Mirette on the High Wire

McCully, Emily Arnold. (1992). Mirette on the High Wire. New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

When a Paris boardinghouse gets a new lodger, famous tightrope walker Bellini, young Mirette is intrigued by his talent. She teaches herself the ways of the tightrope and, when Bellini sees her progress, he decides to take her as a student. As the story progresses, Mirette becomes a talented tightrope walker and she ends up helping Bellini overcome his fears.

Connecting to the Standards
Grade 3 RL (3): Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

• The two main characters in the story, Mirette and Belinni, have a friendship that motivates the other person. Students should attempt to understand how the two characters interact and what leads to the final scene.

Grade 3 RL (4): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

• This book contains a lot of phrases such as "her feet tingled" and "arms flailed like windmills," that contribute greatly to the action and the emotions of the characters. There are also some wonderful vocabulary words such as devoured, acrobat, and trance. 

Learning Outcomes

Through this lesson, students will be able to connect with the emotion of the main characters and understand their motivations and traits. Students will look at interesting phrases from the story that contribute to the overall emotion or feeling of the story. Students will also acquire new vocabulary through this story.

It would be interesting to work this lesson in to fit with 3rd grade standards for visual art and have them use the emotional aspects of this story to create their own work of art. See "Adapted to the Classroom" below for ideas on how to do this.

Adapted to the Classroom

A teacher read-aloud would probably be most appropriate to introduce this book because it may have difficult vocabulary and phrases for students to understand, so the teacher can be there to support the students' learning. During the read aloud, discussion over the emotions of the characters and their behaviors/motivations/traits should occur to get the conversation started. Students may connect with Mirette when she is told she should not do something like try to walk on the tightrope. By connecting the story to their emotional response, students may be drawn into the story.

After the reading, discuss some of the more interesting phrases from the story that added to the emotional factor of the story. 

An activity to go along with this, that connects to 3rd grade standards for visual arts, could draw on the emotional elements of the story. The teacher could prompt the students to imagine being up on the tightrope, high above the ground like Mirette at the end. Imagine the emotions she's feeling. Then have the students use either their choice of medium, or a teacher-chosen medium, to represent that feeling in an artwork. The less teacher-driven this activity is, the better. Students should try to think creatively when expressing the emotion through their art.

Bloom's Taxonomy

Determine the factors that lead to the final scene. (Analysis)

Predict what emotion Mirette feels as she walks high above the town square. (Synthesis)

     Create your own artwork based around this feeling. (Synthesis)

Differentiation

Because this activity involves different levels of emotional understanding, some students may have more or less of an ability to take on different perspectives. Giving those students words to put to feelings that they may not quite understand could help support them through the activity. When it comes to the art activity, students who may have difficulty holding a paint brush or colored pencil may need some other way to express their art. Finger painting may be more appropriate for some students who have difficulties with fine motor movements.