Essential Questions
Name 3 Reading Strategies
Answer may vary
Define Theme
A theme is a universal idea, lesson, or message explored throughout a work of literature.
Define "Plot"
In a literary work, film, or other narrative, the plot is the sequence of events where each affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect.
What does it mean to make an "inference"?
An idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and reasoning.
Explain the structure of a story in order.
1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution/Conclusion
What is one theme you could learn from The Circuit (as a whole or any individual chapter)?
Family is more important than material possessions.
Knowledge is something no one can take from you.
Define "Falling Action"
What the characters are doing after the story's most dramatic part has happened.
What is one inference that the reader can make from "The Elevator"? Give reasoning.
Answers may vary
Give an example of how a story can say more than the words on the page.
Answer may vary.
How does theme help the reader better understand the story?
A theme gives the general view of the story. It gives the reader insight into how the story's characters live to pursue something good or bad, the results of conflicts, and how all their choices have an affect on what happens next in the story.
What is the name and order of the five key parts of the plot diagram?
1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution
True or False:
Is making an inference just guessing?
False
What can a reader do if they are having trouble understanding a short story?
Break the text down into smaller parts
Summarize each paragraph
Take notes as you re-read
True/False Themes need to be supported by evidence from the text.
True
Define "Climax" and give an example
The most important/dramatic event from the story
Every day after work Paul took his muddy boots off on the steps of the front porch. Alice would have a fit if the boots made it so far as the welcome mat. He then took off his dusty overalls and threw them into a plastic garbage bag; Alice left a new garbage bag tied to the porch railing for him every morning. On his way in the house, he dropped the garbage bag off at the washing machine and went straight up the stairs to the shower as he was instructed. He would eat dinner with her after he was “presentable,” as Alice had often said.
What type of job does Paul have?
He works a dirty job.
We base inferences on what?
Evidence
True or False:
The theme can be one word.
False
What part of the plot did all of our short stories NOT have?
Falling Action
Why is it helpful for readers to make inferences?