Learning Objective: SWBAT – practice a close reading while draw inferences from the text and support them with textual evidence A Lesson Before Dying

DO NOW Journal Response - What does it mean to be human?

As a class, we will compile a list of answers based off this question.

Think-Pair-Share: THINK - Write the answer to the following question: What separates humans from animals? (2 minutes) PAIR - Meet with a partner and write a combined definition. (3 minutes)

What is Close Reading? Close reading is the most important skill you need for any form of literary studies. It means paying especially close attention to what is printed on the page. It is a much more subtle and complex process than the term might suggest. How might an author’s choice of words contribute to theme and conflict?

Play Detective Close reading involves playing detective looking at the work's particular vocabulary, sentence construction, patterns, and imagery, to the themes that are being dealt with, the way in which the story is being told, and the view of the world that it offers. It involves almost everything from the smallest linguistic items (semantics) to the largest issues of literary understandings.

Making Yourself Sensitive Close reading means not only reading and understanding the meanings of the individual printed words, it also involves making yourself sensitive to all the nuances and connotations of language as it is used by skilled writers. This skill requires you to make inferences while reading.

Making Inferences Figuring out what the author is implying will require you to make inferences. To infer requires that you guess the probable meaning. As you read a selection and attempt to draw a conclusion or make inferences about the meaning, it is important to examine the work to determine how all of the information, supporting details, events, and characters connect to one another. A conclusion will be based on the sum of all of the elements working together in the story.

_______ 1. The boy doesn’t like monkeys. _______ 2. The boy has probably never seen animals in a zoo. _______ 3. The father is angry with the boy. _______ 4. The boy thinks the monkey is being punished. _______ 5. The boy and his father go to the zoo often. Making Inferences from a Cartoon

_______ 1. The “three true stories” are about the three women shown. _______ 2. The women are good friends with one another. _______ 3. The women’s lives have changed in positive ways. _______ 4. All the women had parents who were non-readers. _______ 5. All the women dropped out of school because of reading problems. Making Inferences from a Book Cover

_______ 1. Gulliver’s Travels is a true story. _______ 2. The man on the ground recently ate lunch and is taking a nap. _______ 3. The book has something to do with a journey. _______ 4. The illustrated large man is likely an important character. _______ 5. The story in the book takes place in modern times.

_______ 1. The boy did not choose to be at the orphanage. _______ 2. The boy is happy to be at the orphanage. _______ 3. The people at the orphanage are cruel to the boy. _______ 4. Not carrying life insurance can harm one’s family. _______ 5. The insurance company helps support the orphanage. Making Inferences from an Advertisement

_______ 1. The figure on the left does not work out at all. _______ 2. The figure on the left probably spends lots of time working out. _______ 3. The two figures do very different things when they work out. _______ 4. The two figures do not like each other. _______ 5. Spending time at the library has had no effect on the figure on the right. _______ 6. Spending time at the library has made the figure on the right mentally strong. _______ 7. Working out at the library has the same effect as working out at the gym. _______ 8. Working out at the library involves mental – not physical – effort. Mastery Test: Making Inferences from a Cartoon

While doing a close read, you’ll need to consider… 1.What can you infer from the text? 2.What is the first thing you notice? 3. Do you notice any patterns in the text— repetitions, contradictions, similarities…? 4. Which words do you notice first? Do they seem oddly used? Why? 5. What is the mood? 6. How does the text make you react or think about any characters or events. 7. Are there alliterations, similes, metaphors, and other literary devices?

Scaffolding a Close Read – page 3 Analysis: Gaines suggests Grant’s duplicity – condition of being double – in the opening lines: “I was not there, yet I was there…I was there as much as anyone else was there”. Nevertheless, he obviously was not in the courthouse. These contradictions suggest that he might be deceiving. In addition, Gaines hints that Grant might be insincere, since he separates himself from Jefferson’s trial. Grant also stays away because he deliberately puts distance between himself, his family, and community. Grant says he could have sat with his aunt and Jefferson’s godmother, but he chose to separate himself from them. All in all, the mood is resistant.

Shared Close Reading In groups of three or four, we will read the first (very short) chapter of A Lesson Before Dying, and look for evidence suggesting how Jefferson is dehumanized/emasculated. Cite specific examples.

EXIT SLIP For homework, you answered why Gaines might open the novel with Grant’s confusion “I was not there, yet I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I know all the time what it would be.” Now on an EXIT SLIP you will consider that response and what you learned today from your close read. Based on your work so far - your definition of what it means to be human and how Jefferson is dehumanized – Respond to the following prompt: How does an author’s choice of words contribute to theme and conflict?

How does an author’s choice of words contribute to theme and conflict? Extension Activity with a partner: What is the author trying to say? – Create a theme statement and theme poster – Illustrate this theme, either with Jefferson or a scene from the book – At the top of your poster, you will have to write two examples from the novel that prove your theme