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Greetings! I'm fairly new here, but I was curious to hear from people who have used Ender's Game in the classroom. I will be introducing it to my curriculum for the first time next year.
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I remember highly recommending Ender's Game to be used in the classroom to a teacher, but unfortunately, the book wasn't district-approved.
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I had that problem as well when I was teaching at a public school. Now that I'm at a private school, I made my adminstrator read it, and he agreed that it had educational value and appeal. I have a couple of ideas for lessons but I am interested in more tried and true ideas from those who have had success with the book.
There is a teacher's section in the Research Area of this site, complete with discussion topics, etc. However, I'm curious to see if there are any personal stories about this from our teachers here, too.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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I began reading Ender's Game to my sixth graders last year, as a teacher read aloud. Before I finished the second chapter I changed my mind. I thought the violence and language was too harsh for their tender psyches. I told them to be sure and read it when they are in high school. It's one of the best books they'll ever read. Hopefully they'll remember. . .
Posts: 277 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I, too, read it as a read aloud when I was teaching public school. That way, I was able to bleep out the questionable language (really tone it down, not bleep). The kids were absolutely riveted. Even though I agree it is a violent story for 12 year olds, we had some great disscussions about the choices Ender made and why he made them. Parents of non-readers asked me my their children were reading (the rest of the series) on stop!
Posts: 72 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Oh, yeah, thanks Claudia. I have been to the research section of this website. I will be using and adapting some of the suggestions there; however, in large measure, the contributors seem to be secondary teachers. I was hoping there were more teachers out there who use the book that might not have shared their ideas there.
Posts: 72 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I read it to my freshmen last year. My AP kids were spellbound. I could really get them to shut up if not reading to them was a punishment. I didn't really bleep anything out, as I heard them say much worse in the hallways.
It was a good experience. Especially when I got to NATO and the Warsaw pact in history. You should have seen their little brains working! Posts: 1735 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Oh yeah, I used to be in another district that did approve OSC novels. We got to read Ender's Game, Seventh Son, and Red Prophet. But then, I moved, and my district doesn't approve them, but that's because they don't even know OSC. Damn bastards !! I want them all dead until they read them!!! Posts: 3389 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I teach sixth grade. I extremely excited today becasue my administrator just officially approved my lit budget today, which includes a class set of the YA version on EG! Woo Hoo!
Posts: 72 | Registered: Jan 2004
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No, Just the cover is different. A picture of Ender in his suit in the battle room. I bought this edition for my classroom as well. It's a dollar cheaper and a bit larger but the text is exactly the same.
Just a side note I really don't like the cover because the battle room and suit look nothing like I would have pictured but it does have more visual appeal then the standard paperback cover.
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Actually there is a small difference. On page 61 of the Definitive Edition Ender uses the "N" word with Alai in there first battle room experience. This is removed from the YA edition. But I seem to remeber hearing him say that he had removed it all together(I have an older copy) because too many people had gotten side tracked into racial discussions when that was not his intention. But as I teach in an Urban School I was just as glad not to have to address that issue.
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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We read it to the kids in our classroom, unedited. They drank it in. They are not readers as a group, but they signed up to read it themselves after we were done, and I bought a copy of Ender's Shadow which they also ate up.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I finished Ender's Game with about two weeks left in school in my AP class. I asked them if they wanted me to start Ender's Shadow and they were spellbound. All I did the last day was read to them (for an 85 minute block) and they were silent. They were mad when the bell rang and I'm sure that two or three of them bought Ender's Shadow after that.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Mar 2001
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The only other book we read that came close to holding their attention so closely was "Holes."
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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When I was a Senior in High School my Honor's English Teacher had us pick a novel to read from a long list: and Ender's Game was on it. Guess what book I chose to read.
(It was actually my second time reading it..but shhh don't tell anyone)
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