The+House+of+the+Scorpion-+Themes

__**Themes**__
Ethics and Eugenics (Megan Deutschman) Friends and Enemies (Sarah Babler) Hope (Sarah Babler) Self-Discovery (Mark Dolezal) Survival (Susan Steffen) Communism and Capitalism (Nick Schreiber) Acceptance (SM) totalitarian rule (Kathy Kepulis) government corruption (Kathy Kepulis) drug wars (Kathy Kepulis) Immigration (Andrea) Ethics and Technology (Andrea) Greed and Deception (Susan Steffen) Secrets (Susan Steffen) Cloning (Danielle Cesare) Immortalism (Kathryn Love) Science & Humanity (Kathryn Love) Communism (Susan Steffen) Eugenics (Susan Steffen) Betrayal (MQ) Role Models (DL) Fear of the unknown (Kaite Sweval) Stigmas (Kaite Sweval) Pride & Self-Esteem (Kaite Sweval) Power (SN) God VS Science (SN) Trust vs. Betrayal (Georgia) Ethical Leadership (Georgia) Controversial issues in society (animal testing, genetic engineering, stem cell research) Emily Hamer Futuristic or Science Fiction Literature (Emily Hamer) Isolation (Emily Hamer) Power (TRH)

**__Suggested paired texts (contemporary or classic)__**
//ONE// by Kathryn Otoshi (Mark Dolezal) //Holes// by Louis Sachar (Megan Deutschman) //A wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Mark Dolezal)// Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (Sarah Babler) The Giver by Lois Lowry (Sarah Babler) //Feed// by M.T. Anderson (Nick Schreiber) __Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers__ by Mary Roach (SM) //The Handmaids Tale// by Margaret Atwood (Kathy Kepulis) //The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border// by Teresa Rodruquez and Diane Montane (Kathy Kepulis) The Poetry of Barbara Kingsolver (Andrea) Tom Sawyer (Andrea) //Brave New World// by Aldous Huxley (Susan Steffen) Clone Catcher By Alfred Slote (Danielle Cesare) Double Identity By Margaret Peterson Haddix (Danielle Cesare) //The Samurai's Tale// by Erik Haugaard (Kathryn Love) //The Declaration// by Gemma Malley (Kathryn Love) //The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume 1: The Pox Party// by M.T. Anderson (Kathryn Love) //The Tale of Peter Rabbit// by Beatrix Potter (Susan Steffen) //The Gulag Archipelago// by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Susan Steffen) The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (Mary Qualls) "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, (Doug Larson) //The Hunger Games// by Suzanne Collins (Kaite Sweval) "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (SN) "Uglies: by Scott Westerfeld (Georgia) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Emily Hamer) Monster by Dean Myers (Emily Hamer) The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (Emily Hamer) //The Gate To Woman's Country// by Sheri S. Tepper (TRH)

__Projects or Activities__
A timeline on the changes advances in cloning would be interesting for the students to learn. The class could divide into groups based on that period of time they are to research. After the research students could put the timeline together and see how things have changed and how many advances have been made. (Megan Deutschman)

I think a fun project for older students, especially middle school students, would be for them to talk about a time that they were friends with someone and then they were "enemies" and no longer got along. The students could do a writing on how their friendships changed and what made their friendships change. (Sarah Babler)

Students could create a short documentary film about worker exploration in America and relate it to the drug lords exploiting the eejits as their slave workers. Students could pull news clips and newspaper articles for research, find pictures and shoot video concerning middle class people struggling to make a living while the top two percent become richer and richer. (Nick Schreiber)

Student groups could pick an important scene from the books and video record themselves acting out the scene an upload it to the classroom wiki. Students would also write individual reports on the scene's significance to the book in terms of plot, character development, and any major theme. (Nick Schreiber)

This would be a great piece to develop an inquiry-project from. There are so many researchable issues here--drug cartels, corruption, cloning, bio-ethics, immigration, salt-mining even! Right now I'm developing a project just like this, where students use literature to prompt inquiry that develops into collaborative research and composition projects. I wish I had this as a novel set! (Andrea)

I would pose this question to my students and ask them to reflect upon and respond via an avenue of their choice. (oral presentation, written response, visual response, multi-media response, digital or non-digital, etc.) I would expect them to provide details to explain their answers. The question would be: Was Matt a human or was he a clone? (Kathy Kepulis)

I would have the students keep a journal about if they had a clone of themselves. In this journal they would write down what they would have the clone do for them during the next 3 days and how they would treat them. At the end of those 3 days they will come up with a list of rules that their clone would have to follow. The following few days they will have to follow those rules, previously made, and write about how they felt as the clone. They will then as a class make a law up with rules for owning a clone. (Danielle Cesare)

I think an interesting activity for students would be to have them write an advertisement either promoteing or discouraging cloning of animals. Once they were done, they could read their advertisements, this could generate some interesting debate. Then, have them write a second similar advertisement, however this time have them write about human cloning. It would be interesting to see if their points of views change.

Students could create their own sci-fy digital stories connecting to social constructs and acceptance. This could be filmed either from the humans that don't understand and are fearful of the new and unknown that is entering their longstanding societal constructs or from the perspective of the outsider trying to find their niche. (Kaite Sweval)

Students could create a future "fictional Land" of their own but have it geographically based somewhere factual. Like Opium being located in the Tex-Mex region of North America. They could develope a fictional governmental structure, population and economy. What events led to the creation of their land? What created the population? How is it tied to current events? (Mark Dolezal)

Read about Cinco De Mayo and draw a parallel between the history of this Mexican holiday and Matteo's victory for rights and justice at the end of the novel. Create a festival that Matt may have had after he breaks down the empire of opium. What food, drink and activities might there be.(Mark Dolezal)

I would create a debate. I would divide the class in half and have one half research the benefits of cloning this half would be pro cloning. The other half would be anti cloning and I would have them research the cons of cloning including the religious aspect of cloning. Then create a great debate. They would be senators, scientist, citizens etc... stating and portraying their stance on cloning. (SN)

"Grandchild Project"- Students are challenged to predict what life will be like for their grandchildren. They can choose from categories such as clothing, transportation, schools and education, using various media to explain what these things will be like in the future. Students then would write a letter to their imaginary grandchild, telling about their own life and whatever else they believe would be relevant to the grandchild. Students may then present two of their categories to the class. (Kathryn Love)

Create a map of the story including Opium and Atzlan. Do a reader's theater. Do a lit. circle. (Georgia)

Design a family crest for the El Patron empire as a way of studying character mapping (Emily Hamer)

This book could preface a discussion of prejudices and biases that students face every day. (Emily Hamer)

Have students research information about cloning, and have them write a paper about what they discovered, along with their feelings about it. (Mary)

Have students become activists for clone rights, or advocates for clone harvesting. Have them create a protest poster sharing their views. (TRH)