The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Week 21 March 3/5
Read chp 1-2.
Respond to the book in one of three ways as you consider these story elements: character, plot, setting.
a) Think about characters: select a character and create (on paper) a fake social media page for that character What kinds of posts would they make? What comments would be made on those posts from the other characters? Use the text as a guide and ake at least four posts (Source: Instructional Guide: The Outsiders).
b) Think about plot: Towards the end of chp 2, Ponyboy thinks that the Socs have it made, but by the end of the chapter he says “I know better now.” Imagine for a day that Ponyboy wakes up as a Soc instead of a greaser. How would his life be different? Create two journal entries in Ponyboy’s voice, one written from his normal perspective and one as a Soc.
c) Think about setting: This novel was published in 1967. If it were told today, how would the following setting elements change? Make a before and after chart showing the differences. (Optional bonus tickets: interview a grandparent about growing up in the 60s.
Soc vs. greasers
Corvairs and Mustangs
Social hangout places
Names of characters
How they fight one another
Vocabulary
Here’s the vocabulary list for the entire book. Print this and store it in your binder. Make flash cards for the first 12 words for chp 1-3. Format: word & illustration on one side, definition, part of speech, synonym on other side.
Slang: out of the cooler = out of jail, rolled = robbed, savvy = to understand (from the French savoir), fuzz = police
Bonus Home Fun: Optional for S & Z: Log into our vocabulary.com classroom (see button at the top of the HW page) and start mastering the words from the first few chapters of the book. Top few students in class earn ELH tickets. Can you amass more word mastery points than your classmates?
Week 22 March 10 or 12
Read Chp 3-5 of the book
Respond to the novel by answering these four discussion questions OR fill out an Above Ground & Below Ground quotation form (here’s pdf of that form) For the Above Ground and Below Ground form, choose one important quotation from the novel. The above ground reflection on that passage is about what it says and how it says it. The below ground portion is about what it MEANS. (If you do both discussion questions and the above ground/below ground form you get double tickets— I’m shortening the HW but I’m doing this late in the week.)
Work on your vocabulary flashcards:
Finish your chp 1-3 vocab flashcards (about 24 words— the list has the definition on them. Format: word & illustration on one side, definition, part of speech, synonym on other side. Here’s the vocabulary list. Print this and store it in your binder.
1960’s Slang terms to know for these chapters… - soused = drunk, crocked = drunk, chips are down = when things get serious or difficult (a gambling reference), fiend = one who craves or is addicted to something, green around the gills = looking ill or nauseated
Optional for S & Z: Log into our vocabulary.com classroom nd start mastering the words from the first few chapters of the book. Top few students in class earn ELH tickets. Can you amass more word mastery points than your classmates?
Week 23 March 17/19
Read Chp 6-7 of the book.
Everyone respond to this series of questions: if bravery is courage in the face of fear, how is Cherry brave? What does she risk for kids she barely knows? Have you ever had to be socially brave? How might you look for ways to help others even if it scares you? We will have a whole group discussion about Cherry’s role in the plot and her character.
Now choose just ONE of these additional ways to respond to the book:
Respond to the Analyzing Literature page in this chp 6-7 pdf
Respond to the Close Reading the Literature page in this chp 6-7 pdf
Do the Making Connections - Difficult Family Situations page in this chp 6-7 pdf
Vocabulary:
Make flashcards for chp 4-6 vocabulary (next column). Word & illustration on one side, definition, part of speech, synonym on other side.) Here’s the vocabulary list for the entire book. Print this and store it in your binder.
1960’s Slang terms to know for these chapters… give a hang and give a Yankee dime = care/ or don’t care, weed-fiend = smoking addict, beefed him = bothered him, JD = juvenile deliquents = kids under 18 who break the law.
Optional for S & Z: Log into our vocabulary.com classroom (see button at the top of the HW page) and start mastering the words from the first few chapters of the book. Top few students in class earn ELH tickets. Can you amass more word mastery points than your classmates?
Week 24 March 24/26, 2024
Read Chp 8-9
Decide which of the following essay prompts you will choose for your response to literature (end-of-book) essay which you’ll write after spring break but will begin thinking about now.
OPTION #1 - CHARACTER EVOLUTION: How does Ponyboy change over time? How does the author reveal these changes in Ponyboy’s character? Find and mark evidence for this.
OPTION #2 -CHARACTER INSIDE VS OUTSIDE: What is one of the main characters - Dally, Darry, Sodapop, Johnny, or Ponyboy - like on the outside vs. what they feel/value on the inside? How are these different? Why? Find and mark evidence for this.
OPITION #3 - THEME: Finish this sentence: “One important theme of The Outsiders is….” (Remember, a theme is a message the book conveys about a topic such as friendship, violence, loyalty, loss of innocence, social classes etc.) Print a copy of this chart for keeping track of topics and possible themes about those topics (PDF version here). Fill this form out.
OPTION #4 - CHARACTER AND THEME COMBINED: This is a high school AP test essay prompt.
“It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work [meaning of the work means theme] as a whole.” (Source: 2014 AP® ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS) Find and mark evidence for this.
3. Vocabulary: no new flash cards. (Unless you want to get ahead and start working on the last list.)
1960’s Slang terms to know for these chapters… - juiced up = excited, no-count = useless, not worth noticing, skin rumble = fight with fists (skin) not weapons
Week 25 - March 31/April 2
(Next two weeks are spring break. Get this done early so you can be 100% done with FS HW over break.)
Finish Novel chp 10-12
Find more evidence for the essay/paragraph option you chose (see options posted on week 24).
Vocabulary:
1/2 of the last vocabulary list: (word & illustration on one side, definition, part of speech, synonym on other side.) Here’s the vocabulary list for the entire book. Print this and store it in your binder.
1960’s Slang terms to know for these chapters… what’s the sweat = what’s the worry, beefs = complaints, racked up = upset; unstable
Optional for S & Z: Log into our vocabulary.com classroom (see button at the top of the HW page) and start mastering the words from the first few chapters of the book. Top few students in class earn ELH tickets. Can you amass more word mastery points than your classmates?
INCOMPLETE Week 26 After Spring Break - April 21/23 2025
VOCABULARY: Finish the last vocabulary list. Here’s the vocabulary list
Optional: If you want to polish your in-class paragraph/essay you may do that. NEED RUBRIC AND OUTLINE HERE
OPTION #1 - CHARACTER EVOLUTION: How does Ponyboy change over time? How does the author reveal these changes in Ponyboy’s character? Find and mark evidence for this.
OPTION #2 -CHARACTER INSIDE VS OUTSIDE: What is one of the main characters - Dally, Darry, Sodapop, Johnny, or Ponyboy - like on the outside vs. what they feel/value on the inside? How are these different? Why? Find and mark evidence for this.
OPITION #3 - THEME: Finish this sentence: “One important theme of The Outsiders is….” (Remember, a theme is a message the book conveys about a topic such as friendship, violence, loyalty, loss of innocence, social classes etc.) Print a copy of this chart for keeping track of topics and possible themes about those topics (PDF version here). Fill this form out.
OPTION #4 - CHARACTER AND THEME COMBINED: This is a high school AP test essay prompt.
“It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work [meaning of the work means theme] as a whole.” (Source: 2014 AP® ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS) Find and mark evidence for this.
3. Vocabulary: no new flash cards. (Unless you want to get ahead and start working on the last list.)
1960’s Slang terms to know for these chapters… - juiced up = excited, no-count = useless, not worth noticing, skin rumble = fight with fists (skin) not weapons
Subject vs. Topic vs. Theme
Subject = sentence about the characters and conflict and is very specific to that book.
The subject of The White Camel of Fez is a boy in 11th century Morocco and his efforts to save his rare white camel and the people he meets along this journey.
Topic = one or two words that describe what a literary work is about.
Some topics in this book include: loyalty, friendship, parent-child relationships, travel, honor, sacrifice, interpretations of faith, tribal strife, human - animal interactions
Theme = argument or point the work makes about that topic.
A theme is a central message of the novel which can be stated in a sentence (not just one word). Theme answers the question: what is the author’s message about loyalty (a topic) in Johnny Tremain?
“Themes are often subject to the reader’s perception and interpretation. This means that readers may find primary and/or secondary themes in a work of literature that the author didn’t intend to convey. Therefore, theme allows for literature to remain meaningful, ‘living’ works that can be revisited and analyzed” for generations (Literary Devices: Definitions and Examples of Literary Themes).
Note: sometimes we use theme and topic interchangably. But in a literature class, when your teacher asks you to articulate a theme or write about a theme, she’s asking you for a sentence about a work’s message that can be applied to humans across time, such as “absolute power can corrupt even the most honest person.”
Examples of a subject vs. topic vs. theme vs. subject from Romeo and Juliet.
Subject: teenagers from feuding families who fall in love and are willing to sacrifice everything to be together
Topic: love
Theme: the power and urgency of romantic love can transcend cultural boundaries and family vendettas. Or the power of love and the “futility of other’s attempts to stop it” (Literary Devices: Definitions and Examples of Literary Themes).
Hamburger Paragraph Format
Bun = topic sentences with TAG (title, author, genre) and a thesis which also includes a road map. A thesis is your argument or controlling idea. A road map lists your two main ideas or parts of the story that support your thesis.
Cheese = introduce the quotation by providing context- what is happening in the novel when when this passage occurs.
Meat/Protein = the quotation or summary (evidence). Use parenthetical citations correctly like this: “Blah, blah, blah, blah,” (Sophocles 37). If you’ve already mentioned the author’s last name, you don’t need to use it in the citation.
We’re using MLA9 (Modern Language Association edition 9) format so that’s (author’s last name page number). No comma in-between last name and page number, nor before the end quotation mark in this edition of the MLA formatting guidelines.
Sample: David exclaims, “blah-blah-blah” (Sanderson 245). This passage reveals…. Or if you’ve already used the author’s last name somewhere in the essay and aren’t quoting other sources you can just insert the page number David exclaims, “blah-blah-blah” (245).
Here are a few samples directly from Purdue’s writing website, The Purdue Owl
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:
Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. Oxford UP, 1967.
Lettuce = explain how the quotation supports your thesis/claim. Use verbs that show the connection beteween the evidence and your thesis. Example: This passage reveals/ demonstrates/ shows/ illustrates/ that Samir no longer….
Bottom bun = conclusion which freshly restates your thesis/claim and if possible, includes a so-what (why this matters). Note, try to avoid the phrase “in conclusion” if you can as it feels stiff.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
TOPICS AND THEMES: As you read, what topics do you notice? What is the author’s message about this topic?
CHARACTER EVOLUTION: How does Ponyboy change over time? How does the author reveal these changes in Ponyboy’s character?
CHARACTER INSIDE VS OUTSIDE: What is one of the main characters - Dally, Darry, Sodapop, Johnny, or Ponyboy - like on the outside vs. what they feel/values on the inside? How are these different? Why?
Reading Schedule for The Outsiders, Spring Semester of 2025
Assignments for each week are in the next section.
Week 21 March 3/5 Read Chp 1 & 2
Week 22 March 10/12 Read Chp 3-5
Week 23 March 17/19 Read Chp 6-7
Week 24 March 24/26, 2024 Read chp 8-9
Week 25 March 31/April 2 Finish Novel chp 10-12
AP Literature Essay Prompt for The Outsiders
Your essay should
Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning (the claims you make in your thesis)
Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning (your claims)
Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
VALUES: It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole. (Source: 2014 AP® ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS)
Think about how this question applies to The Outsiders. What does the protagonist sacrifice for initially? And what is he willing to sacrifice for by the novel’s end? Why? What does this sacrifice reveal about what he values? Does this change and if so, what does that change reveal? Why? What does this sacrifice reveal about what he values?
ANNOTATIONS
Why do I have you annotate? Because annotation makes you slow down and really think about what you are reading and think about the writer’s craft. Lots of research shows that annotating significantly improves ones understanding and recall of what we read. Remember annotating has the word NOTE in the middle of it. Annotating is NOT HIGHLIGHTING. Annotating is making notes on the text. You might also highlight an important part but if you are only highlighting you are NOT actually annotating.
What should I annotate?
summarize important plot developments
character traits and how characters change
important topics or themes
literary devices such as: similes, metaphors, personification, parallelism.
connections-of what does this passage remind you?
your reaction