Check in with me if you missed Vocab/Essay #1 last week.  The make up process in here is pretty harmless and does not involve hanging out in here for an hour after school or anything like that.

The first unit test we will have in all classes will be centered around the series of short stories we read to start the year, beginning with The Pedestrian from last week.  I will continue to update/notify, but don't ignore it just because we didn't spend a class period and do a worksheet over it.

Honors: Fahrenheit 451 book distribution today.  I will add introductory guiding questions and some discussion of in-class structure regarding novels over the course of today, but see below for F451 Introduction questions.  I will post the text of the intro at some point if anyone is stuck with a book copy that doesn't have it.  We will concurrently be reading a series of short stories that will tie in thematically with F451, so get ready to multitask.

Non-honors: We will discuss The Pedestrian and how it ties into the 5 step response model.  We will also continue to practice using the model on G-class and continue our short story reading unit.


F451 Introduction ?'s  (here is a link to Neil Gaiman's introduction to F451)

Focus on the three starters that Neil Gaiman describes on the first pg of the intro when writing about the "world of not yet."

How does Gaiman link the future and the present in describing this kind of writing?

How does the change in perspective (read it as a young boy, a teenager, an adult) affect the interpretation of what the book represents, and why does that matter?

Focus on the last three paragraphs of the intro

The Pedestrian guiding questions

Why do the police, and therefore the society, in the future consider Leonard Mead to be a threat?

Why does the police car say “no profession” when Leonard says that he is a writer?

Why does Bradbury include the description of Leonard’s house and what is symbolic about it?

This section of the textbook used to be called “Exiles, Castaways, and Strangers”.  Does Leonard fit any of these titles?  Which ones and how?

This story was written in the 1950’s but takes place in the future.  What aspects, if any, correctly mirror or are similar to our present society and the direction we are headed?

What images from the story help define the tone?  What do you think Bradbury’s tone is?

Explain the symbolism and irony present in the fact that Leonard is interrogated by a robotic police car.