In the Key of Code

Week 1

Before reading think about what your readers will need in order to be able to access the text. Is the context unfamiliar? Can they draw on their background knowledge and experience? How will you capture their interest? Building background knowledge and activating prior knowledge will enable the children to access more from the story. You might want to set some home learning before this session so the children are already thinking about the changes that Emmy has to adjust to.

From California to Wisconsin: finding out about North America

‘I’d never visited California before we moved here

But I’d heard about it

In songs.’

The novel opens with Emmy on the way from her old home in Wisconsin to California. There are several points in the novel where Emmy’s feeling of being an outsider is directly related to the different way of living, clothing, food, seasonal changes.

While this change may have significance for children in the US, most students in the UK will be unaware of the huge contrasts between different states in the USA and how moving from one place to another is almost like moving from one country to another. Some prior teaching would support this understanding. A short presentation highlighting some of the differences is included with the resources (see below), The children could research further as part of their home learning.

• Start with an introduction to the Americas – North and South – locating them on a globe and using an atlas.
• Identify where the Americas are in relation to Britain and identify the route that the first settlers would have made across the Atlantic Ocean.
• The Geography Association recommends using a zoom lens approach to look at a couple of contrasting regions. Wisconsin could be contrasted with California.  Compare the physical geography: lakes, rivers, terrain, rainfall, temperature, seasons.
• As tourism is a major industry for both states, this would make an interesting comparison.

Wisconsin

Some key tourist attractions

• Lakes rivers and water sports
• Lake Michigan
• The Door Peninsula
• The Ice Age Trail
• Circus Museum

Some key tourist attractions

• San Francisco
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Yosemite National Park
• Disneyland
• Death Valley
• Sequoia National Park

In the Key of Code: Title Discussion

Before showing the book, display the title on the interactive whiteboard.

• What do you think this story might be about? After taking initial ideas, prompt the children to think about the word ‘key’ and its different meanings. And then consider the word ‘code’. Leave suggestions open at this point.
• Next, reveal the cover. Are there any further clues from the cover?
• Does anyone know what the different symbols mean?

First Encounters with the Book

Ask the children to open the book and look through the pages.

• Ask: Is this what you were expecting?
• What do we learn about Emmy in this introduction?
• Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you didn’t belong? How did you deal with it?

Read Aloud p 5 – 7

Read aloud to the group so that they develop an ear for what the text sounds like as well as what it looks like on the page.

• Start an emotions chart or graph to chart Emmy’s changing emotions as you read through the novel. At key points make a note of how she is feeling. What are the causes? How does she respond?

You might use these mood cards to extend the range of children’s responses. Use the blanks to add your own alternatives:

• Which words or phrases give an indication of how Emmy is feeling?

Thinking about loneliness

At the beginning of this novel, Emmy feels lonely, even though she is surrounded by other pupils at school. Introduce the children to the work of the philosopher Montaigne. He often felt lonely as he did not have much in common with the people in his locality. By travelling the world, he discovered that this feeling was relative. That even if we feel lonely or like an outsider, there are other places where we will fit in. Montaigne wrote a book about himself and his interests. The response was very positive. This led him to discover that there are lots of people who have common interests with you, but you may not yet have met them.

Distribute paper and envelopes and invite the children to write honestly about their feelings of loneliness.

• When do you feel most lonely?
• What sorts of things make you feel lonely?

Explain that nobody is going to read this, it is just for them. When they have finished given them an envelope which they can seal and take home.

Make the point that it is positive to recognise when you feel lonely and that everybody has these feelings at some point. Remember there is someone, somewhere who understands you and has the same feelings.

End with a positive thought – ask each pupil to think of one thing that helps them when they are feeling lonely. They can share if they want to. It is supportive if you share your own example with them and will help to build your reading community. Set the reading for the next session.

Week 2

First Thoughts

At the beginning of the session review the home reading and share initial responses:

• What did you find interesting?
• Was there anything you found puzzling?
• Do you have any questions?

Clarify as needed.

Musical References

In England, pupils in the upper primary years are expected to develop a knowledge of the history of music. Emmy comes from a musical family: her mother is an opera singer, her father pianist. Music is in her blood and her tastes are eclectic. There are many references throughout the book, and although it’s not entirely essential to know all the pieces that are mentioned, there is a great opportunity here to broaden children’s musical repertoires. There are references throughout the story to technical musical terms, often these are referenced but used in a way that has a non-musical sense such as ‘duet ‘and  ‘diminished fifth’. You might find it useful to keep a list of any that are spotted during reading and if you have musical children in the group they can support their peers.

You might also like to create a musical timeline for the classroom. You could theme it by making the timeline look like a musical stave.

Perhaps play some of the key tracks at the beginning or the end of the session or ask children to research the musicians at home.  We have highlighted to tracks that we think are problematic. Katy Perry’s California Gurls could be used to inform a critical discussion about gender stereotyping. We do not consider the music video appropriate for this age-range and would not recommend it in school. Tupac has X rated lyrics and should be avoided.

A list of the music referenced in the book is included with the resources below for ease of reference.

Invite the children to share their musical preferences. do they know what music adults at home enjoy? Perhaps they could find out.

Revisit the text – discussion

Re-read Orchestra One vs Orchestra 2. You could divide into two parts and have the children read in pairs.

• How does the way that the page has been laid out help to communicate the author’s message?
• Why does Francis fail to understand that the computer science teacher is not a Mr Delaney?
• Do you think some people have the attitude that there are some jobs that are best done by men and some jobs that are best done by women? Encourage an open discussion. Allow children to express authentic thoughts in order to question and explore alternative points of view.
• You could share this YouTube clip with the class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv8VZVP5csA Why do you think the children all drew men in these roles?

Looking more closely 

• What do you learn about Emmy in this section?
• Does she like Abigail? What makes you think that?
• Does she like Francis? What makes you think that?
• Does she like Ms Delaney? What makes you think that?
• Do you have any thoughts about the different roles that these characters will play in the story as it unfolds?
• Add to the emotions graph to indicate what Emmy is thinking at this point in the story. Explain to partner the causes of her emotional state

Read pages 90-93 aloud to the group and set the home reading for the following week.

Week 3

First Thoughts

At the beginning of the session review the home reading and share initial responses:

• What did you find interesting?
• Was there anything you found puzzling?
• Do you have any questions?
• Did you notice any of the musical language we talked about last time?

Clarify as needed.

There are lots of different things that you can focus on in this section, so we have listed some options for you to choose from. Be guided by the children’s interests.

Option 1 Duets

Re-read the chapter Emmy and Abigail: An Actual Duet. Make sure the children can see a copy of the text as you read it aloud.

• Why do you think it has been written in this way?

Working in pairs, use the Readers Theatre technique that you used earlier and practise reading the chapter.

Next, ask the children to look back through the novel to find chapters that look similar to this one.

Writers often use patterns in their stories. Aimee Lucido has used the recurring quartet, duet and solo structure.

• What purpose does the format serve in helping to advance the story?

Reread the chapter Semicolon.

• How does the semicolon work in a piece of writing?
• How does a semicolon work in code?
• Can you see a connection?

Option 2: Small Steps

Reread this chapter aloud.

Why did no one tell me

That in San Francisco

October

Is when the sun starts to shine?

• How does the weather reflect Emmy’s mood at this point in the story?
• Writers often use the weather as a device to reflect a character’s emotional state. It’s called the pathetic fallacy. Can you find any other examples in the story so far where the weather has reflected the way that Emmy is feeling?
• What sort of weather could be used to help create a sense of anger or a broken heart?

Option 3 – Fairy Tales

Reread the three Fairy Tale Chapters: Abigail, Ms Delaney and Francis. This is another example of a repeating pattern.

Working in groups ask the children to discuss:

• What is similar in each of the fairy tales?
• What is different?
• What do you imagine Emmy’s fairy tale would say?

Option 4 String[]itemsOnMsDelaneysDesk=

In pairs or small groups, ask the children to reread the chapter String [] itemsOnMsDelaneysDesk =  and then discuss:

• What do you learn about Ms Delaney from the items on her desk?

Invite the children to write their own string of items. The idea is to convey something about your personality in no more than 8 items.

Make explicit the point that we can create characters not only by describing their appearance, thoughts and actions but also the objects associated with them.

Week 4

First Thoughts

At the beginning of the session review the home reading and share initial responses:

• What did you find interesting?
• Was there anything you found puzzling?
• Do you have any questions?

Clarify as needed.

As in the previous session, there are many options for exploring the text. we have listed some choices here

Option 1  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Reread the chapters Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Pose the question: what do you think about when you hear the words Artificial Intelligence or AI? Without discussing with anyone draw what comes into your head.

It is likely that most children will draw robots or a variation on the robot theme. If children have an Alexa, Echo or another similar device they may draw that.

• What features do the different kinds of AI have in common? Possible answers might mention voice or sight recognition.
• Show some images of other relatable programmes YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat. What do these have in common?

AI is comprised of three elements: Dataset – learning algorithm – prediction.

How does this work? If you are using Instagram, the ads that you see will be based on predictions that the algorithm makes based on your previous behaviour. If you click o an ice-cream advert, it will show you more ice cream adverts.

• What are the potential benefits of this type of prediction? (Ads targeted to what you want)
• What are the potential problems of this type of prediction? (Limited range of ads. There will be things you are not shown that you might want to see.)
• What is the benefit to Instagram (or another platform) of having a recommendation algorithm? (The more recommendations we click on, the more ads we see, the income is generated for the companies that own the platforms. It is their major revenue stream.

It’s not only advertising that uses learning algorithms. News stories and articles can also be selected for us based on our preferences. The algorithm can learn what it thins we want to read and show us more of the same. This is called an echo chamber.

• Do you think Ms Delaney likes the concept and application of AI? Use evidence from the text to support your opinion.
• Do you think we should keep trying to make machines that are more and more like humans?
• Robots are sometimes companions to humans in films. Do you think a robot can be a friend or companion in real life?
• Look at this short film which shows a robot being used as a companion for the elderly. Do you think this is a good idea? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuwP5iOB-gs
• Do you think sophisticated AI robots should have the same rights as humans?

Option 2 The Language of Code

Now that Emmy has learnt a lot about code, more coding symbols are being used in the text. How do the coding symbols reflect what is happening in the story?

Provide some photocopies of different chapters for pairs to work on and highlighter pens. Ask the children to highlight and annotate the text you have given them with explanations of how the code is being used.

Gather the group together and discuss the effectiveness of the examples they have selected.

Option 3 The Language of Colour

When the children plan to visit Ms Delaney, they decorate their cheeks with her candy-apple-red lipstick. Different colours can evoke different emotions.

• What does the colour candy-apple-red convey?
• Do you think it is a good colour choice for Ms Delaney? Explain your thinking.
• How did you feel when you read that Ms Delaney wasn’t wearing her lipstick?

Final Reflections

Read the final pages of the story together.

• Now that you have finished what would you like to say about the book?
• What do you think are the most important themes?
• Narrow your choices to two or three themes and then take a vote for the one you will work on for the mini-challenge.