Mrs. Bowyer | EDHS

Name: ________________________

“The Impact of Celebrities” Reading Activities

King, Deborah. “The Impact Celebrities Have on Our Lives.” Abr. ed. Deborahkingcenter.com. Deborah King Center, n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2011. <http://www.deborahkingcenter.com/resources/advice/celebrities>.

Activity 1: Getting Ready to Read (10 points) In preparation for this survey, come up with a class definition of “celebrity.” What does the term include? What does it not include?

● A celebrity is

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● This includes

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● This does not include

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Then answer the following survey questions. On a scale of 1-5, write the number that most accurately reflects your feelings about the role of celebrities in your life.

1 = the least possible; 5 = the maximum possible ______ 1. I spend time listening to or reading news about famous people. ______ 2. I spend money on magazines that feature famous people. ______ 3. I enjoy reading and hearing about celebrity lives or following them on social media. ______ 4. I wear certain kinds of clothes or hairstyles because I like the way they look on people in the news.

______ 5. I compare my life to that of celebrities. If we polled a large group of teenagers, what would your prediction be: 1. Which questions do you predict would have the highest scores? Why? 2. Which questions do you predict would have the lowest scores? Why?

3. Do you believe society, as a whole, are “obsessed” with celebrities? Explain your answers.

Quick Write (10 points) Chat with some classmates about their responses, and write a journal entry that reflects your first impressions on this topic. Here are some guiding questions:

• What do most of your classmates think about celebrities? • Do you agree or disagree? • Are celebrities a big part of your life? • Why or why not?

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Activity 2: Exploring Key Concepts—What Kinds of Celebrities Are There? (10 points) When we think about celebrities, we all think about movie stars, and that is one important category; however, there are many more. What other categories are there of celebrities? Brainstorm below.

Then, brainstorm as many specific celebrities in each category as you can. Celebrities with positive influences make people want to do good in the world, be better people, be kind, contribute, etc. Celebrities with a negative influence often break the rules, go against the norms, are selfish or greedy, etc. Celebrities who are neutral do neither.

Celebrities Positive Impact Neutral Negative Impact

Activity 4: Understanding Key Vocabulary (10 points) The following words are used in the article that you will soon read:

antics enthralled humdrum nefarious apt obsessed paparazzi salacious

Below are the definitions of these words. In the left column, write the word from the list above that you think matches the correct definition. Check your answers with your teacher. What words are the most difficult? What words were you already familiar with?

Word Definition Is this a hard or easy word?

scandalous; obscene

evil or wicked

Freelance photographers who follow famous people, hoping to get a shocking story

dull and boring; monotonous

very interested; fascinated

amusing or silly behavior

likely

to think about someone or something constantly

Activity 5: Reading for Understanding (10 points) Thorough understanding of a text requires reading it more than once. The first reading should be fairly quick to get the main idea. During this reading, you do not need to understand every word or sentence. Later, you will reread the text again more slowly and carefully and deal with those difficult parts.

● As you read the first section of the article (1-5), circle any new vocabulary words you recognize from the prior activity.

● Put question marks by words, sentences, or paragraphs that are confusing, but do not take the time to

try to figure them out now.

● Put square brackets [ ] around the most interesting sentence in the section. Be able to explain why you chose that sentence.

Repeat the above steps for each subtitled section of the article (The Fascination Obsession, Fast Reporting or Bad Celebrities, The Positive Celebrities, and The Mirror Effect) After you have discussed all the sections of the article, write a one- to two-sentence summary of the entire article. What is Deborah King’s message about the impact of celebrities? Be ready to share your summary sentences with the class.

Deborah King’s message is…

Activity 6: Considering the Structure of the Text (20 points) The following activities will help you see how King constructed her text so you can use any strategies of hers that might work for you. Mapping the Organizational Structure 1. Draw a line across the page where the introduction ends. Is it after the first paragraph, or are there several introductory paragraphs? How do you know that the text has moved on from the introduction? 2. Draw a line across the page where the conclusion begins. Is it the last paragraph, or are there several concluding paragraphs? How do you know that the text has reached the conclusion?

Descriptive Outlining The body of this essay is naturally divided into three sections: “The Fascination Obsession,” “Fast Reporting or Bad Celebrities?” and “The Positive Celebrities.” 1. For each section, specify what the section says (content) and what it does (why the writer put it there).

Section Content- What is Says Purpose- Why it’s There

“The Fascination Obsession”

“Fast Reporting or Bad Celebrities?”

“The Positive Celebrities”

2. At the end of the text, describe the overall content and purpose of the essay.

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Activity 8: Annotating and Questioning the Text (20 points) Annotating a text means marking the text with highlighting, underlining, symbols, comments, and even whole sentences. Annotating forces you to read more slowly and carefully, but you need to be strategic in your annotation for it to be effective. Follow the directions below for annotating this essay: 1. Reread the article one section at a time. 2. In the left margin, write phrases or sentences that communicate the main point of that paragraph or section. Also write in the margin “ex” if the author includes an example or “def” if the author gives a definition. 3. In the right margin, write your reaction to the text. These reactions could be questions, your own examples, and statements of agreement or disagreement. Here you can use abbreviations only you understand or even texting language. Example: Look at the sample annotation of paragraphs 7 and 8 below. What do you notice about the notes in the margins?

Study by De Backer Why obsessed? Results: 1. kids more interested 2. Different reasons 3. Any obsession is not good

Dr. Charlotte De Backer of the University of Leicester, Department of Media and Communication, carried out a study to try to explain why we are so obsessed with celebrities. She discovered that the younger the participant was, the more apt they were to follow celebrity gossip, even if the gossip was about a celebrity that they had never heard of. Dr. De Backer said, “Each person has a different reason for wanting to track the every movement of their favorite celebrity, but there comes a time when being amused by their antics transforms into becoming obsessed, and no obsession is a good thing, especially when you look at the type or role models that recent celebrities have become.”

Why? fun to gossip! What are the reasons? Miley

Activity 9: Discovering How Examples Work (15 points) Now read the essay again as you fill out the following chart. Follow the directions below. 1. King uses specific examples as her primary means of supporting her points. Do you think this is an effective strategy for this topic? Why or why not?

2. Find the examples listed below in King’s article. She does not spend the same amount of time writing about each example. In the chart below, write how many sentences she uses to write about each celebrity. Finally, discuss why the author uses each celebrity as an example. What is her point? 3. Finally, think of a more contemporary (modern) example King could use to make the same point.

Celebrity # of Sentences Author’s Point in Using this Example Contemporary Example

Babe Ruth (¶10)

Winona Ryder (¶11)

Angelina Jolie (¶16)

Heath Ledger (¶12-14)

Now answer the following questions: 1. Why do you think she provides so much detail about one example and very little detail about another? What is the impact on the reader? 2. King uses some other examples besides specific celebrities. What examples does she use in paragraph 1 and 4? 3. In paragraph 5, she gives the example of a reality TV show portraying Ozzie Osbourne as a regular father and husband. Then she gives two examples of his activities that prove this. What are those activities? How well could she have made her point without these examples?

Activity 11: Summarizing and Responding (20 points) Your annotations in the margin of the essay should now show all of Deborah King’s main points. Next, you need to determine the main idea of the whole article. In Activity 5, you wrote down what you thought Deborah King’s message was. Rewrite your main idea sentence(s) in the box below:

Deborah King’s message is…

Now, write the main idea of each of the sections of the article in 1-2 sentences. Don’t forget to refer back to your annotations. Discuss what is absolutely necessary to include and what might be less important. Write a one-paragraph summary of the entire article using the ideas expressed in your summary sentences above. A summary is a shorter version of the text, containing the most important information—and nothing else. The first sentence of a summary is very important because that is where you identify the title of the article, the author, and the main idea of the whole article. (Use what you wrote above, but add the author and title.) Continue writing your summary by referring to your section summary sentences, but don’t simply copy them. Make sure that your sentences are connected and that your wording flows well. (It should not sound like a list of points.) Use all your own words in your summary, but make sure you are reporting all of King’s ideas—not yours. You should not quote or use the word “I” in your summary.

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Write a one-paragraph response to the article. A response is your personal reaction to one or more ideas that King wrote about—not all of them. Try to connect something you read about in King’s article to your own experiences. Do your experiences cause you to agree with her or to disagree? Do you think her points are strong or weak? Since these are your ideas and experiences, you may use “I.” Be sure to refer to your annotations for ideas about what to write.

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Activity 13: Thinking Critically (15 points) Discuss the answers to these questions with a classmate and answer in complete sentences: 1. In her first paragraph, King says, “The truth is that we are obsessed with celebrities.” Obviously, she does

not mean every single American, so who are “we”? Do you think that her claim is a fair statement? Why or why not?

2. Deborah King uses comparisons several times in her article. Comparisons can show both similarities and

differences.

• In paragraph 6, she compares us to “Roman spectators” of ancient times who watched the gladiators fight to the death in the ring. Is she saying that we are similar to Roman spectators or are we different? In what way? • In paragraph 10, she compares Babe Ruth, a famous baseball player who played from 1914 to 1935, to celebrities like Mel Gibson and Winona Ryder of today. Is King emphasizing how they are similar to Babe Ruth or different? In what way?

3. Several times King mentions that, as much as we are “obsessed” by celebrities, we also like to see them

fail. Find at least two spots in the article where she mentions this. Why, according to King, do we enjoy watching celebrities fail?

4. As you noticed in Activity 12, King spends several paragraphs discussing the actor Heath Ledger. Explain

her purpose for this example in one sentence: 5. King subtitles her last section “The Mirror Effect”; however, she does not use the word “mirror” in the

paragraphs that follow. Explain what you think the “mirror effect” of celebrity-watching is. What word in paragraph 2 indicates that she is talking about the mirror effect there as well?

6. What does King say in the article that proves she is not completely against the idea of watching celebrities? Find at least 2 spots in the article that show this.

7. Sometimes people state ideas indirectly. For example, during a visit from a friend you may say, “I’m tired.”

You may be indirectly saying (implying) that you want your friend to go home. Authors also imply ideas in their writing. For example, in paragraph 4, King implies that other people bear part of the blame for the paparazzi who stalk celebrities. Who are those other people? (She doesn’t use the word “blame,” but we get the idea.) Explain how you know this.