Word Detectives
Dre and Salliana give an answer that is as cryptic. The other classmates look at one another because they aren't sure what the answer means.
What does the classmates reaction help you understand about the word cryptic?
The response is unclear, mysterious, or difficult to understand.
Imagine a narrator says:
"She smiled at me, but I couldn't tell what she was thinking."
What does the reader know for certain, and what must the reader figure out?
The reader knows she smiled. The reader must infer what she was thinking or feeling.
A character wants something, but another force (problem)—such as another person, a difficult situation, or the character's own thoughts—gets in the way.
What story element should you be looking for?
Conflict
"The character is worried."
Which would be stronger evidence?
A: The character is wearing a blue shirt.
B: The character keeps checking the door and nervously tapping his foot.
B. Those actions directly support the idea that the character is worried.
An author repeatedly includes the same unusual animal throughout a story.
What should a reader ask themselves?
Why the author keeps including it and whether it connects to a character, event, memory, idea, lesson, or change.
A student reads this sentence:
"After seeing the injured puppy alone in the rain, everyone felt sorry for it and called its situation pathetic."
Pitiful; something that causes people to feel sympathy.
A story is told by a character who is part of the events.
What information might the reader NOT have that they would have if the story were told by an outside narrator?
The reader may not know other characters' private thoughts, feelings, or motivations unless the narrator observes clues about them.
A character is standing on a baseball field thinking about something that happened in the past.
Why might the author choose that location INSTEAD of having the character think about it somewhere completely unrelated?
The setting can connect to the character's memories, emotions, relationships, or current problem.
A student chooses a quotation because it contains the word baseball, but the quotation doesn't actually support the student's claim.
What mistake did the student make?
The evidence is related to the topic, but it does not actually support the specific claim.
In Ball Hawk, the hawk is more than just an animal that appears in the story.
If you wanted to understand why the author included it, what would you compare?
You should compare what is happening when the hawk appears, what Mitchell is thinking or feeling, and whether the hawk connects to an important event, memory, lesson, or realization.
Clue:
The word cryptic comes from the Greek word kryptos, meaning "hidden."
Why would knowing that word origin be useful when trying to understand the word in a story?
It gives the reader a clue that the meaning has something to do with something hidden, unclear, or difficult to figure out.
Mitchell notices that an adult character is smiling while gripping a soda can tightly.
What are two different conclusions a reader might consider about the adult character? Then explain what additional evidence would help decide between them.
Possible answers:
Put these story events in the order that usually makes the most sense:
Resolution — Conflict — Realization — Events that challenge the character
Conflict → Events that challenge the character → Realization → Resolution.
The claim is:
"A character is experiencing an internal conflict."
What types of evidence should you search for in the story to prove this?
Evidence involving the character's thoughts, feelings, doubts, choices, competing desires, worries, or struggles with a decision.
Without giving the ending away, explain why an author might use a character's hobby, sport, object, or activity to help the character work through a personal problem.
It can give the character a way to connect to memories, relationships, identity, lessons, or emotions and can help reveal the character's growth.
You encounter a word you don't know in a story. The sentence doesn't give you an obvious definition, but the sentences before and after it give you several clues.
Name two strategies you could use to figure out the word.
Possible answers include:
Suppose the same baseball scene in Ball Hawk had been told from the mother's point of view instead of Mitchell's.
What type of information would probably become easier for the reader to understand?
The mother's private thoughts, feelings, concerns, and motivations would be more directly available to the reader.
A student says:
"The setting is the conflict because the baseball field causes the character to have problems."
How can we fix what the student's answer?
Setting and conflict are different story elements. The setting is where and when the story occurs; it can contribute to or intensify the conflict without actually being the conflict itself.
A student writes:
"Uncle Tommy is important because he helps Mitchell."
Improve the response. What two things does the student need to add?
Specific evidence from the story and an explanation of how that evidence shows Uncle Tommy's importance.
Without giving the ending away, explain why an author might use a character's hobby, sport, object, or activity to help the character work through a personal problem
It can give the character a way to connect to memories, relationships, identity, lessons, or emotions and can help reveal the character's growth.
A student says:
"If I know the Greek or Latin origin of a word, I automatically know exactly what the word means."
Would you agree? Explain your answer.
No. Word origins can provide clues, but context helps determine the meaning the author intends in a particular sentence or passage.
A reader makes an inference about a character based on one small action. Another reader makes an inference based on three different actions throughout the story.
Which reader has more evidence to work with? Explain why.
The second reader has stronger evidence because several consistent details provide more support for the inference.
A character begins a story thinking one way. After experiencing several important events, the character understands something differently.
What should a reader trace to explain how the character reached that change?
Answer:
The reader should trace the character's thoughts, actions, experiences, reactions, important events, and evidence of a changing understanding from the conflict toward the realization and resolution.
You have two quotations that could support your answer.
Quote A: Shows the character's thoughts about baseball and explains why the character makes an important choice.
Quote B: Mentions baseball but doesn't reveal what the character is thinking.
Which would probably be stronger evidence for a claim about the character's internal conflict? Explain.
Quote A, because it more directly reveals the character's thoughts and struggle and therefore better supports a claim about internal conflict.
You need to explain why an important detail in Ball Hawk matters.
Instead of simply saying, "The author included it because it is important," what three-part chain of thinking could you use?
Detail/Event → What it reveals or causes → How it connects to the character's realization/resolution