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The Westing Game," published in 1978, is an adolescent novel written by Ellen Raskin. Raskin tells the story of 16 individuals working or living in the Sunset Towers Apartments. All of them are brought together to hear the reading of a wealthy man's will and are given the chance to inherit the fortune if they can solve a crime. The book provides many great opportunities to teach cross-curricular lessons.
Plot Summary Chart
A great way to introduce students to graphic organizers, which are often used on standardized tests, is to have them keep a plot summary chart on "The Westing Game." As the students learn about each character, they will make predictions about who committed the crime and who will inherit the money. The plot summary charts will list all of the characters. Students will continuously fill in information as it is gathered. Each piece of information that is added to their chart is like a step towards figuring out the crime. The plot summary chart can be constructed similar to a spreadsheet, so students can cross categorize different relationships between characters. At the end of the lesson, the students compare their evaluations and write a concluding summary.
Compare and Contrast
After reading "The Westing Game," students can watch the film,"Clue" and write a compare and contrast essay. ("Clue" was based on the board game of the same name and shares many elements with "The Westing Game.") Compare and contrast essays are often part of the writing curriculum component of Communication Arts classrooms, and this exercise will give students a deeper understanding of highlight similarities and differences in literature and media. Students would also need to provide supportive evidence for their observations, which will force them to evaluate the text for accuracy.
Recreating Mystery
For a creative writing project, have the students rewrite a scene that changes the outcome of the book. For example, students can create a 17th resident who changes the course of events in the story, or come up with an alternate ending. This could include choosing a separate culprit or putting themselves in the action.
Project Gameboards
Have teams of students create a board game based on the novel. The board game would need to include a game board, game pieces, a list of game rules and an overall objective to determine the winner of the game. For example, students might create a game where the objective is to collect as many clues as possible to figure out the crime. This lesson will reveal the students' overall understanding of the material, and it gives them a chance to be creative and work with others.
Tags: Westing Game, board game, plot summary, example students, Game students, plot summary chart