ELA Unit 3: The Outsiders

Week 2
September 19-23
Name: ______________________________________
Class Name: _________________________________
*This packet is due on Friday, September 23

Do Now:
Who is Johnny and how would you characterize him? Is Johnny like the other Greasers?
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The Outsiders Chapter 4 Text-Dependent Questions

As Johnny told him the story, I studied Dally, trying to figure out what there was
about this tough-looking hood that a girl like Cherry Valance could love. Towheaded
and shifty-eyed, Dally was anything but handsome. Yet in his hard face there was
character, pride, and a savage defiance of the world. He could never love Cherry
Valance back. It would be a miracle if Dally loved anything. The fight for selfpreservation had hardened him beyond caring.
He didnt bat an eye when Johnny told him what had happened, only grinned and
said Good for you when Johnny told how he had knifed the Soc. Finally Johnny
finished. We figured you could get us out if anyone could. Im sorry we got you away
from the party.
Oh, shoot kid Dally glanced contemptuously over his shoulder I was in
the bedroom.
Multiple Choice
1. His eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap. Is an example of
which type of figurative language?
(A)
Metaphor
(B)
Personification
(C)
Simile
(D)
Hyperbole
2. How did Dally feel after hearing Ponyboy and Johnnys story?
(A)
Upset
(B)
Proud
(C)
Worried
(D)
Indifferent
3. Dally handed me a shirt about sixty-million sizes too big. Is an example of which
type of figurative language?
(A)
Metaphor
(B)
Personification
(C)
Simile
(D)
Hyperbole
4. In the passage, what does the word contemptuously most likely mean?
(A)
With annoyance or anger
(B)
With love or affection
(C)
With fear or terror
(D)
With sadness or sorrow

Constructed Response
5. Read the passage. Describe the character of Dally in this chapter. Use a Quote
Sandwich to explain your answer.
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6. Think about how Socs and Greasers are treated differently by the police and the law.
Historically, would a Greaser get in far more trouble for murdering a Soc or is it the other
way around? What makes you believe this?
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Similes and Metaphors

Definitions

Simile: ________________________________________________________________
Metaphor: _____________________________________________________________
Use examples from the presentation to fill out the following table:
Similes

Metaphors

Choose one simile and one metaphor from the table to represent visually (draw a picture):
Simile
Metaphor

Now, try it yourself! Come up with your own example of a simile and metaphor:
Simile
Metaphor

Draw a picture that represents each of your examples:

He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the
eyes of an animal in a trap (54).
Are the above comparisons similes or metaphors? _______________________________
What is being compared in each example?
1. _________________ is being compared to _______________________
2. _________________ are being compared to ____________________________
Why do you think the author used this type of comparison to explain what Johnny looked like
at this moment in the story?
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The sentences before this comparison are Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. Does the
comparison say the same thing? How does the comparison add to the story?
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Draw what you think Johnny looks like at this moment:

Based only on the words Johnny was scared to death. I mean it, would you have been able to
draw what you think Johnny looks like at this moment? Explain.
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Do Now
What do you think is the central idea or theme of this novel so far? Remember, theme is
NOT written as a command, and should have a brief explanation.
NON-EXAMPLE: Dont hurt others.
EXAMPLE: You shouldnt hurt others because there are consequences.
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The Outsiders Chapter 5 Text-Dependent Questions

After Id sat in the sun for fifteen minutes to dry the bleach, Johnny let me look in the old
cracked mirror wed found in a closet. I did a double take. My hair was even lighter than
Sodapops. Id never combed it to the side like that. It just didnt look like me. It made me look
younger, and scareder, too. Boy howdy, I thought, this really makes me look tuff. I look like a
blasted pansy. I was miserable.
Johnny handed me the knife. He looked scared, too. Cut the front and thin out the rest.
Ill comb it back after I wash it.
Johnny, I said tiredly, you cant wash your hair in that freezing water in this weather.
Youll get a cold.
He only shrugged. Go ahead and cut it.
I did the best I could. He went ahead and washed it anyway, using the bar of soap hed
bought. I was glad I had had to run away with him instead of with Two-Bit or Steve or Dally.
That would be one thing theyd never think of soap. I gave him Dallys jacket to wrap up in and
he sat shivering in the sunlight on the back steps, leaning against the door, combing his hair
back. It was the first time I could see that he had eyebrows. He didnt look like Johnny. His
forehead was whiter where his bangs had been; it would have been funny if we hadnt been so
scared. He was still shivering with cold. I guess, he said weakly, I guess were disguised.

Multiple Choice
1. What literary device is used in until memory comes rushing over you like a wave?
(A)
Simile
(B)
Metaphor
(C)
Personification
(D)
Onomatopoeia
2. What literary device is used in my head swam, and I leaned back and closed my
eyes?
(A)
Simile
(B)
Metaphor
(C)
Personification
(D)
Onomatopoeia
3. Which emotion do Ponyboy and Johnny act out the most in this section of the book?
(A)
Scared
(B)
Excited
(C)
Furious
(D)
Indifferent

Constructed Response
4. Why do you think hair is so important to these boys? How is it part of their identity?
Write a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) response using a quote from the passage.
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5. When Dally returns, he tells the boys about everything that is going on back home
between the Socs and the Greasers. Summarize what Dally tells them.
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How To Do a Close Reading of a Poem

A few ideas to get you started
1. Circle or underline words or phrases that "stick out" at you. What grabs you about the
poem? What seems to clamor for your attention? What confuses you? Are there words you
don't understand?
2. Map out the poem: draw arrows between words, phrases and images that seem related;
make notes in the margins about the connections you find. React with your pen and you're
more likely to remember later what struck you and what you
discovered through your process of reading.
3. Sometimes it's useful to list all the parts of speech in a
short poem or in one section of a longer poem. For instance,
list all the adjectives or nouns or verbs; notice the kind of
language the poet uses. Is it coy? Brash? Angry?
Intoxicated? Joyful? Musical? Monotonous? Ebullient?
(You get the idea. The list could go on forever.) Reattach
the adjectives to their nouns and consider each nounadjective pair against the other pairs in the poem. Place the
verb with its subject or object and feel the action of the verb.
4. Read the poem aloud. Pretend you are the author and read it as you imagine he or she
intended it to be read. Is it satirical, read with dripping sarcasm? Is it full of wonder, read
with profound feeling? Romantic? Disparaging? Hopeless? Even-keeled? Now read the
poem aloud as if it offended you, delighted you, fascinated you, confused you. How does it
change with each kind of reading? This should help you get at the tone of the poem.
5. Look at the form of the poem on the page. What does it look like? Is it blocky? Elegant?
Ragged? What about line length--are the lines uniform? Uneven? Short? Staggered?
6. What about the rhythm of the poem? Can you get a sense of its meter? Pound out the
rhythm on your knee. Try counting syllables in a number of lines. What about rhyme
scheme, if any? Does the poem have alliteration (the repetition of consonant sounds) or
assonance (the repetition of vowel sounds)?
7. Who is the poet addressing in the poem, if anyone? Why do you
think he or she wrote the poem?
8. What's the big idea of the poem? How does each element of the
poem contribute to this big idea? Try to write it out in a sentence or
short paragraph.
9. Remember to keep your conclusions firmly grounded in the text
of the poem, supporting your assertions with evidence in the poem.
Using outside information (history, biographies, etc.) often can help
us understand the poem, but the best way "in" (at first, anyway) is
always through the door of the poem itself.

Adapted from Vanderbilt University College Writing Program website:

http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/site/liumxq/closereading

Name: ___________
Block: ___________

Date: _____________

LESSON 6:

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Assignment:
Write a 1-page interpretation about Robert Frosts poem Nothing Gold Can
Stay. Refer back to Ponyboys description and recitation of the poem in
Chapter 5.

Do Now
What does it mean to be a hero? Who in The Outsiders fits the description of a hero?
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The Outsiders Chapter 6 Text-Dependent Questions
In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came
through. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because
he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me. When he yelled Pony, where
have you been all this time? he meant Pony, youve scared me to death. Please be
careful, because I couldnt stand it if anything happened to you.
Darry looked down and turned away silently. Suddenly I broke out of my daze.
Darry! I screamed, and the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and
was squeezing the daylights out of him.
Darry, I said, Im sorry
He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to
keep back the tears. Oh, Pony, I thought wed lost youlike we did Mom and Dad
Multiple Choice
1. What word best describes Darrys reaction to Ponyboy being ok?
(A)
Indifferent
(B)
Excited
(C)
Relieved
(D)
Calm
2. What was Darrys silent fear according to Ponyboy
(A)
Being in trouble with the police
(B)
Loosing his mom or dad
(C)
One of his brothers running away
(D)
Someone he loves dying
Constructed Response
3. Read the passage. Compare how Ponyboy once thought of his brother Darry, and what
he thinks of him now. How has Darry changed? Provide a quote in your answer.
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!
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THE OUTSIDERS FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

SYMBOLISM
ROMEO AND JULIET

OBJECTIVE: SWBAT identify and describe the authors use of symbolism in The Outsiders
Directions: Fill out the guided notes below as we work through them together!
1) Symbolism:___________________________________________________________________
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2) What do these symbols represent?

Symbolism in The Outsiders:

The Blue Mustang

Gold

The Greasers Hair

Sunsets and Sunrises

The Burning Church

Two Bits Switchblade

EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!

The Outsiders Newspaper Assignment
Newspaper reporters have a minor role to play in author S.E. Hintons
award-winning novel, The Outsiders. In Chapter 7, they converge on Ponyboy and
his friends at the hospital where the boys are waiting to hear what will become of
Johnny. The media make heroes out of the two boys, and Hinton even gives readers
the headline of the day Juvenile Delinquents Turn Heroes. The rescue of the
children trapped in a burning church is splashed across the front page, along with
stories about the gang rivalries and the death of Bob.

The sample story below is an example of how the initial news story might appear
in the paper. In real life, reporters would have more detail to go on

Teen Murdered in Park

Bob Brown, a popular high school senior, was stabbed to death in an East Side park yesterday.
The seventeenyearold student died from wounds inflicted by a switchblade knife, according to
police. The body was discovered near the park fountain by a woman out for an early morning
walk with her dog.
Two boys are wanted by police for questioning in Browns death. The boys were seen hanging
around the park early in the evening.
The parents of the slain boy have made no comment about their sons death. Family friends say
they are too distraught to talk with the media. Teens in the posh West Side neighborhood
where Brown grew up describe him as popular and part of the in-crowd.
Local youth are being brought in for questioning in what police suspect is a gangrelated crime.
Decades-old rivalries between East Side and West Side gangs have flared up recently.

YOUR TASK:
You will be assigned to take on the perspective of either a Soc or a Greaser.
You will write a 3-paragraph Newspaper Article detailing the events that took
place leading up to Bobs death. You must write your article through the
perspective of your social class.
Remember:
Greasers wouldnt put the blame on Greasers.
Socs wouldnt put the blame on Socs.
Details of the assignment are on the next page

If you are a SOC you will be forced to not

only praise the SOCs, but also condemn
the actions of the Greasers. You will have
to THINK like a SOC would think. That
means:

If you are a Greaser you will be forced to

not only praise the GREASERS, but also
shed light on their adversity in the town.
You will be the great Equalizer. Your
words will share a perspective that most
people have never heard of. That means:

1. Viewing the Greasers through a harsh/unfair

point of view
2. Treating them as criminals (ALL OF THEM)
3. Being accusatory and taking the SOCs side
4. Only getting information from the SOCs.

1. Sharing both sides of the gang rivalry

2. Giving the Greasers the benefit of the doubt
3. Getting information from Greasers mouths!
Let them tell their story!

Include at least 1 photograph relating to an article. (computer image/drawing/cut

out/etc all acceptable)
Create the front page of the newspaper from The Outsiders. (Include title, date, and
headlines with a sub-heading)
When you mention people: give their full names (e.g. Ponyboy Curtis not Ponyboy!) but
after the first time they are mentioned, call them by their surname (e.g. Cade and Curtis
are being sought by Tulsa police.) Give their age and occupation.
Be creative! Pay attention to grammar and spelling!

Paragraph Outline
1.

Paragraph 1: Include the background information. Who? What? Where?

When?

2.

Paragraph 2: Go into detail of the event you have been assigned. Pretend
as if you interviewed specific characters about the event or those in
question. Feel free to be imaginative, but also note that many details can
be found IN THE BOOK.. Make sure to stay true to your identity. Use the
provided handout to assist you.

3.

Paragraph 3: Make sure to conclude your article with what your reader
should take away from the news story. What should they learn? What
should they be on the look out for? How should their ideas change?