Interpreting Texts, Making Meaning: Starting Small

Classroom Activities

(The Quickwrite prompt, questions 3, 4, and 5 under "with the grain" and questions 1 and 2 under "against the grain" are derived from the ERWC Curriculum Binder.)

Activity #1 (7-10 days)

"With the grain"

Students will read the entire nonfiction text using two reading strategies: "with the grain" and "against the grain." Students will read "with the grain" during their first reading. Through this strategy, students will be reading for the main ideas by understanding the story line and for the most part agreeing with the author in order to develop their own interpretation. These ideas will be recorded in their student packets. As the first entry in their packets, students will respond to a two-minute QuickWrite. This scaffold will allow students to form connections between McCandless's world in the text and their personal journey towards life after high school.

Quickwrite Prompt: Think about some alternative plans you might have to

beginning college immediately after high school. What

might you do? Why would you do it, and for how long

could you see yourself doing that activity?

To begin with the first reading, the text will be divided into three sections:

Section 1: Chapters 1-7 - Chain of events

Section 2: Chapters 8-15 - Men who displayed similar behaviors

Section 3: Chapters 16-18 - McCandless's death, his motivations, and family

reactions

Students will stop at each section and form small groups in order to discuss and address questions to guide their comprehension and understanding of the text. They will record their responses and discussion in their packet.

Comprehension and discussion questions for Section 1:

1. Explain the significance of the last sentence in chapter 3.

2. Create and label a 4-column chart:

Column 1: Characters

Column 2: Where does McCandless meet these characters?

Column 3: McCandless's impact on the characters

Column 4: Textual evidence

Comprehension and discussion questions for Section 2:

3. What was McCandless like as a child and as a teen? What was he like

as an adult? Were there indications throughout his life as to the kind of

person he would become?

4. Do you think McCandless would fit into modern life – a job, a home, a mate, children? Why or why not?

Comprehension and discussion questions for Section 3:

5. Krakauer summarizes a response to his article in Outside Magazine by saying, "The prevailing Alaska wisdom held that McCandless was simply one more dreamy halfcocked greenhorn who went into the country expecting to find answers to all his problems and instead found only mosquitos and a lonely death" (72). Has Krakauer made the case that the prevailing Alaska wisdom is wrong? Why or why not?

"Against the grain"

Students will revisit and/or reread the text. With this strategy, students will now question the text and the author. Students will use the annotation strategy to highlight sections of the text where they will:

- Draw comparisons with author, McCandless, the papar, Everett Reuss using textual evidence

- Ask questions

- State disagreements

- Note points of confusion

- Compare McCandless's plans to the plans students have

In small groups and in their packets, students will discuss and record their responses to the following reading and discussion questions

1. Krakauer provides a lot of quotations from McCandless's journal in these

chapters. What is McCandless talking about? Why did Krakauer include these selections?

2. Krakauer quotes one of McCandless's friends, who said that McCandless "was born into the wrong century. He was looking for more adventure and freedom than today's society gives people" (174). Do you think this is true?

Activity #2 (2 days)

For this activity, students will focus specifically on chapters 14 and 15. At this point in the text, Krakauer transitions to his own experiences. Students may view these chapters as "interruptions" in the storyline. These two chapters provide the background information regarding Krakauer's own experience in Alaska. Students will still be reading against the grain as they evaluate the author's perception of McCandless's journey. In their packets, students will respond to the following questions:

1. Chapters 14 and 15 describe Krakauer's successful attempt when he

was 23 years old to climb the "Devil's Thumb," a mountain in Alaska. He also describes what he thinks are parallels between McCandless and himself. Do these chapters increase his credibility for writing this book, or do they undermine his credibility by making it seem like he has his own agenda and is not objective?

2. Are these two chapters necessary? Why or why not?

To end the first reading of the text, students will be tasked with a timed essay. The ERWC curriculum requires students to produce expository essays for the culmination of each unit. The prompt below comes from the Into the Wild module of the ERWC curriculum binder. The assignment tasks students with applying insights gained from the reading concerning their own lives and the people around them. The students will use their analysis of multiple perspectives in order to clarify their own positions. The students will have understood that the author never met McCandless, and that he made assumptions based on interviews and discoveries as a result of following McCandless after his death. The information Krakauer gathered is relayed through a multitude of perspectives.

Essay Prompt

You will have 45 minutes to plan and write an essay on the topic assigned

below. Before you begin writing, read the passage carefully and plan what you

will say. Your essay should be as well organized and carefully written as you can

make it.

Jon Krakauer writes:

McCandless didn't conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn't incompetent—he wouldn't have lasted 113 days if he were. And he wasn't a nutcase, he wasn't a sociopath, he wasn't an outcast. McCandless was something else—although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim, perhaps. (85)

What was Chris McCandless seeking in the wilderness? Do you think he found it before he died? Considering these questions and Krakauer's statement, write

an essay in which you define who Chris McCandless was and explain what he

was trying to do. Support your conclusions with evidence from your notes and

your reading of the text.

Activity #3 (1 day)

This activity will require the use of a computer lab as students will go online to the Christopher McCandless website to access the four letters by McCandless's siblings. Students will read each letter, and in their packets they will take notes on the perspective of each sibling. Students will still be reading against the grain. Students will be drawing distinctions from at least three perspectives: Krakauer's, McCandless's, and the siblings'. In drawing these distinctions, students will become competent in developing their own interpretations as they prepare to address the epigraphs.

1. What information do the siblings provide that Krakauer seems to have left out?

2. Are McCandless's siblings more credible or reliable than Krakauer? Why or why not?

Activity #4 (2-3 days)

Students will revisit a total of five epigraphs. For each epigraph, students will apply the color-coded annotations exercise. For the first epigraph, students will be given an enlarged photocopy of page 47 from the text. On this handout, students will first individually analyze the epigraph for the small details (e.g., tone, sensory details, purpose, theme) using different colored highlighters and various annotation symbols. When their annotations are complete, they will be asked to discuss their findings with a partner, and then share with the whole class. Students will respond to the focus question in their packets. During the whole class discussion, students will be given a focus question:

Does the epigraph lean more in favor or Krakauer's experiences at Devil's

Thumb or does it lean toward McCandless's journey?

For the remaining epigraphs, students will hand-copy the remaining epigraphs (one sheet of paper per epigraph) into their packets. They will repeat the annotation exercise by themselves. Once the individual work is complete, they will hold small group discussions to share their ideas. In addition to the first focus question, students will address a set of critical thinking questions:

1. Does his choice in epigraphs make Krakauer a reliable narrator?

2. Is the last paragraph of the book an effective ending to the book? Why or

why not?

3. Does Krakauer have an acceptable background to speak with authority on

this subject? Why or why not?