Dovey Coe by Frances O’Roark Dowell - Pearson Education

Activities by Alan Pearce

The following pages can be downloaded and printed out as required. This material may be freely copied for institutional use. However, this material is

copyright and under no circumstances can copies be offered for sale. The publishers gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce copyright material.

Dovey Coeby Frances O’Roark Dowell

Introduction

New Windmill titles are supported with Student and Teaching resource sheets to engagestudents with the novel and to help you with your planning. Each set of resourcesincludes a series of self-contained lessons with photocopiable worksheets, teaching notesand suggestions for Guided Reading. Each activity is mapped against the Framework tohelp you with your planning. There are also suggestions for further study areas includingspeaking and listening, writing and reading activities. If your students have enjoyedstudying this novel there are suggestions of other New Windmills they may like to readfor pleasure.

Resources for Dovey Coe:

Synopsis

Activate prior learning

Activities

– Exploring colloquial expressions

– Research into the problems faced by students who have a hearing impairment

– A newspaper article on Dovey Coe’s trial

Guided reading

– Literal and metaphorical

– Empathetic reading

– Identifying stylistic conventions of newspaper reporting

Further study areas

Reading for pleasure

Dovey Coe

2

Teacher’sNotes © Harcourt Education Limited, 2005

Synopsis

Dovey Coe is a twelve-year-old girl who lives in the small town of Indian Creek, NorthCarolina. Parnell Caraway, the son of the richest man in town, wants to marry Dovey’solder sister Caroline. Although Caroline does not agree to Parnell’s wishes, she doesenjoy the attention that he gives her, and enjoys the lifestyle that he offers her.

Dovey and Caroline have a deaf brother, Amos, who is regarded by some people in thetown to be a freak. Dovey and Amos are extremely close and Dovey teaches him to readand write. They spend hours together in the mountains, hunting with Amos’s two dogs.Parnell’s evil personality is reflected in his willingness to make derogatory commentsabout Amos, which does not improve Dovey’s opinion of Parnell.

Caroline plans to leave Indian Creek to train as a teacher, but at her leaving party Parnellpublicly proposes to Caroline, only to be humiliated by her refusal.

One evening Parnell lures Dovey back to his father’s shop, announcing that he has one ofAmos’s dogs tied up. It becomes clear that Parnell wishes to achieve some sort of revengeover Caroline and her family, by killing Amos’s dog in front of Dovey. Dovey stabsParnell with a knife but he knocks her out. When she comes to she finds that Parnell hasbeen murdered.

At Dovey’s trial it is shown that she would have been too weak to lift up the metalcanister used to murder Parnell. We later learn that it was Amos who committed themurder in order to protect Dovey, but no one finds out the truth and the story endshappily.

Activate prior learning

It would be helpful if the students understood some of the terms used in the legal systemof the USA. In addition, the students might like to explore what they understand aboutthe US legal system from films and television. The novel refers to the prosecutingattorney, the defending attorney, the sheriff and the judge. These positions could becompared with the legal system of England and Wales, or Scotland.

Dovey Coe

3

Teacher’sNotes © Harcourt Education Limited, 2005

Teaching notes

Activity 1 Exploring colloquial expression

Framework Objectives

Year 7: W14 Define and deploy words with precision, including their exactimplication in context. S16 Investigate differences between spoken and writtenlanguage structures.

Year 8: W7 Understand and explain exactly what words mean in particular contexts;S12 Explore and use different degrees of formality in written and oral texts.

Year 9: W7 Recognise layers of meaning in the writer’s choice of words; S10 Explorediffering attitudes to language, and identify characteristics of Standard English thatmake it the dominant mode of public communication.

Activity aims:

To engage in close reading.

To explore the meanings of colloquial expressions.

This activity asks the students to explain a number of colloquial expressions before theywrite a glossary to explain some of the phrases Dovey uses throughout the novel.

Provide the students with Resource Sheet 1. The students’ task is to explain a number ofcolloquial expressions that are embedded within a short passage. This passage containsexamples of British colloquial expressions, most of which the students will be veryfamiliar. The activity could be extended by asking the students to provide some morecontemporary colloquial expressions.

Provide the students with Resource Sheet 2. The students are asked to contribute to aglossary for a new edition of Dovey Coe. The students are asked to consider a range ofcolloquial expressions used by Dovey, and to try to explain their meanings for anotheraudience. These colloquial expressions will be familiar to the students and so they shouldbe encouraged to speculate about their meanings from the context in which they appear.It might be worthwhile to consider the difference between colloquialisms and slang.(Both are informal language, but slang is usually associated with a specific sub-group,such as teens or even snowboarders.) This activity could be followed up with aconsideration of modern slang.

Guided reading – Literal and metaphorical

Select a small group of students who would benefit from some help with distinguishingbetween the literal and the metaphorical. Re-read pages 18-19, from ‘If it weren’t forCaroline…’ to ‘…so much above us.’ Ask the students to explain clearly what thefollowing phrases mean:

didn’t give him the time of day

hung the moon

so much above us.

Dovey Coe

4

StudentSheet

1

© Harcourt Education Limited, 2005

Informal conversation

The following passage has been written in the first person and the narrator has used anumber of colloquial expressions. Colloquial expressions are expressions that are suitablefor informal conversation. See if you can explain clearly what each of the expressionsactually means.

I need to get something off my

chest. Yesterday I tried to chat up

Sue. She’s got a sweet tooth so I

bought her a box of chocolates that

cost £5 – what a rip off. She said

that she wouldn’t go out with me

because I was too immature. What

a cheek. Still, I couldn’t care less

really, because there are loads of

other fish in the sea.

Dovey Coe

StudentSheet © Harcourt Education Limited, 2005

2 Glossary of Dovey’s expressions

The novel Dovey Coe has been written in the first person, and the narrator has used anumber of colloquial expressions. Imagine that the publishers want to produce aglossary to explain the meanings of the colloquial expressions in the novel. They haveasked you to explain the following phrases that appear in the first five chapters. Seehow many of them you can explain, but remember that you must explain exactly what ismeant by each of them. Notice that one of the expressions has been explained for you.

Page Expression Explanation

1 I reckon it don’t matter

1 Parnell Caraway was … rotten to the core

3 At least a million other things that all add up to my good life here

5 Ain’t you something

13 Mrs Dreama had the learning of a brick

14 Motioning for me to stop in my tracks

17 The sort of girl whose head held a bigger picture than marrying

18 Barking their heads off

23 There was no love lost between Parnell Caraway and me

24 Coming up with an idea on the spot

5

Dovey meant that Parnell was really horrible. ‘Rottento the core’ suggests that he is horrible all the wayto the middle – that there is no goodness in him.

Dovey Coe

© Harcourt Education Limited, 2005

Teaching notes

Activity 2 Research into the problems faced by students who have a hearingimpairment.


Year 7: R2 Use appropriate reading strategies; R6 Adopt active reading strategies;Wr14 describe an object, person or setting in a way that includes relevant details andis accurate and evocative.

Year 8: R2 Undertake independent research; Wr12 Describe an event, process orsituation, using language with an appropriate degree of formality.

Year 9: Wr3 Write in Standard English; R2 Synthesise information from a range ofsources; Wr11 Make telling use of descriptive details.

Activity aims:

To select appropriate information.

To produce an informative leaflet.

This activity asks the students to research into the problems faced by students who arehearing impaired, and to produce an information leaflet.

Provide the students with Resource Sheet 3. This Resource Sheet asks the students toidentify what Amos was able to achieve. Amos is deaf, and so he is restricted in what hecan do. However, the aim of this activity is to point out to the students how skilful heactually is. It might be helpful, before the students tackle this Resource sheet, to ask themto consider what they could do and not do if they were profoundly deaf.

Provide students with Resource Sheet 4. This Resource Sheet asks the students to carryout a piece of independent research in order to answer some questions, and to use theiranswers to produce an information leaflet. The students should produce their leaflet to beread by an audience of their own peers. It might be necessary to revise the use of presentand past tense writing, and writing in the first and third person. A very useful place forthe students to start their research would be the Royal National Institute for DeafPeople’s website. Go to http://www.heinemann.co.uk/hotlinks and type in express code1079P. This site considers all of the relevant issues, and provides other helpful links.

Guided reading – Empathetic reading

Select a group of students who would benefit from some support with empatheticreading. Re-read pages 20–21 from ‘Parnell sat down on the step…’ to ‘…between thetwo of them.’ In this incident Parnell insults Amos. Dovey responds aggressively whileCaroline seems to ignore Parnell’s rudeness. Firstly, ask the students to say why theythink Dovey is so rude. (She dislikes Parnell; she is worried about Parnell’s influenceover Caroline; she is defending Amos.) Afterwards, ask the students to explain whyCaroline might have responded like she did. (She is more aware that Parnell has verylittle influence over her; she has been enjoying the attention she has been receiving fromParnell.) Ask the students to judge the behaviour of both Dovey and Caroline.

6

Teacher’sNotes

3 Looking at Amos

In the following passage Dovey explains that although Amos was deaf, he was able toachieve a great deal. In the boxes around the passage record the things that Amos wasable to do.

Page 12

Dovey Coe

7

StudentSheet © Harcourt Eduction Limited, 2005

Some folks thought that because Amosdidn’t hear and he didn’t talk, he must bestupid, and a lot of folks treated him like hewas, though it was a far sight from the truth.I taught Amos to read when he was eightand I was seven, which weren’t as hard asyou might think. I started him out withpicture books that had just a few words. Sothere’d be a picture of a dog and the word‘dog’, and Amos made the connection rightquick. If there was a word that didn’t have apicture of it attached, I’d just find a real-lifeexample and show it to him.

Later on, I taught him how to read lips inpretty much the same way, and soon hecould understand just about anything aperson would care to say to him as long asthey spoke directly to his face. He couldn’ttalk, but he could write. In fact, hishandwriting was a sight prettier than mine.Mama said my writing looked like a chickendipped in ink had walked across my paper.

4 Creating a leaflet to informreaders

Many people in Indian Creek thought that Amos was strange just because he was deaf.To balance this view, you are going to produce a leaflet that could be used to supportstudents’ reading of the novel Dovey Coe. Consequently, your audience is students ofyour own age and ability. The leaflet should contain the following sections:

1 Explain what problems are faced by people who are deaf.

2 Show how far, and what ways, can these problems be overcome.

3 Provide biographical accounts of people who have suffered from deafness but whohave made significant achievements.

4 Give details about organisations that support people with deafness.

Remember

In this piece of information writing:

write in the present tense when you write about the problems deaf peoplehave

write in the past tense when you write about the deaf people who have madesignificant achievements

use connectives to link ideas together

avoid using too many adjectives and adverbs when you are presenting factualinformation.

Try to make the leaflet as attractive as possible. Think about:

different font sizes

different colours

illustrations

headings and sub-headings

bullet points.

Dovey Coe

8


Dovey Coe

9

Teacher’sNotes © Harcourt Eduction Limited, 2005

Teaching notes

Activity 3 Newspaper Article on Dovey Coe’s Trial


Year 7: S17 Use Standard English; Wr10 Organise texts in ways appropriate to thecontent.

Year 8: S12 Explore and use different degrees of formality in written texts; Wr12 Describe an event, process or situation, using language with an appropriatedegree of formality.

Year 9: S9 Write sustained Standard English with the formality suited to reader andpurpose; Wr7 Explore how non-fiction texts can convey information in amusing orentertaining ways.

Activity aims:

To select appropriate information.

To write a newspaper article.

This activity leads the students towards creating a newspaper article about Dovey Coe’s trial.The guided reading activity could be done first with a class, or a group of students whowould benefit from some extra help with stylistic conventions of newspaper articles. Providethe students with Resource Sheet 5. This Resource Sheet presents a newspaper article onthe first day of the trial and asks the students to identify some of the stylistic conventionsof a newspaper article. Prior to studying the Resource sheet, the students could be asked todiscuss what they understand about the conventions of newspaper journalism. It might alsobe helpful to revise the use of past and present tenses, and first and third person writing.

Provide the students with Resource Sheet 6. This Resource Sheet asks the students toselect relevant information to include in their own newspaper article on the last day ofthe trial. The students are provided with notes ‘they’ made during the trial of Dovey Coe.They are then asked to write a newspaper article reporting on the trial. The Resourcesheet reminds the students of the stylistic conventions of a newspaper article, but it mightbe necessary to support some students with their writing. The most difficult problems thestudents will face are (a) answering all of the ‘wh’ questions within their first paragraph(b) combining quotations into their reporting (c) moving from first to third person, andfrom past to present in their writing.

Guided reading – Identifying stylistic conventions of newspaper reporting

Select a group of students who would benefit from some additional support whenanalysing the stylistic conventions of newspaper reporting. Distribute Resource sheet 5then read the extract from a newspaper article together. It is from the Indian Creek Dailyand is based on the news that Caroline had been accepted for teacher training.

Ask the students to identify the following:

the answers to the ‘wh’ questions in the first paragraph (who, where, what, how, when)

an example of emotive language

an example of exaggeration

a fact.

5 Guided reading activity

Dovey Coe

10


Caroline Coe, eldestdaughter of John Coe,

general engineer of IndianCreek, has today announcedthat she is leaving her hometown to train as a teacher.

John Coe, Indian Creek’sproudest father, hoped that hisdaughter would return oneday to teach in the localschool. ‘Folks don’t take tookindly to teachers from out oftown. Ain’t y’all noticed?’

commented John Coe.Caroline, beaming like a newmoon over North Carolina,said that if the local schoolwould accept her then shewould be delighted to workthere. Caroline will be awayfrom her folks for two years,learning all of the skills that amodern teacher requires.

It seems that the nextgeneration of Indian Creekkids is in for a treat.

Indian Creek’s OwnTrainee Teacher

6 Stylistic conventions ofnewspaper reporting

Here is a newspaper article that appeared in the Indian Creek Daily. It covers the first dayof Dovey Coe’s trial. Below the article there is a list of some of the stylistic conventionsthat you might expect in a newspaper article. Write each of the stylistic conventions inone of the boxes that appear around the outside of the article, and then draw an arrowto an appropriate word or phrase.

Who, where, what, how, when, fact, opinion, exaggeration, emotive language.

Dovey Coe

11


Tearaway TomboyAccused of KnifeMurderToday, in the packed courtroom of Indian Creek,

12 year old Dovey Coe was accused ofstabbing 16 year old Parnell Caraway to death.The small courtroom in this sleepy mountain townhas never before witnessed such a sensationaltrial.

Mr Tobias Jarrell, the Prosecuting Attorney, describedthe murder as a ‘heinous crime’ committed by an‘enraged woman’. The people of Indian Creek listenedin silence as the graphic details of this violent crimewere laid bare.

Mrs Lucy Caraway, the jaded mother of the victim,dabbed her eyes with a spotless white handkerchiefas she sobbed through her experiences of the nightof August 23rd. On that fateful night Lucy Carawayentered the back room of the family business,Caraway Dry Goods Store, to be horrified by thescene. In front of her, on the floor, lay the dead bodyof her son, his shirt soaked in blood; beside him wasa blood stained knife, while standing over the deadbody was twelve-year-old Dovey Coe, confused butunrepentant.

It seems that the people of Indian Creek will not befollowing this open and shut case for very many days.

6 Covering the Dovey trial

The trial of Dovey Coe for the murder of Parnell Caraway took at least two days.Imagine that you are a reporter for the Indian Creek Daily and you have been coveringthe trial. Your task is to write an article about the sensational events of the last day ofthe trial.

You have recorded the following notes about the trial, and you will now have to selectwhich of them you want to use in your article.

Now, select the information that you want to use, and then write your article.Remember, in a newspaper article you should use the following stylistic conventions:

write in the past tense

write in the third person, except for quotations from eye witnesses that should bewritten in the first person

answer all of the ‘wh’ questions: who, where, what, how, when in the firstparagraph

include some facts, but also some opinion

use some exaggeration to make your report more exciting

use some emotive language to grab your reader’s attention.

Dovey Coe

12


Dovey Coe innocent!On witness stand: knife, blood-stained shirt, metalcanister for soda fountain.

Mr Harding, Defending Attorney, has had quiet trial.Not bothered to interview anyone yet.

First witness: Sheriff Douglas – questioned himabout canister – definitely the murder weapon.

Second witness: DC. Questioned about events of thenight. THEN dramatic moment. DC asked to pick upsoda canister. She couldn’t – it was too heavy! Shecouldn’t have been the murderer.

Judge Lovett M Young took 30mins to find DC NotGuilty.

6Dovey Coe

13


TThhee IInnddiiaann CCrreeeekk DDaaiillyy

14

Teacher’sNotes

Further study areas

This novel explores a number of relationships within an isolated community in the USA.It focuses particularly on the murder of an arrogant, wealthy teenager who believes thathe should be able to achieve everything that he wishes.

The following study areas provide ideal opportunities for creating interesting andstimulating activities:

Author’s craft: Consider the advantages and disadvantages of writing in the first person. (Author’s craft: Yr7 R12; Yr8 R10; Yr9 R9)

Persuasive writing: Persuade Amos not to tell anyone that he killed Parnell Caraway.(Persuasive writing: Yr7 W15; Yr8 W13; Yr9 W13)

Personal view: How far do you think Caroline was responsible for the tragic events ofthe novel?(Writing reflectively: Yr7 W19; Yr8 W16; Yr9 W13)

Collaborative drama: As a class, recreate the trial scene.(Collaborative drama: Yr7 S&L16; Yr8 S&L16; Yr9 S&L14)

Group discussion: Dovey says ‘I weren’t convinced being rich brings satisfaction to aperson.’ Do you agree?(Group discussion: Yr7 S&L12; Yr8 S&L10; Yr9 S&L10)

Writing to entertain: Choose any of the key events in the novel and rewrite them fromAmos’s perspective.(Writing to entertain: Yr7 Wr5; Yr8 Wr6; Yr9 Wr5)

Reading for pleasure

This novel is set in a rural community in the USA and focuses on the experiences of fourchildren. If students have enjoyed this novel then they will also enjoy Ruby Holler bySharon Creech in which adopted brother and sister have a number of excitingexperiences in a rural setting in the USA. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit shares asimilar magical quality and tells the story of a young girl’s discovery of a family whoknow the secret of everlasting life.

Dovey Coe

© Harcourt Eduction Limited, 2005

Documents

Dovey Coe by Frances O’Roark Dowell - Pearson Education