Looking for Alaska

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. Have you ever wanted to live away from home? What would be the pros and cons? What is it like to attend a boarding school?

Teaching Suggestion: Most of the novel takes place at the boarding school Miles starts attending: Culver Creek. Some students might know about boarding schools, but very few students attend these schools in high school, so it might help to build understanding of what this world is like. Starting with the more general questions about living away from home could provide students access to this setting. The following articles could expand student understanding.

• This article by Thought Co. is an exploration of boarding schools as institutions.
• This article by Teen Vogue examines the world of boarding schools through a student perspective.

2. What are some things that cause guilt? How can guilt affect people’s lives? What might help people if they feel guilty?

Teaching Suggestion: Guilt and trauma affect the characters throughout the novel, including Alaska’s guilt over her mother’s death and the guilt Miles, the Colonel, and Takumi feel over Alaska’s death. Since all students have probably felt some form of guilt, reflecting in a journal or think-pair-share can help them access the theme of Guilt and Forgiveness. Reading the articles can guide thinking about additional aspects of guilt and trauma, helping students understand the novel more deeply.

• Psychology Today’s article delves into different aspects of this feeling, including feeling guilty about something beyond a person’s control and what might help.
• This article by Helpguide.org offers insights into trauma, its effects, and hope for healing.

Personal Connection Prompt

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

What makes a strong friendship?

Teaching Suggestion: Looking for Alaska centers around friendship, particularly the bond between Miles, Alaska, the Colonel, and Takumi. Taking time to reflect on this theme of Friendship and Loyalty and build additional understanding can add meaning to the reading. Perhaps developing a class anchor chart with qualities of a good friend would offer an opportunity to reflect at different points of the novel on how characters fit the definitions.

• This Ted Talk is 4-minutes and explores friendship, focusing on adolescence.
• This article by Scholastic about friendship includes scenarios to consider and suggestions to keep in mind.

Differentiation Suggestion: Kinesthetic and interpersonal learners could benefit from 4-corners. Each corner represents Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree. The teacher could read a trait of friendship, and students could stand in the corner most matching their opinion about how important that trait is to a good friend. Then they can talk with those around them about their ideas. The process could repeat as many times as desired. At the end, it might be helpful to list the four most important traits for a good friend (as decided by the class), and then have students move to the different corners to vote on which is most important to them.