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 is online “catfishing”? What are some of the reasons that people might choose to engage in this behavior?

Teaching Suggestion: The resources linked below offer a definition of “catfishing” and some insight into both people’s reasons for impersonating others online and people’s willingness to believe them. If you choose to have students answer this prompt aloud, you might want to communicate in advance how many and what type of stories students will be allowed to share from sources like the television show Catfish, which contains some elements that may not be classroom appropriate.

• This thorough explanation comes from the nonprofit Cybersmile Foundation.
• This article on why people fall for catfishing is from Discover Magazine.

2. Why might even people who are aware that catfishing exists still fall for a catfish? What are some reasons that online catfishing should be taken seriously?

Teaching Suggestion: Even students who are familiar with the idea of posing as someone else online may not associate catfishing with the kinds of serious consequences Malley faces in Skink—No Surrender.