Case studies

Exploring a novel - Holes

Exploring a novel - 'Holes'

This is a sample unit of work produced by Delia Higgins, an AST in Nottinghamshire. It is based around the novel 'Holes' by Louis Sachar, which is an extremely popular Year 8 text at the moment.

The unit engages pupils in an exploration of a longer text, focusing on characterisation, narrative techniques and the overall structure of a novel. Through shared class demonstration, guided text investigations and individual journal dialogues, it seeks to increase understanding which pupils may then draw upon in their own writing.

The file named 'Exploring a Novel - Holes' is the main publication file which contains the Unit of Work, which is made up of 18 lesson plans. The other 3 files are appendices 1-3 which are referred to in the main document.