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Please use your own paper to respond. Please be specific and detailed in all of your responses!
Selections: “I Have a Dream”, “from Rosa Parks: My Story”, “There Is a Longing”, and “I Hear America Singing”
1. Reading Strategy
Directions: Answer the following questions for all selections:
1. How does each piece of writing make you feel?
2. Why do you feel this way (give support from each selection)?
2. THEME
The theme is the central message or insight into life revealed through the literary work. The theme is
not a summary of the plot. It is a generalization about people or about life that is communicated to the reader
through the literary work. Sometimes the theme is stated directly in a sentence or two. Sometimes the theme is
implied. Readers must read between the lines and think about what the work seems to say about the nature of
people or of life. As you read, look for details that support the story theme. Remember, there is no single
correct statement of the theme of a selection. But there can be an incorrect statement of a theme. Also, a long
work can have several themes.
Directions: Write information about the theme on each selection:
1. Selection Title
2. Plot summary
3. Theme
4. Direct statement of theme from the selection OR
5. Implied theme and details that support the implied theme.
3. Purpose/Tone
An author’s purpose is his or her reason for writing. The tone of a piece of writing is the author’s
attitude toward the subject.
Directions: Write information about each author’s purpose for their writing:
1. What is each author’s purpose for writing their selection?
2. What main point (s) does each author make in their selection?
3. What connection does each author establish between the past and present?
4. Analyze each writer’s tone, (a) note words that reflect the writer’s attitude toward the subject and (b) then
select a single adjective to identify the writer’s tone. (c) In what ways does each writer use tone to emphasize
the importance of his or her subject?
4. Build Vocabulary
Spelling Strategy – before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel to a word that ends in a silent e, you usually
drop the e. For example, when adding the suffix – ance to endure, the silent e is dropped and the word
becomes endurance.
Using the Word Root – cred – The word root – cred – comes to us from Latin. The Latin word means “to
believe or trust.” When people who spoke Latin expressed their beliefs, the first word they used was credo,
meaning “I believe.” The English word creed and its meaning come from the use of the Latin word.
A. Directions: Explain how the meaning of each of the following English words is tied to “believing” or
“trusting” as the root – cred – implies. An example has been done for you.
Examples: discredit
make someone or something not believable
1.
2.
3.
4.
credence
credit
incredible
credential
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Using the Word Bank
creed
hamlet
oppression
complied
oasis
manhandled
exalted
determination
prodigious
endurance
B. Directions: Match each word in the left column with its definition in the right column. Write the letter of
the definition on the line next to the word it defines.
_____ 1. creed
a. of great size
_____ 2. oppression
b. lifted up
_____ 3. oasis
c. ability to withstand difficulties
_____ 4. exalted
d. altered one’s actions according to someone else’s wishes or to a rule
_____ 5. prodigious
e. the act of deciding definitely and firmly
_____ 6. hamlet
f. fertile place in the desert
_____ 7. complied
g. set of beliefs
_____ 8. manhandled
h. unjust or cruel use of power or authority
_____ 9. determination
i. very small village
_____ 10. endurance
j. treated roughly
5. Build Grammar Skills: Action Verbs and Linking Verbs
Verbs fall into two main categories. An action verb tells what action someone or something is
performing, such as run, work, say, and choose. A linking verb connects a word at or near the beginning of a
sentence with a word at or near the end. The most common linking verbs are forms of the verb to be, such as
those listed below.
am
is
are
was
were
be
being
been
The following verbs may also be used as linking verbs when they help words at the end of sentences
name or describe words at the beginning.
seem
look
appear
smell
taste
feel
sound
become
However, these verbs are action verbs when they describe an action that someone or something is
performing.
Linking: The candidate grew sad when he heard the election results.
Action: The farmer grew peas and beans.
A. Practice: Write down the verbs in each of these sentences from the selections. Write A on the line if the
verb is an action verb. Write L if it is a linking verb.
___ 1. I have a dream today.
___ 2. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
___ 3. This is our hope.
___ 4. He was still tall and heavy, with red, rough-looking skin.
___ 5. I saw a vacant seat in the middle section of the bus and took it.
B. Writing Application: Follow the instructions for writing sentences that contain action and linking verbs.
Example: Use was as a linking verb in a sentence about the speaking style of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sample Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr., was a very powerful speaker.
1. Use felt as a linking verb in a sentence about Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. Use describes as an action verb in a sentence about King’s dreams.
3. Use was as a linking verb in a sentence about the life of Rosa Parks.
4. Use is as a linking verb in a sentence about the speaker’s hopes in “There Is a Longing …”