Close Reading - Deciphering the Details

When you do a close reading, you are looking deeply into the meaning of a small section of your text.

Directions: On a loose-leaf sheet of paper, write a comment for each numbered sentence(s).

Teacher Model:

1. “You see, Might is not Right. 2. But, there is a lot of Might knocking about in this world, and something has to be done about it. 3. It is as if people were half horrible and half nice. 4. Perhaps they are even more than half horrible, and when they are left to themselves, they run wild. 5. You get the average baron that we wee nowadays, people like Sir Bruce Sans Pitie, who simply go clod-hopping round the country, and doing exactly what they please, for sport. 6. It is our Norman idea about the upper classes having a monopoly of power, without reference to justice. 7. The the horrible side gets uppermost, and there is thieving, and rape, and plunder, and torture. 8. People become beasts.” (p. 247)

As a Class:

1. “Now, what I have thought,” said Arthur, “is this. Why can't you harness Might so that it works for Right? 2. I know it sounds nonsense, but, I mean, you can't just say that there is no such thing. The Might is there, in the bad half of people, and you can't neglect it. 3. You can't cut it out, but you might be able to direct it if you see what I mean, so that it will be useful instead of bad.” (p. 248)

Independent Practice:

1. “My idea is that if we can win this battle in front of us, and get a firm hold of the country, then I will institute a sort of order of chivalry. 2. I will not punish the bad knights or hang Lot, but I will try to get them into our Order. 3. We shall have to make it a great honor, you see, and make it fashionable and all that. Everybody must want to be in. 4. And then I shall make the oath of the Order that Might is only to be used for Right. Do you follow? 5. The knights in my order will ride all over the world, still dressed in steel and whacking away with their swords—that will give an outlet for wanting to whack, you understand, an outlet for what Merlyn calls the foxhunting spirit—but they will be bound to strike only on behalf of what is good, to defend virgins against Sir Bruce and to restore what has been done wrong in the past and to help the oppressed and so forth. Do you see the idea? 6. It will be by using the Might instead of fighting against it, and turning a bad thing into a good.” (p. 248)

Notes for Chapter 10, "The Lobster Quadrille"

- Alice stops herself from saying she has eaten a lobster
  - seems she has finally learned her lesson
    - with the mouse, she kept on about her cat and nearly scared the mouse away
    - with the birds at the caucus race, again she talks about her cat and how she would eat a bird as soon as look at it
- Lobster Quadrille
  - parody of a ballroom dance the Liddell children would have known
- Alice stops herself from saying she has seen a whiting at dinner
- Even though Alice avoids making references to eating animals, the chapter ends with the Mock Turtle singing a song about Turtle Soup

Assignment:


Answer the three questions you came up with for Chapter 10.

Notes for Chapter 9, "The Mock Turtle's Story"

- The Duchess continually tells Alice that there is always a moral if you look hard enough
  - this is a reflection of moralistic education of the early 19th c.
    - like the Busy Bee poem which tells children to work hard and stay out of trouble
  - the Duchess seems to twist the moral she wants, regardless of the conversation
    - ex: "The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours" regarding a conversation about mustard
- The Queen takes Alice to the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle
  - The Gryphon tells us that the Queen never executes anyone - "it's all her fancy, that"
  - The Mock Turtle's sorrow is also "all his fancy"
  - Carroll is trying to tell us that our world is shaped by the attitude we bring to it
- The Mock Turtle's story is a parody of Victorian education
  - took Reeling & Writhing (reading and writing)
    - words that describe suffering
  - took Mystery (History)
  - Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils (Drawing, sketching, and painting in oils)
  - Laughing and Grief (Latin and Greek)
    - Greeks also taught us about laughing and grief through comedy and tragedy (Greek drama)
    - the Mock Turtle's grief brings the reader laughter through his puns
  - Lessons lessen every day
- Each pun shows an emotion associated with the topic being taught

Assignment:


1. How does the Mock Turtle's use of puns help us understand his attitudes about school?
2. Choose 2 questions you wrote for Chapter 9, "The Mock Turtle's Story," and answer in paragraph form.

Homework (due 11/22/09)

Read Chapter 10, "The Lobster-Quadrille"

1. Write 3 questions about the chapter to share with the class.
2. Find 3 puns, copy them down, and explain them (you may also use puns from Ch. 9 for this exercise)

Fariness in the Field (Download worksheet)

Download the "Fairness in the Field" worksheet from engrade.com. The name of the file is "Queen's Croquet.pdf."

Chapter 8 Reading Response Questions

Read the first half of Chapter 8, "The Queen's Croquet-Ground," and answer the following questions"

1. Why are the gardeners nervous about the Queen's arrival?

2.What is the gardeners' punishment? Is it carried out?

3. Why is the Duchess "under sentence of execution?"

4. What items does one use in a game of croquet? What are they substituted for in Wonderland?

5. How do you think Alice will do at the croquet match? Why?

6. What makes it impossible for the Queen's croquet game to be played fairly?

7. Why does Alice seek to escape the croquet game?

8. Think about the orders the Queen gives and how many of those are carried out. What picture does this paint of the effectiveness of authority in Wonderland?

Chapter 7 Reading Response Questions

1. What 3 characters does Alice meet in Chapter 7? How is their behavior similar to that of other characters in Wonderland?

2. Re-read the argument Alice has with the Hatter, Hare and Dormouse. Why does Alice's argument (I mean what I say) make sense, and their arguments (eating, getting what you like, and sleeping) not make sense?

3. How does the Hatter try to fix his watch?

4. Why are the Hatter, Hare and Dormouse always having a tea-party?

5. How do the characters deal with the problem of dirty dishes? Which character benefits from this solution?

6. Why does Alice finally leave the party?

7. Where does she end up at the end of Chapter 7? What do you think will happen next?

Characterization - Homework due 10/20

Characterization

What a character says, thinks, and does
Characterization is what a character says, thinks, and does.

Directions: Watch a TV show of your choice. Choose one character from the show on whom to focus your attention. On a loose-leaf sheet of paper, write a summary of all the things the character says, thinks and does. Then, fill out the graphic organizer below:

What the character says, thinks or does	What this says about the character	One or two words that sum it up

Imagining Setting - Down the Rabbit Hole

The setting in Alice in Wonderland is important to the development of the story. During the fall down the rabbit hole (p. 7-9), the setting told us a lot about Alice and the things that are part of her day-to-day. In addition to that, the trip down the rabbit hole is a transition from “reality” to Wonderland.

Imagine that you, like Alice, have fallen down the rabbit hole. Use the questions below to brainstorm the different stages of your trip.

When you are finished answering the questions, use the diagram on the back to illustrate what your trip would look like. (So draw a picture and use your imagination!)


1.What does reality look like at the top?

2.What elements of reality (things from your daily life) would you see on your way down?

3.What might you daydream about as you fall asleep at the end?

4.What might Wonderland look like to you?

Vocabulary Classwork and Homework (due 10/6)

Use context clues to define the words in bold.

1. A person of great virtue not only knows what is right, but also does what is right.

2. His bride in her white gown was an angelic vision.

3. The library is a repository of books.

4. While church hymns are considered religious music because of their use in ritual, hip hop and rap are considered secular because they are not about religious ideas.

5. We are all going through a great hardship because of the recession.

6. There are still many isolated Amazonian tribes untainted by modern technology.

7. It's agony when you're late for school and you just miss the bus.

8. It sounds like nonsense that you could use toothpaste to power your radio.

9. There is a lot of potential business in new communications technology.

10. Our parents labor for our well-being by supporting us financially and emotionally.

11. I knew my little brother was up to some mischief when I saw mustard on the dog's nose.

12. My hands were idle as I waited for an idea to inspire my journal for the day.

13. Children need to learn to account for their actions by being responsible for what they do.

14. There is a contradiction when we say we believe something and then do the opposite.

15. The people who lived under Queen Victoria in England during most of the 19^th century are known as Victorians.

16. Some people feel ambivalent towards religion; they may not be sure if they believe in God, or perhaps they don't agree with everything their church tells them.

Homework: use each of the words above in your own sentence.

Homework (due 9/25)

All sections:

Finish the worksheet on "Victorian Childhood." This assignment is worth 17 points!

Bring in 2 or 3 images of children from magazines, newspapers, or the internet. You will need the images for Friday's class activity.

Homework (due 9/24)

Grammar worksheet was distributed in class.

Homework (due 9/23)

Grammar worksheet distributed in class.

Homework (due 9/22)

Response to Poetry:

Respond to the poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein by answering the following questions:

1. How does the speaker describe "the place where the sidewalk ends"? (Stanza 1)

2. What does the speaker leave behind as he or she approaches "the place where the sidewalk ends"? (Stanza 2)

3. What do "the children know"?

4. Write a 4th stanza to the poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

some ideas:
- how do they get there?
- what is it like when they arrive?
- what kind of place is it?

Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch

where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends

Homework (due 9/18)

All sections:

Today in class we talked about Lewis Carroll's poem "The Jabberwocky." This is a classic of English nonsense poetry, where Carroll makes liberal use of portmanteaus.

A portmanteau is a word made up of other words squished together. You've probably seen some of these in your experience.

For example, chocoholic is a smush of alcoholic and chocolate, meaning that a person is addicted to chocolate. Another more pop-culture related one in Brangelina (mush of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). A telethon is telephone and marathon. Chillax (you'll make fun of me for bringing this one up) is chill and relax. So you see that we use portmanteaus in our language all the time!

For homework, come up with five of your own portmanteaus and write a poem or a short story which uses these invented words! At the top of your page, write down your portmanteaus and define them, explaining which words you smushed together. Have fun with this assignment, and take the opportunity to experiment with words and meaning.

Homework (due 9/17/09)

All sections:

Read the poem "The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. You should have a copy that was distributed in class. If you do not, you can find it here.

Choose five words from the poem. For each words you choose, use context clues to attempt a definition (this will be challenging, so don't give up! Write something down even if you think it's wrong). Once you have tried using context clues, try breaking the word up into parts. Does the word sound like others you may have heard before? Does the word look like two other words squished together?

Use your imagination!

Vocabulary Homework (due 9/16/09)

Using the definitions you worked on last night, compose one sentence using each word that was assigned. You should have 18 sentences.

There will be a vocabulary quiz on Friday.

1. Inquisitive
2. Lamasery
3. Devised
4. Permutation
5. Aeries
6. Parapet
7. Vertiginous
8. Swoop
9. Morosely
10. Gibberish
11. Inexorably
12. Obscure
13. Manna
14. Blasphemy
15. Sabotage
16. Incessant
17. Savoring
18. Ebullience

Vocabulary Homework (due 9/15/09)

All sections:

As you read "The Nine Billion Names of God," use context clues to define the following words:

1. Inquisitive
2. Lamasery
3. Devised
4. Permutation
5. Aeries
6. Parapet
7. Vertiginous
8. Swoop
9. Morosely
10. Gibberish
11. Inexorably
12. Obscure
13. Manna
14. Blasphemy
15. Sabotage
16. Incessant
17. Savoring
18. Ebullience

Once you have written down your definition, use a dictionary to check your work. Write the dictionary definition on your sheet. How many did you get? Write a short paragraph explaining what strategies you used when defining the words. What worked? What did not?