The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

By Sherman AlexieArt by Ellen Forney

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie states that, "If I were to guess at the percentage of my life in the novel, it would be about seventy-eight percent true"

A semi autobiographical novelSet in the Spokane Indian ReservationIn the state of Washington.

Spokane Tribe

http://www.spokanetribe.com/

Essential Questions

1. What makes for a good high school experience? Do you have to be happy for your education to have been a good one?

2. What happens when a person leaves their home environment in pursuit of success? Do they give up or betray their identity?

3. How do we, as humans, overcome adversity? What strategies to we use to get through hard times?

Identity

3 things about me!1. Write a quality about yourself that you

think most of the people in the room share with you.

2. Write a quality about yourself that you think only some people in the room share with you.

3. Write a quality about yourself that you think is totally unique to you.

Share out!

1. Everybody stand up!2. One person stand up and read their card

one quality at a time.3. If you share that quality with the reader,

stay standing, if not, sit down.

The Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club,Why Chicken Means So Much to Me

Reading aloudRead alouds are used to show how good

readers interact with books, stories, poems, songs, legends, fables, fairy tales, comics, etc.

Follow along silently. It doesn’t matter it it’s the teacher reading aloud or another student reading aloud. One voice! Courteous listening.

Literary Logs Coping with Trauma and White Vs. Indian

Write as much detail in the logs as possible with full quotes and page numbers!

Bring to class every day.

Description of Trauma Quote showing Junior’s Reaction

Your analysis: Why react like that?

Junior was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull.

“But jeez, did my mother and father and big sister and grandma and cousins and aunts and uncles think it was funny when the doctors cut open my little skull and sucked out all that extra water with some tiny vacuum (Alexie 4)?”

Junior is using humor to make the trauma easier to describe. He is also bringing in support of his family by mentioning every one of them.

Description of difference + page # Effect on Junior’s Life

Junior says his white dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much pain as while people did, so he only gave us half the Novacain (Alexie 2).

Even at a very young age, Junior feels that he doesn’t receive equal treatment

Polly, my best friend, with what used to be a giraffe

The next 5 days

Your reading assignmentby Tuesday, August 28th (bring your book)

Read the next 2 chapters; Do examples from both logs. Choose carefully.Revenge is my Middle Name andBecause Geometry Is Not a Country Somewhere Near France

Literary terms

Literal Language: The actual, dictionary meaning of a word. Puppy for example.◦What, literally, really, is a puppy?◦A puppy is a baby dog.

Figurative Language: Words that go beyond their normal meaning.

◦What do you see in yourmind when you read puppy?Puppies are cute.

Simile: A figure of speech that compares two things using like or as.

Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as.

Example of Figurative Language & page #

Effect it has on the story, reader, or character

  “I do know that hope for me is like some mythical creature (Alexie 51)”. An example of simile. 

      

Example of Figurative Language & page #

Effect it has on the story, reader, or character

  “Mary was a bright and shining star (Alexie 40)”.

An example of metaphor 

      

The 3 most common allusions are to Greek mythology, the Bible, and Shakespeare.

Allusion: A reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event.

Alexie mentions Dickens, another writer, to emphasize Junior’s situation.

Example of Figurative Language & page #

Effect it has on the story, reader, or character

 

 “I was the only kid, white or Indian, who knew that Charles Dickens wrote a Tale of Two Cities. And let me tell you, we Indians were the worst of times and those Reardan kids were the best of times (Alexie 50)”. Alexie is alluding to Dickens.

      

Hyperbole: Exaggeration used to emphasize a point.

Example of Figurative Language & page #

Effect it has on the story, reader, or character

 

 Hyperbole: “Those kids were magnificent. Those kids were everything. Those kids were beautiful. Those kids were beautiful, smart, and epic (Alexie 50)”.

      

Onomatopoeia: The use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning.

Example of Figurative Language & page #

Effect it has on the story, reader, or character

  “Bang! Rowdy punched me.

Bang! I hit the ground.

Bang! My nose bled like a firework (Alexie 52)”. Bang is an example of onomatopoeia.  

      

Extra: what other example of figurative language appears in this quote?

What does an Indian as a mascot represent?

Symbol: A person, place, thing, or idea used to represent something else.

Example of Figurative Language & page #

Effect it has on the story, reader, or character

  “What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town (Alexie 56)”. Mascots are symbols.

      

How are these mascots symbols?

Look out for similes and hyperbole

1. Gather together in your pods and share with each other 1 or 2 of the traumas and differences you pulled out of pages 40-54.2. Make sure everybody shares and tells about their analysis!3. When you’ve gone around the pod once or twice. Start reading as a group the chapter “How to Fight Monsters” on page 54. Work together to find some lit terms.4. We’ll be monitoring your participation for a formative grade today. 5 points5. Be prepared to share out to the class at the last 7 or so minutes of the day.

Continue Reading and adding to your Lit Logs. At least 2 or 3 detailed entries.

Pages 54-98 by Tuesday September 4◦How to fight Monsters◦Tears of a Clown◦Halloween◦Slouching Toward Thanksgiving

Find 4 or 5 more examples of figurative language and add them to the new chart.

We’ll check off those logs for credit on Tuesday.