Dear Evan Hansen

Throughout the novel, characters help others in various ways. Sometimes, harm happens under the guise of helping. What does Dear Evan Hansen say about helping others? Consider these points as you reflect on the text to answer the question:

• How do characters successfully help others?
• How do characters cause harm despite trying to help? 
• Are there any examples that are murky in that they are somewhat helpful yet also somewhat harmful?
• What are examples of people’s desire to help others ebbing and flowing?
• In what way is social media involved?

Teaching Suggestion: It might be useful as a class to develop working criteria for helping others and causing harm, which can be applied to specific scenes in the novel. Reviewing discussion ideas from before reading questions and activities can also add depth to the discussion. Tying ideas back into the unit’s themes, especially No One Is Alone, can build additional analysis. 

Differentiation Suggestion: For classes that need additional guidance and focus during the discussion, including some groups of diverse learners, re-reading one specific scene that applies to these questions can aid the depth of the discussion. This way, instead of jumping from different parts of the novel, students can take more time re-reading and including specific details from select pages in their answers.