Quarter Four/Week Four April 17-21

Layered Curriculum: Their Eyes Were Watching God: Zora Neale Hurston 

M. Aldrich
Florence High School
Florence, AZ

Objectives

• Be able to comprehend the dialect used in the novel
• Be able to summarize a reading selection and articulate a personal response
• Be able to draft and/or articulate complete responses to questions related to the reading selection
• Be able to spell and define new vocabulary words
• Be able to utilize time management skills to complete the necessary assignments
• Be able to complete assignments according to the corresponding rubric for that assignment

 
 

Section I "C" Layer 70-79 points

* Required – Read chapter 16-20 in the novel 

__________Vocabulary – Define and be able to spell five of this weeks vocabulary words:(fetid, deftly, wanton, delirium, bailiff, pallet, defensively, consolidated, relic, loping, dishevelment, shanties, procession, deity, smite, seraphs, criteria, indiscriminate, transmutation, stolid) (10 pts) 

__________ Summary - Complete a chapter summary sheet for chapters 16-20 (25 pts) 

__________Questions – Answer any of this weeks discussion questions

      * See rubric for acceptable response format

      _____1.

      _____2.

      _____3.

      _____4.

      _____5.

      _____6.

      _____7.

      _____8.

      _____9.

      _____10. 

__________ Titles – Make up chapter titles for each chapter of the novel, using key episodes from the chapter, a phrase found in the chapter, or a new character who appears in the chapter, as a guide. (15 pts) 

__________ Write – Rewrite the scene where Tea Cake aims his gun at Janie - but this time, don’t have Janie kill him. (10 pts) 

__________ Interview – Interview a character from the novel. Ask at least ten open-ended questions and prepare responses in the characters own “voice.” (10 pts) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Section II "B" Layer 10 points * See rubric for acceptable response format for any of the following 

__________ Outline – Create an outline of the novel using the outline format worksheet. 

__________ Figurative Language – Make a list of examples of figurative language used in the novel (metaphors, similes, personification, etc.) Briefly analyze each one, telling what is being compared or dramatized, and why or why not it is effective. (2-pts. ea.) 

__________ Author’s Notes - Complete an author notes paper about Zora Neale Hurston. *See handout 

__________ Crossword Puzzle – Create a crossword puzzle using at least twenty five clues from the novel 

__________ Reporter – You are a newspaper reporter. Write an account of one of the following: the mule dragging, the hurricane, or Janie’s trial. Include a headline, the 5 W’s and an H, and some bystander quotes. Present it in newspaper format. 

__________ Dialogue – Write the dialogue between Pheoby and Sam when Pheoby returns home after visiting Janie.  

__________ Timeline – Make an illustrated timeline of Janie’s life, including all relevant details. 
 

Section III "A" Layer 11 points * See rubric for acceptable response format for any of the following 

__________ Back to the Future – You are Janie 25 years from now. Who are you now? What have you done with your life? Did you ever re-marry? Have any children? Contribute anything worthwhile? Forgive yourself? Have you been living in isolation? Write a letter Pheoby, whom you haven’t seen in all these years, explaining your absence, what you’ve done with your life, why you haven’t kept in touch, and why you’re writing now. 

__________ Character Sketch – Write a character sketch of any character in the novel. *See handout 

__________ Approach Paper – Write an approach paper. *See handout 

__________ Conflict – Conflict is the struggle that drives the plot. There are four main types of conflict: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Himself.  Analyze the conflict in the novel and provide at least one example of each of the four types of conflict. 

__________ Create a test – Create a test of the novel using the format on the Creating a Test handout 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Discussion Questions – Week Four 
 

1. Why don’t Janie and Tea Cake leave when the season is over? Would they be better off if they had left? 

2. What are your impressions of Mrs. Turner? Why do you suppose she is so prejudiced? Does Janie mind her? What advice would you give Janie as to how she should treat Mrs. Turner the next time she comes to visit? Have you ever been in a situation like Janie’s? 

3. Why doesn’t Mrs. Turner like Booker T. Washington? Why does she blame black people for the race problem?

4. Why does Tea Cake whip Janie? Does this remind you of anything? What do you think a husband should do if he is jealous – or if he doesn’t like one of his wife’s friends?

 

5. How does the disturbance at Mrs. Turner’s place start and why does Tea Cake join in?  Are you surprised to hear him threaten to take out anyone who doesn’t show Mrs. Turner respect – when we know he can’t stand her?

 

6. What are some of the signs that a big storm is coming? Why doesn’t Tea Cake follow the Indians’ example and leave? Is he prejudiced?   

7. How do Tea Cake and the others spend their time as they wait for the storm? 

8. How does Janie get out of the rushing water? What else could she have tried? Does she owe her life to Tea Cake?

  

9. Why does Tea Cake kill the dog? What is so frightening about the dog?

10. What do you notice about the way the title phrase is used in this section? What emotions are captured by that phrase?   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thumbnail Outline

Using the format below, create an outline of the novel. Your final draft should be neatly written using your own paper.

Book Title: ______________________________  
Author: _________________________________ 
 
I. Main Characters

1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________

II. Setting and Time Period

1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________

III. The Plot: A Timeline

1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________

IV. Best Parts of the Book

1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________

V. Criticism of the Book

1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________

VI. Overall Opinion of the Book (and Details to Support Your Opinion)

1. ______________________________________________
1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________

Approach Paper

 

An approach paper consists of several sections:

 

I.       Proper heading with your name, date, class, and novel/play title

II.      Summary Paragraph:  A three or four sentence paragraph which explains the ENTIRE novel using as much description and detail as you can manage. To encourage your writing style every sentence must start out in a different way. This helps make your writing more interesting to read. This is often the most difficult section of the approach paper to write.  It will take some time to condense the happenings of the novel/play into these few sentences which all start in a different way.

III.   Character Descriptions: Choose three or four main characters in your novel or play.  By each of these characters’s names, list four or five words which describe the character distinctly. This is a good time to think about vivid vocabulary words and to check the dictionary and thesaurus for ideas.  If you use a particular word to describe one character, you may not use that same word to describe another character.

IV.    Discussion/Essay Questions:  Write three questions that a teacher might ask you about the novel or play either in class or for an essay.  These questions should be thought- provoking and almost always take more than one line to type because they ask readers to combine more than one idea.   Just writing these types of questions helps you to anticipate what questions might be asked of you in class discussion or on a test and encourages you to think more insightfully about the book or play.

V.      Key Passage:  Choose the most important passage in the novel/play (in your opinion).  Type it up word-for-word in the approach paper.  Make sure to identify the speakers.

VI.    Key Passage Explanation:  In a fully-developed paragraph, explain why your chosen passage is important to understanding the novel/play. In your explanation, make sure you integrate quotes (actual words or phrases) from the key passage to strengthen your explanation.  Often, this selected passage will offer clues to the novel/play’s themes.  Explain any mentioned or inferred themes connected to the key passage.  
 
 
 
 
 

Sample Approach Paper

Jennifer Crowley

May 3rd, 2006

English III: Ms. Aldrich

To Kill a Mockingbird: Approach Paper  

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of three years in the childhood of Scout and her older brother Jem.  As an adult narrator, Scout recalls a series of loosely connected episodes which occur in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s, a time of racial segregation and extreme prejudice.  Weaving two strands of narrative, Lee presents Boo Radley, the mysterious and reclusive neighbor whom the children find both intriguing and frightening, with the trial of Tom Robinson, a hardworking, innocent black man who is being defended by Scout and Jem’s just and courageous father, Atticus Finch.  The two strands of narrative tie together in the end when Boo Radley emerges from his seclusion to save Scout and Jem from a cowardly attack on them by Bob Ewell, who vowed vengeance on Atticus after the trial.

Scout Finch:  strong-willed, intelligent, tomboyish, loyal, quick-tempered

Jem Finch: thoughtful, steadfast, imaginative, maturing

Atticus Finch: just, courageous, insightful, determined

Boo Radley: reclusive, lonely, simple, protective

1. To Kill a Mockingbird deals with the issue of racial equality, but Harper Lee also includes the strong story line of Boo Radley.  How does the Tom Robinson trial combine with the Boo Radley story thread to make a novel that speaks powerfully of more than just racial equality?
2. What do Jem and Scout finally understand about their father: what he stands for in their own lives and in the lives of many of the townspeople? 
3. Discuss the three different views of Tom Robinson’s trial and its outcome as seen by Atticus, Jem and Scout, and the townspeople.

From Chapter 3, page 30:  

Atticus:  “First of all,” he said.  “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks.  You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Atticus’ entire philosophy of life seems to be summed up in his words to Scout.  To be an objective and just community member, one must be able to “climb into” another person’s “skin” and “walk around in it” or be able to see issues from another person’s perspective.  Atticus offers these words to Scout after her first day of formal schooling in the first grade when she is upset that the teacher doesn’t understand her efforts to explain Walter Cunningham’s financial situation.  These words from Atticus begin her first lessons in life.  Through the course of the novel, Atticus will show the children his compassion for people different from their family, his attempts to “climb into someone’s skin and walk around in it” when he defends an innocent black man, Tom Robinson, against a town’s wishes, and when he instructs the children to be respectful and compassionate toward Boo Radley, a neighborhood recluse. One of the main themes of the novel is understanding and accepting people different from oneself. 

Character Sketch

A character sketch is a written analysis of a character detailing physical characteristics, as well as personality traits. It is usually done by providing descriptive words, which will illustrate the character's traits, and by giving examples (quotes) from the story, which support each of those traits. There are eight methods through which most authors characterize their people. They are: 

1. Physical description

2. What the character says

3. What the character does

4. What the character thinks

5. What others say to or about the character

6. What others do to the character

7.The setting in which the character is found

8. What the character is like

In your report you must use quotations or pieces of writing copied from the book to support your observations. Remember to put quotation marks around any words you copy.

Write the paper using verbs in the past tense only and try to use strong, interesting verbs.

Be sure to use information which is true to the story. You may make inferences or draw logical conclusions, only if they are based on facts or details from the story. For instance, a story may not state that a character is seventy years old, but you can make logical assumptions about his or her age through other information: wrinkled face, white hair, stooped over, has been driving for fifty- five years, etc.

WRITE A SIX PARAGRAPH CHARACTER SKETCH FOLLOWING THE DIRECTIONS BELOW

Paragraph one: You should begin your report by naming the character you have chosen. Also include the book title and the author's name. Then state your feelings about what kind of individual your character is. What do you think are three outstanding characteristics of this individual? These three characteristics may be either good traits or the person's faults. Do not support the three characteristics at this time.

Example: "in the novel, Huckleberry Finn, Huck is an adventurous, witty, and clever boy. " This is an example of one sentence in the first paragraph.

Paragraph two: Write a description of the person. The description should include what the character is like and how he looks and acts. Also include information of the character's speech if it is in any way unusual. Also state the conflicts the character faces in the story.

Paragraph three: Show how the character demonstrated the first trait you mentioned in paragraph one by citing a variety of incidents from the plot in your own words. Keep in mind that you should utilize as many of the eight methods of characterization as possible. Also, you must provide at least two quotes which demonstrated this trait. (Example of topic sentence: Huckleberry Finn makes the reader laugh through his witty and funny remarks and actions.)

Paragraph four: Repeat the instructions for paragraph three to demonstrate the second of the characteristics you named in paragraph one. (Example of topic sentence: Huck demonstrates his love for adventure in many ways. 

Paragraph five: Repeat the instructions for paragraph three to demonstrate the third of the characteristics you named in paragraph one. (Example of topic sentence: being clever, Huck gets himself out of many difficult situations.)

Paragraph six: In this final paragraph you should reveal the outcome of the story and your character's part in it. In this paragraph you should also state your personal reaction to the story as a whole, and make a recommendation of the book.