Friday 1/25/13
What does it mean to summarize?
Looking at our Vocabulary Wall for
Unit 3, what vocabulary words are
important to creating a summary?
• Word Choice
• Concise Writing
Summary of Aaron’s Gift
As a child growing up in a small Jewish community in the
Ukraine, Aaron Kandels grandmother survived brutal attacks by
the Russian Czar's soldiers known as the Cossacks. Many years
after leaving her childhood home, she remembers those
traumatic events. In this story, Aaron, finds a pigeon with a
broken wing. After nursing it back to health, he plans to give it to
his grandmother for her birthday in hopes of easing some of that
pain. Later, amidst pressure from a neighborhood gang that
pretends to want the pigeon as a mascot, he finds himself torn
between his desire to surprise his grandmother and his desire to
belong. Finally he chooses to disobey his parents and join the
gang. However, during his initiation, he learns of their real plans
to kill the pigeon and fights to save the bird. Beaten and
disillusioned, he tells his parents and grandmother the truth. It is
then that he realizes that restoring the bird's freedom was the
real gift to his grandmother.
Another way to summarize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIKNI5fOu0
How was the Search Story like a summary?
You are going to create a Search
Story for “President Cleveland,
Where Are You?”
“President Cleveland, Where Are You?” (pgs. 230-240)
Create the following chart and complete it by
analyzing the main characters’ traits, problems,
choices, and motives in the stories “President
Cleveland, Where Are You?” and “Aaron’s Gift.”
Jerry
What are the
character’s traits?
What problems does
he face?
What choices does
he make?
What are his motives
for his choices?
Aaron