The Outsiders – Complete Interactive Teaching Presentation

The Outsiders – Complete Interactive Teaching Presentation | Characters, Themes, Setting & Exam Skills

Bring The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton to life with this substantial, highly visual and interactive teaching presentation, designed to move beyond traditional chapter questions and get students talking, moving, debating, investigating, making decisions and using evidence from the novel.

Originally created for a 3rd Year Junior Cycle English class, this resource is particularly suitable for mixed-ability and Ordinary Level groups, with extensive scaffolding, clear instructions, sentence starters, word banks and visual supports throughout. It could also be easily adapted for KS3 or other secondary English classes studying the novel.

The presentation uses an engaging 1960s Tulsa-inspired visual style and contains a range of ready-to-teach activities focusing particularly on character, relationships, setting, social class, themes and textual evidence.

Each major activity is introduced with clear Learning Intentions, making the presentation easy to use across a sequence of lessons.

Pr include:

Greasers or Socs? – Interactive Sorting Challenge
Students explore first impressions, appearance, lifestyle, social class and stereotypes before discovering that the two groups may have more in common than they initially realise.

Character Speed-Dating
A fast-paced speaking and listening activity in which students take on the roles of Ponyboy, Johnny, Dally, Darry, Sodapop, Two-Bit, Cherry and Randy. Students explore personality, relationships, fears, motivations and misconceptions while speaking in character.

Darry on Trial – Mock Courtroom Activity
Students put Darry Curtis on trial for the charge that he is a “bad brother” to Ponyboy. Includes prosecution and defence evidence, witnesses, cross-examination, jury deliberation and a final verdict. Encourages students to consider different perspectives and recognise that characters can be complex and contradictory.

The Outsiders Quote Auction
Teams receive an imaginary budget and bid for quotations from the novel. The challenge is not simply to recognise quotes but to decide which quotations are the most valuable and versatile. A later exam-question twist reveals whether students have invested wisely! An engaging way to teach quotation selection, themes, character and textual evidence.

The presentation is designed to be taught across multiple lessons rather than as a single class, with individual activities easily used as standalone lessons.

Ideal for teachers looking for a ready-to-teach, visually engaging alternative to worksheets and comprehension questions, while still developing the core reading, oral language, critical thinking and written-response skills students need for English assessment.

A particularly useful resource for engaging students who may find traditional novel study difficult, while still providing plenty of challenge, discussion and opportunities for more developed responses.