Keeping Corner | Kashmira Sheth | India
Hyperion Book | 2009 | ISBN: 0786838604
A. Rationale for Use in the English Classroom (where/how it would “fit”, complement to other ELA content, etc.)
This book could easily be used in any ELA classroom. In my opinion, it is very similar to Climbing the Stairs in that it is a coming of age story of a young girl living in India in a time of great change. Again, it could complement any Colonial literature, and it could complement any unit in which the essential question revolves around Who Am I?
B. Before/during/after Reading Activity
For a before reading activity, I would introduce want my students to know something and have a little discussion about marriage. I would have them answer the anticipation guide and short answer that I have attached. I would have them agree or disagree with the statements and then we would have a little discussion about marriage. (I think the whole idea of arranged marriages is a little foreign to my students so we would discuss this a little).
For a During reading activity I would have the students use Cornell notes while they were reading. For some reason, I found this novel slightly confusing and I think that it was because of the abundant use of names that, in English, were androgynous and there are a large number of characters living in the house. It was sometimes difficult for me to follow the characters and their relationship to Leela, so I think if I were using this novel in an ELA classroom I would have the students work on their note taking skills. On the left side of the Cornell Notes, the students could put down different characters as we are introduced and then each time we learn something new about them, the students
For an After Reading Activity, I would probably have my students write some journal from the point of view of one of the following characters: Leela , Ba, Kanubhai, or Saviben. They would have to write five entries, in chronological order, written at different points during the year Leela was keeping corner. Leela does a little writing during her year, and it seems to help her grow and understand how she and her country are changing.
Connections to other content areas
I think that this novel would be very interesting to use in a discussion of civil rights or social justice. We don’t often focus much of our civil rights discussions on international issues, but this would be a very interesting way to open this discussion. This novel also has clear connections to World History, World Religions or Geography.
