The First Page, the Last Page, and Empathy: May 3, 2018

Focus: What do the final pages of the books we've read this year reveal about the characters we love?

1. Warming up with a quick name game to jog your memories

Round 1: Ask other people questions to glean information about your character. After a few minutes, we'll stand in a circle, and you'll explain what your guess is and how you figured it out.

Round 2: Find a character partner, preferably from a different book. Ask your partner these questions:

• What is it that you think you want?
• But what do you really want?
• What burning question do you still have?
• Follow up: Could these characters eat lunch at the same table? Why or why not?

2. Laying out the opening and final pages of East of Eden, Beloved, Invisible Man, Waiting for Godot, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Opening Pages

• Which three moments from the opening pages strike you as significant, and why?
• What movements do you notice in the opening?
• How would you describe the tone of the opening? Click here for an awesome list of tone words.

Closing Pages

• Which three moments from the closing pages strike you as significant, and how?
• What movements / shifts do you notice when you compare the opening to the closing?
• How would you describe the tone of the closing?
• What larger meanings emerge when you reread the opening and closing?

3. Wrapping up: If time allows, playing "Around the World" with Terms, Weeks 1-6 (prose)

HW:
1. Please finish your final blog post by Tuesday the latest.

2. Use your gold sheet to continue your nightly routine of the bedside stack; you will want to know these books inside and out by next Wednesday.