Thank You Ma’am Langston Hughes

L.O.T.S (Lower Order Thinking Skills) questions 1.Why did Roger want to steal Mrs. Jones' pocketbook? i.His family needed money. ii.He wanted to buy something. iii.He was looking for trouble. iv.He wanted the key to her house. 2.COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. Why did Mrs. Jones take the boy home? She wanted to ______________________________________________________________. 3.What did Mrs. Jones tell Roger about herself? She told him about (–). i.her job ii.her children iii.her parents iv.her friends 4.Why does Mrs. Jones tell Roger that "I were young once and I wanted things I could not get"? i.She wants to show him that she is special. ii.She wants to tell him she also did bad things. iii.She wants to buy him blue suede shoes. iv.She wants him to feel sorry for her. 5.After Roger says, "There's nobody home at my house," Mrs. Jones (–). i.invites him to stay with her ii.gives him supper iii.calls the police iv.talks to his parents teach him a lesson.

6."Roger looked at the door – looked at the woman – looked at the door – and went to the sink." What is Roger afraid of? ANSWER: 7.What happened when Roger tried to steal Mrs. Jones' pocketbook? i.Roger managed to escape with the pocketbook. ii.Mrs. Jones ran away with the pocketbook. iii.Roger fell on the ground and Mrs. Jones kicked him. iv.Mrs. Jones fell down and dropped her pocketbook. 8.How does Roger get to Mrs. Jones' home? ANSWER: 9.What is the first thing that Roger is worried about when he gets to Mrs. Jones' home? ANSWER: Roger is afraid because he doesn’t know what Mrs. Jones is going to do with him. But he decides to trust her and goes to the sink. Mrs. Jones firmly gripped Roger by his shirt and dragged him to her house. Roger is worried that Mrs. Jones would call the police.

"... shoes got by devilish ways will burn your feet." What did Mrs. Jones mean by this? ANSWER: While he was washing his face in Mrs. Jones' room Roger realized: "The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run!" Why doesn't Roger run away? ANSWER: How do you think the day with Mrs. Jones will change Roger? ANSWER: H.O.T.S (Higher Order Thinking Skills) questions Mrs. Jones is trying to teach Roger that if he gets something in a dishonest way he will not enjoy it and he will always worry about getting caught. Roger also realizes that Mrs. Jones’ intentions are good. Therefor, he understands that she truly wants to look after him and care for him and that is why he doesn't run. I believe that Roger will always remember meeting Mrs. Jones and because of that he would want to be a better person and change his ways.

Extended H.O.T.S questions At the end of the story "The boy wanted to say something else other than, 'Thank you, M'am,' to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but... he couldn't even say that." What else besides "thank you" do you think Roger wanted to say to Mrs. Jones? Explain. For this question, use ONE of the thinking skills from the Appendix ( נספח ). Thinking skill, I chose: Cause and Effect ANSWER: Roger wanted to tell Mrs. Jones how grateful he was for her kindness. That because of their meeting he is going to change his ways. That he wishes that they could stay in touch. But because he wanted to say so much he ended up saying nothing, not even thank you.

Extended H.O.T.S questions "When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones." Why is it important for Roger to remember his meeting with Mrs. Jones? For this question, use ONE of the thinking skills from the Appendix ( נספח ). Thinking skill, I chose: Cause and Effect ANSWER: Because It was important for Mrs. Jones to teach Roger a lesson therefor, she wanted him to remember meeting her so that it would effect him and he will be reminded of what could happen if he gets caught.

Introduction to poetry Billy Collins

Bridging Question. Billy Collins is an American poet. Named Poet Laureate ((משורר לאומי of the United States in 2001, Collins believes poetry should be enjoyed by everyone. He started a program called poetry 180. In an interview, Collins explained that the poems should also be read out loud outside the classroom. "The idea would be to have high school students hear a poem every day, so that the poem will be a feature of daily life and not something that is just taught." How does this information add to your understanding of the poem?

There is a clear connection between the information and the poem. From the quote “ The idea would be… that the poem will be a feature of daily life and not something that is just taught." we can see that the poet reading a poem or listening to it should be an enjoyable experience. He says that everybody should be able to enjoy poetry without analysis and formal study, which can sometimes ruin the poem. In the poem he askes students to use their senses when studying poetry, using images like looking for a light switch in the dark, or holding it against the light to examine it carefully, or water-ski across the poem's surface, so that students will look for their own meaning in the poem. So what the poet is saying in the quote is exactly what the poem is about. To sum up, the information helps me understand better the message of the poem.

Bridging Question. "I think one of the worries that sometimes destroys the spirit of poetry... is students' uncertainty about how to approach a poem and how to deal with difficulty in poetry." – from an interview with Billy Collins How does this information add to your understanding of the poem?

In the above quote Billy Collins expresses the fears that students have when they study poetry. The message is often difficult to understand even when the language is simple. There is not just one right way to understand a poem, this often frustrates many pupils. They look at a poem as a puzzle that has to be figured out instead of something to enjoy, to experience with the senses. This is the same idea that the speaker talks about in “Introduction to Poetry”. Pupils do not know how to read a poem using the senses, instead they try to analyze it. The speaker tells the readers to "take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide" or "press an ear against its hive", the speaker wants us to experience the poem as if it was something we could see, hear, touch or smell. A poem should be appreciated like a beautiful painting or piece of music. But teachers don't allow ( מרשים ) that. "all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it", to "beat it with a hose to find out what it really means". they teach poetry only for testing rather than enjoying it.