Charles

CHARLES  by Shirley Jackson

   The day my son Laurie started kindergarten, he gave up his little-boy clothes. He started wearing blue jeans with a belt. I watched him go off that first morning with the older girl next door. He looked as though he were going off to a fight.

    He came home the same way at lunchtime. “Isn’t anybody here?” he yelled. At the table, he knocked over his little sister’s milk.

   “How was school today?” I asked. “Did you learn anything?’’

   “I didn’t learn nothing,” he said.

    “Anything, “ I said. “Didn’t learn anything.”

    “But the teacher spanked a boy,” Laurie said. “For being fresh.”

     “What did he do?” I asked. “Who was it?”

    Laurie thought. “It was Charles,” he said. “The teacher spanked him and made him stand in the corner. He was really fresh.”

    “What did he do?” I asked. But Laurie slid off his chair, took a cookie, and left.

     The next day, Laurie sat down for lunch. “Well,” he said, “Charles was bad again today.” He grinned. “ Today Charles hit the teacher,” he said.

    “Good heavens,” I said. “I suppose he got spanked again?”

    “He sure did,” Laurie said.

    “Why did Charles hit the teacher?” I asked.

    “Because she tried to make him color with red crayons. Charles wanted to color with green crayons. So he hit the teacher. She spanked him and said nobody play with Charles. But everybody did.”

    The third day, Charles bounced a see-saw onto the head of a little girl. He made her bleed. The teacher made him stay inside during recess.

    On Thursday, Charles had to stand in a corner. He was pounding his feet on the floor during story-time. Friday, Charles could not use the blackboard because he threw chalk.

    On Saturday, I talked to my husband about it. “Do you think kindergarten is too disturbing for Laurie?” I asked him. “This Charles boy sounds like a bad influence.”

    “It will be all right,” my husband said, “There are bound to be people like Charles in the world. He might as well meet them now as later.”

    On Monday, Laurie came home late.

“Charles!” he shouted, as he ran up to the house. “Charles was bad again!”

    I let him in and helped him take off his coat. “You know what Charles did?” he said.  “Charles yelled so much that the teacher came in from first grade. She said our teacher had to keep Charles quiet. And so Charles had to stay after school. And so all the children stayed to watch him.”

    “What did he do?” I asked.

    “He just sat there,” Laurie said, noticing his father. “Hi Pop, you old dust mop.”

    “What does this Charles look like? My husband asked. “What’s his last name?”

    “He’s bigger than me,” Laurie said. “And he doesn’t wear a jacket.”

    I could hardly wait for the first Parent-Teachers meeting. I wanted very much to meet Charles’ mother. The meeting was still a week away.

    On Tuesday, Laurie said, “Our teacher had a friend come to see her in school today.”

    My husband and I said together, “Was it Charles’ mother?”

    “Naaah,” Laurie said. “Charles was fresh to the teacher’s friend. They wouldn’t let him do exercises.”

    “Fresh again?” I said.

    “He kicked the teacher’s friend,” Laurie said. “The teacher’s friend told Charles to touch his toes. And Charles kicked him.”

    “What do you think they’ll do about Charles?” my husband asked.

    “I don’t know,” Laurie said. “Throw him out of school, I guess.”

    Wednesday and Thursday were routine. Charles yelled during story-time. He hit a boy in the stomach and made him cry. On Friday, Charles stayed after school again. All the other children stayed to watch him.

    On Monday of the third week, Laurie came home with another report. “You know what Charles did today?” he asked. “He told a girl to say a word, and she said it. The teacher washed her mouth out with soap, and Charles laughed.”

    “What word?” his father asked.

    “It’s so bad, I’ll have to whisper it to you,” Laurie said. He whispered into my husband’s ear.

    “Charles told the little girl to say that?” he said, his eyes widening.

    “She said it twice,” Laurie said. “Charles told her to say it twice.”

    “What happened to Charles?” my husband asked.

    “Nothing,” Laurie said. “He was passing out the crayons.”

    The next day, Charles said the evil word himself three or four times. He got his mouth washed out with soap each time. He also threw chalk.

    My husband came to the door that night as I was leaving for the Parent-Teachers meeting. “Invite her over after the meeting,” he said. “I want to get a look at the mother of that kid.”

    “I hope she’s there,” I said.

    “She’ll be there,” my husband said. “How could they hold a Parent-Teachers meeting without Charles’ mother?”

    At the meeting, I looked over the faces of all the other mothers. None of them looked unhappy enough to be the mother of Charles. No one stood up and apologized for the way her son had been acting. No one mentioned Charles.

    After the meeting, I found Laurie’s teacher. “I’ve been wanting to meet you,” I said. “I’m Laurie’s mother.”

    Oh, yes,” she said. “We’re all so interested in Laurie.”

    “He certainly likes kindergarten,” I said. “He talks about it all the time.”

    “He’s had some trouble getting used to school,” she said. “But I think he’ll be all right.”

    “Laurie usually fits in quickly,” I said. “I suppose his trouble might be from Charles’ influence.”

    “Charles?” the teacher said.

    “Yes,” I said, laughing. “You must have your hands full with Charles.”

    “Charles?” she said. “We don’t have any Charles in kindergarten.”

http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2010/06/charles.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap5OE0LHAdM

—> Make your own list of 10 things you know you are supposed to do and a list of 10 things you are not supposed to do in class.  For example, You are supposed to be attentive to the teacher at all times and you are not supposed to talking with your neighbor while the lesson is going on. Right? 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

Are you supposed to arrive late to class?  Why not?

Are you supposed to arrive to class without a pen, pencil and paper?  Why not?

Are you supposed to talk during a writing assignment?  Why not?

If student near to you  asks you, “What did the teacher say?” Are you supposed to answer that student or ignore him or her?  (Hint: that student should raise his or her hand and ask the teacher, right?)

If you don’t have a pen or pencil or some paper, are you supposed to raise your hand tell the teacher or talk to the students around you to ask them for what you need?

If the teacher or another student is reading out loud, are you supposed to be talking to your neighbor, fidgeting with your cell phone, or listening and taking notes?

When people are talking, it usually means they aren’t listening, right?  In class, when should you be listening and when should you be talking?

If you don’t follow the rules, shouldn’t you get a lower grade since the rules are for everybody to follow all the time, not just when somebody feels like following them, right?  Later in life those grades are used to judge you.  How do you want to be judged?  

When you are at home, what happens if you don’t follow the rules and you disobey your parents?  

How would your parents feel if they saw you in class at a time when you weren’t following the rules or doing what you are supposed to be doing?  Would it make sad?  

When a student is not doing what the teachers says, should the teacher think, “Oh, that student has bad parents , that’s why they’re not being good in class.”  Is that what you want your teachers to think?  

DO NOW: Explain this saying, "ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS."
-Do we better understand someone by what a person actually DOES, or by what a person SAYS?

AIM: How does listing WHAT a character DOES help us to understand the character better?

What is Characterization?  - How does the author create an idea about who Laurie really is?

HOMEWORK: Complete the Hand-out and Selection  Quiz

DO NOW: Remember when your parents would call you in from play and you and your best friend had to go home?  How would you like to have two best friends?  One who you can see and go out with to play, and the other who never has to go, one who is invisible and seen only by you?  What name would you give your invisible friend?

AIM:  Why doesn't the teacher understand who Charles is?

Note about the author: Shirley Jackson is most famous for her stories about the supernatural.  Her most famous work is a movie, The Haunting of Hill House (1963)

Directions: 

Begin, by reading the short story, “Charles”  by Shirley Jackson.

After reading the story, answer each question on loose-leaf, in your best English.

Did something about the ending of the story surprise you?

Who is narrating the short story Charles?

According to the narrator, how did Laurie change when he started kindergarten?

When did Laurie first speak about Charles?  

What does the detail of the spilled glass of milk show about Laurie’s mood?

Why had Charles become a household joke with Laurie’s parents?

Why do you think Laurie’s parents were looking forward to meeting his kindergarten teacher and Charles’s parents?

What did Laurie’s parents think when the teacher told them, “We don’t have any Charles in the kindergarten.” 

Was there ever really a Charles?  

10.  Is there something supernatural or strange going on in this story?

Part II Vocabulary

Vocabulary - Locate the words listed below in the story and copy the sentence.  Then, to make sure, look up the word in the dictionary.

“The day my son Laurie started kindergarten he renounced corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans with a belt

elaborately

simultaneously

incredulously

resolute

benediction 

privilege

AIM:: 

AIM:   Why is making up stories about other people or about yourself such an important part of everyone's life?   Where does Charles come from and when will he return to where he came from?

DO NOW: 1. Write your name in your best handwriting.

Questions on CHARLES by Shirley Jackson - List what Charles does in school

Note about the author: Shirley Jackson is best known for her book and film, The Haunting of Hill House

After reading the story, view a short project based on the story.  

List the events, in the order they occurred.

Homework: create a “Charles” story of your own, using a different name and different things he or she does.

Harrison Bergeron

http://coursesmrhedges.blogspot.com/2013/09/harrison-bergeron.html

AIM:  Which is more valuable: grades or learning? Education or Entertainment?

DO NOW:  What do you like to do best for entertainment?  Read, watch a film, or play sports?
Why is there a conflict between entertainment and education?

In a Democracy, - a system of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, can the People decide to eliminate education and substitute entertainment, in it's place?  Do we, as the People have that right?

Does film  enhance our understanding of a written text or does it turn education into entertainment and have less educational value?

DO NOW: React to a new school-wide policy:
SITUATION: Every student who isn't able to do the work satisfactorily will receive extra credit while every student who is able to do the work satisfactorily or better will have  points taken off.   
Would that lead to a society where everyone would want to read and study or where few people would want to?

In a society where only the few have the desire to read and study, even if it costs them penalties, would there still be students who would rather get lower grades but increase their learning?  Why?

Today we will examine a film, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury that explores the consequences of a society, like the one Kurt Vonnegut depicts in Harrison Bergeron- A society that does away with print, text, and reading printed books.

Do Now: Voice your view on two questions below, silently, with your pen or pencil on paper

1.Some people fear success more than they fear failure.  What is your take on that?

2. Some people fear what is different and exceptional about themselves and think it is safer and easier to pretend that they are just like everybody else.  What is your take on that?

AIM: Does society (both today and in the story) pressure individuals to "dummy themselves down" and "fit in," or does our society encourage people to be as exceptional and creative as they can be?

What does Harrison mean when he says, "I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!"

In other words, why is Harrison's statement about becoming what one can become always seen as an act of rebellion and revolution against society?

Homework: Complete the hand-out

AIM: Where does the sound of the riveting gun that George hears in his head really come from?

DO NOW:  

(a) Is equality an important goal for society?

(b) To achieve that goal, would it easier and more natural and maybe even cheaper to increase everyone's intelligence, to bring up the average, or, might it be easier and cheaper and more realistic to force the brighter, more talented people to"dummy-down" ?

Homework: Complete hand-out sheet on loose-leaf. 

Due Next D and G Band Meeting Next Week

HARRISON BERGERON

by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.

George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about.

On the television screen were ballerinas.

A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

"That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel.

"Huh" said George.

"That dance-it was nice," said Hazel.

"Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.

Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.

"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George.

"I'd think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds," said Hazel a little envious. "All the things they think up."

"Um," said George.

"Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?" said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. "If I was Diana Moon Glampers," said Hazel, "I'd have chimes on Sunday-just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion."

"I could think, if it was just chimes," said George.

"Well-maybe make 'em real loud," said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good Handicapper General."

"Good as anybody else," said George.

"Who knows better than I do what normal is?" said Hazel.

"Right," said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.

"Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?"

It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples.

"All of a sudden you look so tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch out on the sofa, so's you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch." She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George's neck. "Go on and rest the bag for a little while," she said. "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while."

George weighed the bag with his hands. "I don't mind it," he said. "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me."

"You been so tired lately-kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few."

"Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain."

"If you could just take a few out when you came home from work," said Hazel. "I mean-you don't compete with anybody around here. You just sit around."

"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"I'd hate it," said Hazel.

"There you are," said George. The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?"

If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head.

"Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel.

"What would?" said George blankly.

"Society," said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said?

"Who knows?" said George.

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen."

He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read.

"That's all right-" Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred pound men.

And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. "Excuse me-" she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.

"Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous."

A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen-upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random.

"If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not - I repeat, do not - try to reason with him."

There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.

George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have - for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God-" said George, "that must be Harrison!"

The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head.

When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen.

Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood - in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.

"I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook.

"Even as I stand here" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened - I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!"

Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.

Harrison's scrap-iron handicaps crashed to the floor.

Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall.

He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.

"I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people. "Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!"

A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow.

Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask.

She was blindingly beautiful.

"Now-" said Harrison, taking her hand, "shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!" he commanded.

The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. "Play your best," he told them, "and I'll make you barons and dukes and earls."

The music began. It was normal at first-cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs.

The music began again and was much improved.

Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it.

They shifted their weights to their toes.

Harrison placed his big hands on the girls tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers.

And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!

Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.

They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun.

They leaped like deer on the moon.

The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it.

It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it.

And then, neutraling gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.

It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.

Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.

It was then that the Bergerons' television tube burned out.

Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.

George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying" he said to Hazel.

"Yup," she said.

"What about?" he said.

"I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television."

"What was it?" he said.

"It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel.

"Forget sad things," said George.

"I always do," said Hazel.

"That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a rivetting gun in his head.

"Gee - I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel.

"You can say that again," said George.

"Gee-" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy."

"Harrison Bergeron" is copyrighted by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961.

Name____________________ ________________________November 24, 2014  Band _____

Did You Get It?

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut

1. In what year does the story, “Harrison Bergeron” take place?

2. Why did the author choose that specific number for the setting of the story?  (Hint, what’s a prime number?) 

3. What month did the men from Diana Moon Glampers take Harrison away?

4. What shows the reader that Hazel isn’t very smart? 

5. Why was George required to keep a transmitter in his ear?  

6. What did the transmitter do to make George’s intelligence as low as Hazel’s?

7. In the society Kurt Vonnegut writes about, if you are above average, what does the government do to make you equal to everyone?

8. In order to disguise his natural good looks, what is Harrison forced to wear on his nose and teeth?

9. After executing Harrison, Diana Moon Glampers orders the musicians to put their handicaps back on.  Do they do as they’re told or not?

10. What does it mean when George hears the sound of a rivetting gun in his head?  Does it mean that Diana Moon Glampers had shot the musicians or that the musicians had rebelled against the government?

11. If everyone was equal so nobody was better than anybody else, would the world be a better place?

12. The most effective way to lower a person’s ability the think is to fill their ears with noise.  What is the writer trying to warn us about as we try to learn to think better?

Writing: 

• What is censorship?  [the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts]
• Can thoughts be stopped and censored before the have the chance to make themselves understood?

READING AND LISTENING

Homework: 

When you are reading or watching TV, are you bothered by loud sounds?
Write about a time when you were studying very hard but forgot what you were studying.  Why did that happen?


We are about to read a short story by a famous writer, Kurt Vonnegut who chooses one form of pollution that he considers to be the most dangerous kind of pollution of all.  See if you agree!

As we read the story see if you can discover what kind of pollution he thinks is really the worst.

After we have read the story, we will complete a short writing task that checks your understanding. 

Fill in the blanks and then, copy the completed paragraph into your notebook, composition book, or on loose-leaf.

“Kurt Vonnegut, in his short story Harrison Bergeron, writes about how __________________ pollution is the most dangerous because it harms our _________________.   If our ____________ is constantly bombarded with _______________ we can’t finish a single _____________ and we forget what we wanted to _______________ .   That’s bad for us, both as individuals and as a society.   One example of how _________________ harms people in the story is when ______________________________________________________.

An other example is when _____________________________________________.  The irony of the story is that nobody can do anything about it because they don’t even know that it’s ____________________________________.  Their thoughts are assaulted by _________________ and when the ____________________ ends, they are too  ______________ to _______________     ___________________ about it.

In my opinion,__________________________________________________________  this story makes sense today, even though it takes place in the _____________ because __________________________________.   I wonder, can ________________ pollution get so out of control that we, like the characters in the story, could forget how to ______________?

—> Make your own list of 10 things you know you are supposed to do and a list of 10 things you are not supposed to do in class.  For example, You are supposed to be attentive to the teacher at all times and you are not supposed to talking with your neighbor while the lesson is going on. Right? 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

Are you supposed to arrive late to class?  Why not?

Are you supposed to arrive to class without a pen, pencil and paper?  Why not?

Are you supposed to talk during a writing assignment?  Why not?

If student near to you  asks you, “What did the teacher say?” Are you supposed to answer that student or ignore him or her?  (Hint: that student should raise his or her hand and ask the teacher, right?)

If you don’t have a pen or pencil or some paper, are you supposed to raise your hand tell the teacher or talk to the students around you to ask them for what you need?

If the teacher or another student is reading out loud, are you supposed to be talking to your neighbor, fidgeting with your cell phone, or listening and taking notes?

When people are talking, it usually means they aren’t listening, right?  In class, when should you be listening and when should you be talking?

If you don’t follow the rules, shouldn’t you get a lower grade since the rules are for everybody to follow all the time, not just when somebody feels like following them, right?  Later in life those grades are used to judge you.  How do you want to be judged?  

When you are at home, what happens if you don’t follow the rules and you disobey your parents?  

How would your parents feel if they saw you in class at a time when you weren’t following the rules or doing what you are supposed to be doing?  Would it make sad?  

When a student is not doing what the teachers says, should the teacher think, “Oh, that student has bad parents , that’s why they’re not being good in class.”  Is that what you want your teachers to think?  

AIM: 

• Do Now: 

Directions: Write your answer each question in a complete thought and in your best English on loose-leaf or in your class composition book.  

1. What is pollution?  
2. Give three examples of pollution.
3. For each of the three examples you give, explain where the pollution comes from who is to blame for making it?
4. What are the dangers of pollution?  
5. Explain how pollution can harm our health.
6. Explain how pollution can harm our environment.
7. Explain how pollution can harm our economy.
8. Can pollution be controlled?  
9. Of all the possible forms of pollution, did you include noise pollution?

Sunday in the Park by Bel Kaufman

Sunday in the Park by Bel Kaufman

http://karennance.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/9/5/15952492/sunday_in_the_park_with_questions.pdf

Do Now: Living life is a constant learning experience.  Sometimes our lives follow a plan, sometimes it doesn’t.  Write about a situation where you learned something new about yourself.

Suggested situations:Maybe you did better (or worse) on a test?Maybe you were braver at the dentist than you thought you would be?

• Sports?  
• Protecting someone from harm?  
• Holding back emotions?  
• Handling stress and pressure?

Reading: “Sunday in the Park” by Bel Kaufman

1. What does the title suggest?  
2. Is spending a Sunday in the park an ordinary, uneventful, maybe even boring day?
3. Does that suggest that something extraordinary, not at all boring is going to happen?
4. What do you like to do when you have a day off from school?  
5. Do you prefer to do relaxing things or challenging things?
6. Describe the main character and what she learns about herself.
7. List the characters and something about them.
8. How had the situation changed Morton’s wife’s understanding of herself?

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour 

by Kate Chopin

http://www.fmgondemand.com/play/4QYHKU

• A word tells us the name of a thing and can stand in or take the place of the thing when it's not there.
• Does your name stand in for who you are?
• Does your first name or your last name best refer to who you are?
• Before you had a first name, you had a last name. As a word, which one defines you?
• Does the name stand in for the name of the body or the person who lives within it?

What is Mrs. Mallard first name?  What is the author trying to get us to understand or think about by referring to her as "Mrs. Mallard"? 

Questions

1. Why isn't Mrs. Mallard immediately told of her husband's death?
2. Who brought the news of Mr. Mallard's death?
3. Where did Mr. Mallard's accident happen?
4. How does Mrs. Mallard react when she hears the news?
5. How does the world outside look?
6. How does Mrs. Mallard normally look and how does she look since the news of the accident?
7. What feeling does Mrs. Mallard experience?
8. How does Mrs. Mallard think she will react when she sees her husband's dead body?
9. What is Mrs. Mallard excited about?
10. How does Mrs. Mallard die?

Text

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under hte breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.