September 15, 1963
Today was a crazy day! It started normal, I woke up late. It was after Joey had already gone to Sunday school. I was looking for the cornflakes when I felt the air change — it was like someone had sucked the air out of the house. My ears kinda popped. Then I heard a big rumbling noise, like a thunderstorm. I went outside but there weren't any clouds.
A few minutes later, a man came by and said they bombed the 16th Street Church. Mom and Dad ran out the door without saying anything. It was the church Joey was at. When I got to the church, Mom and Dad were freaking out. They couldn't find Joey anywhere, but you could see people coming out of the church all bloody, and you could tell people were buried under the part of the church that collapsed. I know that's what Mom and Dad were thinking.
I can't take anymore of this. First Kenny almost drowns, then we think Joey got killed by a bomb. I think I want to go back to Flint. Buphead's never gonna believe this mess.
I guess they bombed the church because the children were demonstrating against segregation.
Seotember 18, 1963
Today there was a huge funeral for three of the girls who died when the church was bombed. At first we thought people weren't going to go to the funeral — they were afraid someobody might bomb that too. But I guess people forgot about being afraid because they're so mad. I've never seen that many people in one place before. They were out in the street.
If I was one of those girl's fathers, I'd be ready to kill someone. Dr. King asked people not to take revenge, but people are real mad. I wonder if there will be any bombings of white churches.
I don't believe in all that God stuff, but I hope Dr. King's right, and that those little girls are up in heaven.
The Watsons go to Birmingham: 5 journal entries
In-class Watsons project
Follow the directions on this link to complete the project in your class notebook. The project should be completed by the end of the week. Part of your task is to follow directions accurately!
The Watsons' soundtrack
When an author makes a reference to another book, a song, movie, a historical figure, a TV show, or something from popular culture, it is called an allusion. Often authors choose very specific allusions to help make their stories more complex and to deepen a reader's connections to the characters or the story. Sometimes authors want readers to be like detectives, so they choose allusions readers may have to look up or research to fully understand.
Click to play "Yakety Yak" by the Coasters
Click to play "Under the Boardwalk" by the Drifters
Click to play "Rambling Rose" by Nat King Cole
Click to play "Relax Max" by Dinah Washington
Read the lyrics to "Yakety Yak." Why do you think Kenny likes this song so much? what does it tell the reader about him?
Take out the papers and the trash
Or you don't get no spendin' cash
If you don't scrub that kitchen floor
You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)
Just finish cleanin' up your room
Let's see that dust fly with that broom
Get all that garbage out of sight
Or you don't go out Friday night
Yakety yak (don't talk back)
You just put on your coat and hat
And walk yourself to the laundromat
And when you finish doin' that
Bring in the dog and put out the cat
Yakety yak (don't talk back)
Don't you give me no dirty looks
Your father's hip; he knows what cooks
Just tell your hoodlum friend outside
You ain't got time to take a ride
Yakety yak (don't talk back)
Yakety yak, yakety yak
Yakety yak, yakety yak
Yakety yak, yakety yak
Yakety yak, yakety yak
Now find at least one other allusion in the book. Use the the internet to research the allusion and then make a post on your class page explaining the allusion. Copy the line from the book, explain what the allusion means, and explain how it can help you understand the story or a character. Make sure you put a link to the website or websites where you found your information.
For example:
"I knew Byron I was going to get it for not turning Byron in but before I could say anything else Momma pushed me out of the way and hit the bathroom door with her shoulder like Elliot Ness, the cop on that Untouchables TV show!" (p. 67)
The Untouchables was a TV show in the 1950s and '60s about police officers in the 1930s in Chicago who arrested gangsters like Al Capone. Their leader was named Elliot Ness.
I think the author used this allusion to give the reader a deeper description of how angry Momma was when Byron was in the bathroom and how serious she was when she came in the door -- she was acting like she was dealing with a real criminal!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untouchables_(1959_TV_series)
ELA holiday break essay
This essay is due on Monday, January 4. Please choose one of the four questions below. You will use the notes you took in class to complete the essay and it will be graded using our standard rubric.
The Watsons go to Birmingham
Choice #1: Byron, the juvenile delinquent?
Kenny's older brother Byron is definitely one of the toughest kids at school, and he cant' seem to stop getting in trouble at home, either. Kenny describes his brother as a "delinquent," and Mrs. Waton threatens to send him to juvenile hall before she and Mr. Watson make the decision to take him to stay with Mrs. Watson's mother in Alabama. But does Byron have a good side?
Using at least 4 direct quotes from the book, write an essay at least 4 paragraphs long answering the questions: is Bryon a good brother or a bad brother to Kenny and Joetta? does he have a good side or is he just a delinquent?
Choice #2: Are the Watsons good or bad parents?
The Watsons have a handful when it comes to dealing with their kids, especially Byron. Using at least 4 direct quotes from the book, write an essay at least 4 paragraphs long answering the questions: Do you think they are good or bad parents? would you want to live with them?
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Though the scenes of "night riders" might be the most dramatic in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, one of the book's themes are ways in which people can be oppressed without the use of violence. Using at least 6 direct quotes from the book, write an essay at least 4 paragraphs long answering the questions: how are the characters in the book oppressed by means other than violence? How do they react? do they challenge the oppression or accept it? what happens when they challenge it?
Make sure you have a focused thesis statement.
Chapter 5 reading response
Answer the following questions. In each answer, use at least two direct quotes from the book and write down what page you found it on. You can use quotes from any of the chapters we've read.
1. What is one word you would you use to describe Mrs. Watson?
2. What is one word you would you use to describe Mr. Watson?
Mr. Watson is a joker. Most of what he's done so far in the book is crack jokes. On p. 3, Kenny says "...we knew Dad was going to try to make us forget about being cold by cutting up." On. p. 16, Mr. Watson can hardly stop laughing when Byron gets his lips stuck to the car because he was kissing the windshield. These examples both show that one way Kenny's Dad deals with bad situations is by laughing.
3. Do you think they would make good parents? why or why not?
4. What would you have done about Byron if you were Mrs. Watson?
Chapter 2 quiz
1. Larry Dunn was the most popular kid in Clark Elementary because he was a lot older than us and twice as strong as the rest of us. (p. 20)
3. For Kenny, there were advantages to having an older brother who was a god — he got teased less about his eye and being smart than he would have.
5. Demonstrating his reading ability to other classes did not make Kenny one of the most popular students at Clark. (p. 23)
There are seven more statements on the quiz that are false. Make each of those sentences true.
Figurative language
figurative language (n) language that does not mean exactly what it says
Here are some examples from "The Watsons go to Birmingham."
simile (n) a comparison between two things using like or as
He was as stuck as a fly on flypaper. (p. 13)
metaphor (n) a comparison between two things without using like
The fly was still stuck and buzzing. (p. 13)
Students: Create a post like mine, finding two more metaphors and two more similes from chapter 1 of "The Watsons go to Birmingham." Give your post the title: "similes and metaphors."