Fish in a Tree

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

What, according to you, is intelligence? Could there be different kinds of intelligence? Is it possible for an intelligent person to still find it difficult to learn things in school? How do you think someone who struggles with learning may feel? How would they behave?

Teaching Suggestion: Fish in a Tree is narrated by Ally Nickerson, a highly intelligent middle-school student who struggles in school. Until Mr. Daniels, her new teacher, accurately perceives the true cause of Ally’s struggle, she is often labelled as lazy and even “stupid” by her peers. Beginning a conversation with students about how intelligence and academic performance are not always related could be a good starting point to contextualize Ally’s situation. Asking students to reflect on how learning differences can impact a student’s behavior and self-esteem may prime them to notice these patterns with Ally. It can also be a starting point to introduce the concept of learning disabilities, and specifically dyslexia, which Ally is later diagnosed with.

• This animated video by the British Dyslexia Association gives a succinct explanation of the condition.
• The dyslexia landing page on the International Dyslexia Association website offers facts, infographics, and FAQs.

Short Activity

How similar or different do you think you are from the people around you? Write down 10 different things about yourself—facts, experiences, feelings—that you believe to be unique, or something other people might not necessarily understand. Find a partner with whom you have not interacted much lately or at all; share and talk about what each of you have listed.

Afterwards, share your reflections with the whole class: Did you find anything in common with others? Were there things that were vastly different? What were some surprising discoveries you made about your classmates, and even yourself, during the activity?

Teaching Suggestion: As the story progresses, Ally discovers that she may not be the only one to struggle with learning in the way she believes; her own brother, Travis, and even Oliver confess to struggling with reading. Ally also discovers that despite how different she is from Albert and Keisha, they still make good friends as they complement each other. Pairing students who don’t typically work or socialize together may be a good way to help them discover commonalities and realize that their differences need not stop them from getting along. This activity will help students relate to the book’s theme of The Advantages of Difference.

• This list of quotations supports the idea that we can still connect with others despite challenges that seem to separate us; students might choose 2-3 quotations to discuss in a small group or write about in a reading journal.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with executive function differences, visual learners, and those who demonstrate visual-spatial intelligences may benefit from using a Venn diagram to document and organize their similarities and differences with another student. Consider offering multiple, pre-printed Venn diagrams and having students visit with more than one other student to determine similarities and differences; additionally, this could be accomplished by allowing students to move around the room to engage with others, which would also appeal to students who are kinesthetic learners.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Think back to a time in your life when you were faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge. How did you react to it—did you give up, push through, ask for help, or do something else entirely? Is there any learning that came out of the situation? Would you approach the same situation differently if you were faced with it today? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: At different points in the book, Ally alternatively despairs at her struggle with school and resolves to keep working at it. Different factors affect the way she approaches her situation each time, from her new teacher’s belief in her, to the support from her friends, and the recognition that she is not unintelligent, as she once believed. Besides Ally, other characters, too, face and navigate different struggles in their own way. Having students reflect on the way they have responded to challenges in the past and what helped or deterred them on different occasions may help prime students to explore the book’s central theme of Persevering Through Struggles.