The Absolutely True Diary of
a Part-Time Indian
Read about Sherman Alexie
(click hyperlink)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
By Sherman Alexie
2007
Winner of the National Book Award
“Well I want you to know that hitting me with that book was probably the worst thing you’ve ever done. It doesn’t matter what you intended to do. What happens is what you really did. And you broke an old man’s nose. That’s almost unforgivable.”
He was going to punish me now. He couldn’t beat me up with his old man’s fists, but he could hurt me with his old man words.
“But I do forgive you,” he said. “No matter how much I don’t want to I have to forgive you. It’s the only thing that keeps me from smacking you with an ugly stick. When I first started teaching here, that’s what we did to the rowdy ones, you know? We beat them. That’s how we were taught to teach you. We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child.”
“You killed Indians?”
“No, no, I’m just saying. I didn’t literally kill Indians. We were supposed to make you give up being Indian. Your songs and stories and language and dancing. Everything. We weren’t trying to kill Indian people. We were trying to kill Indian culture.”
Sherman Alexie
Biography (click on hyperlink)
On Colbert Report (watch Alexie)
Monday, November 15th
Read, “Why Should I Care?”
Pre-Reading Activity
◦ Complete on a separate sheet of paper Pre-reading activity 2, 3, 4
Hand in
Write down literary terms ◦ Write down terms on slides 1, 2, and 3 We’ll write down slides 4 and 5 tomorrow
◦ Which terms are familiar to you?
Begin reading chapter 1 if time◦ The books stay in the room
◦ Check mark students who receive a book
◦ Make sure students return book after class!
Tuesday, November 16th
Reflection #1
-Describe Arnold (Junior)
-What is he up against?
Timed Reading
Read Chapter three
Write down the start time
Write down your finish time
/10 pages
Chapter 3 Comprehension
Questions Describe Rowdy and his problem.
Describe the pow wow. Why doesn’t’
Arnold want to go?
What happened with the triplets?
Describe Rowdy and Arnold’s
friendship.
Pre-Reading Activity #2
1. Hanging around friends who are sick
will make you susceptible to catching
the flu.
2. I would be upset if I had to attend a
decrepit school.
Thursday, November 18th
◦ Quiz today
Reflection #2
◦ What are some things you’re fighting
against?
◦ How is your struggle like Arnold’s?
Read up to page 100
◦ Summarize your reading
Objectives◦ Students will: Critically analyze the character’s emotions and actions.
Reflect on the developing themes and character development.
Identify vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to them and learn to look them up.
Activities◦ Read story
◦ Continue writing in Human Truths chart
◦ Write Reflection #3
◦ Tribes chart
◦ Start a “vocabulary log”
◦ Sympathy note to Arnold
Hand in your notebook on Wednesday◦ Reflection #1, 2, and 3
◦ Human Truth Chart
◦ Tribes
◦ Timed Reading
Hand in your notebook on Wednesday
◦ Reflection #1, 2, and 3
◦ Human Truth Chart
◦ Timed Reading
◦ 10 Vocabulary words
◦ Literary term list
◦ Sympathy note to Arnold
Continue keeping track of the “Greater Human Truths” you come across in the book◦ Create a chart and write them in
Reflection #3◦ Arnold is learning new things as a result
of choosing Reardan over the reservation school. Describe these lessons.
Sympathy card for Arnold
Tribes- describe the tribes you belong to
Monday, November 29th
Review Valentine Heart
Continue reading
◦ Summarize chapter
#Reflection 4
◦ Describe how Arnold deals with the
loss of people he knows and loves.
Predict
◦ How do you think the story will end?
◦ Describe Arnold’s future
Tuesday, November 30th
Reading quiz
Vocabulary Activity
Finish reading Russian Guy chapter
Psychological analysis of Arnold’s
reaction
Continue reading next chapter
Wednesday, December 1st
(yuck) Review Evidence of my understanding
◦ Copy notes
◦ You’ll need this for your paper
Finish book
Discuss conflict
Discuss model paragraph
◦ Topic sentence
◦ Supporting evidence
◦ Analysis
Concept
The main character has a conflict
What I understand (psychological
analysis)
Look at what the character does
Listen to what the character says
Look at how other characters respond
to the main character
Finding more details
Re-read the parts where-
◦ His dog
◦ His grandmother died
◦ Eugene died
How did Arnold react?
Write down QUOTES and PAGE
NUMBERS
How did Arnold react to the
deaths in his life? General statement
◦ Mention author and title of book
◦ Mention Arnold and the people who died
◦ Thesis statement: Arnold had a variety of
reactions to the deaths.
Main point A- Oscar (dog)
◦ Topic sentence
◦ Supporting evidence
◦ Analysis
Main point B- Grandmother Spirit
◦ Topic sentence
◦ Supporting evidence
◦ Analysis
Main point C- Eugene
◦ Topic sentence
◦ Supporting evidence
◦ Analysis
Main point D- Mary
Main point D- Mary
Arnold blamed himself for Mary’s death.
“Yeah, but have you ever heard the story about how
I killed my sister when I left the rez?” (211)Arnold believed that his sister died because he left
the
reservation to better his life in the “white world” of Reardan.
He also believed that he caused his sister to move to Montana
after he left. He figured that if he hadn’t gone to Reardan, his
sister would still be alive.
Conclusion
◦ Restate thesis
◦ Closing statement
Evidence of My
UnderstandingConcept What I understand
Psychological analysis of how
Arnold deals with his conflict
Look at what the character does
Listen to what the character says
Look at how the other characters
respond to the main character
-Death of his Grandma,
Eugene, and sister
-Alcohol usage
-he laughs, falls asleep, and shuts
down.
-“in a fog”
- he runs from the burial
-He wants to avoid the drinking
mourners at his house
-He blames himself for his sister’s
death.
Reading Quiz
1. Reflect on Tolstoy’s quote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
a. How did Arnold respond to this quote given to him by Gordy?
2. What was the news Ms. Warren delivered to Arnold?
3. How did he react?
4. Is this a normal reaction?
5. What was Arnold anxious about?
Vocabulary
Look up 10 words that are unfamiliar
to you
If you’re unsure which definition to
choose, look at the context that the
word is being used
Tribes Reread page 217. Pay particular attention to the list Arnold makes of his “tribes”.
Make a list of eight tribes you belong to and explain what role you play in each
tribe.
Tribe I belong to Role I play in the tribe
Especially
Appreciate
Greater Human TruthsWrite down the quote that shows a greater human truth. Be sure to cite your
work--include page number.
Greater Human Truths
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
MentorsName four of these mentors (positive influences and helpers)
Explain the positive role each plays in Arnold’s life.
Mentor Role each mentor played
Cartooning- choose a cartoon and draw your
own version of it. Insert something of “you”
into it.
Literary Terms (1) Point of View: Perspective from
which the story is told◦ First-person: narrator is a character in the
story; uses “I,” “we,” etc.
◦ Third-person: narrator outside the story;
uses “he,” “she,” “they”
◦ Third-person limited: narrator tells only
what one character perceives
◦ Third-person omniscient: narrator can see
into the minds of all characters.
Literary Terms (2)
Flashback: Interruption of the chronological (time) order to present something that occurred before the beginning of the story.
Action: Everything that happens in a story.
Antagonist: The person or force that works against the hero of the story. (See protagonist)
Protagonist: The main character in a story, often a good or heroic type.
Literary Terms (3)
Character: One of the people (or animals) in a story.
Climax: The high point in the action of a story.
Comedy: Writing that deals with life in a humorous way, often poking fun at people’s mistakes.
Characterization: Techniques a writer uses to create and develop a character by what: he/she does or says, other characters say about him/her, or how they react to him/her the author reveals directly or through a narrator.
Literary Terms
Satire: Writing that comments
humorously on human
flaws, ideas, social customs, or
institutions in order to change them.
Style: The distinctive way that a
writer uses language including such
factors as word choice, sentence
length, arrangement, and
complexity, and the use of figurative
language and imagery.
Literary Terms
Novel: A book-length, fictional
prose story. Because of its length, a
novel’s characters and plot are usually
more developed than those of a short
story.
Prose: A literary work that uses the
familiar spoken form of language,
sentence after sentence.
Realistic Fiction: Writing that
attempts to show life as it really is.