What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to the meditation, they write about their experience and how it relates to what they are reading in class.

Concepts

imagery, the old man and the sea, ernest hemingway, prewriting, sensory language, figurative language

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have class members turn their writing activity into a descriptive narrative essay or poem, complete with figurative language and sensory language
• Try the activity at the beginning and again at the end of the book to see if readers notice a difference in their perspective of the ocean after reading about Santiago's harrowing experiences

Classroom Considerations

• Guided activity is scripted, but you could use your own ideas or draw inspiration from the description
• The plan, crafted by a teacher candidate, includes a rationale for the activity

Pros

• Provides a way for struggling readers to access the novel's themes and sensory experiences
• Invites readers to connect the concepts in the novel to listening and writing skills

Cons

• Contains some typos and grammatical errors
• Doesn't offer any type of assessment or extension activity

Common Core

RL.9-10.2 RL.11-12.2