Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What are the positives and negatives of communicating through technology, including texting, social media posts, comment posting, and other methods? How might people communicate differently online than they do in person?

Teaching Suggestion: With the prevalence of technology-based communication, most students probably have had a variety of experiences with online communication by middle school. Pausing to examine some pros and cons of such interactions can lead to increased analysis of the novel and perhaps some self-reflection. The novel begins with a cruel text; when cell phones are banned, sticky notes become a physical, anonymous social posting method. Though the forms of communication shift in the novel, the characters discover that the methods hold less importance than the motivations beneath. Depending on the class, students might write responses to the prompt on sticky notes and “post” them in a reading journal or their notes; once the class is involved in the reading of the novel, students can revise their responses as inspired by the story before posting the notes publicly. Information from these or similar resources may help students develop additional context on the topic; the NPR article could be a way to talk about limiting online time without eliminating it.