UNIT 3: RESEARCHING MULTIPLE
PERSPECTIVES TO DEVELOP A
POSITION
Lesson 1: Using a Seed Text as a
Springboard to Research
July 30, 2015
Reminder: Independent Reading Journals
•  Deadline for
Journals changed:
Thursday, August
7
•  All marks must be in
for Friday – No
extensions!
A Note on Marking/Grades
•  Updated marks will be available on Tuesday
•  Will include poetry project, creative writing activity, and 1st
part of the Final exam.
•  I am unable to hand the final back to you for security
purposes.
What is the Nobel Peace Prize?
•  One of 5 Nobel Prizes
•  Awarded in Dec.
annually
•  Winner "shall have done
the most or the best
work for fraternity
between nations, for the
abolition or reduction of
standing armies and for
the holding and
promotion of peace
congresses.”
Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel
•  Author, professor,
political activist
•  Won prize in 1986
•  Holocaust survivor
“Hope, Despair and Memory”
•  Text is of Weisel’s Nobel Lecture in 1986
•  Listen and follow along carefully
•  Write/highlight words, terms, or ideas that strike you from
the reading.
Close Reading
•  Reread paragraphs 1-4
•  Annotate paragraphs
•  Look for central ideas/themes
•  Mark them with CI (Central Idea)
•  Key Vocab – Mark on text
•  Messiah: In Judaism and Christianity, the promised savior of
humanity
•  Litany: In many religions, a ritual repetition of prayers.
Question for your table #1
•  Why does Weisel begin his lecture with a legend?
Quickwrite #1:
•  Determine one or more central ideas in the text and
explain how they develop in paragraphs 1-4.
Self-Assessment
Central Ideas
•  memory, hope, suffering, solidarity
Examples of Evidence
•  The importance of memory is developed through the story of
the Besht. The Besht was punished for trying to meddle with
history. His powers were taken away and he lost his memory
entirely. The Besht’s servant, however, remembers the
alphabet, which enables the Besht to remember and recover
“his powers”
•  Wiesel believes that a life without memory would be terrible
and isolating: “without memory, our existence would be barren
and opaque like a prison cell into which no light penetrates”.
Wiesel goes on to describe memory as an ultimate source of
salvation for everyone: “memory saved the Besht, and if
anything can, it is memory that will save humanity” .
Close Reading
•  Read and annotate paragraphs 5-7
•  Focus should be on rhetorical strategies and central ideas
Quick Write #2
Identify particularly effective uses of rhetoric in paragraphs
5–7 and explain how they contribute to the power of the
text.
Self-Assessment
•  Varied syntax in “He is alone. On the verge of despair” (par. 5);
•  reflects the young man’s condition, illustrating the young moves
slowly, disjointedly, readjusting to life after the war. When he
protects himself with memory, the sentences elongate he is more
confidence.
•  figurative language in the comparison of memory to a shield (par. 5);
•  memory affords protection from difficult or painful circumstances
•  parallel structure in “His mother, his father, his small sister” (par. 5)
and “he does not give up,” “he strives,” “he acquires,” “he makes”);
•  suggests that as the young man “readjust[s] to life,” he is going
slowly and methodically, with the shield of memory to protect him
•  imagery, to describe how “children looked like old men, old men
whimpered like children” (par. 7) and the “nameless and faceless
creatures” (par. 7);
•  paradox in “Even their silence was the same for it resounded with the
memory of those who were gone” (par. 7).).
Emerging Issues
•  In your groups, please brainstorm and discuss 3-4 issues
that have come up in paragraphs 1-7 in “Hope, Despair
and Memory”
Close Reading
•  Read and annotate paragraphs 8-11
Quick Write #3
•  How does Wiesel further develop the idea of memory in
paragraphs 8-11?
Self-Assessment
In this section, Wiesel contradicts his earlier idea of
memory as a shield (par. 5). In this section, memory
elicits “real despair” after the war when the prisoners
were released and as they began to “search for
meaning” (par. 8). For the survivors memory became
impossible to escape: “for the first time in history, we
could not bury our dead” (par. 10). Although relief
should have followed the suffering, it did not, and that
is what caused the “real despair” (par. 8). However, at
the very end of this section, Wiesel reiterates his faith
in “memory that will save humanity” (par. 3), when he
states, “forgetting was never an option” (par. 11).).
Close Reading
•  Read and annotate paragraphs 12-17
•  Remember to look for central ideas, rhetorical strategies,
and emerging issues.
Quick Write
•  How do two or more themes/central ideas build on one
another and interact over the course of the text?
Self Assessment
Central Ideas: memory, hope, solidarity, suffering
•  Wiesel states that “it is memory that will save humanity” (par. 3)
and develops this idea of memory by providing examples from
the Jewish tradition such as Yom Hazikaron, when “man appeals
to God to remember” (par. 12) so that man will not “repeat past
disasters, past wars” (par. 12);
•  the ideas of memory and solidarity build on each other as Wiesel
recounts the stories of friendship and hope during the Holocaust,
such as the “sick beggar” who “began to sing as an offering to
his companions” (par. 16) as well as the girl who comforted her
grandmother even during extreme suffering;
•  Wiesel builds upon the ideas of solidarity and memory when he
states that “Each one of us felt compelled to bear witness” (par.
17); the act of sharing the stories in paragraph 16 is a way of
showing and maintaining solidarity through remembrance.
Developing Inquiry Questions
Sample Topic: The importance of remembering
Inquiry questions:
•  What are the physical processes that cause memory?
•  What are the scientific aspects of memory?
•  What are the psychological effects of remembering too
much?
•  When did humans first define the importance of
memory?
•  Is there anyone who has been able to remember
everything that has ever happened to them?
Inquiry Questions Activity
Central Ideas/Emerging Ideas
•  Memory and suffering
•  Memory and forgetting
•  Solidarity
•  Passivity
•  Nationalism
•  Xenophobia
•  Religious fanaticism
•  Anti-Semitism
•  Repressing the past
Generating Inquiry Questions Activity
•  At your table, chose 3 central/emerging ideas that interest
you. Generate 5 inquiry questions for each idea (15
questions total)
•  ONLY 1 RULE: THE QUESTIONS MUST RELATE TO
CANADA SOMEHOW!!!!
•  Hint: Think about what is covered in Socials 11…you will come
across many examples of things that people would rather forget
than deal with!
Pick your inquiry question
Spend 5 minutes learning some basics about the topic.
Wikipedia is ok for this,
Close Reading
•  Read and annotate paragraphs 18-23
•  Pay special attention to the use of rhetoric.
Quick Write #5
•  Determine how Wiesel’s use of rhetoric advances his
purpose in paragraphs 18-23
Self-Assessment
Wiesel’s purpose in this portion of text is to articulate the hope
that the Holocaust survivors’ personal accounts and histories will
inspire humanity to work toward peace.).
Wiesel’s use of parallel structure advances his purpose because
it reveals that though some documents of survivors are
“unpublished” they are equal in importance to those that are
“known throughout the world” (par. 18). This contributes to a
powerful understanding that all the documents are important
accounts regardless of whether or not they are widely known.
This structure contributes to the power of the text because it
illustrates there are so many important accounts that have not
been read that still “bear witness” (par. 17) to the experiences of
the victims and survivors.).
Selecting and Refining Questions
With a partner, look over the inquiry question that you were
most interested in. Answer the following questions:
•  Are you genuinely interested in answering your question?
•  Can your question truly be answered through your
research?
•  Is the question clear?
•  What sort of answers does your question require?
•  Do you already know what the answer is?
Look up these terms – 10 minutes
•  Lech Walesa
conflict
•  Apartheid
•  Boat people
(Vietnam)
•  Iran hostage crisis
•  Istanbul synagogue •  Desaparecidos
(Argentina)
massacre
•  Khmer Rouge
•  Paris massacre of
(Cambodia)
1961
•  Ethiopian Civil War
•  Refuseniks
•  Miskito People
•  Israeli-Palestinian
Close Reading
•  Read and annotated paragraphs 24-26. Pay close
attention to the development of central ideas
Quick Write # 6
How do two or more themes/central ideas interact and build
on one another in this portion of text?
Self-Assessment
•  Wiesel still calls upon memory as a means of hope: “we must
remember the suffering” (par. 26). Even though these atrocities
have taken place or are ongoing it is still important to
remember and strive to end this suffering.
•  Wiesel builds upon the ideas of memory and suffering by
illustrating the problems that are going on in the world at the
time he presented the lecture. Governments who practice
“torture and persecution” (par. 24) and oppress people like
Lech Walesa, who formed a labor union to promote the rights of
workers, are perpetuating suffering. Wiesel characterizes this
suffering as a “defeat of memory” (par. 24). By providing
instances of suffering, Wiesel is reinforcing the importance of
memory to prevent future suffering as well and the disbelief that
follows the failure to prevent suffering.
Argument Terms
•  Central Claim: An author or speaker’s main point about an
issue in an argument.
•  Supporting Claim: A smaller, related point that reinforces or
advances the central claim.
•  Counterclaim: A claim that is opposed to an author’s central
claim.
•  Evidence: The topical and textual facts, events, and ideas from
which the claims of an argument arise, and which are cited to
support those claims.
•  Reasoning: The logical relationships among ideas, including
relationships among claims and relationships across evidence.
Term Activity
Annotate Wiesel’s central claim and supporting claims.
Close Reading
•  Read and annotate paragraphs 27-29. Pay attention to
central arguments.
Examining an Argument
•  What is Wiesel’s central claim?
•  What kinds of evidence does Wiesel present throughout
the text?
•  How do these various kinds of evidence support Wiesel’s
argument?
•  What evidence is presented in paragraphs 24-26?
•  How does this evidence support Wiesel’s claims?
•  How do paragraphs 24-29 support Wiesel’s central claim?
CENTRAL CLAIM
Humanity must use the power of memory to stand up
against injustice and war.
“Mankind needs to remember more than ever. Mankind
needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet,
threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction”