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Students learn to make a claim and write an introduction. They also analyze the character development of the story’s narrator, Claudette.
1. Review Vocabulary
- vied (v.)
- aptitudes (n.)
- catastrophic (adj.)
- bliss (n.)
- vacant (adj.)
- compassion (n.)
- rehabilitated (v.)
- confounding (adj.)
2. Read closely
In this passage, the narrator, Claudette, describes her own place in the pack and her interactions with Mirabella during a disastrous trip to feed the ducks.
- Read “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell, pp. 232–235, the conclusion of the Stage 2 portion of “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” (from “I was one of the good girls” to “Then I congratulated myself. This was a Stage 3 thought”).
3. Answer questions
Answers can be simple phrases, you do not need to use full sentences — I’m primarily assessing your comprehension of the text.
- Why does the narrator choose to stay in the “middle of the pack”?
- How does the statement “I’d begun to snarl at my own reflection as if it were a stranger” develop Claudette’s character?
- Why would failing be a “catastrophic bliss”?
- How do the events at the duck pond further develop Claudette’s character?
- According to the slides the nuns show Claudette as punishment, what happens to “former wolf-girls” who fail “to be rehabilitated”?
- At the top of page 233, Claudette states, “The pack hated Jeanette, but we hated Mirabella more.” Why does the pack hate Mirabella more?
- How does Russell develop Claudette’s character at the end of Stage 2 on p. 235 (from “’Lick your own wounds,’ I said not unkindly” to “Then I congratulated myself. This was a Stage 3 thought”)?
4. Claims and Introduction (class notes)
Claims
A claim is a statement about a topic or text. A claim should be based on evidence and may be a response or answer to a prompt.
- Prompt: How does Russell introduce a central idea in this excerpt?
- Claim: Russell introduces a central idea of human identity versus wolf identification by showing how the behavior of the pack and the nuns changes over time.
- Evidence: In Stage 1 the nuns give the pack “free rein”(p. 227), but in Stage 2 the nuns make them do “walking drills” (p. 229) like human girls, which makes the pack feel “irritated, bewildered, depressed” (p. 229).
A claim is an important part of an introduction to a piece of writing.
Introductions
An effective introduction:
- Introduces the topic by making a claim in response to a prompt.
- Identifies the title and author of the text.
- Provides paraphrased examples to support the claim.
- Organizes the examples logically so that they build upon one another.
5. Short essay response (quick write)
- Lesson 7. How does Russell introduce and develop the character of Claudette?
Include this lesson’s vocabulary wherever possible to develop the topic through the use of well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient evidence. Use your Short Response Rubric and Checklist to guide your written responses.
6. Independent Work (*advanced group)
- Review the events of Stage 2, and use the Epigraph Effect Tool to explain the relationship between these events and the epigraph.
- Review your Quick Write response from Lesson 6 and add textual evidence to the response, using paraphrases and direct quotations.