Thurs. Dec. 14 & Fri. Dec. 15, 2017: The Bear "Before" Questions

You have been instructed to go to the library and get the novel, The Bear, by Claire Cameron. You have also been given "before" questions to have answered by the end of class on Friday. It is essential these are done at this time as they are "before" reading activities.

I have linked the questions below for those who are absent.

Before Activity for The Bear

1.      Examine the book. What colours are present on the cover (front and back)?

2.      Symbolically, what do these colours most often represent (think positive and negative connotation and then expand)?

3.      Create a citation for this book using MLA formatting (“MLA Citation” booklet or Fit to Print).

4.      What is the image on the cover? What mood in the reader should this image reflect? Why (again, think positive and negative connotation and then expand).

5.      There is also an image on the binding (side). What does this image reflect about the personalities of both characters represented? Provide as much detail and connotation as you can.

6.      Paraphrase the information presented on the cover about what the book is about. Think of the five W’s to do this. From this, and from the visual clues, create a well-formatted three sentence summary. Don’t forget to include author, genre and title.

7.      Open the book up and read “Praise for The Bear.” After reading it all, determine the following:

·         How many reviews are presented?

·         How well-known are the “sources” of the reviews? How many have you heard of yourself? Write them down and then determine if what you know makes them positive or negative sources to rely on for an accurate review.

·         What stands out the most in the reviewers’ minds about the text?

·         Based on these reviews, what might “click” with you and allow you to have some interest in the text? Explain.

8.      There is a quote by Thornton Wilder prior to the “Contents” page. Read it and reflect. What do you think this means?  Explain.

9.      Examine the “Contents” page. How many sections are you going to have to read to complete this story? Write them down and then write down the number of pages per section.

10.  When the pages without writing and ends/beginnings of chapters are calculated, there are, in total, 229 pages of reading you will have to do. Through calculations, the average number of words on a page is 243. This means you will have to read 55647 words in total. The average reading time for this text is based on the grade nine objective of 215 – 260 wpm. To figure out the time, I divided the total word number by the reading time to get the time in minutes and then divided this number by 60 to get the hours. At 215 words per minute, it will take 4.5 hours. At 260 wpm, it will take 3.5 hours. Ask your instructor for your reading time (based on your Reading Plus assessment). How long will it take you to read the novel? 

11.  Based on your hours of reading as indicated by your scores, imagine I am giving you seven days (a week) to read this. How are you going to meet this objective? Explain.