SH-5 Vocab/Questions Journal

Slaughterhouse-Five  

Vocabulary and Question Journal

Part A: Vocabulary

For this unit on Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five we will keep a word journal like we did with Henry V but with a few changes. Please make 15 entries total (either typed or hand-written) that covers the scope of the reading. Follow the steps below for each entry:

a. Write out at least seven words of the sentence where your word appears, including the word underlined and the page number.

b. Before looking up a word’s definition, write down what you think the word means based on context clues and/or the root word.

c. Include the part of speech your word belongs to and write a brief definition in your own words.

d. Use it in your own sentence as the same part of speech you identified.

Vocab Entry Example:

a. “His mother was incinerated in the Dresden firestorm” (2).

b. The root “ciner” sounds like cinder and along with the term firestorm the word seems to have something to do with burning.

c. to destroy by burning (verb)

d. The old man was arrested by the EPA after he incinerated toxic trash in his back yard filling the neighborhood with dangerous carcinogens. 

Part B: Questioning

Please make 15 entries total that covers the scope of the reading.  For each entry:

·       Ask a question about style, plot, anything you want that is related to the book somehow.  If you need more guidance, consider the 5 different types of questions found on the back of this assignment.

·       Include the page number of the text where you thought of your question.

Question Entry Example:

1. p. 22: Is Vonnegut writing an autobiography or a fictional piece like I was told? 

Due: April 20                          Worth: 30 points

WORLD CONNECTION QUESTION:

Write a question connecting the text to the real world.

Example: If you were given only 24 hours to pack your most precious belongings in a back pack and to get ready to leave your home town, what might you pack? (After reading the first 30 pages of NIGHT).

CLOSE-ENDED QUESTION:

Write a question about the text that will help everyone in the class come to an agreement about events or characters in the text. This question usually has a "correct" answer.

Example: What happened to Hester Pyrnne's husband that she was left alone in Boston without family? (after the first 4 chapters of THE SCARLET LETTER). OPEN-ENDED QUESTION:

OPEN-ENDED QUESTION:

Write an insightful question about the text that will require proof and group discussion and "construction of logic" to discover or explore the answer to the question.

Example: Why did Gene hesitate to reveal the truth about the accident to Finny that first day in the infirmary? (after mid-point of A SEPARATE PEACE).

UNIVERSAL THEME/ CORE QUESTION:

Write a question dealing with a theme(s) of the text that will encourage group discussion about the universality of the text.

Example: After reading John Gardner's GRENDEL, can you pick out its existential elements?

LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTION:

Write a question dealing with HOW an author chose to compose a literary piece. How did the author manipulate point of view, characterization, poetic form, archetypal hero patterns, for example?

Example: In MAMA FLORA'S FAMILY, why is it important that the story is told through flashback?