Friday, June 22, 2018

6.26.2018

First Name:
Last Name:

Parents Signature: ______________________


Homework: ENJOY YOUR SUMMER !!!!! See you in September !!!



Please look at the following book review on "I AM MALALA"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-i-am-malala-by-malala-yousafzai/2013/10/11/530ba90a-329a-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f6556b26c483










6.25.2018

First Name:
Last Name:


Parents Signature: ______________________


Homework: Please complete the proper level.


Van Houten,

I’m a good person but a sh*tty writer. You’re a sh*tty person but a good writer. We’d make a good team. I don’t want to ask you any favors, but if you have time—and from what I saw, you have plenty—I was wondering if you could write a eulogy for Hazel. I’ve got notes and everything, but if you could just make it into a coherent whole or whatever? Or even just tell me what I should say differently.Here’s the thing about Hazel: Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world. Bequeathing a legacy. Outlasting death.We all want to be remembered. I do, too. That’s what bothers me most, is being another unremembered casualty in the ancient and inglorious war against disease.I want to leave a mark.But Van Houten: The marks humans leave are too often scars. You build a hideous minimall or start a coup or try to become a rock star and you think, “They’ll remember me now,” but (a) they don’t remember you, and (b) all you leave behind are more scars. Your coupbecomes a dictatorship. Your minimall becomes a lesion.(Okay, maybe I’m not such a shitty writer. But I can’t pull my ideas together, Van Houten. My thoughts are stars I can’t fathom intoconstellations.)We are like a bunch of dogs squirting on fire hydrants. We poison the groundwater with our toxic piss, marking everything MINE in a ridiculous attempt to survive our deaths. I can’t stop pissing on fire hydrants. I know it’s silly and useless—epically useless in my currentstate—but I am an animal like any other.Hazel is different. She walks lightly, old man. She walks lightly upon the earth. Hazel knows the truth: We’re as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we’re not likely to do either.People will say it’s sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it’s not sad,Van Houten. It’s triumphant. It’s heroic. Isn’t that the real heroism? Like the doctors say: First, do no harm.The real heroes anyway aren’t the people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention. The guy whoinvented the smallpox vaccine didn’t actually invent anything. He just noticed that people with cowpox didn’t get smallpox.After my PET scan lit up, I snuck into the ICU and saw her while she was unconscious. I just walked in behind a nurse with a badge and I got to sit next to her for like ten minutes before I got caught. I really thought she was going to die before I could tell her that I was going to die, too. It was brutal: the incessant mechanized haranguing of intensive care. She had this dark cancer water dripping out of her chest. Eyes closed. Intubated. But her hand was still her hand, still warm and the nails painted this almost black dark blue and I just held her hand and tried to imagine the world without us and for about one second I was a good enough person to hope she died so she would never know that I was going, too. But then I wanted more time so we could fall in love. I got my wish, I suppose. I left my scar.A nurse guy came in and told me I had to leave, that visitors weren’t allowed, and I asked if she was doing okay, and the guy said, “She’s still taking on water.” A desert blessing, an ocean curse.What else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.


I do, Augustus.I do.

Level 1:

1. What does Gus want to make sure Hazel likes?
a). Van Houten
b). Her Choices
c). Gus


Level 2: Who is Gus speaking to?





Level 3: 1. Why does Augustus want more time?





6.22.18

First Name:
Last Name:


Parents Signature: _______________________


Homework: Please complete the appropriate level!


Level 1:Augustus Waters died eight days after his prefuneral, at Memorial, in the ICU, when the cancer finally stopped his heart. He was with his mom and dad and sisters. His mom called me at three thirty in the morning. I’d known, of course, that he was going. I’d talked to his dad before going to bed, and he told me, “It could be tonight,”.  She was just crying on the other end of the line, and she told me she was sorry, and I said I was sorry, too. My parents came in then. The only person I really wanted to talk to aboutAugustus Waters’s death was Augustus Waters.My parents stayed in my room forever until it was morning and finally Dad said, “Do you want to be alone?” and I nodded and Mom said,“We’ll be right outside the door,” me thinking, I don’t doubt it.It was unbearable. The whole thing. Every second worse than the last. 

1. What is unbearable for Hazel?
a). Her cancer
b). Gus' death
c). Her mom and father



Level 2:Augustus Waters died eight days after his prefuneral, at Memorial, in the ICU, when the cancer finally stopped his heart. He was with his mom and dad and sisters. His mom called me at three thirty in the morning. I’d known, of course, that he was going. I’d talked to his dad before going to bed, and he told me, “It could be tonight,” but still, when I grabbed the phone from the bedside table and saw Gus’s Mom on the caller ID, everything inside of me collapsed. She was just crying on the other end of the line, and she told me she was sorry, and I said I was sorry, too, and she told me that he was unconscious for a couple hours before he died. My parents came in then, looking expectant, and I just nodded and they fell into each other, feeling, I’m sure, the harmonic terror that would in time come for them directly. The only person I really wanted to talk to aboutAugustus Waters’s death was Augustus Waters.My parents stayed in my room forever until it was morning and finally Dad said, “Do you want to be alone?” and I nodded and Mom said,“We’ll be right outside the door,” me thinking, I don’t doubt it.It was unbearable. The whole thing. Every second worse than the last. I just kept thinking about calling him, wondering what would happen, if anyone would answer. In the last weeks, we’d been reduced to spending our time together in recollection, but that was not nothing: The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me, because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your co-rememberer meant losing the memory itself, as if the things we’d done were less real and important than they had been hours before.

1. Why does Gus' mother call Hazel at 3:30 in the morning?



Level 3:Augustus Waters died eight days after his prefuneral, at Memorial, in the ICU, when the cancer, which was made of him, finally stopped his heart, which was also made of him.He was with his mom and dad and sisters. His mom called me at three thirty in the morning. I’d known, of course, that he was going. I’d talked to his dad before going to bed, and he told me, “It could be tonight,” but still, when I grabbed the phone from the bedside table and saw Gus’s Mom on the caller ID, everything inside of me collapsed. She was just crying on the other end of the line, and she told me she was sorry, and I said I was sorry, too, and she told me that he was unconscious for a couple hours before he died. My parents came in then, looking expectant, and I just nodded and they fell into each other, feeling, I’m sure, the harmonic terror that would in time come for them directly.I called Isaac, who cursed life and the universe and God Himself and who said where are the goddamned trophies to break when you need them, and then I realized there was no one else to call, which was the saddest thing. The only person I really wanted to talk to aboutAugustus Waters’s death was Augustus Waters.My parents stayed in my room forever until it was morning and finally Dad said, “Do you want to be alone?” and I nodded and Mom said,“We’ll be right outside the door,” me thinking, I don’t doubt it.It was unbearable. The whole thing. Every second worse than the last. I just kept thinking about calling him, wondering what would happen, if anyone would answer. In the last weeks, we’d been reduced to spending our time together in recollection, but that was not nothing: The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me, because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your co-rememberer meant losing the memory itself, as if the things we’d done were less real and important than they had been hours before.


1. What is Hazel's reaction to Augustus' death?






6.21.18

First Name:

Last Name:

Parents Signature: __________________________


Please Read ALOUD!!!!



Homework: Please complete the appropriate level.

Level 1: “My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love stories—it will die with us, as it should."  “I can’t talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1.  Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that.  I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”


1. What is a eulogy?
a). A support group
b). a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, typically someone who has just died:
c). The sequel to TFIOS



Level 2:“My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love stories—it will die with us, as it should. I’d hoped that he’d be eulogizing me, because there’s no one I’d rather have . . .” I started crying. “I can’t talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1.  Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that.  I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”

1. What has Hazel learned from her relationship with Gus?



2. What is a eulogy?



Level 3: I walked up to the podium and unfolded the piece of paper on which I’d printed my eulogy.“My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love stories—it will die with us, as it should. I’d hoped that he’d be eulogizing me, because there’s no one I’d rather have . . .” I started crying. “Okay, how not to cry. How am I—okay. Okay.”I took a few breaths and went back to the page. “I can’t talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”


1.What has Hazel learned from her relationship with Gus? Use textual evidence in your answers!







2. Why is Hazel reading her eulogy?

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

6.19.18


6.18.18


First Name: __________________     Last Name: ________________    Date: ____________


Homework: Complete the appropriate level.



Level 1


Dear Ms. Lancaster,




I cannot answer your questions, at least not in writing, because to write out such answers would constitute a sequel to An Imperial Affliction, which you might publish or otherwise share on the network. I don’t trust you. Hazel, I could never answer questions except in person. I must confess that the unexpected receipt of your correspondence has delighted me: What a wondrous thing to know that I made something useful to you.  Should you find yourself in Amsterdam, however, please do pay a visit at your leisure. I am usually home.
Yours sincerely, Peter Van Houten

I imagined sitting at a sun-drenched cafĂ© with Peter Van Houten. He’d said he couldn’t tell me except in person, and then invited me to Amsterdam. “I have to go.”

1.   Why could Peter Van Houten not answer Hazel’s questions?
A) he did not have any answers
B) he did not like her
C) he was nervous she could spread answers to his novel

2.   What is the one way that Peter can answer Hazel’s questions?
________________________________________________________

3.   How do you think Hazel felt after she read this letter?
A) tired
B) excited                                                   Why? ___________________________
C) mad


Level 2


Dear Ms. Lancaster,
I fear your faith has been misplaced. I cannot answer your questions, at least not in writing, because to write out such answers would constitute a sequel to An Imperial Affliction, which you might publish or otherwise share on the network. There is the telephone, but then you might record the conversation. Not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust you. Hazel, I could never answer such questions except in person. That noted, I must confess that the unexpected receipt of your correspondence has delighted me: What a wondrous thing to know that I made something useful to you.  Should you find yourself in Amsterdam, however, please do pay a visit at your leisure. I am usually home.
Yours most sincerely, Peter Van Houten

“WHAT IS THIS LIFE?” Mom ran in. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” I assured her. Still nervous, I imagined sitting at a sun-drenched cafĂ© with Peter Van Houten as he leaned across the table on his elbows, speaking in a soft voice so no one else would hear the truth of what happened to the characters I’d spent years thinking about. He’d said he couldn’t tell me except in person, and then invited me to Amsterdam. I explained this to Mom, and then said, “I have to go.”

1.    What is one reason as to why Peter cannot answer any of Hazel’s questions.

One reason as to why Peter cannot answer any of Hazel’s questions is because


2.    What is the only way that Peter Van Houten can answer Hazel’s questions?
The only way that Peter Van Houten can answer Hazel’s questions is by


3.    How does Hazel react to Peter Van Houten’s letter?




Level 3
Dear Ms. Lancaster,
I fear your faith has been misplaced. I cannot answer your questions, at least not in writing, because to write out such answers would constitute a sequel to An Imperial Affliction, which you might publish or otherwise share on the network that has replaced the brains of your generation. There is the telephone, but then you might record the conversation. Not that I don’t trust you, of course, but I don’t trust you. Alas, dear Hazel, I could never answer such questions except in person. That noted, I must confess that the unexpected receipt of your correspondence has delighted me: What a wondrous thing to know that I made something useful to you.  Should you find yourself in Amsterdam, however, please do pay a visit at your leisure. I am usually home.
Yours most sincerely, Peter Van Houten

“WHAT IS THIS LIFE?” Mom ran in. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” I assured her. Still nervous, I imagined sitting at a sun-drenched cafĂ© with Peter Van Houten as he leaned across the table on his elbows, speaking in a soft voice so no one else would hear the truth of what happened to the characters I’d spent years thinking about. He’d said he couldn’t tell me except in person, and then invited me to Amsterdam. I explained this to Mom, and then said, “I have to go.”

1.    Explain the different reasons as to why Peter Van Houten will not answer Hazel’s questions. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.




2.    What is the only way that Peter Van Houten can answer Hazel’s questions?



3.    How does Hazel react to Peter Van Houten’s letter?




February 9th, 2021