Teacher notes
You only need one copy of the book. I Am Not a Number is a picture book, so the class reads it aloud on a document camera and treats the paintings as evidence too. That makes it a good fit for a short Orange Shirt Week unit (a 4-week plan is included) and for classes with a wide range of readers. No student is ever given a number, and there are no simulations.
Quick answers
Does it work in Grades 7–8? Yes. The prompts push older students to analyze the words and paintings, not just retell.
What pairs well with it? Fatty Legs or Sugar Falls for a longer unit.
Priced in Canadian dollars, so it costs less here than the US-dollar price on TPT. Instant download after checkout.
Full details
Irene Couchie is eight when the Indian agent fills the doorway of her family's home on Nipissing First Nation. At the residential school, her brothers are led away, Sister Mary tells her, "We don't use names here… You are 759," and her long hair is cut. This I Am Not a Number novel study never asks students "what happened?" Every prompt asks what it means, why people did it, how the authors and illustrator told it, and what students would have done. The unit is built around her mother's last words at the bus: "Never forget who you are!" It has six parts, each named for what the school tried to take: The Doorway (family), The Number (name), Miigwetch (language), The Meadowlarks (hope), The Leaves (home) and The Shop (truth). Each part has a menu of prompts, a hands-on activity, and trackers. The trackers follow every "never forget," the soft words that hide hard things, the light and colour in Gillian Newland's paintings, school against home, and every act of quiet courage. It is a picture book, so one copy on a document camera is all you need. Every part is read aloud with the pictures showing, and the pictures count as evidence. It is built for a true residential school story: there are no simulations or role-plays, no student is ever given a number, and every perspective prompt stays with the people in the book and the evidence. The teacher guide includes a full page on teaching it with care. WHAT'S INCLUDED (58 pages, letter size) Student booklet (45 pages) • 6 part menus with 36 prompts (6 per part). Students pick two per part from five lenses: Roots, Other Voices, Stand Tall, Words + Pictures and Keepsake. • 6 hands-on activities everyone does: Who Decides? (power at the doorway), Two Records (the school's record of day one vs. Irene's), What a Language Holds, The Long Year, The Plan (test the hiding places) and Two Doorways (the first scene against the last). • 5 trackers: Never Forget (refrain), Words That Hide (loaded words), Light + Shadow (words + pictures), Here + There (time and place) and Head Held High (quiet courage). • Pre-reading hook (More Than a Number), Know Before You Go background, and an anticipation guide with a sealed prediction. • Organizers: Root It (claim, evidence, so what), Chain Reaction, The Quiet Parts (silences), Two Schools, and a relationship web. • Socratic seminar prep ("Big Questions") with 9 questions and a moves tracker. • 6 final project choices: a portrait of Irene with a quote key, a What I Carry family narrative, a two-voice poem, a book talk for the announcements, a display for September 30, and a Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action project (names, languages or education). • 6 profiles of the real people in the book (including the author, Irene's granddaughter), 5 toolkit templates (debate builder, craft spotter, two-voice poem, storyboard, interview + research planner) and a 24-word vocabulary page. • 6 exit tickets, a project planner, a single-point rubric and two Level 1–4 rubrics. Teacher guide (13 pages) • Visual implementation map: the whole unit on one page, part by part, with what to read, the shared activity, and the scenes to read with care • Start-here checklist, unit map, and a 4-week plan (Orange Shirt Week and 7-week options included) • Teaching with care: content notes by part, do's and don'ts, terminology, and 24/7 support lines • Full story key, plus how the ending is planted • Look-fors for all 36 prompts and 6 activities, with extension prompts • Tracker and vocabulary keys, and a parent letter • Ontario Language (2023) curriculum links, assessment plan, and Social Studies, History, French and Arts connections WHY TEACHERS LIKE IT • No recall questions, so students can't answer by skimming. • The same routine every part: read aloud, activity, two prompts, trackers, exit ticket. • One copy of the book is enough. Students read the paintings as closely as the words. • Made for a residential school story: it centres Irene and her family's courage, avoids simulations, and gives guidance for the hardest scene. • Works for Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, or any time of year. • A one-page implementation map shows the whole unit at a glance. Pin it up. • Every page number is a clickable link in the PDF, so it works on paper or on screen. • White pages, designed to photocopy in black and white. PLEASE NOTE You need one copy of I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gillian Newland (Second Story Press, 2016). It works with the original English edition and the Nishnaabemwin/English edition (Gaawin Gindaaswin Ndaawsii). References use scene names and short quotes, not page numbers. This is an independent teaching resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the authors, illustrator or publisher.
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