The Outsiders Novel Study: A Complete Guide

When S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders in 1967, she was only fifteen years old. I’m not sure what you were doing at 15, but I wasn’t writing best-selling novels. 😆 Of course, she didn’t know at the time that The Outsiders would go on to be a well-known classic that’s still taught in schools decades later. But there’s a reason it’s stuck around: it’s a relatable story of what it’s like to be a teenager, which makes sense, since it was written by one! So, how can you turn this relatable story into a unit worth teaching? I’m sharing The Outsiders novel study that will have your students talking (literally).

About The Outsiders

If this is your first time teaching The Outsiders to middle schoolers, you’ll want to know some basics. The Outsiders follows Ponyboy, a fourteen-year-old boy, whose struggling with right and wrong. He is a greaser, AKA a poor kid from the East Side, who has a rivalry with the Socs, the rich kids from the West Side. During an altercation, Ponyboy and his friend end up killing a Soc. Scared, the kids go into hiding. The novel follows their hideout from the police and the fallout of the murder.

This book is often challenged or straight-up banned in schools because it includes gang violence, underage drinking, and cursing. But don’t let that intimidate you. The book is relatable because of its accurate portrayal of being a teenager. A lot of kids feel like outsiders or struggle with cliques, and this book taps into that.

This book is usually read toward the beginning of the year because it’s a fiction novel, but there’s no hard and fast rule on that. It’s also commonly taught in 7th and 8th grade, but I’ve seen 6th-grade teachers use it as well.

Organizing The Outsiders Novel Study

There are a ton of different ways you can bring The Outsiders novel study into your classroom, but I am definitely biased here on the best way. 🤪 I taught middle school ELA for years, and I found time and time again that I could get the most out of my novel units when I alternated units.

Essentially, alternating units is when, for a dedicated time, you focus on just writing or just reading. It doesn’t mean you ditch the other skills completely, but they aren’t your main focus. For example, while teaching The Outsiders, you focus on discussing author’s purpose, theme, and so on. But students also write short-answer responses. 

I also recommend reading this book club style. That means instead of reading the book altogether as a class, you have students read and discuss in groups. Book clubs are similar to literature circles, but less about roles, more about collaboration. However, whole-class or independent reading works, too!

Planning The Outsiders Novel Study

This is probably a big reason you’re here. How exactly do you plan your The Outsiders novel study? In my Outsiders novel unit, I broke it down into twelve core lessons. Each lesson follows a familiar pacing that revolves around Socratic Seminar (more on that below). You start by presenting the guiding question, reading a chapter (as a whole group, in book clubs, or independently), completing a quick write, and hosting socratic seminar. (If you’re wondering how the heck to fit all that into one class period, check out my workshop, Socratic Seminar Academy.)

Here’s an overview of my Outsiders novel unit, along with some of the guiding questions I’ve included – 

• Lesson One: Point of View – Is our author reliable?
• Lesson Two: Plot
• Lesson Three: Central Idea – What separated the Socs and the Greasers?
• Lessons Four: Characterization 
• Lesson Five: Text and Poem Structure
• Lesson Six: Narrative Point of View – How does this whole incident make Ponyboy realize that Darry really does love him?
• Lesson Seven: Theme
• Lesson Eight: Theme – How does the novel reveal the theme of the divide between rich and poor?
• Lesson Nine: Characterization + Plot
• Lesson Ten: Narrative Point of View
• Lesson Eleven: Characterization + Plot – Why do you think Ponyboy says he would rather have somebody’s hate than their pity?
• Lesson Twelve: Author’s Purpose

I also included bonus lessons in my unit. The first was a movie comparison. Students watched The Outsiders, the movie, and then we talked about how the movie stayed faithful to the book and why the director might have made changes. The additional bonus lessons were a text-to-text comparison (I had my students compare to A Long Walk to Water) and writing an objective summary of the novel.

My novel study of The Outsiders includes daily lesson plans, daily comprehension questions, interactive notebook pages, teacher slides, rubrics, reading response examples, and more. The novel study integrates Socratic seminars, pushing students beyond surface-level reading. They had to dig in, analyze what’s taking place, and have meaningful conversations.

Using Socratic Seminar with The Outsiders

Chances are, you’ve done novel studies in your class before, and they left a lot to be desired. Students refused to talk, or they were off-task. It can feel like pulling teeth to engage all the students. I’ve been there, and the best solution is Socratic Seminar.

With Socratic Seminar, you step out of the center stage and pass the conversation to students. Yes, you’ll give them guiding and interpretive questions to discuss, but it’s up to them to lead the conversation and respond to each other.

Which might leave you thinking, “How am I supposed to get them to engage with each other if it’s crickets during our class discussions?” It all comes down to the routines you establish with Socratic Seminars. If you need help setting up those routines and expectations, I highly recommend the Socratic Seminar Academy workshop.

Socratic Seminar in Practice

So, how does Socratic Seminar look during your The Outsiders novel study? Let’s look at lesson one, for example. In this lesson, students are analyzing the novel’s point of view. I kick off the lesson with a guiding question: Is our narrator reliable? Can we believe what he is telling us?

After reading chapter one, I don’t jump right into the seminar. I give students a chance to write about the guiding question during the quick write and gather their thoughts. This gives them something to show up with, so it’s not crickets. Then, we move into the seminar, and I let students know that it’s okay if they need to read their written responses.

This takes some of the pressure off, gets the conversation flowing, and then students start to gain confidence and freely discuss. I won’t say, “It’s that simple!” Because I know in reality, it can be more challenging. But with practice, it does get easier for both you and your students.
If you’re looking for a simple-to-use, ready-to-go novel study unit for The Outsiders, I have one you’ll love. It goes beyond the basic comprehension worksheets and simple novel read-through. Your students will walk away having analyzed and thought meaningfully about the text!