The Outsiders Extension Activity

 

For this activity you will research one of the elements S. E. Hinton incorporated into her novel, The Outsiders. 

Your project must include visuals and multiple paragraphs.  The number of paragraphs is dependent on the topic you choose. 

You may present your findings in any format, such as an essay, brochure, presentation, model, or display.  You are only limited by your own creativity. 

Be sure to include a brief introduction discussing how the element you chose to research is featured in the novel and a brief conclusion summing up your research and giving your final thoughts.

Choose a research topic from the following:

• Tuff cars of the mid-60’s: Corvairs, Mustangs, T-Birds, and Corvette
• Greaser icons: James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Marlon Brando in The Wild One
• Music: Elvis, the Beatles, and Hank Williams
•  Rodeo Events
• Books: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Drive-in culture:  Movie genres and representative examples from the golden age of the drive-in, the late 50’s to the mid-60’s
• Other topics with teacher approval 

Be ready to present your project to the class on February 10.  

Chinese Painting Homework

Take a look at the painting below titled "Fisherman."  Use the Beginning/Middle/End strategy that we used in class during the fall to write a story about this painting.  Use the painting as an illustration of either the beginning, the middle or the end of your story.  

Start by cutting out the copy of the painting you received in class today and gluing it into your history journal.  Use a blank page.  they write your story around, above and below the painting.  Your story should be one page long.  You can make your story about China or about anything else as long as the painting illustrates either the beginning the middle  or the end of the story.  

Stories are due on Wednesday, Jan 13.

"Fisherman" by Wu Zhen, Yuan Dynasty, 1350 ink on handscroll

How many books can you read this semester?

This is homework for my English classes.  Due for the next Reading Race on Friday, Jan. 8

How many books can you read this semester if you read for 20 minutes a day every school day?

Hint: there are 94 days left between today, Jan. 6, 2016, and the Book Bingo deadline on June 3.

To figure out the answer you'll need to start by determining your words per minute reading rate.  To do that go to this website sponsored by Staples.  Take the reading test there.     Once you do the timed reading and pass the test, Staples will tell you your reading speed. Be honest with this test. We just want to see what your score is; you don't get a higher grade for having a higher score.

Write your speed down in your English journal near your Book Bingo card.  Then do these calculations to see how many books you could read by Jan. 3 if you read 20 minutes a night.

Multiply your reading speed by 20.  This shows how many words you can read in 20 minutes.  Write this number down.

Multiply how many words you read in 20 minutes (the amount above) by 94 days.  Write this amount down.

Divide this amount by forty thousand (40,000).  The average middle school level book has about 40,000 words in it.  Write this number down to the first decimal point. This is how many books you can read in 94 days if you read 20 minutes a night.

These are Mr. Chester's results:

• 305 Words per minute
• 6100 words in 20 minutes  (305 x 20 = 6100)
• 567,300 words in 94 days  (6100 x 94 = 567.300)
• 14.2 books in 94 days.  (567,300 / 40,000 = 14.2

That's not enough for a blackout, but it is enough for three or four bingos if I read the right books.

After you finish the calculations, write a short paragraph about your results.  Were you surprised by any of them?  How does this compare to what you actually read each semester?  Do you think you could spend more time reading?  Set a reading goal for this semester.  My goal is 40 books which is more than enough for a blackout.