RACE
Langston Hughes
Main Idea
Theme
General
100

What do the letters in RACE stand for?

Restate the question

Answer all parts of the question

Cite evidence from the text

Explain your answer

100

Who is speaking in the poem "Mother to Son."

The mother.

100
What is the main idea of a passage/text

The most important information in the text

100

What is theme?

A message that the author/text is trying to get across

100

Write your own simile

I am as tall as a gnome

200
Restate and answer: What is your favorite food?

My favorite food is __________________________

200

What advice is the mother giving to her son in the poem "Mother to Son"?

If life becomes hard, don't give up.

Use me as an example to follow.

You can overcome obstacles in your life.


200

Name a strategy for identifying the main idea of a text

Look at the first and last sentence

Look at the first and last paragraph

Look for repeating words and ideas

200

What is the difference between a topic and a theme

A topic is one word, something that the text is about

Theme is a message about the topic

200

“Awright, folks, we’ve got a spray on the horizon off the port bow,” he announced cheerfully. “For you landlubbers that’s the left side as you face forward, near the front.”

What is the setting of this passage?

A tour boat

300

Write a transitional phrase you might use when you begin to cite a source.

The author says____; for example________; the text states_____;

300
The speaker says Life for me ain't been no crystal stair


What does the speaker mean; briefly explain your answer

Life has been difficult

Crystal's are smooth, shiny; implies the author was not rich, did not have a straight, easy path in life

300

I remember him driving his horse-drawn wagon into Santa Rosa in the fall when he brought his harvest produce to sell in the town. What a tower of strength seemed to come in that small man huddled on the seat of the giant wagon. One click of his tongue and the horses obeyed, stopped or turned as he wished. He never raised his whip. How unlike today when so much teaching is done with loud words and threatening hands. What is the main idea of this passage?

The character described is strong without being loud or threatening.

300

Write one topic, and then one theme that could be about the topic

Revenge; Love


Revenge can lead to your ruin; The power of love can conquer all

300

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire were intelligent children, and they were charming, and resourceful, and had pleasant facial features, but they were extremely unlucky, and most everything that happened to them was rife with misfortune.

What does rife mean?

Full of; plentiful.

400

"I can feel myself shrinking right there in front of her. But I can’t bring myself to tell my mother that I think I understand how I made Abuela feel."

What emotions is the speaker feeling?  Cite evidence of your answer.

Embarrassment, shame, understanding....

400

What was the literary movement that Langston Hughes was involved in when he wrote "Mother to Son" and "A Dream Deferred"?

The Harlem Renaissance

400

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.

What is the main idea of this passage?

A warning about the story and its sad content.

400

Name a story that we have read this year, and a theme of that story

Monkey's Paw - Be careful what you wish for

Abuela Invents the Zero - It is important to treat people in your family with respect, or else you may lose respect for yourself

400

So she looked up, full of curiosity. The face of the strange boy was very grubby. It could hardly have been grubbier if he had first rubbed his hands in the earth, and then had a good cry, and then dried his face with his hands. As a matter of fact, this was very nearly what he had been doing.

What character trait would you use to describe the boy in the passage?

Upset; troubled; unhappy

500

Why do you need to explain your answer after you cite?

It's not always clear how a citation supports your answer.

It shows that you understand the point you are making.

It helps you to have original ideas in your writing.

500

The last line of "A Dream Deferred" is Or does it explode?

 What could the speaker mean by a dream exploding?

If dreams are deferred for too long, they might disappear.

If people aren't allowed to follow their dreams, it could be dangerous.

Not letting people dream can cause harm to them.

500

Once you have identified the main idea, what is the most common type of writing you might be asked to do with it?

Write a summary
500

Think about your favorite book, movie, tv show.  What is a theme from the work that you thought about?

I decide!!

500

I try to explain what happened. “I don’t understand why she’s so upset. She just got lost and wandered around for a while,” I tell them.

What is the point of view of the above passage?  How do you know?

First person; "I try to explain" "I tell them"