The Absolutely True Diary of

a Part-Time Indian

Read about Sherman Alexie

(click hyperlink)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

By Sherman Alexie

2007

Winner of the National Book Award

“Well I want you to know that hitting me with that book was probably the worst thing you’ve ever done. It doesn’t matter what you intended to do. What happens is what you really did. And you broke an old man’s nose. That’s almost unforgivable.”

He was going to punish me now. He couldn’t beat me up with his old man’s fists, but he could hurt me with his old man words.

“But I do forgive you,” he said. “No matter how much I don’t want to I have to forgive you. It’s the only thing that keeps me from smacking you with an ugly stick. When I first started teaching here, that’s what we did to the rowdy ones, you know? We beat them. That’s how we were taught to teach you. We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child.”

“You killed Indians?”

“No, no, I’m just saying. I didn’t literally kill Indians. We were supposed to make you give up being Indian. Your songs and stories and language and dancing. Everything. We weren’t trying to kill Indian people. We were trying to kill Indian culture.”

Sherman Alexie

Biography (click on hyperlink)

On Colbert Report (watch Alexie)

Monday, November 15th

Read, “Why Should I Care?”

Pre-Reading Activity

◦ Complete on a separate sheet of paper Pre-reading activity 2, 3, 4

Hand in

Write down literary terms ◦ Write down terms on slides 1, 2, and 3 We’ll write down slides 4 and 5 tomorrow

◦ Which terms are familiar to you?

Begin reading chapter 1 if time◦ The books stay in the room

◦ Check mark students who receive a book

◦ Make sure students return book after class!

Tuesday, November 16th

Reflection #1

-Describe Arnold (Junior)

-What is he up against?

Timed Reading

Read Chapter three

Write down the start time

Write down your finish time

/10 pages

Chapter 3 Comprehension

Questions Describe Rowdy and his problem.

Describe the pow wow. Why doesn’t’

Arnold want to go?

What happened with the triplets?

Describe Rowdy and Arnold’s

friendship.

Pre-Reading Activity #2

1. Hanging around friends who are sick

will make you susceptible to catching

the flu.

2. I would be upset if I had to attend a

decrepit school.

Thursday, November 18th

◦ Quiz today

Reflection #2

◦ What are some things you’re fighting

against?

◦ How is your struggle like Arnold’s?

Read up to page 100

◦ Summarize your reading

Objectives◦ Students will: Critically analyze the character’s emotions and actions.

Reflect on the developing themes and character development.

Identify vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to them and learn to look them up.

Activities◦ Read story

◦ Continue writing in Human Truths chart

◦ Write Reflection #3

◦ Tribes chart

◦ Start a “vocabulary log”

◦ Sympathy note to Arnold

Hand in your notebook on Wednesday◦ Reflection #1, 2, and 3

◦ Human Truth Chart

◦ Tribes

◦ Timed Reading

Hand in your notebook on Wednesday

◦ Reflection #1, 2, and 3

◦ Human Truth Chart

◦ Timed Reading

◦ 10 Vocabulary words

◦ Literary term list

◦ Sympathy note to Arnold

Continue keeping track of the “Greater Human Truths” you come across in the book◦ Create a chart and write them in

Reflection #3◦ Arnold is learning new things as a result

of choosing Reardan over the reservation school. Describe these lessons.

Sympathy card for Arnold

Tribes- describe the tribes you belong to

Monday, November 29th

Review Valentine Heart

Continue reading

◦ Summarize chapter

#Reflection 4

◦ Describe how Arnold deals with the

loss of people he knows and loves.

Predict

◦ How do you think the story will end?

◦ Describe Arnold’s future

Tuesday, November 30th

Reading quiz

Vocabulary Activity

Finish reading Russian Guy chapter

Psychological analysis of Arnold’s

reaction

Continue reading next chapter

Wednesday, December 1st

(yuck) Review Evidence of my understanding

◦ Copy notes

◦ You’ll need this for your paper

Finish book

Discuss conflict

Discuss model paragraph

◦ Topic sentence

◦ Supporting evidence

◦ Analysis

Concept

The main character has a conflict

What I understand (psychological

analysis)

Look at what the character does

Listen to what the character says

Look at how other characters respond

to the main character

Finding more details

Re-read the parts where-

◦ His dog

◦ His grandmother died

◦ Eugene died

How did Arnold react?

Write down QUOTES and PAGE

NUMBERS

How did Arnold react to the

deaths in his life? General statement

◦ Mention author and title of book

◦ Mention Arnold and the people who died

◦ Thesis statement: Arnold had a variety of

reactions to the deaths.

Main point A- Oscar (dog)

◦ Topic sentence

◦ Supporting evidence

◦ Analysis

Main point B- Grandmother Spirit

◦ Topic sentence

◦ Supporting evidence

◦ Analysis

Main point C- Eugene

◦ Topic sentence

◦ Supporting evidence

◦ Analysis

Main point D- Mary

Main point D- Mary

Arnold blamed himself for Mary’s death.

“Yeah, but have you ever heard the story about how

I killed my sister when I left the rez?” (211)Arnold believed that his sister died because he left

the

reservation to better his life in the “white world” of Reardan.

He also believed that he caused his sister to move to Montana

after he left. He figured that if he hadn’t gone to Reardan, his

sister would still be alive.

Conclusion

◦ Restate thesis

◦ Closing statement

Evidence of My

UnderstandingConcept What I understand

Psychological analysis of how

Arnold deals with his conflict

Look at what the character does

Listen to what the character says

Look at how the other characters

respond to the main character

-Death of his Grandma,

Eugene, and sister

-Alcohol usage

-he laughs, falls asleep, and shuts

down.

-“in a fog”

- he runs from the burial

-He wants to avoid the drinking

mourners at his house

-He blames himself for his sister’s

death.

Reading Quiz

1. Reflect on Tolstoy’s quote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

a. How did Arnold respond to this quote given to him by Gordy?

2. What was the news Ms. Warren delivered to Arnold?

3. How did he react?

4. Is this a normal reaction?

5. What was Arnold anxious about?

Vocabulary

Look up 10 words that are unfamiliar

to you

If you’re unsure which definition to

choose, look at the context that the

word is being used

Tribes Reread page 217. Pay particular attention to the list Arnold makes of his “tribes”.

Make a list of eight tribes you belong to and explain what role you play in each

tribe.

Tribe I belong to Role I play in the tribe

Especially

Appreciate

Greater Human TruthsWrite down the quote that shows a greater human truth. Be sure to cite your

work--include page number.

Greater Human Truths

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

MentorsName four of these mentors (positive influences and helpers)

Explain the positive role each plays in Arnold’s life.

Mentor Role each mentor played

Cartooning- choose a cartoon and draw your

own version of it. Insert something of “you”

into it.

Literary Terms (1) Point of View: Perspective from

which the story is told◦ First-person: narrator is a character in the

story; uses “I,” “we,” etc.

◦ Third-person: narrator outside the story;

uses “he,” “she,” “they”

◦ Third-person limited: narrator tells only

what one character perceives

◦ Third-person omniscient: narrator can see

into the minds of all characters.

Literary Terms (2)

Flashback: Interruption of the chronological (time) order to present something that occurred before the beginning of the story.

Action: Everything that happens in a story.

Antagonist: The person or force that works against the hero of the story. (See protagonist)

Protagonist: The main character in a story, often a good or heroic type.

Literary Terms (3)

Character: One of the people (or animals) in a story.

Climax: The high point in the action of a story.

Comedy: Writing that deals with life in a humorous way, often poking fun at people’s mistakes.

Characterization: Techniques a writer uses to create and develop a character by what: he/she does or says, other characters say about him/her, or how they react to him/her the author reveals directly or through a narrator.

Literary Terms

Satire: Writing that comments

humorously on human

flaws, ideas, social customs, or

institutions in order to change them.

Style: The distinctive way that a

writer uses language including such

factors as word choice, sentence

length, arrangement, and

complexity, and the use of figurative

language and imagery.

Literary Terms

Novel: A book-length, fictional

prose story. Because of its length, a

novel’s characters and plot are usually

more developed than those of a short

story.

Prose: A literary work that uses the

familiar spoken form of language,

sentence after sentence.

Realistic Fiction: Writing that

attempts to show life as it really is.