Add This to Your I Am Malala Novel Study

Middle schoolers love to complain about school. I think it’s in their blood. But what if school was a privilege, not a right? And what if some students were kept from receiving an education? This might seem farfetched to many of the students sitting in your classroom, but to girls in Pakistan, it’s the reality. I Am Malala is a thought-provoking book that can lead to some really deep conversations in the classroom. You just have to set students up for those conversations. I’m sharing how I build my I Am Malala novel study to cover every single Common Core nonfiction standard and lead to meaningful conversations.

About I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

When Malala was 15 years old, she was shot in the head by a masked Taliban gunman. Miraculously, she survived. But that was just the beginning of her story. She went on to write I Am Malala, detailing her life and story and advocating for education for all.

Malala’s memoir is a gripping, thought-provoking story. Honestly, the most challenging part of teaching it is some of the background context (like who the Taliban are), but the novel does a good job of giving enough information for students to grasp what’s going on. 

Despite the tragic events happening in Pakistan, you won’t find any graphic scenes in the book. The events are talked about in a more matter-of-fact way, rather than detailed and gory, so you don’t have to worry about that when planning your I Am Malala novel study.

Planning Your I Am Malala Novel Study

One important note about I Am Malala: it’s a memoir! Typically, I read this novel inside my nonfiction unit, so we can really dig into things like author’s purpose, main ideas, supporting details, and organization.

Here’s the thing, though. I don’t do this through worksheets and one-off activities. I explore every single nonfiction and main writing standard through Socratic Seminar. It’s what takes students beyond comprehending the text and into analyzing it.

Every lesson in my I Am Malala novel study follows a similar flow: present the guiding question, read the text, complete a quick write, meet in Socratic Seminar, and complete a reading response question. In the next section, I’ll give you a more in-depth breakdown.

But I know it’s not just how you’ll cover all the key standards that you’re trying to navigate. It’s also how will you breakdown all 350ish pages. My novel study breaks it down into twenty-eight lessons, with students reading about ten to fifteen pages a day:

• Lesson One: Central Idea
• Lesson Two: Author’s Purpose
• Lesson Three: Key Concepts
• Lesson Four: Key Concepts
• Lesson Five: Time Periods
• Lesson Six: Text -Based Evidence
• Lesson Seven: World Building
• Lesson Eight: World Building
• Lesson Nine: Nonfiction Text Structures
• Lesson Ten: Nonfiction Text Features
• Lesson Eleven: Reading Inferences
• Lesson Twelve: Reading Inferences
• Lesson Thirteen: Central Idea and Summary
• Lesson Fourteen: Central Idea Development
• Lesson Fifteen: Nonfiction Text Features
• Lesson Sixteen: Literary Devices
• Lesson Seventeen: Mood and Tone
• Lesson Eighteen: Point of View
• Lesson Nineteen: Point of View
• Lesson Twenty: Nonfiction Elements
• Lesson Twenty-One: Autobiography Elements
• Lesson Twenty-Two: Analyzing Quotes in Text
• Lesson Twenty-Three: Text Evidence
• Lesson Twenty-Four: Character Development
• Lesson Twenty-Five: Text Evidence
• Lesson Twenty-Six: Nonfiction Text Sections
• Lesson Twenty-Seven: Primary and Secondary Sources
• Lesson Twenty-Eight: Multimedia Comparison
• Bonus Lesson One: Objective Summaries

The I Am Malala novel study really challenges students’ thinking and analysis. You’ll be blown away by the reading responses they write, especially as the unit goes on. The resource includes daily lesson plans, reading response examples, graphic organizers, conference forms, and more to help you implement the lessons with ease.

Socratic Seminar with I Am Malala

If you haven’t used Socratic Seminar with your middle schoolers before, this might feel foreign, so I want to show you exactly what it looks like in action. And if you have used Socratic Seminar, but it didn’t go well, I recommend checking out my workshop, The Socratic Seminar Academy, for a step-by-step guide to implementing effective seminars.

I’m going to use lesson thirteen from the I Am Malala novel study as an example. This lesson focuses on central idea and summary.

The lesson starts by sharing the guiding questions: Why were bodies being dumped in the town square at night? And what message do you think the Taliban leaders were trying to send to the people by piling up the bodies?

Next, students will read pages 147-153. You can do this in book clubs, independently, or as a whole class. While reading, you’ll cover vocabulary like “immoral” and “appease” (these words + definitions are included in the lesson plans). When they are done reading, students will complete a five-minute quick write over the guiding question.

Then, it’s time for Socratic Seminar. Students will discuss the interpretive question: In what ways would things have been different if Malala’s father decided to stop speaking out against the Taliban? Students can use their quick write to support them, if needed. They will then take turns sharing their thoughts, responding to others, and using textual evidence.

Once the seminar is complete, students will return to their reading response notebooks and write a response based on the interpretive question. They can also add to and bolster their original quick write, if they want.

Each lesson within the unit follows a similar format and flow. It doesn’t get old or boring because every day, students are discussing something new from the text. Instead, students just get better at writing and analyzing, and you’re able to go beyond the surface level of the text.

If you want to go deeper with I Am Malala, grab the ready-to-go novel unit!