We Will Hear Your Cry: Intro to Critical Reading and Writing

Students, your mission is to become a

critical reader and reporter.

Through learning key skills you will become critical readers of the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor.

By the end of the novel you should be able to answer the following key questions about the text:

• What is setting, and how does it help the story?
• What is the tone of the novel?
• What types of conflict do each of the characters experience?
• What is the point of view of the novel, and does this aid or hinder the story?
• Do we ever encounter the narrator's opinion of something rather than simple fact-telling?

By answering these questions, you will not only be able to begin to critically read other works. but you will be preparing yourself for the challenging and exciting task of becoming a mid-nineteenth century reporter covering racial conflict in the segregated South.

Through research and using the novel itself, you will enter into 1920s Mississippi, to investigate what life was like for African-Americans in the South.

By pretending to be a reporter for a major news magazine, you will then use your critical reading and investigating skills to write a short news article about a key event an African-American may have experienced living in the segregated South

Life was not easy for African-Americans in the early and mid-nineteenth century.