Breathing Underwater

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Identifying Abuse”

In this activity, students will identify patterns of abuse in Nick’s behavior and develop research-based coping strategies to assist Nick in breaking his patterns of abuse.

Nick is raised in an abusive home and continues the cyclical nature of abuse in his relationship with Caitlin. Using research to support your ideas, analyze and identify Nick’s abusive behavioral patterns. Then, provide advice for Nick based on proven strategies to end the cycle of abuse.

• Conduct research to identify types of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse.
• Identify the type(s) of abuse present in Nick’s behavior.
• Create a written comparison of Nick’s behavior to the research points you have discovered; include strategies that might help Nick to overcome the cycle of abuse.

Pair with a partner to briefly compare the points you identified.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may find it beneficial to discover and compile reputable sources so they may conduct research on the types of abuse and what qualifies as abuse before identifying Nick’s abusive tendencies. Students might add links to a shared doc so that all might benefit from a class-created library of resources.