1. Introduction to The Glass Castle
A memoir by Jeannette Walls

2. Sign out your book!
Sign out your book on the sheet as it’s passed around.
Write your first and last name & my name on the inside BACK cover.

3. Essential Questions Discussion
Reflections on Identity:
How can obstacles we face both hinder and help us develop our character?
What qualities allow people to move on after facing hardship?
What role do our experiences play in making us who we are?
How can we reflect on experiences in order to learn and grow as people?

4. What does a MEMOIR do?
Explores an event or series of related events that remain lodged in the author’s memory
Describes the events and then shows, directly or indirectly, why they are significant
Centers on a problem or focuses on a conflict and its resolution

5. What are the characteristics of a MEMOIR?
Focuses on a brief period of time or related events
Employs a narrative structure
Includes many of the usual elements of story telling such as plot, setting, imagery, conflict, characterization, foreshadowing, flashback, irony, symbolism, etc.
Presents the writer’s contemplation of the meaning of the events in retrospect (looking back, reflection)

6. The Glass Castle First published in 2005 Written by Jeannette Walls
Story of her life
Written in a straightforward, fiction-like style
Easy to read, but difficult subjects explored:
Alcoholism, physical & sexual abuse, poverty, dysfunctional family.

7. Cover Analysis

8. Analyzing Media
View Jeannette Walls’ interview with Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report) from 2007.
Write down important notes.
Keep the following questions in mind:
Who is Jeannette Walls?
Why did she write The Glass Castle?
videos/85068/april /jeannette-walls

9. Active Reading:
Why do it?

10. Active Reading:
As you read The Glass Castle, you will take notes instead of answering study guide questions. You should have five notes per reading.
You may do this in post-its in your text, on a sheet of notebook paper, or in folded note format.
Keep all notes in one place over the course of the readings.

11. Active Reading Strategies
Summarize key information and main ideas
Identify and briefly explain important quotations or passages
Ask questions and attempt answers
Predict what will happen next
Infer meaning by reading between the lines
Make judgments
Make connections

12. Task 1:
The Glass Castle pre-reading & predicting