A Walk to Remember

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

1. What important events took place in the 1950s? What contributed to the economic growth in America? Where did many people live in the 50s? What role did women primarily play in America during this time? What are the differences between capitalism, socialism, and communism?

Teaching Suggestion: A Walk to Remember is set in North Carolina in 1958. The roles of women, the economic boom, communism (or “The Red Scare”), and capitalism in American society are topics featured in the novel, so class discussion based on students’ attempts with these questions may help to seat readers with necessary and pertinent historical details. It may be beneficial to allow some investigation time with these or similar resources, depending on the ages and backgrounds of your students.

• This article describes important events in 1950s America.
• This 3-minute video describes the difference between capitalism, socialism, and communism.

2. What is a stereotype? What patterns of thinking can stereotypes lead to? How might individuals overcome stereotypes? What is the problem with thinking of people as groups instead of individuals?

Teaching Suggestion: Jamie is a devout Christian and minister’s daughter in the novel. Protagonist Landon and his friend group stereotype Jamie based on her clothing and religious beliefs. Consider discussing stereotypes and how to overcome them to both whet interest in the upcoming novel and provide students with some information and language on the topic. Depending on your students, you may want to introduce the idea of confirmation bias.

• This 6-minute video describes stereotypes and confirmation bias.
• This article explains how to build bridges between people to overcome stereotypes.

Personal Connection Prompt

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

What role does social acceptance play in adolescent years? In your observations or experiences, is social acceptance important after adolescence? What have you observed happening to people who aren’t deemed “socially acceptable?” Is acceptance in a peer group related to external factors that people cannot control? How do you think pressure from a peer group affects decision-making?

Teaching Suggestion: In the novel, Landon struggles with the decision to help Jamie or to spend time with his friends. Social acceptance is important to Landon, and his friends criticize him for spending time with Jamie. With sensitivity to student differences, consider permitting students to discuss or write about personal perspectives and experiences regarding social isolation and the consequences it may have on health and interaction.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who require an additional challenge, the topic of adult peer pressure might be interesting to research and report on. Students may wish to discover why people do not discuss or research adult peer pressure as often as adolescent peer pressure. Students might share their findings with peers in summaries aloud or through a visual aid with bulleted informative points.