The students were able to take on various roles as members of
their group. "Literary expositors" shared their favorite
passages from the novel and posed constructive questions to their
fellow group members.
A.W. was a "literary expositor" in this group.
She shared some of her favorite passages from the novel along
with her personal comments and reactions to what she had read.
Here are some examples of A.W.'s contributions on the wiki:
Page 75: Paragraph 4
"[It] is really amazing how Hautman explains what Ceej
thinks the Mother K woman looked like. I love the way he explains
the jewelry."
Page 78: Paragraph 9
"[This passage] is weird and funny, because who would ever
eat a lizard? All I have to say is: that is really gross! Would
you boil it or fry it or what?
Page 96: the last 4 paragraphs
"I like how it explains what the hole in the sky is and
where it came from. Also I think it is awesome how Isabella
speaks Hopi and the boys don't know what she is saying half
the time."
Some of the other students commented on A.W.'s thoughts:
Daniel replied:
"Lots of people would eat a lizard if they were starving!
Harryette seems like a lucky person to have survived the Flu,
but she is bald and has to use sign language now..."
Keith replied:
"I think that they would probably just cook the lizard over
a fire. When you are starving, you probably wouldn't care about
the flavor. They were also just joking around."
J.D., also a "literary expositor", shared her
thoughts about characterization and description and asked her
fellow students a few questions about the plot:
Page 112: First Paragraph
"I thought it was interesting how Isabella's grandfather
describes what he sees by saying, "Boiling water, cold
to the touch." I think he just meant the water was moving
or bubbling, yet it was cold, but I kind of had to think about
it for a second."
Page 134: First Paragraph
"I was surprised when it was Hap and Uncle in the Boiler
room. I wouldn't have guessed it was them if Bella hadn't said
it. I wish Ceej and Tim could save them, but then there's a
chance they will get sick. What if Bella catches it? Will she
be immune?"
Page 141: Paragraph 2
"I think it is funny how Tim never gives up on Haryette.
No matter how many times she signs "Go away" he just
won't. Though, maybe he's right, and Haryette is just saying
"Go away", and she really likes Tim. I think they
would be cute together."
Daniel, as a literary expositor, discussed different aspects
of the plot as well as his thoughts on the narrative, specifically
the author's unique choice of words in some of his descriptions:
Page 133: paragraph 6
"I think it's surprising that the Kinka want to risk killing
most of the people they infect to get more of their own. I would
be scared."
Page 119: paragraph 2
"I silently laughed when I read that Ceej was teaching
me, "Help, I'm being eaten by wolves." I probably
wouldn't need to know, but it would be good just in case."
Page 126: paragraph 1
"When I read a part in the first sentence, "her belly
full of child," I thought, did she eat any children?"
Several classmates replied to Daniel's post:
Keith replied:
"The second [passage] is kind of weird. If someone could
see the sign, wouldn't they be able to see the wolves?"
A. W. replied:
"I think it is funny that Daniel thought 'her belly full
of child' meant she ate a kid. That made me laugh out loud! I
don't think that a person would be happy about eating someone,
or maybe they would... I don't know."
J.D. replied:
"I agree with Daniel when he said he would be scared about
the Kinka trying to kill people to get more members to their group.
I got so scared for Isabella! I was also surprised about the identities
of the other two people in the Boiler Room."
Paige replied:
"If that person was being eaten by wolves wouldn't you be
able to see it, or hear them??"
As the reviewer of Hole in the Sky, I was able to ask the
students to share their thoughts on the setting and its effect
on the overall mood of the story:
"Do you think the author chose this setting (desert, huge
canyons, lack of water) on purpose? Do you think that the mood
of the story is in any way related to the setting? In other words,
do you think the mood would be different if the story took place
in a tropical rain forest or in a big city like New York or Paris?"
Three students responded by sharing some profound thoughts on
the author's choice of setting and how it influenced the mood
of the story:
A. W. replied:
"I am so glad we get to have some outside opinions on our
awesome Literature Circles! I think that the author purposely
made it in the desert because it would be different if it was
based in Italy, because there is lots of water!"
Daniel replied:
"Well, if the setting was in a swamp or something, it would
be a lot different than a desert. In the desert, the setting makes
the book seem empty or lonely, because i don't think of lots of
life in the desert."
Keith replied:
"I think that the fact that we live in a desert makes it
a little less dramatic. A lot of us have been to the Grand Canyon
and know that it has more life than you would expect. If we lived
in a place like Colorado, it would probably seem more desolate."
Please note: A minimal amount of spelling and
punctuation corrections were made to the students writing on this
page.
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