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divergent thinking + common core

Lexile® measure1230L

table of contents

Introduction - Leah WilsonFrom Factions to Fire Signs -

Rosemary Clement-MooreDivergent Psychology - Jennifer Lynn BarnesMapping Divergent’s Chicago - V. ArrowChoices Can Be Made Again - Maria V. Snyder and

Jenna SnyderOrdinary Acts of Bravery - Elizabeth NorrisFear and the Dauntless Girl - Blythe Woolson

They Injure Each Other in the Same Way - Mary Borsellino

Secrets and Lies - Debra DrizaBureau versus Rebels: Which Is Worse? -

Dan KrokosFactions: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -

Julia KarrThe Downfall of Dauntless - Janine K. SpendloveEmergent - Elizabeth Wein

Veronica roth’s DiVergent trilogy has captured the hearts and thoughts of millions of readers. In Divergent Thinking, YA authors explore even more of Tris and Tobias’ world, including:

•  What  Divergent’s  factions  have  in  common  with  one  of psychology’s most prominent personality models

•  The biology of fear: where it comes from and how Tris and the other Dauntless are able to overcome it

•  Full-page  maps  locating  all  five  faction  headquarters  and other series landmarks in today’s Chicago, based on clues from the books

•  Plus  a whole  lot more,  from why we  love  identity  shorthand like factions to Tris’ trouble with honesty to the importance of choice, family, and being brave

With a dozen smart, surprising, mind-expanding essays on all three books in the trilogy, Divergent Thinking  provides  a  companion fit  for  even  the most Erudite Divergent fan.

divergent thinking

teach divergent thinking

divergent thinking modeLs the reading and writing skills that students need to excel in the classroom, college, and beyond. It not only demonstrates Common Core Anchor Standards, but also serves as an engaging informational text to help you meet the Common Core’s nonfiction requirements.

1 Use rosemary clement-moore’s essay “From Factions to Fire signs” to model and teach CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

•  Clement-Moore’s essay draws together many different examples to prove her point that “sorting” takes place in different places, times, and cultures. Doing so establishes a foundation from which is able to explain why humans like heroes that defy sorting. Discuss with students why Clement-Moore’s early analysis of texts that exhibit sorting make her later argument about the paradox of divergent heroes more effective. How does she “build knowledge” with her many examples? Would her argument about divergent heroes still work if she had used just one example of “sorting” in real life and literature, or even two or three?

•  While some of Clement-Moore’s text examples are quite brief, she is very purposeful with the texts she chooses, and many of the texts she cites are accompanied by analysis. Have students do what Clement-Moore does: compile several different texts to build knowledge of one theme or topic. Discuss the difference between simply listing off examples of parallel texts and giving an analysis of each one, even if that analysis is brief (e.g., providing a short discussion of how sidekicks support heroes, using examples, is often more effective than simply including a list of heroes and their sidekicks).

•  Look at Jennifer Barnes’ essay “Divergent Psychology” in connection with Clement-Moore’s, and have students compare the approaches these two authors take in writing about personality classification. Barnes uses only one very in-depth example, comparing with the Divergent factions, while Clement-Moore, as discussed above, uses many examples. Which essay do they think is more effective? Why? Do both approaches work? Do they work better when read together, versus separately? Do both essays even have the same goal? Have students write a short paragraph on how Barnes’ work might be incorporated into Clement-Moore’s.

2 Use V. arrow’s essay “mapping DiVergent’s chicago” to model and teach CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2a: Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

•  Arrow  begins  her  in-depth  analysis  of  where  each  faction  would  be  headquartered  in modern-day Chicago with some general thoughts on Chicago today versus Divergent’s future version of the city, then proceeds to walk the reader through her own thought processes in locating the individual faction headquarters and other key trilogy settings. How do these organizational choices affect her arguments’ effectiveness? Have students work backwards to create an outline of Arrow’s essay, noting the evidence she uses to come to each of her conclusions. Would her chapter be as effective with a more clear-cut structure? Is the current structure’s generalized opening helpful or confusing? Have students write down several arguments in favor of a more or less structured piece.

•  Talk  with  students  about  the  effectiveness of the formatting, graphics, and multimedia in Arrow’s piece. Would the essay be as clear without the maps and photographs of Chicago? Why, or why

not? Discuss the difference between helpful and unnecessary uses of graphics and multimedia. Have your students think of pieces they’ve read that could be improved with multimedia, as well as pieces for which it would not make sense to include multimedia.

•  In Arrow’s essay, the graphics not only illustrate the connections she is making in the text but also clarify her logic as it relates to location and serve an additional goal of the piece: to allow readers to better visualize the world they read about in the Divergent trilogy. Have students outline Arrow’s essay with special attention to the placement and content of the graphics she uses. How do the visual elements contribute to the piece? Then have students choose their own topic to explore in a similar way, and write an outline for an essay that would benefit from graphics and multimedia.

3 Use elizabeth norris’ essay “orDinary acts oF braVery” to model and teach CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

•  Norris explores one of the central themes of Divergent in this essay: bravery, in multiple manifestations. It’s important when focusing on a single theme like this that the writer also have a clear argument about that theme. Discuss with students what Norris’ argument is. What is her thesis? Also discuss how Norris, in her piece, makes it clear that bravery is a central theme of the Divergent series. What evidence does she use to communicate this to the reader?

•  Norris looks at what bravery means by approaching it from multiple angles: the facet of bravery that can be found in each of the Divergent trilogy’s five factions. Do students see this as an effective way to explore the development of the theme within the series? What if Norris had, instead, begun with the definition of bravery Tris learns in Dauntless, and then shown how this idea was challenged and built upon over the course of the series? Would that approach have been more or less useful in understanding the way the series deals with the bravery theme? What other approaches might she have used to explore bravery in Divergent?

•  Discuss with  students  the  effectiveness  of Norris’  supporting details  in proving her  argument. Ask students to find a piece of evidence with strong reasoning, and explain why the reasoning is strong and the evidence effective. Then ask them to choose three other supporting details and discuss their relevance to the piece as a whole. Are there any details they can think of that Norris left out? Are there any Norris included that seem unnecessary?

4 Use blythe woolston’s essay “Fear anD the DaUntless girl” to model and teach CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

•  Woolston  references  many  informational  texts,  including  scientific  studies,  to  contextualize  her discussion of fear in the Divergent trilogy. Have students discuss which references they think are the most helpful in a) explaining fear responses and b) supporting her arguments about Dauntless’ (and the Divergent trilogy’s) approach to fear.

•  Have students discuss the importance of using multiple texts as support, using Woolston’s essay as an example. Do some arguments need to be proven using multiple texts? Would Woolston’s piece be as effective without the multiple references—or if her references were drawn from areas of knowledge other than science and psychology? Would other essays they’ve read, or written, possibly be strengthened by using multiple texts, or different kinds of text, for support? Are there essays that work better with only one source text?

•  Woolston makes an  interesting move  in her essay by discussing  real psychology  in  the  context of a fictional world. Ask students to do something similar, by using science or history from our world to help explain some aspect of Divergent’s world, or another fictional world (e.g., examples of real historical wars that lead to societies or factions similar to Divergent’s).

5 Use Dan KroKos’ essay “bUreaU VersUs rebels: which is worse?” to model and teach CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1b: Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

•  Krokos’s essay embraces the idea of claims and counterclaims very explicitly, in the way he structures the essay as well as in his introduction, where he lays out what the essay will do. Ask students to think of an example of another piece they’ve recently read that also stated claims and counterclaims, but did so in a less overt way. Which style do they find more effective, and why? 

•  Krokos is very specific throughout the piece with the evidence he uses to prove his points. Have students go through the essay and write down each piece of evidence that Krokos uses to support his argument for the Bureau, then do the same for the Rebels. After tracking the evidence for each side, have students decide which argument they find more effective based only on the evidence they have written down. Do students think Krokos is fair in his depiction of each side?

•  After reading Krokos’ essay, have students choose their own question (about the Divergent trilogy or another book) to argue both sides of. Students should create bullet points arguing each side and then write a compelling conclusion that shares their opinion based on the evidence. Then, students can evaluate each others’ work with Krokos’ essay in mind as a template.

divergent thinking multimedia

want more on the topics discussed in Divergent Thinking?

illUstrating From aUthor Descriptions

When we picture scenes or characters or objects from a book, we do so based on the description given to us by the author. But no matter how detailed or specific the author’s description, different people can and do picture different things. There are two different “official” versions of the faction logos available, one that accompanied the books and one that accompanies the film. For Divergent Thinking, an artist named Risa Rodil was hired to create a third version that would be recognizable to Divergent readers but also visually very different from the official illustrations.

Though all three versions have strong similarities, drawing from Veronica Roth’s descriptions in the text, they also have clear differences in style and content. Discuss with your students: What are the similarities between the faction symbols, and why do they think these remained constant in the artists’ interpretations? What are the differences, and why or how might these have arisen? Do they like one version of the faction symbols better than the others? Why? Invite students to create their own versions of the faction symbols, based on the descriptions given in Divergent, and be prepared to defend their artistic choices.

Download a copy of all three versions of the faction symbols: http://www.smartpopbooks.com/media/extra/faction-icons-for-educators.pdf

See more of Risa Rodil’s work: http://www.risarodil.com

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