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Quest Atlantis Unit Plan

Sharing Stories

Our identity—our understanding of ourselves and our lives—is grounded in the stories that we share, but many of us do not feel empowered to create and respond to stories in an individual way. This unit helps Questers relate to stories on a personal level and understand themselves and others in terms of the choices they make and the meaning they construct. The unit features the widely popular story “Priscilla and the Wimps” and challenges Questers to write an original character-oriented story based on someone in their daily lives.

http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu 1

Introduction

This unit engages Questers in activities designed to foster self-understanding as well as empathy for others by using language for authentic expression and communication.

“Reading & Writing Ourselves & Others”

Goals

By empathizing with characters and people in their lives, Questers will develop their sense of self and an appreciation of writing in the lives of both authors and readers.

2 – 3 Week Plan 4th – 6th Grades

MCREL Standards

This unit meets Language Arts standards (Levels I–III) including not only reading and writing but listening and media viewing.

QA Benchmarks

The activities focus on the QA commitments to expression, compassion, and community to foster identity in relation to others.

Language Arts

Activities

This unit features eight activities including study of a short story and composition of short biographical stories using different reading and writing skills.

Teacher Tips

The unit includes resources for the central activities, including online educational multimedia, along with tips for guiding students in their activities.

Pages 2–3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Pages 7–14 Pages 15–16

Assessment – The appended questions and rubric may be used to assess the work of the Quests in this unit. You may choose to create a supplementary rubric for these or other activities. Pages 31–37

Appendices

Pages 17–30


Sharing Stories


Introduction (page 1 of 2)

We come to know our world—and even ourselves—through understanding others, and a fun way to understand others is through the stories they share. Further, the stories we share not help others understand us but positively shape who we are: our stories affect what we remember and value, and how we think of ourselves and our world.

Through listening to the stories told by characters and classmates, students practice the identifying and perspective taking with others, which are the keys to not only empathy but also lifelong literacy. Students encounter stories in a variety of forms: written, read aloud, and even spoken by characters in animated videos. The stories come from classmates as well as from a range of books written for teens(these texts are all included in the appendices).

Students produce a handful of short writings as well as one longer piece, selected from one of the earlier activities and revised through peer response. In fact, students practice three forms of non-evaluative response: simply receiving & understanding; identifying general and specific content; and reader-based responding.

The beginning, middle, and end of the unit feature character-based narrations, to which students respond first by perspective taking and then by offering a description or anecdote of their own. Students also read the fun and popular short story “Priscilla and the Wimps” early in the unit, and even interview a parent or neighbor to write a brief story from that person’s life. One piece of writing is further developed, published in class or electronically, and optionally shared in a Classroom Fair.

The following page features a graphical overview of the unit.

(continued on next page)



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Introduction (page 2 of 2)

The table below outlines the different activities. In addition to the “key” activities, in many of the activities students review each other’s work using different response strategies; these are typically followed by a light revision before submission to the teacher. To encourage students to work independent of teacher rewards, and to assist busy teachers, feedback is not critical for all activities, and suggestions are given. To contribute to the simplicity and appeal of the unit, all of the Quest activities are arranged in a single building in a unique virtual world (see Appendix A).

Activity Title Key Activities Response & Revision Types Teacher Feedback1 Identifying with Characters, pt. 1 Quest – Optional2 Meeting Characters Quest; Class discussion “Understanding” / No revision Credit or Comments3 Understanding Characters Short story; Class discussion – Optional4 Give & Take Stories Quest “General & specific”/ Minor revision Credit or Comments5 Telling the Stories of Others Interview “Reader-based response” / Minor revision Credit or Comments6 Writers Workshop Small group work Major revision / Any of the 3 responses Credit & Comments7 Publishing Stories Production Minor revision Credit & Comments8 Identifying with Characters, pt. 2 Quest – Optional



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MCREL Language Arts StandardsWriting: Level II (Grade 3–5)

Uses strategies to draft and revise written work (e.g., uses direct feedback to revise compositions) Evaluates own and others' writing (e.g., participates in peer response groups) Writes biographical sketches (e.g., illustrates the subject’s character using narrative and descriptive strategies) Writes in response to literature (e.g., responds to significant issues, connects knowledge from a text with personal

knowledge) Uses descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas (e.g., uses sensory images and comparisons) Uses strategies to gather and record information for research topics (e.g., provides narrative descriptions)

Reading: Level II (Grade 3–5) Makes inferences or draws conclusions about characters' qualities and actions (e.g., based on knowledge of characters'

motives, characters' appearances, other characters' responses to a character) Makes connections between characters or simple events in a literary work and people or events in his or her own life

Listening & Speaking; Viewing; and Media: Level II (Grade 3–5) Contributes to group discussions; Listens to classmates and adults Listens for specific information in spoken texts (e.g., information about a character in a short story read aloud) Understands different messages (e.g., main ideas and supporting details) and techniques (e.g., animation; different

tones of voice in audio productions) of visual media Understands similarities and differences among a variety of media (e.g., literary elements in film and written stories)

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QA Benchmarks Creative Expression

The child engages in production of authentic expression and communication

Diversity Affirmation The child values and investigates the perspectives of others The child practices responding to the work of others in ways appropriate and beneficial to the other

Healthy Communities The child inquires into the experiences of someone in their family or community

Compassionate Wisdom The child practices empathetic understanding of literary characters and people in daily life The child appreciates the role of individual meaning-making in the interpretation of experience

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GoalsThis unit emphasizes the role of empathy—understanding others—in both appreciating and composing literature:

Students will practice reading, viewing, and listening skills to appreciate the importance of different media

Students will interpret the perspectives of characters in various fictions presented in various media

Students will draft autobiographical and biographical passages in response to fictions they experience

Students will analyze and respond to the compositions of classmates through practicing various modes of feedback


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Activity 1: Identifying with Characters, part 1 (Quest)This and the final activity of the unit (see “Teacher Tips” and Appendix B) together serve as practice in responding to the stories of others. These activities and the unit as a whole reflect research showing that identification and perspective-taking are not only the first step in literary response but also the cornerstone of social understanding and personal growth. In this activity, students engage in two brief quests. In each case the student first watches a short video of a character narrating a story. Then the student responds in writing to two questions, one asking how the student felt about the character’s story and the other asking the student to relate an experience from her own life.

The responses may be reviewed by the teacher chiefly to gauge the ability of the students to use the Quest Atlantis system and the media it provides. This activity is largely to familiarize the students with the character-based media and with response-based prompts, so if the teacher is pressed for time, rather than review each response at length, the teacher might inform the students that their work on this activity will not receive feedback. Then the teacher might review representative students’ work and provide general feedback to the entire class at the start of the next activity. Typical feedback includes the following:

Remember to respond to both sets of questions. Remember to focus not only on the details of the character’s story but on what they made you think, and how they made you feel. When you respond with a description or story from your own life, remember to give both the big picture and supporting details.

If you want to give detailed feedback at this point, the general QA Rubric in the Assessment section may be used to evaluate the work.

These “identifying with characters quests” are arranged in two sets (Sets 1 & 2) of two quests each (Girl & Boy characters). Since the two sets are similar to each other, you should not assign students to Quests from the different sets at one time (e.g., not Quests 1G & 2G). It is easiest to assign all of the students to the same set (e.g., Set 1) and to reserve the other set for the concluding activity, but you may assign half of the students to one set and half to the other, and then reverse this for the concluding activity. Of the two quests in the set, the students may complete them in either order (e.g., Girl then Boy). Please see the “Teacher Tips” for the location of the quests.

Girl Character Boy Character

Room A Identifying with Characters (A1) Identifying with Characters (A2)

Room B Identifying with Characters (B1) Identifying with Characters (B2)

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Language Arts

Activity 2: Meeting Characters (Quest)This activity and the one following it focus on “Priscilla and the Wimps,” a popular and widely recognized short story by Richard Peck (see “Teacher Tips” and Appendix C). In this activity, students experience an excerpt from the story in order to focus on one of the two main characters. Specifically, there are two sets of media—one reflecting the character Monk Klutter and the other reflecting Priscilla Roseberry—and in fact, each passage is presented in different forms: on-screen text, audio narration, on-screen text with audio narration, and character-based video narration. In each case, the student responds to the same questions: What do you think is important to the character? What do you think the character likes or needs? What do you think the character might think about? The different versions of the quest are titled as follows. Please see the “Teacher Tips” for the location of the quests.

On-screen text Audio narration Text + audio narration Character video narrationMonk Klutter Meeting Monk (M1) Meeting Monk (M2) Meeting Monk (M3) Meeting Monk (M4)

Priscilla Roseberry Meeting Priscilla (P1) Meeting Priscilla (P2) Meeting Priscilla (P3) Meeting Priscilla (P4)

Since the Quest responses are reviewed by a classmate, you may assign the students to their media in different ways. For example, each student might be assigned a medium to provide her with practice in a certain area (e.g., reading or listening), or you may be more random in the assignment. Likewise, you may form student pairs so that each reviews a different character through similar media, or the same character through different media; or the assignments can be random.

Each student responds to her partner’s work with the following instructions: the reviewer does not provide feedback but instead just tries to understand the response as well as possible and then forwards the work to the teacher. Then, in a guided discussion, students are asked to share their understanding of the character they studied as well as the understanding they gained through their partner’s response. Since the students are presented with only a short passage, and since they experience the passage through different media, they should be assured that there is no “right answer.” Students should also discuss their experiences with the different media, and the teacher should try to illuminate the different benefits of each form. The shared understanding of the characters leads into the next activity. Note that this discussion may be simply merged with the discussion of the short story in the next activity if the class is pressed for time.


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Language Arts

Activity 3: Understanding CharactersIn this activity (see “Teacher Tips”), students work through the short story “Priscilla and the Wimps” and discuss the characters together. Depending on your classroom style and environment, either you can have students read the story individually, or it can be read aloud by the teacher or by students taking turns. (Note that when students read aloud, they gain practice but rarely remember the content of what they read; one alternative would be to let the students read the story individually and then have the students read aloud a paragraph each.)

Though the students will have met the characters through the previous activity, their understanding will change and grow through the reading of the story itself. Indeed, the story addresses potentially serious subject matter—namely, school bullying—and some situations may require preparation or debriefing regarding the material. The material may be challenging for younger readers, but it remains noteworthy: the author has received many awards, and the story—“almost everyone’s favorite story,” according to Donald Gallo—is widely used in upper elementary and middle school Language Arts courses.

In a guided discussion afterward, the teacher should try to bring the students’ understanding to reflect their earlier encounters with the characters. Specifically, the story reveals Monk to be a bully and Priscilla to be a hero, so one level of discussion might focus on their different concerns: Monk’s selfish need for power and Priscilla’s altruistic support of her friend. A more advanced discussion might inquire whether Priscilla’s methods are actually any different than Monk’s: they both use force. You might ask your students, “Did Priscilla do the right thing? Why or why not?” Still, the key to this discussion might be found in the line (halfway through the story) “Gang members don’t need names. They’ve got group identity.” This is a point recurrent in the author’s other works, and it might show Priscilla’s methods to only seem like bullying, since in fact her force is not one of anonymous terrorism but personal retribution.

Enrichment: Discussion might study the frequent allusions to snakes in the language of the story.


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Language Arts

Activity 4: Give & Take Stories (Quest)This activity (see “Teacher Tips” and Appendix D) moves students from reading to writing by emphasizing their response to characters and their stories. Students may select one of the four quests in the series “Sharing Stories with Luna” or one of the two quests in the series “Give & Take Stories with Julie.” Please see the “Teacher Tips” regarding the location and organization of these quests. First, remind students that, as in Activity 1 (“Empathizing with Characters”), the work entails two sections: responding to the character’s story, and offering a description or anecdote of one’s own. Then, encourage the students to employ both generalizations and concrete support in their writing. A good example from “Priscilla and the Wimps” is the general claim that Monk ran a gang (¶ 2), followed by the detail that “one of his Kobras did nothing all day but walk a half step behind Monk” (¶ 3).

As with Activity 2 introducing the short story, students are grouped in pairs so that each can review the work of their partner. To foster trust and depth of exchange, the students should work in the same pairs as before, unless those pairings caused problems. Here, students practice a new form of descriptive but not evaluative responding: instruct the students to write back to their partners pointing out examples of general or abstract statements as well as specific or concrete details. This feedback will help the writer recognize whether both qualities are present in the work. Then the writer revises the anecdote or description to reflect a more robust balance between detail and interpretation and submits this to the teacher.

If you have time, and if the students enjoy the activity, you may have the students complete it again using a new quest from the Luna and Julie series as prompts.

As with the work submitted in Activity 2, this may be used by the teacher to assign credit to the student for work completed; it may also provide material for Activity 6.


Sharing Stories




Language Arts

Activity 5: Telling the Stories of OthersThis activity moves beyond the individual to have the student write the story of another. Since students have practiced listening to the stories of characters and writing anecdotes of their own, now the students seek out someone from their daily life—a parent, neighbor, or storekeeper, for example—and write an anecdote based upon their interview.

Students should help their interviewee focus on a particular by asking them to think of an object important in their life; hopefully, each student can see the object for herself. Then the person tells about the importance of the object, such as how it came into their life and what significance it bears for them. Again, focusing on an object provides a center of gravity to the anecdote as well as a concrete center for descriptive writing.

The students should take notes, if desired, an audio recording of the interview to capture snippets of dialogue and important details. Then the students write the anecdote that emerged through the interview. The student does not recount the interview process but, rather, tells the story from the third person point of view.

Working in the same pairs as before (unless there were problems), the students again submit their work to a classmate for response. This time they engage in a third form of non-evaluative feedback, one based on reader response: the reviewer writes back simply telling the writer what she felt while reading the piece; not the writing but the reader’s experience, feelings, thoughts, and reflections form the feedback. Again, the writer revises the work to incorporate the feedback, adding or adjusting material.

Again, this may be used by the teacher to assign credit to the student for work completed. Also, either this work or that produced in Activity 4 will provide the basis for the next activity.


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Language Arts

Activity 6: Writers WorkshopThe goal here (see “Teacher Tips”) is to rework either the personal anecdote or description of Activity 4 (the “Luna” and “Julie” Quests) or the biographical passage of Activity 5 (“Telling the Stories of Others”). Students should select whichever piece they feel most interested in revising, and this should be based on two factors: (1) they must be willing to make modifications—even risky ones—to the work, rather than keep it how it was first written, and (2) they must be willing to share the work with members of the school community rather than keep it private. Having selected the piece, each students expands the piece so that it presents itself as a completed whole. If it is a story or anecdote, it has a beginning, middle, and end. If it is a descriptive or reflective passage, it seems to have a reason for being shared as well as a sense of wholeness or completeness. Please see the “Teacher Tips” for notes and ideas on this step in revision.

Next, each pair from the previous response groups is joined with one other pair so that groups of four are formed. Ideally, each member of the group brings four copies of their work to the group—one for themselves, and one for each other member. If this resource demand is a burden, then each member should bring just one copy; the other members can review the writing electronically after the group meeting.

Each member reads his writing to the others while the others read along or simply listen. It is important that the other members listen respectfully while the reader presents her work. After she is done, each other member can take a moment to make notes on the paper copy she received (if that occurred). Then, each takes a turn responding. The goal of the feedback is again non-evaluative: students can practice any of the three forms of responding learned earlier in the unit plan (receiving & appreciating; identifying general & specific statements; and reader-based responding). It is important that the writer now listens respectfully, not explaining her work but simply making notes of the comments and how the comments might guide her in further revising the work. If the other members received paper copies of the writing, these should be returned to the writer. Each member of the group takes a turn this way.

As a follow-up, each member might also review her group members’ work online and submit comments through the Quest Atlantis system. This step may be skipped if the teacher is pressed for time, but it should not be skipped if paper copies were not presented at the group meetings, since actually seeing the writing is important to inform the feedback. Such electronic follow-up also gives the teacher insight into the activities of the response groups.


Sharing Stories




Activity 7: Publishing StoriesEach student revises her work once more to reflect the responses of her response group. This revision may not be as substantial as the previous one, which took risks to present the material in a new way. In this way, the writer comes to recognize writing as something changeable and experimental—as a means not only to express but to ensure communication.

The works are then published in one format or another, reflecting the classroom climate and resources: they might simply be posted on the Quest Atlantis electronic pages, or they can be compiled and printed as a booklet. They can even be performed, having each student (or those willing) read the work to an audio or video recorder, and these files can then be posted in the online space and even shared with others in the family or community. The important point is that the students feel a sense of completion, knowing that their revisions result in a sense of polished presentation.

This may further be achieved by sharing the stories in a Classroom Fair open to others in the school community. On the one hand, the stories may not be more than a few paragraphs, depending on the development of the students. On the other hand, a classroom full of such personal stories and descriptions will provide enough material to occupy a number of visitors for a substantial period. As one activity remains, and as the production of a printed booklet or digitized media may take a few weeks, a Classroom Fair might be scheduled for after the unit’s completion.

Remember, each teacher can decide for herself how extensive a Classroom Fair to hold, but regardless, students will likely engage in the process of drafting, responding, and revising with more enthusiasm if they know that their work will be shared with and valued by others in the school community.

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Language Arts

Activity 8: Identifying with Characters, part 2 (Quest)This activity is closely paired with the first one, in which students engage in identification and perspective-taking as a means of developing not only literacy but personal and social growth. Again, students watch a pair of short videos, responding to each character’s story and providing passages of their own. Having practiced this through the unit plan, the students will have gained facility in a number or areas:

Hearing anecdotes presented orally through multimedia. Identifying with the characters and adopting their perspective. Recalling and presenting passages of their own, elicited by empathizing with others.

Accordingly, this second set of “Identifying with Characters” Quests provides the students with a bookend activity, allowing them to revisit their initial activity with more experience, competence, and confidence. This second set also provides the teacher with a good measure of the students’ progress in the goals of the unit.

Since the students engaged in one of the two sets of Quests for this activity, the students should now be assigned the set of two Quests in which they did not previously engage.


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Teacher Tips (page 1 of 2)

All Quests for this unit plan are located in the special virtual world called “Story Inn.” This world consists of one main building, and four of the six rooms are dedicated to specific activities (see Appendix A). Details regarding the Quests, as well as tips for the other activities, follow below.

Activities 1 & 8: Identifying with Characters: One set is located in Room A (the 1st on the right), and the other set is in Room B (the 1st on the left). Remember, you can choose either set for Activity 1 (or even have half of the students do each set!), but each student should do the opposite set for Activity 8. Since the stories told by the boy character involve the death of a pet, some students may be concerned about the topic; if students could benefit from thinking through the topic further, you may wish to direct them to a related Quest, “Remembering Bunny” (Healthy World, Inner Self Village, 0 North, 2 East).

Girl Character Boy Character

Room A Identifying with Characters (A1) Identifying with Characters (A2)

Room B Identifying with Characters (B1) Identifying with Characters (B2)

Activity 2: Meeting Characters: The eight different Quests are located in Room C (the 2nd on the right). Remember, have each student do just one of these Quests so that together, the students share different experiences.

On-screen text Audio narration Text + audio narration Character video narrationMonk Klutter Meeting Monk (M1) Meeting Monk (M2) Meeting Monk (M3) Meeting Monk (M4)

Priscilla Roseberry Meeting Priscilla (P1) Meeting Priscilla (P2) Meeting Priscilla (P3) Meeting Priscilla (P4)


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Teacher Tips (page 2 of 2)

Activity 3: Understanding Characters: While the story “Priscilla and the Wimps” is protected by copyright, your use may be considered “educational fair use.” Please consider the details below, adapted to reflect this specific lesson. For example, because the story (in Appendix C) is less than 2500 words—it’s about 1000—and contains a notice of copyright, those provisions are not addressed below. You may make copies for yourself and your students as long as these requirements are met:

1. Your use of the story is too timely to expect a reply to a request for permission.2. The copying is for only one course in the school.3. There will not be more than nine instances of such copying for the course during the term.

Activity 4: Give & Take Stories: These Quests are located in Room D (the 2nd on the left). They are also located in the regular 3D space: “Sharing Stories with Luna”: Culture World, Words of Meaning Village, 5 South, 2 West “Give and Take Stories with Julie”: Unity World, All about Us Village, 1 North, 3 West

There are four Quests in the “Luna” series and two in the “Julie” series (the regular 3D space has an additional “Julie” Quest not included here). Moreover, for each Quest, students are automatically assigned to one of two variations. As a result, few students will be responding to the same narrative prompt. The topics range from descriptions of parents and neighbors to recollections of visits to the beach and stories from the parents’ early years of marriage. The complete texts are included in Appendix D.

Activity 6: Writers Workshop: For this activity, students rework material from a previous activity (either Activity 4 or 5). Since that material has already received a peer response and at least cursory revision, it may be difficult to persuade students to revise the material further. Indeed, the material may not apparently need further work. Encourage the students to play with their work:

The point of view might be shifted from 1st to 3rd person, or from 3rd to 1st. The sequence of paragraphs might be changed so that the ending becomes the opening. A central object in the anecdote or descriptive passage might only be described but not named until the final paragraph. New material, beyond the original assignment, might be added to round out the work.

Language Arts

Story Inn

Appendix A

“Story Inn” Virtual World

All of the Quests embedded in the unit plan are housed in a single building in a unique virtual world. You may reach this world through the Quest Atlantis browser by clicking the “Teleport” menu item; then click “To” on the drop-down menu, and type “storyinn”(one word; capitalization does not matter).

When you arrive at “Story Inn,” walk up the stairs and through the front door (all doors open automatically). Each room houses a different activity, as shown below:

(unused) (unused)

Room D(Activity 4)

Quests for Julie & Luna:scrolls on tables

Room C(Activity 2)

Quests M1–M4 & P1–P4:bookstands along walls

Room B(Activities 1 & 8)

Quest B1:book on chairQuest B2:book on table

Room A(Activities 1 & 8)

Quest A1:book on chairQuest A2:book on table

(Front Door)

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Identifying with Characters

Appendix B (Activities 1 & 8)

“Identifying with Characters”

Below are the texts narrated in each of the “Identifying with Characters” Quests, along with the sources from which they were adapted.

Room A

Quest A1 (linked to book on chair):I remember my first day of school after moving here. A new school was planned to be

built at the edge of town, but the building I found myself in that Monday morning looked like an old-fashioned railroad station, one made of dull red bricks and with turrets. Somewhere in the middle of it there was a gym, because at various times during the day I could hear the “thunk” of a basketball.

No one paid me much attention that first morning except the teachers who kept announcing that I was new here. They weren’t unfriendly, but I felt like I was from another country, not just another town. I ate lunch in the cafeteria, which must have been a classroom in the past; there were still a few desks nailed to the floor.

I played the time game with myself—tomorrow it would be easier; next week I wouldn’t remember how strange I felt today; next month it would be as if I’d always been in this school. But sitting there, alone, eating a dry, shriveled hot dog and beans as hard as pebbles, I thought to myself, only the present tense is real. The past and the future are just grammar..

(from A Place Apart, by Paula Fox, 1980)

Quest A2 (linked to book on table):I remember when my dog Freckles died. As I was getting ready to play sports after

school that day, Miss Carroll, the school nurse, came up to me and told me to go strait home. She said my mother needed to talk with me, but her face said it was more than that. When I got home, my mom was waiting for me, her face caved in under sadness. She came up to me and started crying bad.

She told me Freckles had got hit by a car crossing the street in front of the Florist Shop. I asked if I could see him, but she just said that wasn’t going to happen.

I remember the tears after that and the absolute deadness. I didn’t believe Freckles could be gone, but I was crying like I did believe it. Freckles wouldn’t be coming back, and it was a real loss to the family, that’s what Dad said. He lifted me up and held me, and we cried.

(from Squashed, by Joan Bauer, 1992)

Room B

Quest B1 (linked to book on chair):I can remember my first day of school after moving here. Fifty or more students waited at

the sidewalk for the traffic lights to change. I knew my homeroom was in the Art Building, so I started to search for it. The school looked like it had been built in pieces: no big building, just a lot of low-looking greenish structures—the kind where the government stores nuclear waste.

At first the kids didn’t look all that different from the ones at my old school, but when I took another look, they were a little more polished than I was used to seeing; they were dressed

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like me, but they were dressed better. So I fit in, but I didn’t fit in. Not if you looked close. I walked past a display cabinet and looked at the silver-painted sculptures.

I thought about mirrors: if I were like a mirror, anyone looking at me would see that I was just like them, and I wouldn’t feel out of place. But if I were a mirror and I looked into a mirror, would I be able to see myself at all? And then I looked down at my pants and shirt, a little frayed and faded, and I thought, this isn’t a reflection, it’s reality.

(from Confess-o-rama, by Ron Koertge, 1996)

Quest B2 (linked to book on table):I remember when my dog Bangles died. My friend and I were riding our bicycles around

the neighborhood when Mr. Beltser, who managed the pool, pulled up beside us in his car and told me that I needed to go home. He said that there had been an accident, but he wouldn’t say any more. When I got home, Mom was sitting on the porch. She looked small and dazed. She hugged me tight, and I could feel her shaking.

Bangles got hurt real bad, she said. She tried to say something else but she couldn’t do it. All she could do was pull me to herself again and hold me.

I learned afterward that a load had fallen off a trailer, and Bangles was directly under it. I felt numb. I knew he was gone, but for some reason I wanted to keep food in his bowl. Mom squeezed my upper arms. Her eyes were red and her face was wet. She said it would be hard getting used to Bangles not being there any more.

(from Roughnecks, by Thomas Cochran, 1997)

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Understanding Characters

Appendix C (Activity 3)

“Understanding Characters”

On the following pages are two versions of the short story “Priscilla and the Wimps.” One is printed in large (14 point) type and fills four pages, and the other is printed in small type (10 point) type and fills two pages. Unless your students are advanced readers, you will likely want to use the large-type version.

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Priscilla and the Wimps Page 1

“Priscilla and the Wimps”by Richard Peck

Listen, there was a time when you couldn’t even go to the rest room around this

school without a pass. And I’m not talking about those little pink tickets made out

by some teacher. I’m talking about a pass that cost anywhere up to a buck, sold by

Monk Klutter.

Not that Mighty Monk ever touched money, not in public. The gang he ran,

which ran the school for him, was his collection agency. They were Klutter’s

Kobras, a name spelled out in nailheads on six well-known black plastic

windbreakers.

Monk’s threads were more … subtle. A pile-lined suede battle jacket with

lizard-skin flaps over tailored Levi’s and a pair of ostrich-skin boots, brassed-toed

and suitable for kicking people around. One of his Kobras did nothing all day but

walk a half step behind Monk, carrying a fitted bag with Monk’s gym shoes, a roll

of rest-room passes, a cash-box, and a switchblade that Monk gave himself

manicures with at lunch over at the Kobras’ table.

Speaking of lunch, there were a few cases of advanced malnutrition among the

newer kids. The ones who were a little slow in handing over a cut of their lunch

money and were therefore barred from the cafeteria. Monk ran a tight ship.

I admit it. I’m five foot five, and when the Kobras slithered by, with or without

Monk, I shrank. And I admit this, too: I paid up on a regular basis. And I might

add: so would you.

This school was old Monk’s Garden of Eden. Unfortunately for him, there was

a serpent in it. The reason Monk didn’t recognize trouble when it was staring him

in the face is that the serpent in the Kobras’ Eden was a girl.

Peck, Richard. “Priscilla and the Wimps.” Sixteen: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults. Ed. Donald R. Gallo. New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc., 1984.


Practically every guy in school could show you his scars. Fang marks from

Kobras, you might say. And they were all highly visible in the shower room:

lumps, lacerations, blue bruises, you name it. But girls usually got off with a

warning.

Except there was this one girl named Priscilla Roseberry. Picture a girl named

Priscilla Roseberry, and you’ll be light years off. Priscilla was, hands down, the

largest student in our particular institution of learning. I’m not talking fat. I’m

talking big. Even beautiful, in a bionic way. Priscilla wasn’t inclined toward

organized crime. Otherwise, she could have put together a gang that would turn

Klutter’s Kobras into garter snakes.

Priscilla was basically a loner except she had one friend. A little guy named

Melvin Detweiler. You talk about The Odd Couple. Melvin’s one of the smallest

guys above midget status ever seen. A really nice guy, but, you know, little. They

even had lockers next to each other, in the same bank as mine. I don’t know what

they had going. I’m not saying this was a romance. After all, people deserve their

privacy.

Priscilla was sort of above everything, if you’ll pardon a pun. And very calm, as

only the very big can be. If there was anybody who didn’t notice Klutter’s Kobras,

it was Priscilla.

Until one winter day after school when we were all grabbing our coats out of

our lockers. And hurrying, since Klutter’s Kobras made sweeps of the halls for

after-school shakedowns.

Anyway, up to Melvin’s locker swaggers one of the Kobras. Never mind his

name. Gang members don’t need names. They’ve got group identity. He reaches

down and grabs little Melvin by the neck and slams his head against his locker

door. The sound of skull against steel rippled all the way down the locker row,

speeding the crowds on their way.


“Okay, let’s see your pass,” snarls the Kobra.

“A pass for what this time?” Melvin asks, probably still dazed.

“Let’s call it a pass for very short people,” says the Kobra, “a dwarf tax.” He

wheezes a little Kobra chuckle at his own wittiness. And already he’s reaching for

Melvin’s wallet with the hand that isn’t circling Melvin’s windpipe. All this time,

of course, Melvin and the Kobra are standing in Priscilla’s big shadow.

She’s taking her time shoving her books into her locker and pulling on a very

large-size coat. Then, quicker than the eye, she brings the side of her enormous

hand down in a chop that breaks the Kobra’s hold on Melvin’s throat. You could

hear a pin drop in that hallway. Nobody’s ever laid a finger on a Kobra, let alone a

hand the size of Priscilla’s.

Then Priscilla, who hardly every says anything to anybody except to Melvin,

says to the Kobra, “Who’s your leader, wimp?”

This practically blows the Kobra away. First he’s chopped by a girl, and now

she’s acting like she doesn’t know Monk Klutter, the Head Honcho of the World.

He’s so amazed, he tells her, “Monk Klutter.”

“Never heard of him,” Priscilla mentions. “Send him to see me.” The Kobra just

backs away from her like the whole situation is too big for him, which it is.

Pretty soon Monk himself slides up. He jerks his head once, and his Kobras

slither off down the hall. He’s going to handle this interesting case personally.

“Who is it around here doesn’t know Monk Klutter?”

He’s standing inches from Priscilla, but since he’d have to look up at her, he

doesn’t. “Never heard of him,” says Priscilla.

Monk’s not happy with this answer, but by now he’s spotted Melvin, who’s

grown smaller in spite of himself. Monk breaks his own rule by reaching for

Melvin with his own hands. “Kid,” he says, “you’re going to have to educate your

girl friend.”


His hands never quite make it to Melvin. In a move of pure poetry Priscilla has

Monk in a hammerlock. His neck’s popping like gunfire, and his head’s bowed

under the immense weight of her forearm. His suede jacket’s peeling back,

showing pile.

Priscilla’s behind him in another easy motion. And with a single mighty thrust

forward, frog-marches Monk into her own locker. It’s incredible. His ostrich-skin

boots click once in the air. And suddenly he’s gone, neatly wedged into the locker,

a perfect fit. Priscilla bangs the door shut, twirls the lock, and strolls out of school.

Melvin goes with her, of course, trotting along below her shoulder. The last

stragglers leave quietly.

Well this is where fate, an even bigger force than Priscilla, steps in. It snows all

that night, a blizzard. The whole town ices up. And school closes for a week.


“Priscilla and the Wimps”by Richard Peck

Listen, there was a time when you couldn’t even go to the rest room around this school without a pass. And I’m

not talking about those little pink tickets made out by some teacher. I’m talking about a pass that cost anywhere up

to a buck, sold by Monk Klutter.

Not that Mighty Monk ever touched money, not in public. The gang he ran, which ran the school for him, was

his collection agency. They were Klutter’s Kobras, a name spelled out in nailheads on six well-known black plastic

windbreakers.

Monk’s threads were more … subtle. A pile-lined suede battle jacket with lizard-skin flaps over tailored Levi’s

and a pair of ostrich-skin boots, brassed-toed and suitable for kicking people around. One of his Kobras did nothing

all day but walk a half step behind Monk, carrying a fitted bag with Monk’s gym shoes, a roll of rest-room passes, a

cash-box, and a switchblade that Monk gave himself manicures with at lunch over at the Kobras’ table.

Speaking of lunch, there were a few cases of advanced malnutrition among the newer kids. The ones who were

a little slow in handing over a cut of their lunch money and were therefore barred from the cafeteria. Monk ran a

tight ship.

I admit it. I’m five foot five, and when the Kobras slithered by, with or without Monk, I shrank. And I admit

this, too: I paid up on a regular basis. And I might add: so would you.

This school was old Monk’s Garden of Eden. Unfortunately for him, there was a serpent in it. The reason Monk

didn’t recognize trouble when it was staring him in the face is that the serpent in the Kobras’ Eden was a girl.

Practically every guy in school could show you his scars. Fang marks from Kobras, you might say. And they

were all highly visible in the shower room: lumps, lacerations, blue bruises, you name it. But girls usually got off

with a warning.

Except there was this one girl named Priscilla Roseberry. Picture a girl named Priscilla Roseberry, and you’ll be

light years off. Priscilla was, hands down, the largest student in our particular institution of learning. I’m not talking

fat. I’m talking big. Even beautiful, in a bionic way. Priscilla wasn’t inclined toward organized crime. Otherwise,

she could have put together a gang that would turn Klutter’s Kobras into garter snakes.

Priscilla was basically a loner except she had one friend. A little guy named Melvin Detweiler. You talk about

The Odd Couple. Melvin’s one of the smallest guys above midget status ever seen. A really nice guy, but, you know,

little. They even had lockers next to each other, in the same bank as mine. I don’t know what they had going. I’m

not saying this was a romance. After all, people deserve their privacy.

Priscilla was sort of above everything, if you’ll pardon a pun. And very calm, as only the very big can be. If

there was anybody who didn’t notice Klutter’s Kobras, it was Priscilla.

Until one winter day after school when we were all grabbing our coats out of our lockers. And hurrying, since

Klutter’s Kobras made sweeps of the halls for after-school shakedowns.

Anyway, up to Melvin’s locker swaggers one of the Kobras. Never mind his name. Gang members don’t need

names. They’ve got group identity. He reaches down and grabs little Melvin by the neck and slams his head against

Peck, Richard. “Priscilla and the Wimps.” Sixteen: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults. Ed. Donald R. Gallo. New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc., 1984.


his locker door. The sound of skull against steel rippled all the way down the locker row, speeding the crowds on

their way.

“Okay, let’s see your pass,” snarls the Kobra.

“A pass for what this time?” Melvin asks, probably still dazed.

“Let’s call it a pass for very short people,” says the Kobra, “a dwarf tax.” He wheezes a little Kobra chuckle at

his own wittiness. And already he’s reaching for Melvin’s wallet with the hand that isn’t circling Melvin’s windpipe.

All this time, of course, Melvin and the Kobra are standing in Priscilla’s big shadow.

She’s taking her time shoving her books into her locker and pulling on a very large-size coat. Then, quicker

than the eye, she brings the side of her enormous hand down in a chop that breaks the Kobra’s hold on Melvin’s

throat. You could hear a pin drop in that hallway. Nobody’s ever laid a finger on a Kobra, let alone a hand the size

of Priscilla’s. Then Priscilla, who hardly every says anything to anybody except to Melvin, says to the Kobra,

“Who’s your leader, wimp?”

This practically blows the Kobra away. First he’s chopped by a girl, and now she’s acting like she doesn’t know

Monk Klutter, the Head Honcho of the World. He’s so amazed, he tells her, “Monk Klutter.”

“Never heard of him,” Priscilla mentions. “Send him to see me.” The Kobra just backs away from her like the

whole situation is too big for him, which it is.

Pretty soon Monk himself slides up. He jerks his head once, and his Kobras slither off down the hall. He’s

going to handle this interesting case personally. “Who is it around here doesn’t know Monk Klutter?”

He’s standing inches from Priscilla, but since he’d have to look up at her, he doesn’t. “Never heard of him,”

says Priscilla.

Monk’s not happy with this answer, but by now he’s spotted Melvin, who’s grown smaller in spite of himself.

Monk breaks his own rule by reaching for Melvin with his own hands. “Kid,” he says, “you’re going to have to

educate your girl friend.”

His hands never quite make it to Melvin. In a move of pure poetry Priscilla has Monk in a hammerlock. His

neck’s popping like gunfire, and his head’s bowed under the immense weight of her forearm. His suede jacket’s

peeling back, showing pile.

Priscilla’s behind him in another easy motion. And with a single mighty thrust forward, frog-marches Monk

into her own locker. It’s incredible. His ostrich-skin boots click once in the air. And suddenly he’s gone, neatly

wedged into the locker, a perfect fit. Priscilla bangs the door shut, twirls the lock, and strolls out of school. Melvin

goes with her, of course, trotting along below her shoulder. The last stragglers leave quietly.

Well this is where fate, an even bigger force than Priscilla, steps in. It snows all that night, a blizzard. The

whole town ices up. And school closes for a week.

Give & Take Stories

Appendix D (Activity 4)

“Give & Take Stories”

Below are the texts narrated in each of the “Luna” and “Julie” Quests, along with the sources from which they were adapted.

Give and Take Stories with Julie, part 1

Version 1:When my brother Steve comes into the house, it’s like dapples of sun beneath the trees.

Bright, flickery, never staying long in one place. In one way, Steve is like my father: he’s tall, about six feet. But that’s where the resemblance ends. My father is all bones and angles, with a shock of white hair that sticks out like a scarecrow’s straw. But Steve is a mischievous boy, with a full lower lip and round cheeks, light sandy hair and hazel eyes. He drives an old blue Chevy convertible, and in the summer, when the top is down, his skin freckles and peels in the sun. But even when he spends months outside, like he did this summer, he doesn’t get hard or muscular. I wonder sometimes if he’ll always look as if he’s in high school.

(from Paper Doll, by Elizabeth Feuer, 1990)

Version 2:Mr. Gilroy’s idea of dinner is a paper plate swimming in Spaghettios, with a Del Monte

peach half in heavy syrup thrown in for variety. Huh! The Gilroys live in a ranch house on half an acre up in Inscape, near the bay, and Mr. Gilroy has crammed the yard with old cars, front seats of old cars, assorted old tires, a boat which no longer floats, rusted lawn mowers and broken garden tools, and an American flag, on a pole with the paint peeling off it, which has been raised one time only and never lowered. It flies on sunny days in hurricanes and through Christmas snows, a tattered red-white-and-blue thing that must resemble the rag Francis Scott Key spotted after the bombardment of Fort McHenry.

(from I’ll Love You when You’re More like Me, by M.E. Kerr, 1977)

Give and Take Stories with Julie, part 2

Version 1:My folks were high school sweethearts. They married each other the summer after they

graduated. Daddy went straight to work in the oil field and Mom checked groceries at the Safeway Store. Daddy started out as a roughneck on a Marathon crew Grandpa put together, and he’d worked himself up to derrick hand by the time Glen was born. He was a driller when I came along. He had his own crew and the money he made as a boss was what eventually helped Mom decide to quit her job at the store and start commuting to LSU-Shreveport three days a week to study nursing. They weren’t ever going to be anywhere near rich but they were beginning to get ahead. They were making it. They were steadily building a comfortable life for themselves in their hometown.

(from Roughnecks, by Thomas Cochran, 1997)

Version 2:

27

Tyler, 02/05/03,

In each case,version1is the lo-fi rendering, that is, the quest without the period at the end of the title.

Give & Take Stories

My parents were married in the Party Room of the Dominic Hotel in Atlantic City, with only her mother and his parents in attendance, along with a few lost partygoers who stumbled in from a bar mitzvah a couple of doors down. It was low-key, just what they needed, seeing that my mother’s father disapproved and refused to attend and my father’s family couldn’t afford much more than the Party Room for a couple of hours, a cake, and a cousin playing the piano; my father had paid for the justice of the peace. There are pictures of them all around one table together, my mother and father and grandmother and my father’s parents, plus some white-haired man in Buddy Holly glasses, each of them with a plate of half-eaten cake before them. This was the wedding party.

(from That Summer, by Sarah Dessen, 1996)

Give and Take Stories with Julie, part 3 (not in Story Inn—not for unit plan)

Version 1:I remember the first day at my new school. On the way to school I worked up my big

plan. So okay, it was an enormous school. I’d be a private citizen. I’d just go to classes and keep to myself. It’d probably be great for my grades. Adults can do that can’t they? They can just live their lives. They don’t have to join or fit in or anything. They don’t have to worry about who’s watching. I figured I’d try for invisibility. But that didn’t happen.

The first days were Registration in a gym big enough for zeppelins. Faculty sat at tables all around the walls. Once I found out which lines to stand in, I didn’t mind how long they were. I liked it out there in the deafening middle of the gym floor, being anonymous near the end of the line. I’d have let people go ahead of me if anybody had asked.

(from Princess Ashley, by Richard Peck, 1987)

Version 2:I remember the first time I stole anything. I don’t know what I expected. Maybe bells

going off and Mr. Clark, the old guy who owns the drugstore, grabbing my arm and saying, “Ah-ha! Caught ya red-handed!” Those were the exact words I expected, even heard in my head as I slipped the roll of Life Savers into my shorts pocket.

When we got outside, I grabbed Grace by the wrist and dragged her down the street. I was sweating and my heart was pumping so hard I was sure I was about to have a heart attack, and all I could think was, If I do have a heart attack right here on Center Street, and the paramedics come, they will discover this whole roll of Passion Fruit Life Savers in my pocket and somehow they whole sordid tale will come out, and my parents will not just be in mourning but disgraced as well.

I didn’t let go of Grace until we down to the docks.(from Ever After, by Rachel Vail, 1994)

Sharing Stories with Luna, part 1

Version 1:My Aunt Katherine’s house smelled of wet diapers and tuna fish, and it took a little

getting used to. I baby-sat a lot for her that year while she took classes at Adelphi, and it took about ten minutes of being in the house before I stopped smelling it. I guess Katherine, her husband, and the kids weren’t even aware of it. The place was a mess, but I guess three kids in six years is a lot. Katherine was always busy with the dishes, or she had the baby hanging on to her leg or something, but it didn’t seem to faze her.

28

Give & Take Stories

(from Ever After, by Rachel Vail, 1994)

Version 2:I remember sitting on the catwalk with my dear friends Alice Hacket and Bobb Shriner.

Alice is five feet four inches, has short black hair, and the palest skin imaginable, which she accents by wearing thick black mascara and deep red lipstick. Someday she’s either going to be a vampire or a really great character actress. Bobby is six feet tall and must weigh ninety pounds. He has deep blue eyes and long blonde dreadlocks that are the envy of every girl in school. He’s a fabulous artist, and someday he’s going to be a world-renown set designer. It’s wonderful to have friends that are going to be famous.

(from How I Changed My Life, by Todd Strasser, 1995)


Version 1:Mom and I went to the beach every day. There was a snack bar, run by a beautiful silver-

haired woman who had a sixteen-year-old daughter named Priscilla. But her nickname was Laura. Funny how you remember things like that; I mean, who cares? (I do, I guess.) They sold these ice-cream things called Rockets – vanilla fudge ice cream in a cylinder-shaped piece of cardboard with a stick at the bottom, which you pushed up. Mom and I called them Jets. And in the evenings Mom and I would walk to a lake nearby and watch the swans.

(from Second Star to the Right, by Deborah Hautzig, 1981)

Version 2:I used to go to Harbor Beach a lot, the public beach for North Bay, and it was all right,

but you could see factories and the Long Island Lighting Company building across the harbor. That kind of ruined the effect. Here, there was nothing but beach and water, the bay on one side, the harbor on the other. Sand, beach grass, a tide line of rocks and the broken shells, some large jagged gray rocks jutting out over the water. The only sign of civilization was the blanket that Michael had put down.

(from Blues for Silk Garcia, by Erika Tamar, 1983)


Version 1:I remember how my dad usually did the garden. He always planted seeds at the beginning

of July, which is why he only got a few tomatoes, maybe as big as marbles, before the first front. This must have happened for the last five years in a row, but he always did it the same, anyway. He had ideas about the way things should be done, and never let reality get in the way.

(from These are the Rules, by Paul Many, 1997)

Version 2:I never forgot our first autumn here. Dad wore his new glaring red plaid lumberjack shirt

from Abercrombie and got a terrible case of blisters all over his hands from the first leaf raking. I thought the village was on fire because everybody burned mounds of leaves as big as haystacks at the curbs. That was back when I was always at Dad’s elbow, “helping” him.

(from Are You in the House Alone?, by Richard Peck, 1976)

29

Give & Take Stories


Version 1:I remember this woman named Mira. She rode her bike everywhere, even at night, when

she attached an incredibly bright light to the handlebars, which occasionally blinded oncoming traffic. She lived off grilled chicken salad, homemade doughnuts, and junk cereal. She was constantly beginning projects: among other things, the living room contained a cane chair with a broken seat, halfway re-strung; a china pig with three legs, sitting next to a tube of Super Glue; and a toy bus with two missing wheels and a dented front fender, as if it had been in some kind of very violent accident.

At night, while she sat in front of the TV Mira worked on her projects. Nothing ever seemed to get completely fixed, just tinkered with and then labeled with a note. I came back one day to find she’d taken apart the alarm clock in my room – which, although I reset it each day, had been consistently five minutes behind – and then put it back together. She was very proud of herself until she discovered she’d left out one huge spring. The next day I’d snuck out to the drugstore and purchased a nice, new digital clock, which I kept hidden under my bed as if it was contraband and illegal just because it worked.

(from Keeping the Moon, by Sarah Dessen, 1999)

Version 2:Let me tell you about my dad, Russell Smith. He owns a grocery store called Russell’s

Market, which is a cross between Allen’s – this huge supermarket on Main Street – and a 7-Eleven, and doesn’t make a whole lot of money. He always brings home all the wilted vegetables, like carrots grown limp, their ends curled under. My mother feeds us all that wilted junk, usually in some kind of casserole, the veggies overcooked and mixed with Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. I’m not going to eat another cooked-vegetable casserole when I leave home.

Anyway, because of the store my dad is rarely home except on Sundays, when the store is closed, and then he goes to church with us, eats a big dinner, and naps the rest of the afternoon. During the week he comes home for dinner and stays long enough to watch Wheel of Fortune and then returns to work until about ten o’clock. When he’s not too tired, he will do his Vanna White imitation.

(from My Name is Sus5an Smith, by Louise Plummer, 1991).

30

Version A

Quest Atlantis Survey

Name: __________________________________ Date: ____________

In this activity, you will read a description of the city of New York. Then, you will answer some questions about what you have read.

Now read “New York City” and do the questions on the next page. You may look back at the story as often as you like.

Our visit to the record store had worked out perfectly. I had finally found a copy of my favorite band’s first compact disc. Tony and I walked from the store to the subway, swinging our CDs in a bag.

The city was filled with surprises. The sidewalks were like the record store, filled with so many different sounds. I heard trucks honking, doors slamming, and children laughing. A bearded man from India sat perfectly still, unaware of the crowds, almost asleep in all of the noise. Tony laughed, and I said, “I wish I could do that.”

We saw a lady with three kids all holding hands like a long chain, and they went into the subway station right in front of us.

We boarded the subway, and I glanced around. There were Tony and I with our records, the lady with her children in a long chain, and a dozen other people. They were all strangers, but special, because each person had a different face. Some looked old, with lines from smiling for so many years, some looked young and hopeful, and some looked tired from a hard day’s work. The subway shook and rattled like a huge metal snake, and we were inside, as if it had eaten us.

Then the subway surfaced from underground, and sunlight filtered through the dirty glass. We stepped out.

Version A, Page 2

1 The narrator says that his visit to the record store had worked out perfectly. On the lines below, explain what he meant.

2 The narrator describes New York City and the people he saw there. Give an example from the story that describes one of the people he saw.

3 When the narrator saw a man almost asleep in all of the noise, he said, “I wish I could do that.” Give an example from the story that shows the city as a noisy place.

4 The narrator says that the subway is like a snake. According to his description, how is the subway similar to a snake?

5 Why did the narrator say that the people on the subway were special?

Version A, Page 3

6 On the lines below, write ONE or TWO paragraphs describing some place that you remember. It can be near home or far away. Try to include details about the place and details about any people that you may have seen there. You may use a piece of scrap paper to plan your writing, if you want to.

Now check your writing using this Editing Checklist.

Editing Checklist1 Check your capitalization and punctuation.2 Spell all words correctly.3 Check for sentence fragments or run-on sentences.4 Keep verb tense consistent.5 Make sure subject and verb agree.6 Use words according to the rules of Standard English.7 Remember to paragraph correctly.

Version B

Quest Atlantis Survey

Name: __________________________________ Date: ____________

In this activity, you will read a description of the city of San Francisco. Then, you will answer some questions about what you have read.

Now read “San Francisco” and do the questions on the next page. You may look back at the story as often as you like.

The beaches of San Francisco were nothing like we expected. I walked with Cara from the restaurant down to the water. Instead of soft sand dunes, there were rocky cliffs and tiny stones that rolled over each time an ocean wave came to shore.

We looked up and down the beach, expecting to see people in swimsuits playing ball or lying in the sun, but we were all alone, except for an old man walking his dogs. Even though the sun was hidden behind the clouds, he wore sunglasses, and he also wore a long black coat that almost touched the ground. “I wish I had known how cold it would be,” I said to Cara.

We turned toward the sidewalk that stretched along the beach. There was a man selling hot dogs, two girls roller-skating, an old lady pushing a shopping cart full of clothes, and a dog sniffing around a trash can. It reminded me of a park at home, with all sorts of people doing different things.

Cara and I walked up to the hot dog stand—a small trailer with rusty wheels and tires painted white. In front of us, a little boy was squeezing ketchup on a hot dog. Then a breeze blew some paper napkins into the air. The boy laughed and chased them down the sidewalk.

Version B, Page 2

1 The narrator says that the beaches of San Francisco were different than what she expected. On the lines below, explain what she expected.

2 The narrator describes San Francisco and the people she saw there. Give an example from the story that describes one of the people she saw.

3 The narrator says, “I wish I had known how cold it would be.” Give an example from the story that shows the beach as a cold place.

4 The narrator describes two different places, the sandy beach near the water and the sidewalk. According to the narrator’s descriptions, how was the sandy beach different than the sidewalk?

5 Why did the sidewalk remind the narrator of the park she knew from home?

Version B, Page 3

6 On the lines below, write ONE or TWO paragraphs describing some place that you remember. It can be near home or far away. Try to include details about the place and details about any people that you may have seen there. You may use a piece of scrap paper to plan your writing, if you want to.

Now check your writing using this Editing Checklist.

Editing Checklist1 Check your capitalization and punctuation.2 Spell all words correctly.3 Check for sentence fragments or run-on sentences.4 Keep verb tense consistent.5 Make sure subject and verb agree.6 Use words according to the rules of Standard English.7 Remember to paragraph correctly.

QA RubricReviewer: __________________________________ Date: __________________________________Quester: __________________________________ Quest: __________________________________

Purpose: This rubric is to assess both the quest response and reflection according to the rubric below. Instructions: Respond to each of the following statements with regard to the extent to which the

description is present in the work. Then, tally your responses according to the chart at the page bottom. Note that while a Quester is completing her first few Quests, consider using this rubric leniently to foster motivation and buy-in.

1. Response 5 pts. 4 pts. 3 pts. 2 pts. 1 pt.

Strongly Agree

Agree Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree

a. The response is Accurate.(It addresses the targeted goals of the quest.)

Strongly Agree


b. The response is Credible.(It uses sound disciplinary content.)

Strongly Agree


c. The response is Meaningful.(It has value for the individual or world.)

Strongly Agree


d. The response is Original.(It is unique, imaginative, and risky, and it shows integrity.)

Strongly Agree


e. The response is Complete.(It addresses all of the stated goals.)

Strongly Agree


f. The response is Compassionate..(It has a sense of concern and sensitivity.)

If the tally for the response totals less than 19, indicate that the section should be revised; if the tally is 19 or above, then indicate that the work has been accepted.2. Reflection 5 pts. 4 pts. 3 pts. 2 pts. 1 pt.

Strongly Agree


a. The reflection is Complete.(It addresses the three components.)

Strongly Agree


b. The reflection is Critical.(It addresses specific strengths or weaknesses of the response or the process.)

Strongly Agree


c. The reflection is Comprehensive.(It accounts for all parts of the response rather than isolated elements.)

If the tally for the reflection totals less than 10, indicate that the section should be revised; if the tally is 10 or above, then indicate that the work has been accepted.

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