Anchor Text with Text-Dependent Questions:

“Hope, Despair and Memory.” By Elie Wiesel. This is an excerpt from the text of the speech Elie Wiesel made when he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize. The speech refers to his Holocaust experience and the obligations we have to remember such events. http://sites.google.com/site/nightcclsmodule/

Text, page or paragraph reference / Text-dependent questions / CSO’s addressed
It is with a profound sense of humility that I accept the honor – the highest there is – that you have chosen to bestow upon me. I know your choice transcends my person. / Using context clues, what can you determine about the meaning of the word bestow?
Scaffolding:
What is the occasion of the speech?
What does it mean to accept an honor?
What other words might have hindered your reading of this paragraph?
Scaffolding:
What does hindering mean?
How can word hinder reading?
What does the word transcends mean? / ELA.9.L.C17.3 acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Do I have the right to represent the multitudes who have perished? Do I have the right to accept this great honor on their behalf? I do not. No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions. And yet, I sense their presence. I always do – and at this moment more than ever. The presence of my parents, that of my little sister. The presence of my teachers, my friends, my companions…. / How does Wiesel’s use of rhetoric advance the point of view?
Scaffolding:
What is rhetoric?
What are the rhetorical questions?
Why does Wiesel sense the presence of his parents, sister, teachers, friends and companions?
Scaffolding:
What does Wiesel say about the dead and their dreams, visions and presence?
How is the use of the word mutilated effective in the comprehension of this sentence?
Scaffolding:
What does mutilate mean?
How can you mutilate a dream or a vision? / ELA.9.R.C2.6 determine an author’s point of view or purpose in an informational text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
ELA.9.L.C17.3 acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
This honor belongs to all the survivors and their children and, through us to the Jewish people with whose destiny I have always identified.
I remember: it happened yesterday, or eternities ago. A young Jewish boy discovered the Kingdom of Night. I remember his bewilderment, I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed. / Why does this honor belong to all the survivors?
In understanding the author’s purpose, why is it important to know with whom Wiesel aligns his destiny?
Scaffolding:
What is a survivor?
What does “align” mean?
Have you ever “aligned” with any person(s) or groups?
What might the “Kingdom of Night” represent?
Scaffolding:
What connotations do we associate with the word “night”?
Why is “Kingdom” capitalized?
What is deportation?
Scaffolding:
How can you break the word apart? What does deport mean?
How does the writer use parallel structure in his speech?
How is this passage symbolic? Why does he refer to “the future of mankind”?
Scaffolding:
How is “fiery altar” symbolic?
What is the extended metaphor in the passage?
Scaffolding:
What is an extended metaphor?
How does the passage you selected fit this definition? / ELA.9.R.C2.6 determine an author’s point of view or purpose in an informational text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
ELA.9.R.C2.6 determine an author’s point of view or purpose in an informational text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
ELA.9.L.C17.3 acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
ELA.9.L.C15.1 demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
·  use parallel structure.
ELA.9.SL.C13.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
·  propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify or challenge ideas and conclusions.
I remember he asked his father: “Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could this world remain silent?” / Where does the shift in narration occur?
Why is the shift effective?
Scaffolding:
What is third person?
(Note to teacher: the next paragraph will continue this shift process and further explanation will be needed)
What does the boy mean when he says, “This is …..not the Middle Ages.”?
Scaffolding:
Why is the comparison of time periods important?
What are the crimes to which he refers?
Scaffolding:
Why is the time period important?
How are these crimes different from what we usually consider a “crime”? / ELA.9.SL.C13.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
·  respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning
And now the boy is turning to me. “Tell me,” he asks, “what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?” And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices. / Who is the young boy?
Scaffolding:
What clues are you given to the young boy’s identity?
How does the previous paragraph help us understand who the boy really is?
What is the “memory”?
Scaffolding:
Why is it important for the narrator to let the boy know he kept the memory alive?
What is an accomplice?
How does forgetting make “we” guilty of being accomplices?
Scaffolding:
Who are the people referred to as “we”?
How can the victims become accomplices?
Scaffolding:
Why are these people victims? / ELA.9.SL.C13.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
·  respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
ELA.9.L.C17.3 acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
ELA.9.SL.C13.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
·  respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
And then I explain to him how naïve we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and woman are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe. / How does neutrality help the oppressor, never the victim?
Scaffolding:
What is neutrality?
What does “oppressor” mean?
What does naïve mean?
Scaffolding:
Why does the speaker think they were naïve?
How does the word interfere change connotation in this passage?
Scaffolding:
How does the word “interfere” change from a negative to a positive connotation?
What does Wiesel mean when he says, “…national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant…”?
Scaffolding:
What are national borders?
What is meant by “sensitivities”?
What does irrelevant mean? / ELA.9.SL.C13.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
·  respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
ELA.9.L.C17.3 acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
ELA.9.SL.C13.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
·  propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify or challenge ideas and conclusions.

Writer’s Notebook

The following questions can be used for reflective writing in the Writer’s Notebook:

Explain why Hope, Despair and Memory is an appropriate title for the speech?

How does Wiesel use his speech as a “call to action”?

Think of a time when your lack of action might have made you an accomplice. Describe the incident and the feelings you had.