Tuesday, January 31 chapter 3 writing response

Learning Targets:

I can introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole.

I can develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic.

In class: writing response to chapter 3  Class handout / copy below.  Begin with an MLA heading. This is due at the close of class today, unless you receive extended time and then your writing is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday. 

This is a silent, independent assignment. You may use your text, but it will not help you, if you have not read.   Tomorrow we move onto chapter 4.

Name_____________________  Writing response to chapter 3 of The Namesake

Please respond to one of the following four questions, based upon your reading up through chapter 3. Your response should be no fewer than 150 words. Use standard language conventions; check your grammar, spelling and capitalization. This is due at the close of class. If you receive extended time, the writing response will be collected at the beginning of class tomorrow. Any late responses are worth 50 points.   Begin with an MLA heading.

1. You are Gogol.  Your parents Ashoke and Ashima, whose “good” names are Mithu and Monu, respectively, take you to school to register for your kindergarten class.  They want you to have the “good” name, Nikhil, which means “he who is entire, encompassing all.”  They do not want the world to know you by your “pet” name “Gogol.” 

Explain what happens when Mrs. Lapidus, the principal, interviews you alone and how you are finally known at school.  How do your parents react when you come home with a letter from your teacher?  How does the lesson they learn have an impact on them when they name your sister Sonia?

2. You are Gogol.  You sound just like an American when you speak.  You like to eat the same food as other American children.  You play the same games.  On every other Saturday, your parents send you to a Bengali language and culture class.  Because of this class, you miss going to the drawing class that you love so much.

Explain why you hate going to the Bengali class.  How does it seem to interfere with your life?  Why, in your opinion, is it irrelevant to your life and dreams?

3. You are Sonia.   Somehow you knew enough to take the dollar bill and put it in your mouth at your rice ceremony.  One of the guests noted, “This one is the true American” (63).

Explain why it is easier for you, as the second child in the family, to follow your brother’s lead and become “the true American”.

4. You are Gogol.  Your teacher took the class on a field trip to a cemetery.  You made some wonderful drawings there that you bring home with you.  Your mother, who believes that “Death is not a pastime, not a place to make paintings” (70) refuses to put them up on the wall with your other works of art.

Explain why these drawings are so important to you and why you now hide them in your room.