Whale Rider Teaching Resources

A couple of posts ago, I made a call for resources on teaching The Whale Rider, by Witi Imahaera. Unfortunately, my impression is that few people are teaching this novel (not all that surprising), thus don’t have a lot of resources. In fact, in searching, I found many more resources for teaching the film than I did for teaching the novel. I think the sources I’ve found should help spark some ideas as I plan for this unit.

I did notice, however, that several recent hits on my blog came from people looking for resources on this novel, so I thought I’d share what I’ve found, hopefully to provide resources and/or inspiration for others. If you find other resources, please feel free to share them – I’ll gladly post them up here in an edit or follow-up. 

Teaching Resources

• By far the best resource I found is the Heinemann Teacher’s Guide [pdf] for the novel. Includes teaching strategies, activities, and a few lesson plans. Though I wish it was longer, this is a nice resource.
• Another great resources for those teaching the novel: Rowan Pita at English Online shares a unit plan for teaching the Whale Rider, including assessments and activities related to the novel.
• The Trinity College Library has a nice list of resources about the author, the novel, the film, and Maori culture that is worth checking out. Most of the links are to reviews and articles about the book/film, but those could easily be used as additional sources in a unit.
• Fiona Murray, Winifred Jackson, and Brian Finch at Massey University College of Education [pdf] produced a brief guide to teaching the film. However, this guide discusses themes, motifs, and main plot points that apply to the novel. There are also a couple of additional resources mentioned.
• Though it focuses on the film, Cambridge Park High School’s Whale Rider Curriculum Unit [doc] is so nice, I had to include it in this list. Focusing on the cultural and gender issues in the film, this unit seems like it could be easily adapted to the novel.
• Sarah Mornston shared her Antigone/Whale Rider Unit on Curriki, which includes a number of activities and documents she uses in her unit, several of which focus on gender issues in both works.
• MediaEd – Teaching Whale Rider. Another film resource, this site notes a couple of main themes and images.

Hopefully those of you out there who are teaching this novel will find these resources helpful in trying to build your unit. Best of luck!