“There Will Come Soft Rains”by Ray Bradbury

Task 1Task 2Task 3Task 4Task 5

The Power of Technology• Answer the following questions on your own paper.• Think about the word technology. Write a definition before you click again!• Technology is a tool that helps a person accomplish a task. Something as

simple as a hammer or screwdriver is technology. List five items in the room that represent technology and how.

• Name one of the many technological advances today and how it is or will benefit society.

• Many pros and cons exist about technology. Imagine life without email or instant messaging, but what is happening to people’s handwriting skills or their ability to spell correctly? Name another form of technology that has both pros and cons and explain the pros and cons.

• Name two everyday items that use computer chips to help them function better.

• Make a list of when various technological devices (about five) were invented such as the microwave, cell phone, computer, Internet, etc. Write a paragraph about your life without some of these devices.

http://www.ask.com/web?q=When+was+the+cell+phone+invented%3F&qsrc=0&o=333&l=dir

Task TwoScience Fiction—More Science or

Fiction?• Read about the author at the following linkhttp://www.raybradbury.com/• Read the story “There Will Come Soft Rains” on page

266 in your textbook.• Write responses to the following questions:1. What major event caused the house to be empty?2. What instances of personification do you find in the

story?3. How does the story make you feel? Is this event only a

possibility or a probability? Explain your answer.

Bringing the Story to Life

As we read a story, images the author intends to convey may be different than what readers actually conceptualize in their minds. The images elicited by one individual who read this story were interpreted and put to drawings. These drawings were produced in comic book form that you will now read and respond to. Follow the instructions:

• Read the PowerPoint version of There Will Come Soft Rains.• Select an image from the slide show to write a response on. Copy

the image and place it in a Microsoft Word document. Write a brief response to the effectiveness of this image.

• Describe what your house of the future would be like? Identify at least three special things that the house would do for you? Be sure to comment on why you need the house to do what it will be doing! You should have a full paragraph, OR

• Write three good sentences about what your house would do for you and draw one picture to illustrate the house’s duty.

Tomorrowland Is Here

• Science fiction writers are often well ahead of their time. Ray Bradbury was not alone in this endeavor. Read the article, “Tomorrowland Is Here” and respond to the following:

• Identify what was once perceived as science fiction by many, that is now a reality. Find out when the article was written. Is anything new since that date?

• What does not exist now that might exist in the near future?

• What can be found in science fiction that seems almost impossible?

• Write a story that takes place thirty or forty years in the past that would be considered science fiction at that time. Your story should be at least a page.

“There Will Come Soft Rains”by Sara Teasdale

• Read about Sara Teasdale at http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/658

• Read “There Will Come Soft Rains” and the commentary included at http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/223.html

• How do the poem and the short story connect? You may include comments from above, but you should add your own ideas.

• Read “The World is too Much With Us” and “God’s Grandeur.” http://www.bartleby.com/verse/ These poems have similar messages. Explain in a full paragraph how they are similar and how they differ, OR

• Write a poem about man and nature. Your poem should be at least twelve lines long.

Credits

• http://www.ask.com/web?q=When+was+the+cell+phone+invented%3F&qsrc=0&o=333&l=dir

• http://www.raybradbury.com/• http://www.plazaboricua.com/anil/archivo/

fabulas2/cuentos/august2026.html • PowerPoint version• http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/658• http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/

poems/223.html• http://www.bartleby.com/verse/• http://www.teaneckschools.org/schools/bf/

resources/webquests/softrains/softrains.htm