El Deafo

El Deafo

Cece Bell

2015 Newbery Honor Book

Published by: Amulet Books

Copyright 2014

233 Pages

Superhero, Inspirational, Engaging, Reluctant, Journey

Cece Bell has created a true masterpiece in the form of a graphic novel with El Deafo. The novel explores the challenges and rewards of being hearing impaired through the eyes of an author who actually lived it. As a young girl Cece is diagnosed with meningitis resulting in a loss of hearing. She has to deal with the struggles, both personally and socially, of wearing a hearing aid as a young child. Although this may have been enough to shut most normal kids down, Cece see’s the grace and beauty in both herself and her situation. As she becomes more comfortable she makes friends with a girl who seems to be extremely bossy. Cece is reluctant to let Laura know how she truly feels about being ordered around because at this point in time Laura is her only friend. As time goes one, Cece creates an alter ego she calls “El Deafo”. This superhero becomes the guiding light for Cece when the gym teacher accidentally breaks the microphone for her improved Phonic Ear. El Deafo uses her knowledge of lip reading to conquer the long weeks she has to wait for a replacement and eventually gains the opportunity to spend time with the new neighborhood boy who seems dreamy. Cece Bell creates an inspirational work of art that should be an integral part of every classroom to advance the strategy of inclusive learning.

Reading Level

Ages 9-14, Lexile Measure: GN420L

Suggested Delivery

Read aloud, Reading groups

Electronic Resources

El Deafo is a great novel to couple with electronic resources for use in the classroom. One great resource is www.blabberize.com, where you can use your own pictures and voice to create a talking portrait. In the example below I created a blabberize of Cece with a picture of the layout of her Phonic Ear. Students can also choose a particular part in the story and create their own blabberize in order to demonstrate comprehension of the text.

Cece as a Blabberize

The video below of Cece Bell talking about her novel is a great resource to use either during or after reading El Deafo. The video is humorous and also provides an insight into the real life El Deafo and the struggles and adversity she faced.

Cece Bell on "El Deafo"

Key Vocabulary

·      Meningitis - Inflammation of the meninges caused by viral or bacterial infection

·      Audiology – The study of hearing

·      Gestural – Using an action or physical movement to convey a message

·      Phonic – Letter/sound correspondence

Teaching Strategies

            Before – Students can use Questions for Purposeful Learning in order to spark interest and dialogue for the text. Using small groups, display a short video clip depicting the Phonic Ear and have students brainstorm questions that they have about the device. Students will post their questions on chart paper and post them in different areas of the classroom. After the completing the brainstorming, have students walk around the classroom and jot down any more questions they may have. The next step is to have the students cut the chart paper into individual questions and as a class, sort the questions into a few different categories (background questions, clarifying questions, opinion seeking questions, challenging questions, etc). This activity is useful in promoting self-monitoring for comprehension upon reading the text.

            During – While reading, students can use the Questions for Purposeful Learning activity and combine it with a Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. This can be accomplished with the help of a three-column work sheet with the questions on the left. The middle column should be a prediction section where students can guess what the answer is to each question. The last column is to be filled in as they find the answers to their questions. Students should be aware of their predictions and determine why they were correct or incorrect.

            After – Questioning the author is fantastic after reading strategy for El Deafo. Since Cece Bell wrote this story based on her own experience, you can use the story to further expand knowledge and learning by creating questions that the students still have after reading the novel. Have your class come up with the five best questions that are not answered by the text and create a well-designed email to send to Cece.

Writing

 After completing the reading, students can create text to self-connections and write their own memoir of a challenging time in their life. This can go a long way with teaching about respecting the work and life of others and also provide insight into the lives of your students. If you have access to technology it is beneficial to let the students illustrate their memoirs in the form of a graphic novel.