The Worse for It is a fairly quick read. Most of the letters are short and though the book is over 250 pages long, many of the pages consist of letter images and photographs. It will work well as a supplemental text for World War One or any wars being studied by your students.
Questions, Questions, Questions
In my view, discussion questions and/or worksheets can ruin books for students. Students finish a book they’ve enjoyed and then what do we do? We make them answer questions to prove they actually read it or attempted to comprehend it while they were reading it. The next time they read a book for a class they may begin to read it less for the sheer joy of reading it and more with an eye on answering the questions they know will eventually be put to them. As a teacher, I always disliked having to come up with questions for worksheets or discussion.
That being said, discussion questions can be a good way to review a book or consider its implications if they are Socratic in nature and not simply factual questions requiring specific answers.
With that in mind below are some simple questions that may (or may not) help you start some good discussions with your students. You can read them directly off the website or download the PDF. Enjoy!
- Why did Schalles think he was “the worse for it” being in the war?
- How important was Schalles’ family to him?