The First Page and the Last Page: May 2, 2019

Focus: What do the final pages of the books we've read this year reveal about the characters we love?

1. Warming up with a quick name game to jog your memories

Round 1: Ask other people questions to glean information about your character. After a few minutes, we'll stand in a circle, and you'll explain what your guess is and how you figured it out.

Round 2: Find a character partner, preferably from a different book. Ask your partner these questions:

• What is it that you think you want?
• But what do you really want?
• What burning question do you still have?
• Follow up: Could these characters eat lunch at the same table? Why or why not?

2. Laying out the first and final pages of East of Eden, Beloved, Invisible Man, & Waiting for Godot

Opening Pages

• Which three moments from the opening pages strike you as significant, and why?
• What central conflicts does the author establish in the opening pages?

Closing Pages

• Which three moments from the closing pages strike you as significant, and how?
• What movements / shifts do you notice when you compare the opening to the closing?
• Which conflicts are resolved in the final pages, and how so? Which are left unresolved?
• How does the way in which conflicts are resolved (or not) reveal tone and themes?

3. Wrapping up with a little circle storytelling using Academic Vocabulary, Lists 5, 6, and 7

HW:
EVERY DAY UNTIL MAY 8: 

• Spend time with your Bedside Stack.

• Look through our first semester literary terms and our second semester academic vocabulary (and your teen tiny vocab notebook, if you kept one).