top of the Games

As an English teacher I’ve always been an advocate of requiring my students to only complete tasks that I am capable of doing myself. Perhaps this is common sense and/or common practice for most teachers. After all, a high school English teacher with a bachelors degree should be able to do high school level work. But prior to giving out an assignment, I will actually do the work myself. This gives me a good idea of the steps involved from start to finish, anticipate problems or concerns, and provides the class with a perfect example of what the finished product should look like. So when I read the criteria for the PRABE assignment, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to acquaint myself with books popular among middle and high school students. I’ve always been an avid, albeit slow reader – it took me almost the entire summer to read The Aenid by Virgil. I am also a regular skimmer of various news publications like The New York Times and The Bangkok Post, but as an ELA teacher I do believe it’s important for me to be a shining example of extreme literacy – so I feel the urge to step it up a notch. I spent some time recently observing secondary level ELA classes and decided that if I was going to be this “shining example” I would need to acquaint myself with the recommended literature at this level. I checked the Common Core Standards for ELA book recommendations for middle and high school students and saw on this list The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I began a slow reading of The Hunger Games and made it to page 85 by the third week. Though I’ve never been much of an avid sci-fi fantasy reader, I’ve since fallen into Katniss Everdeen’s survival adventure on the ultimate reality show and have been swept up by the story’s plot. I can see why kids are fascinated with the story. The actual setting is a futuristic North American landscape that is easy to imagine and with the popularity of reality shows among teenagers, a fight to the death on live television does not seem too far off. The story is also narrated by the voice of the 16-year old protagonist Katniss, who is an easily identifiable sympathetic character. This is all great stuff, but I am beginning to wonder how this book ended up on the list of Common Core Standards ELA recommendations?

Walloping Mr. Wallop

This letter was submitted to the Bangkok Post’s Post Bag in regards to recent allegations that Thai Airways executive chairman Wallop Bhukkanasut and his wife travelled from Tokyo's Narita airport to Suvarnabhumi airport on Nov 14 with more than 40 suitcases weighing 390kg without paying excess weight charges! It should have cost them hundreds of thousands of baht.


In a country where everyone from public school teachers to government officials all have a hand in corruption this is just another one of those scandals. Thai Airways has long been marred in scandals involving nepotism, cronyism and favoritism. However, I resent having to unpack my luggage at the check-in counter when I am 1kg over the 20kg limit for international flights and then hear about assholes like this skirting the law. Someone needs to wallop Mr. Wallop into the unemployment line!


“I have resided in Thailand for the last four years and fly home to the US for visits once or twice a year. I have spent lots of time searching ticket prices for international flights and have never once flown Thai Airways whose ticket prices are almost double the cost of China or EVA airlines. Costs aside, I have heard nothing but complaints about the service of Thai airlines as well.


Now we have the excess baggage scandal regarding the Thai Airways executive chairman Wallop Bhukkanasut beginning to surface. For all the good it may do, if this little man is not fired from his position for this massive abuse of his authority, which is likely just the tip of the iceberg, I will never fly Thai Airlines and dissuade everyone I know from ever flying with this corrupt airline.”

Health Care Rant

It looks like the Senate has proposed a health care bill under the heading, 'The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act'. The bill will include regulations on insurers, cover 31 million uninsured Americans and will include new Medicare benefits. This will add some relief for tax payers who, if the GOP have their way, would continue footing the bill for the millions of uninsured individuals making emergency room visits or millions spent covering lost economic output for each premature death due to lack of health insurance.

Those who are opposed to this bill don't seem clear as to what exactly it is they are opposing. All this right wing nut hype about a government takeover, socialized medicine and jail time for not ‘buying in’ are unsubstantiated opinions causing confusion in the midst of an important debate. The practice of insurance companies refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and charging the sick higher premiums are issues that affect us all and need to be confronted head-on. Let's not forget the underlying premise behind the need for health care reform is to lower costs and provide coverage to more individuals.

Despite all of the fear mongering and right-wing scare tactics I think the Republican's biggest fear is that this might just succeed. There is also the fact that opponents of the bill are the recipients of millions in campaign contributions. Their main priority is not to satisfy the needs of the majority of Americans, but to do the bidding of the health and drug industries.

The debate over whether we can afford a health care bill in the $850 billion range completely misses the point. The misguided right wingers wrongly assume that doing nothing will cost nothing. In fact, Senate Republicans seem poised to fight against the bill tooth and nail yet do not offer any alternatives. I don’t recall the GOP, including many Democrats, putting up any resistance to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which are projected to cost up to $1 trillion. To all of the fiscal conservatives out there, what have the American people gained in less than 10 years of unprecedented military spending?

The big question for opponents of the bill with annual incomes of less than $200,000 a year. What is it that you are opposed to?