1. Notice & Note Strategies for Close Reading Reading literary texts with deeper understanding.

2. Learning Target Success Criteria Learning Target: o Students will identify and recognize the importance of a character’s Tough Questions. o Students will find clues to the internal conflicts a character is dealing with. Success Criteria: o While reading the example text, I will identify the Tough Questions being asked and recognize the importance of the moment.

3. Tough Questions We all ask questions: o What’s for dinner? o Where are my shoes? o Do I really have to do my homework? While we want answers to these questions, they aren’t what we’d call Tough Questions.

4. Tough Questions are Questions that seem, at least for a while, not to have an answer: o How will I ever get over this? (after the death of a loved one) o What should I do? (when we have a difficult, almost impossible, choice to make) o Am I brave enough to say no? (when we’re asked to do something we know we shouldn’t) Tough Questions are a part of life because... well, life is sometimes tough.

5. Tough Questions When you share a tough question with a friend – or just think it to yourself – you’re really sharing something that bothers you. In a novel, we call that the internal conflict. If you can spot those tough questions a character asks himself or a friend, then you’ll have found the internal conflict.

6. Tough Questions Authors typically show us these Tough Questions in fairly straightforward ways: o The main character asks a trusted person or himself a question that obviously doesn’t have an easy answer. o The character might not ask a question, but make a statement like, “I wonder...” o Tough Questions often show up in pairs: “Why wasn’t I invited to the party?” “Did I do something to hurt someone’s feelings?”

7. Tough Questions Once you notice the Tough Question, it’s important to stop and ask yourself: o What does this question make me wonder about? Answers may tell you about the conflict and might give you ideas about what will happen later in the story.

8. Tough Questions Here’s how it works in a text. I’ll read a few passages from A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. o This book is about what happens to an eleven-year-old who lives in Sudan during a time when rebels are raiding villages. In a scene early in the novel, eleven-year- old Salva has become separated from the rest of his family after rebels have attacked his small Sudanese village, and now he’s alone, scared and running.

9. Tough Questions You’ve practiced finding Tough Questions in passages that made it pretty easy for you. Now, go back into Chapter 2 of Jackie’s Wild Seattle and find the Tough Question. o I’ll give you a hint, Cody asks it! Be sure to add it to your journal.

10. Reading Journal for Jackie’s Wild Seattle Chapters 3-4 As we read, we will look for Contrasts & Contradictions, Memory Moments AND Tough Questions. I will read Ch. 3 with you, you’ll do Ch. 4 on your own.