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Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What factors, past and present, contribute to identity? How might someone’s experiences change their identity in significant ways?

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer prompt introduces one of the text’s key themes: The Possibility of Change and Growth. Chase Ambrose, the protagonist, falls from the roof of his house and develops amnesia. His memory loss erases his identity and creates tensions within the school and his family. Before students begin, consider discussing the connection between memory and identity. To help students generate ideas, you might also discuss how significant life events contribute to change.

• “Why Identity Matters and How It Shapes Us” from Verywell Mind describes the factors that contribute to individual identity and explores the importance of having a developed sense of self.
• This 5-minute TED-Ed video explores the ways in which change affects personal identity.

Short Activity

Consider important elements of your life, such as your interests, experiences, and relationships. Then create a digital collage using related pictures that represent your identity. Reflect on the following questions as you begin:

• How does your past impact the way you behave?
• How do your friends and family contribute to your identity?
• In what way might your actions and hobbies influence the way others perceive you?

Teaching Suggestion: Due to memory loss, the external factors that once shaped Chase’s behavior no longer contribute to his identity, causing him to behave with more compassion and integrity. Despite these differences, the people Chase has bullied in the past are skeptical of his ability to change. This Short Activity gives students the opportunity to consider the theme of The Possibility of Change and Growth in more detail. While digital collages may be convenient for classrooms with access to technology, an alternative option would be to create physical collages with hand drawings, newspaper clippings, and perhaps even photographs students bring in of their friends and family members.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who require an additional challenge may wish to explore the ways specific memories or experiences contribute to identity while considering societal expectations, historical events, and geographic differences. This research-based approach to the collage could help students practice metacognition and strengthen their awareness of the environmental factors that influence individual behaviors.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

Consider a time when a positive or negative event altered your view of the world. How did it influence your habits, choices, or behaviors? In what ways did it make you think differently about your life and the people in it?

Teaching Suggestion: Chase’s amnesia allows him to interact with new people and create new experiences—in other words, it gives him the opportunity to be a different person and to live a life that he would not have lived otherwise. As students begin brainstorming ideas for the Personal Connection Prompt, consider opening with a discussion about major events that happen in a person’s life, like birth, death, friendship, love, marriage, divorce, illness, career changes, and/or relocation. While most students do not have direct experiences with all of these life events, many of them will have indirectly experienced them through close family members and friends.