His Name Was Walter

Connecting to prior knowledge

Ask students if they have read any books by Emily Rodda. Refer to a prepared collection or classroom display of Rodda’s books (see More Resources for a list of titles).

Start a class wondering wall for this unit on His Name Was Walter, encouraging students to write any wonderings they have on sticky notes and add them to the wall as the book is read. This will be a visible tool to track their thinking throughout the unit.

View images (still and moving, internal and external) of abandoned mansions:

• What do they look like?
• What might they sound like?
• What do they feel like?
• What might they smell like?

Have students record their ideas, writing ‘abandoned mansion’ in the centre of a page and listing their responses for each sense. These charts could be completed in small groups, with partners, or independently. Add any new vocabulary to the class wondering wall.

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELY1708)   (EN3-7C)

To help make further connections, read picture books such as:

• A House That Once Was by Julie Fogliano, illus. Lane Smith
• There’s a Ghost in this House by Oliver Jeffers

You can also show students old handwritten and/or hand-drawn books. Digital images are available from the State Library of NSW. Curate the experience of reading an extract from an old text, projecting the cover so students can observe it as they listen.

Students are to think aloud and record their comments on this experience.

(ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)   (ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELY1708)   (EN3-7C)

Explore both fairy tales that are familiar to students and those that are less familiar.

Then explore examples of mise-en-abîme, a technique that is commonly understood as ‘an X within an X’ (e.g. a play within a play, a film within a film). Possibilities for discussion include:

• a set of nesting dolls (if possible, take a set for students to see and assemble/disassemble)
• framed pictures within pictures

His Name Was Walter is an example of mise-en-abîme because it features a story within a story. Explain to students that it contains a framing story, which is contemporary, and a nested story, which is a fairy tale.

Other texts that feature stories within stories include:

• Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, illus. Timothy Basil Ering
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein

Write the following questions on large sheets of chart paper and place them around the room:

• Why do you think Emily Rodda has written a story within a story?
• What is a framing story?
• What is a nested story?
• What do you expect to read in a contemporary story?
• What do you expect to read in a fairy tale?
• How do you think the framing and nested stories will work together in His Name Was Walter?

Have students form small groups around each chart to record their ideas and understandings. After an allocated time working on their initial questions, all groups will rotate to new charts. Repeat this process until every group has responded to every question. This will help you identify what students already know, so you can target the learning and teaching opportunities throughout this unit.

(ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)   (ACELT1616)   (EN3-7C)

Approach His Name Was Walter as a whole class reading text. There are 28 chapters, so you should aim to read at least one chapter a day to your students.

Together create a chronology of events for both the framing story and the nested story. Update the timelines at the end of each chapter so you can track the intersections between the two stories as you move through the text.

Exploring the text in context of our community, school and ‘me’

Begin by reading Chapter 1 to the class. Re-read the text from pp. 6–7 and have students document their predictions independently in their reading journals.

As you progress to Chapter 3, prompt students to notice how the framing story is differentiated from the nested story. Show them a double page spread (e.g. pp. 20–21) where they can see the two different fonts in use.

(ACELY1711)   (EN3-5B)

At the beginning of His Name Was Walter, the students are on a school excursion to the historic town of Grolsten. Students can:

• research any historical towns near their school
• explore past family connections within their local community
• consider images from local newspapers or the community library
• research any local community mysteries

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)

Revisit the class wondering wall and add any new vocabulary students have encountered from the text.

Rich assessment task

Introduce dot-to-dot connections using key vocabulary from the text. Provide students with 15 key words from His Name Was Walter, spread out across a large sheet of paper (one sheet between two) with a dot beside each word. Working in pairs, students are to draw lines from one word to another, writing out the connections between those words as they do so.

Suggested key words for this activity include:

1. stories
2. abandoned
3. family
4. curious
5. musty
6. history
7. community
8. sounds
9. stranded
10. forbidden
11. confiscated
12. straggled
13. ivy-swaddled
14. rutted
15. urge

Check students’ work and look for the connections they are making at this stage of the unit.

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)   (ACELA1518)   (EN3-5B)

Responding to the text

Continue reading His Name Was Walter, adding to the chronology of events for the framing and nested stories. Display these together and track where they intersect.

Students can play a comprehension dice game after each chapter, sharing their responses orally in small groups:

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELA1516)   (EN3-5B)

Text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections

Students are to make connections between His Name Was Walter and themselves, events, books, movies, etc. They will discuss their connections in small groups, then record their responses independently in their reading journals.

Discussion prompts include:

• Can I make a text-to-self connection with this story?
• Can I make a text-to-text connection with this story?
• Can I make a text-to-world connection with this story?

Sentence starters include:

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELY1708)   (EN3-7C)

Revisit the class wondering wall and add any new vocabulary students have encountered from the text. Some suggestions are:

Exploring plot, character, setting and theme

Conduct a shared reading of the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Explore the story elements of setting, plot, theme and character, then have students work in small groups to create a word splash for those elements.

The groups will then make generalised anchor charts about setting, plot, theme and character (see exemplar below). Display these around the classroom and have students record summaries in their independent reading journals.

Model how to write a structured summary of Jack and the Beanstalk. After guiding the class through the process, direct students to write their own structured summaries in pairs. They should include:

• an introduction that provides a big idea about the fairy tale, but doesn’t give away details
• a body of evidence with details that support the introduction and prove that it is true (use connecting words such as ‘to begin with’, ‘when’, ‘most importantly’, etc.)
• a conclusion that restates the introduction (helpful connecting words include ‘that is how’, ‘finally’, ‘in the end’, ‘to summarise’)

Students will then explore setting, plot and theme in greater detail in relation to His Name Was Walter (both the framing story and the nested story).

You can structure this learning in a variety of ways to suit students’ needs (e.g. in small groups, with buddies, independently, or a blend of these, followed by sharing as a whole class).

(ACELA1518)   (EN3-5B)   (ACELY1711)   (EN3-5B)

Characters

The characters in His Name Was Walter are significant. List those encountered in your reading so far and invite students make notes on each one, considering both explicitly stated and inferred information. Students should investigate both the framing and nested stories and identify major characters from each. Some possibilities are listed below.

• Have students draw their visualisations of each character to assist with comprehension
• Have students document their growing ideas about each character using progressive sticky notes in their reading journals
• Ask students which character they would choose as a friend. They should write their answers in their independent reading journals, providing reasons for their choices.

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)

Discuss how Walter’s understanding of himself develops as the story progresses.

(ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)

Read the first two paragraphs of Chapter 9 on p. 77. Both Walter in the nested story and Colin in the framing story found themselves having to leave somewhere against their wishes.

Have students expand on and respond to the following sentence starter in their independent reading journals:

This makes me think about the time when…

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)

Revisit the class wondering wall and add any new vocabulary students have encountered from the text.

Rich assessment task

Guide students to draw a table with the following headings:

Their task is to write a structured summary for one of the main characters from His Name Was Walter. The summary should include THREE of that person’s characteristics, supported with details from the text. Students will also record their thoughts and questions about their chosen character.

The structured summary column should include:

• an introduction about the main character
• a body of evidence for THREE of their characteristics
• a conclusion about the main character

Refer to students’ previous work on structured summaries under Exploring Plot, Character, Setting and Theme.

The thinking column should include:

• thoughts about the main character
• any questions students are asking themselves about the main character

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)

Examining text structure and organisation

Continue reading His Name Was Walter, adding to the chronology of events for the framing and nested stories. Display these together and track where they intersect.

As students listen to the chapter of the day, ask them:

Are there any parts of this chapter that you particularly liked or disliked? Why?

Students will share their responses orally in pairs, then write their responses independently in their reading journals. Prompt them to include evidence from the text.

(ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)

His Name Was Walter contains rich descriptions of place, setting and characters. Ask students to choose one description from the text, visualise it, and draw what they see. They may choose the materials they would like to draw with, including apps such as Procreate. Examples of the many descriptions in the text include:

(ACELA1525)   (EN3-5A)   (ACELT1616)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELY1801)   (EN3-5B)

On pp. 50 and 65, Mrs Fiori and Lucas both make comments about fairy tales.

Revisit Jack and the Beanstalk through a whole class shared reading. Ask students to reflect on the following questions in their reading journals, providing evidence from the text:

• Do Mrs Fiori and Lucas’ statements apply to Jack and the Beanstalk?
• Do their statements apply to the nested story in His Name Was Walter?

(ACELT1613)   (EN3-7C)

If time allows, conduct a shared reading of the picture book Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. Discuss how the author has crafted a story within a story. Ask students to think about how Emily Rodda has achieved this in a much longer text. Invite them to share their thoughts in a whole class discussion.

Refer to the Literature section for other examples of stories within stories that interested students can read in their own time.

(ACELA1518)   (EN3-5B)   (ACELT1616)   (EN3-7C)

Display the two paragraphs that run over pp. 78–79. You may wish to break up and number the sentences as follows:

Discuss this passage with students, prompting them to focus on the variety of sentence structures and vocabulary choices:

Ask students to write an independent response to the following question in their reading journals:

What are you thinking after reading this passage?

(ACELA1525)   (EN3-5A)   (ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)

Revisit the class wondering wall and add any new vocabulary students have encountered from the text.

Examining grammar and vocabulary

His Name Was Walter could be used as a mentor text. The language Rodda uses in her writing is a rich resource for learning, particularly in relation to vocabulary and grammar. Guide students to notice and appreciate the way Rodda:

• uses language that evokes strong feelings in the reader or listener
• uses sensory imagery to evoke mood
• reveals tone towards characters
• uses literary language, including description and some use of simile
• varies sentence structure
• uses repetition effectively, particularly at the beginning of sentences

Choose a page from His Name Was Walter and, as a class, search for examples of the above features in Rodda’s writing. Write them out and number the sentences to facilitate discussion. Then read the page aloud to the whole class and ask:

What else are you noticing?

Students should work in pairs to record their ideas, using sticky notes to annotate their copies of the book. They can share their findings with the rest of the class and add to the collective notes from the previous discussion.

Use these findings for learning opportunities and to extend thinking.

(ACELT1615)   (EN3-7C)   (ACELY1801)   (EN3-5B)

The following examples have been identified for explicit learning and teaching opportunities. They are not exhaustive, and there are many more examples to be found throughout the text.

(ACELA1525)   (EN3-5A)   (ACELY1801)   (EN3-5B)   (ACELT1615)   (EN3-7C)

As you read His Name Was Walter you will discover many mentor sentences. These can be analysed away from the enjoyment of listening to the story. A few examples include:

Revisit the class wondering wall and add any new vocabulary students have encountered from the text.

Rich assessment task

Student quizzes (small groups)

Ask students to design a quiz based on His Name Was Walter and their learning throughout this unit. They should ensure that:

• they include 15 questions of varying types (e.g. matching, constructed response, multiple choice, fill in the blank) and difficulty levels
• all questions and answers make sense, with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling
• they give some thought to presentation (will they design and publish digitally or by hand?)

Before beginning, as a class, create an assessment rubric that incorporates the above criteria and sets out levels of achievement (e.g. well exceeds requirements, soundly meets requirements, meets requirements, meets limited requirements, does not meet requirements).

Completed quizzes can be swapped/rotated amongst the groups for students to play together.

(ACELY1709)   (EN3-1A)   (ACELY1816)   (EN3-1A)

Continue reading His Name Was Walter, adding to the chronology of events for the framing and nested stories. Display these together and track where they intersect.

Review familiar examples of stories within stories (refer to the Literature section for suggestions). Then conduct a series of writing workshops on how to:

• build a story within a story (write each story separately, then put them together)
• create a contemporary narrative, e.g. mystery
• create a fairy tale

(ACELT1800)   (EN3-2A)

Below are some storytelling ideas and components.

Working in pairs or small groups, students can use story sticks to practise what they have learned:

• Give students two sets of three cups: one for the framing story and one for the nested story
• Each cup will contain a set of colour-coded sticks:
  • The first cup contains setting ideas
  • The second cup contains character ideas
  • The third cup contains problem ideas
• For each story (i.e. framing and nested), students are to choose one stick from the setting cup, two sticks from the character cup, and one stick from the problem cup
• They will use these prompts to orally tell each other stories, record their ideas for the separate framing and nested stories, and finally assemble them as a story within a story.

(ACELT1618)   (EN3-2A)

Revisit the class wondering wall and add any new vocabulary students have encountered from the text.

Rich assessment task

Working in pairs or small groups, students are to create and publish their own story within a story. This is an opportunity to apply what they have learned throughout this unit. They should plan both the framing and nested story’s characters, setting, and problem before they start writing. Students may choose how to present and publish their final story (e.g. digital text, physical book).

Share and celebrate the students’ achievements within their grade, across year groups, with buddies, or with your school community.

(ACELT1618)   (EN3-2A)   (ACELY1714)   (EN3-2A)   (ACELY1717)   (EN3-3A)