Intra-Act Reading Activity
Night by Elie Wiesel
Purpose:
The purpose of the Intra-Act strategy (Hoffman, 1979) is to engage the student in the process of
valuing during the reading of a text. Valuing in this sense means critically evaluating the material
that is read by responding with thought and feeling. It can be used with a wide variety of texts.
Rationale:
There is a lot of controversy surrounding various issues of the Holocaust. These range from
believing that it never really happened to condemning the Jews for not fighting back. There are
also issues surrounding how the Holocaust should be communicated through teaching, reading,
and viewing. These issues become extremely personal for those who experienced the Holocaust.
There are also current issues on the international roles other nations should take in defending
basic human rights. I believe that discussion of some of these issues is essential in understanding
Elie Wiesel’s Night and the reasons that he wrote it. This strategy provides an opportunity for
students to explore at least one of these issues and allows them to connect on a personal level
with that issue which in turn enhances their desire to read and their overall comprehension of the
text.
STEPS
For this post-reading activity, I chose to have the students read a speech given by Elie Wiesel on
April 12, 1999 in the White House as part of a series of lectures called the Millennium Lectures
celebrating the events of the 20th century. The speech is titled “The Perils of Indifference” and can
be found at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference.html
or numerous other places on the web. This website though has a number of links that help clarify
and define some of the issues he mentions. It also has an audio link to listen to the speech if
desired. There are also numerous opportunities for research and explanations of some of the
events he mentions. I would use this as a post-reading activity and as a transition into discussing
issues of genocide, defending humanity, and our roles as humans and Americans in these issues.
Step 1:
Introduce the speech to the class by connecting it with prior reading and knowledge. I would
introduce the speech by first having the students respond to the question “Now that we have
finished the novel, why do you think Elie Wiesel wrote Night?” This could be done as a brief class
discussion or as a 3-5 minute free-write as students come into class. I would then explain that we
are going to read a speech by Elie Wiesel that may help us discover a bit more about what his
intentions in writing the novel might be.
Step 2:
Divide the students into groups of 4-6 people, with one person assigned as the team leader.* The
team leader’s responsibility is to stimulate and sustain a discussion of the text that involves all
Karma Sue Mitchell, 2005
team members. The group’s responsibility is to first individually read the speech. Then the team
leader begins the discussion by summarizing what was read. The other group members may
contribute information or ask questions to seek clarification of the main ideas of the speech. This
discussion should only last 7-10 minutes.
*If this is the first time you use this strategy in your classroom, it may take repeated practice before
students feel comfortable in their roles. You may want to model a discussion for them prior to this
activity.
Step 3:
The team leader then shifts the discussion from the important ideas of the speech to the group’s
personal reactions to the speech. This may or may not occur naturally. All members of the groups
should be encouraged to relate their own impressions and opinions. Again this discussion should
be limited to 7-10 minutes.
Step 4:
Distribute a game sheet (see example). The game sheet contains four-declarative statements
based on the information contained in the speech. Students are to individually agree or disagree
with the statements by circling (A) for agree or (D) for disagree. They should also try to predict the
responses of the other members of the group to the statements. Each group member’s name
should be listed at the top of one of the columns with the projected responses below it.
Step 5:
The group then scores the game sheets by taking turns revealing their responses to each of the
four statements. As each person tells how he/she responded, the other group members check it
against their own predictions. It is essential during this time that students be given plenty of time to
discuss, challenge, support and question the responses of the other group members because it
allows “opinions arrived at quickly to be separated from sound evaluative thinking” (Hoffman 1979,
p. 607). During this time, you as a teacher want to be circling throughout the room and working as
a facilitator, refraining from imposing your view point on the students.
Step 6:
If desired, you can then engage in a whole-class discussion about the process of completing the
intra-act and how it could be improved. This is especially beneficial when first hosting intra-acts.
Assessment:
The assessment of this strategy is basically done through listening to the students discuss and
defend their opinions about the four statements and thus Wiesel’s speech. Did they connect what
they had read in the speech with ideas from the novel? Did they draw from other background
knowledge? How did they arrive at their conclusions? Did it create interest about issues of
humanity and what our role in defending it should be? (This last question is to help in transitioning
to the next day’s activities.)
Karma Sue Mitchell, 2005