Advisement: Slightly shortened class
1. Warming up with a quick close reading of setting and tone on pages 67-68
McBride uses diction to suggest that his home is ______ but also _____.
2. Reading and blogging (you need to be through Chapter 8 for today and through Chapter 11 for Th)
3. Discussing setting and family dynamics in a pinwheel discussion
Overview of pinwheel:
- We will have 4 groups. 3 groups will represent points of view, and the 4th group will be "provocateurs," tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging.
- Two people from each group ("the speakers") sit in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room.
- Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: three right behind the speaker, then four behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel.
- After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.
- Students not in "the speaker" seat will be having their own discussion on the blog (like the outer circle of a fishbowl discussion).
What our groups will be focusing on today:
- Group 1: Experts on Chapter 6
- Group 2: Experts on Chapter 7
- Group 3: Experts on Chapter 8
- Group 4: Provocateurs (the art of conversation--ask follow-up questions, find supporting passages, find counter viewpoints, etc.)
Warming up: Developing Level 1, 2 and 3 questions inspired by your chapter; finding at least a couple of passages from your chapter to point out and comment on/question.
4. Reflecting on today's Pinwheel discussion with a brief exit ticket
HW:
1. Read Chapters 9, 10, and 11 for Thursday and complete your next blog entry.
2. Little projects due this Friday. Wednesday will be your last and only work day in class.
3. Open-note "quiz" on parallel structure this Friday.
What does the family tree look like? What are the names of all his sibling?
ReplyDeleteSymbolism behind Tateh cleaning his gun...could represent his obsessive nature? Is McBride emphasizing his violent nature?
ReplyDeleteI think McBride is showing how people desperately wanted power. I think this is showing that Tateh really wanted to prove that he had power by showing off his shiny gun
DeleteMaybe he's just a very OCD person and can't stand when his gun is dusty.
ReplyDeleteYea, some people just like keeping everything they have clean and neat.
DeleteI think cleaning the gun shows pride I mean if you ever have pride in something you have for example I always clean my golf clubs
ReplyDeletePossible background to research: What were the KKK tactics during the time period in which the mother was growing up?
ReplyDeleteWhy did the mother decide to have so many kids? It doesn't seem like she's able to support them all, since food was being mentioned so much.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused as well on the family tree.
ReplyDeleteWhy did Chapters 7 and 8 both end with people dying? How does this set the scene for the rest of the book?
ReplyDeleteWhy does James's mom not tell people to just call her by one name? Why go by both Mrs. McBride and Mrs.Jordan? I feel like that would get confusing after awhile.
ReplyDeleteRuth states, "Although I was afraid of [Tateh], I didn't want anything to happen to him." After the terrible things Tateh has done to her, why does she still care about him?
ReplyDeleteI know that if black people voted then they would find them and do something to them so that they wouldn't vote again. This would then get around the community so nobody would end up voting because of the fear of what will happen to them.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5 it explains his moms family tree well but what does his family and siblings look like?
ReplyDeleteProbably similar to hers plus his dads side and It think he has 5 siblings?
DeleteWhy would the mother never admit that she was white? She always said she was "light skinned" which confused McBride even more.
ReplyDeleteI think that she didn't want to recognize a difference between black and white.
DeleteI agree with Andrew. Maybe she thought it shouldn't matter in society.
DeleteIn chapter 6 she said "God is the color of water." Which I think is the first part in the book where they mention the title. What is the importance of this line and the title of the book.
ReplyDeleteI think this is showing that God is transparent - he isn't racist and he isn't black or white
DeleteI think the significance is that god identifies as no race and his loyalty is fluid to whichever race is worshiping him.
DeleteI always assumed everyone thought of God as the same race that they are (perhaps this is my white privilege talking). I can understand Richie's anger at representations of God as being a different race than what he believes in.
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't want to act upon it because she knows it will end badly for her
ReplyDelete"The Klan would ride right up Main Street in broad daylight and no did a thing about it." p.58 Why didn't anyone do anything? Why did they just let it happen?
ReplyDeleteThis is a good question, I think the KKK's purpose was to spread fear through the town, and I think the accomplished that. So everyone is scared to do anything about it.
DeleteWhat would the family's life look like if they actually had a lot/enough money? Would they go out and buy whatever they wanted? Would the mom be working as much? Would they have a cleaner home? Would it be less chaotic when they eat? Also what happened to the rooster after the mom kicked it out?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletedoes anybody else find it odd that in chapter 7 the mother didn't know the KKK even though she has a black child?
ReplyDeleteI feel like because she's very stubborn when it comes to talking about skin color then she didn't really care about the KKK and maybe thought it was unrealistic that her children would be attacked? I mean she always got very distraught whenever someone said that her children were strange because of their skin color. If anything I think the mother could kick the KKK's butt if they pissed her off
DeleteThanks for trying out Pinwheel!
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Helen will ever return?
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Helen will ever return because she has specifically stated that she does not want to get involved with the "white man education" and enjoys her new lifestyle
DeleteMichael Sullivan
I think that might be a plot twist towards the end of the story if she does or someone might go after her.
DeleteWhy do you think that Helen has chosen the hippie lifestyle even though her whole life she has been taught that education is the most important aspect in society? Also, do you think that Dennis is seen as more of a leader of the house compared to their mother because he is given the most responsibility?
ReplyDeleteMichael Sullivan
I think that would fall down because they are all such a great family and they are all put together but will miss them.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think led Helen to run away?
ReplyDeleteWere the siblings ever close with Helen or not really?
ReplyDeleteI think that the family will continue to miss Helen. Her mom was distraught for weeks and despite having so many kids, they will still miss her.
ReplyDeleteI agree because throughout the book, evidence has exposed that although the siblings fight a lot, there is a special bond that their mother created.
DeleteMichael Sullivan
How does the mother's experience of her brother Sam running away from home impact her reaction to Helen running away?
ReplyDeleteIt probably brings back memories and makes her wonder what she could have done differently, or compares it to how the other children are going to feel about Helen leaving.
DeleteI agree with Diego because there has already been another brother that has run away so this is not the first time happening.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the Helen-Sam connection. Good work, Julia.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Julia in that all the kids are so close and they all looked up to Helen and now that she is gone they will be lost. The fact that she ran away may make them feel that she abandoned them
ReplyDeleteI think the mother wants to do everything she can to protect all of her children, but in reality she can not do whats best for all 12 of her kids. theyre bound to go out on their own
ReplyDeleteOne kind of cool thing: If you look at pages 275-6 (spoiler-alert), you can see a list of what her children went on to accomplish. Pretty impressive.
DeleteDo you think the mom ever has regret for running away from her parents especially now that her daughter ran away and she feels the same pain her parents probably felt?
ReplyDeleteIn chapters 7 and 8 it talks about a death, why do you think that the author has done this on purpose or is this just how it has all laid out?
ReplyDeleteI think that the mom already had different beliefs seeing as though she hated her current religion so that made it easier.
ReplyDeleteWhy are there bold words in page 47 is Rev. Owen speaking loudly?
ReplyDeleteOn page 61, the mother notes that the African Americans in her hometown "seemed to have such a purpose come Sunday morning." Did her childhood experience encourage her decision to convert to Christianity?
ReplyDeleteFocusing on chapter 6 and more specifically the mom. I loved how she taught her kids about race and the idea that god is the color of water.
ReplyDeleteI loved this because she taught her kids the importance of not judging someone based on skin color.
I thought the part where Richie didn't think he was black or white, but green was pretty funny.
I dont think that there is any real reason behind having a bunch of kids. maybe she just wants to have a happy family and to prove to herself and her family that she can do anything no matter how many kids she has
ReplyDeleteon pg51 when the Mom tells there kids that God was the Color Water, that quote really stood out, and it was a great reference to the title. Its showing how she taught her kids about the importance on not judging people and things on color.
ReplyDeleteGoing off of Diego's question about his mothers religion, do you think that she had always been a Christian deep down but since the rest of her family was Jewish, that she felt obligated to be a Jew as well
ReplyDelete