chapter 1

My first impression of Black Swan Green was that it had a Catcher in the Rye vibe. The struggles of a junior high school/ high school student who is going through a lot in his life. He experiments with how to behave around his peers, although Jason doesn't seem nearly as self destructive as Holden. Jason is afraid to show his peers how smart he is for fear of how ostracized he will be. He also (like Holden) seemed to have one family member that seemed to care about him, his grandfather, and he keeps his grandfather's watch in a safe place just as Holden does with Allie's glove. I'm probably think along the lines of Cather because my hope is that if I were to teach Black Swan Green I would be pairing it with Catcher.
My prediction is that Jason has a traumatic past that he will have to deal with with some professional help. His father seems to have a separate life from the family he lives with.
My difficulties with the text so far arose from my thinking about how I would teach this. The British lingo, and references, slang, games etc... are all things I circled and have to/ had to look up. There are so many that part of me doesn't know if it will turn students off. It's like that old saying, a joke isn't a joke if it has to be explained. How much will an explanation of all of these terms take away from the text. I'm picturing my students rolling their eyes at all the explaining. All the slang and references also make me wonder how I can make it relatable and tangible to their lives. Jason and his friends play on a frozen pond in the woods. Not many of my students will have experiences like that. Playing stick ball or basketball in their neighborhood would be comparable, but I feel like I may be reaching.