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Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Out of My Mind - responding to a powerful passage
Check out the attached passage. We will be discussing this part of the story in Lit Circles tomorrow morning. Please be thinking about why I marked it to share wih you...
Why is this tiny exchange such an important part of the book?
"In the book, Melody has been talking about how she does have loads of things to say, but she couldn't say them. Now that she has this Medi-Talker thing, she can say them. Miss Gordon gets this and explains it to Claire. This may change Claire's opinion of Melody. Maybe she'll now think of Melody like all of the other kids." - Jake
"I agree with Jake. Mrs. Gordon now understands Melody. Melody was misunderstood before. Having a teacher who gets it and the Medi-Talker may help other students begin to get Melody." - Sarah
"I agree with Jake and Sarah. Maybe people will start to see her differently. She hasn't had the ability to show her intelligence. Having other people encourage her, maybe Claire might want to try to be friends with her. Now that Melody is beginning to be a little popular, maybe Claire will treat her better." - Maggie
"I think people will now see Melody differently. Even though she can't talk, she can now communicate with everyone and state how she feels. Melody can also trust Miss Gordon now because she knows what Claire and Molly are up to". - Liam
"Expanding off Liam, Melody knows what people are up to and now she can stand up for herself using the Medi-Talker." - Henry
This exchange is such an important part of the book because it is a big change for almost everyone. Mrs. Gordan is (along with Mrs. V and her mom) one of the first people to realize that all this time, Melody has had "mountains of stuff to say.'' I'm sure Melody was extremely happy to hear this. This one comment could have given her hope that maybe more people could understand that she actually has real, normal kid, genius stuff to say. Agreeing with Maggie's response, I bet that Melody will become popular and Clair will treat her differently. In addition, I think it is a big step for Clair to actually be a little nice to Melody for once. Instead of saying something mean like," Melody probably has only one low level thought," she said something nicer which was," I'm not trying to be mean--- honest-- but it just never occured to me that Melody had thoughts in her head." I think that is a big leap for Clair, not that it is super duper nice. But now Melody has a bigger chance of making more friends, having more people understand her, and having a better chance at achieving things. A little tiny paragraph can end up being a big change. ~Carly Villa
I agree with Carly that this is an extraordinary change for Melody and all of the people supporting her. I connect with Helen Keller for this because this is like her " I understand it now" moment when it perfectly ticks. We talked a little about this in class, but I think that this is like a giant step for Clair to be taking according to her recent dramatic incidences with Melody. I wish I could say that this is going to change how Claire acts around Melody, but I just read the next chapter and it really disappoints me that these kids are treating Melody like this. I know that this is the student's first time dealing with someone like Melody, but after all of this effort to show them that she wants to be one of them, that is really disappointing to me. Everything goes fine with Melody and Ms. Gordon, because they really understand one another, and I have a prediction that Ms. Gordon and Mrs. V are going to make something happen between the school and Melody and it will all connect together and make sense. I can't believe that Melody has to live with these people who are internally injuring her sole with the evil power of words. This tiny paragraph just affected the entire book which is a big deal.
This passage is an important part of the book because this is a challenge that was overcome. I don't think Claire ever realized that Melody heard every word that she has said about Melody because she says that she never thought Melody had thoughts in her head. Melody has had "mountains" of things to say to everyone, but this was the first time that she could actually tell people her thoughts. This is probably the first time Claire noticed that Melody was a normal kid. Claire noticed she has the same thoughts and feelings as everyone else. I also agree with Maggie, that she will become popular and Claire will treat Melody differently. Maybe Claire and Melody will become friends after Claire starts to know Melody a little better than she does know. With this new Medi-Talker, I think Melody will overcome many obstacles that she could never have done without this machine. ~Madison Soucey
Why is this tiny exchange such an important part of the book?
ReplyDelete"In the book, Melody has been talking about how she does have loads of things to say, but she couldn't say them. Now that she has this Medi-Talker thing, she can say them. Miss Gordon gets this and explains it to Claire. This may change Claire's opinion of Melody. Maybe she'll now think of Melody like all of the other kids." - Jake
"I agree with Jake. Mrs. Gordon now understands Melody. Melody was misunderstood before. Having a teacher who gets it and the Medi-Talker may help other students begin to get Melody." - Sarah
"I agree with Jake and Sarah. Maybe people will start to see her differently. She hasn't had the ability to show her intelligence. Having other people encourage her, maybe Claire might want to try to be friends with her. Now that Melody is beginning to be a little popular, maybe Claire will treat her better." - Maggie
"I think people will now see Melody differently. Even though she can't talk, she can now communicate with everyone and state how she feels. Melody can also trust Miss Gordon now because she knows what Claire and Molly are up to". - Liam
"Expanding off Liam, Melody knows what people are up to and now she can stand up for herself using the Medi-Talker." - Henry
This exchange is such an important part of the book because it is a big change for almost everyone. Mrs. Gordan is (along with Mrs. V and her mom) one of the first people to realize that all this time, Melody has had "mountains of stuff to say.'' I'm sure Melody was extremely happy to hear this. This one comment could have given her hope that maybe more people could understand that she actually has real, normal kid, genius stuff to say. Agreeing with Maggie's response, I bet that Melody will become popular and Clair will treat her differently. In addition, I think it is a big step for Clair to actually be a little nice to Melody for once. Instead of saying something mean like," Melody probably has only one low level thought," she said something nicer which was," I'm not trying to be mean--- honest-- but it just never occured to me that Melody had thoughts in her head." I think that is a big leap for Clair, not that it is super duper nice. But now Melody has a bigger chance of making more friends, having more people understand her, and having a better chance at achieving things. A little tiny paragraph can end up being a big change.
ReplyDelete~Carly Villa
I agree with Carly that this is an extraordinary change for Melody and all of the people supporting her. I connect with Helen Keller for this because this is like her " I understand it now" moment when it perfectly ticks. We talked a little about this in class, but I think that this is like a giant step for Clair to be taking according to her recent dramatic incidences with Melody. I wish I could say that this is going to change how Claire acts around Melody, but I just read the next chapter and it really disappoints me that these kids are treating Melody like this. I know that this is the student's first time dealing with someone like Melody, but after all of this effort to show them that she wants to be one of them, that is really disappointing to me. Everything goes fine with Melody and Ms. Gordon, because they really understand one another, and I have a prediction that Ms. Gordon and Mrs. V are going to make something happen between the school and Melody and it will all connect together and make sense. I can't believe that Melody has to live with these people who are internally injuring her sole with the evil power of words. This tiny paragraph just affected the entire book which is a big deal.
ReplyDeleteThis passage is an important part of the book because this is a challenge that was overcome. I don't think Claire ever realized that Melody heard every word that she has said about Melody because she says that she never thought Melody had thoughts in her head. Melody has had "mountains" of things to say to everyone, but this was the first time that she could actually tell people her thoughts. This is probably the first time Claire noticed that Melody was a normal kid. Claire noticed she has the same thoughts and feelings as everyone else. I also agree with Maggie, that she will become popular and Claire will treat Melody differently. Maybe Claire and Melody will become friends after Claire starts to know Melody a little better than she does know. With this new Medi-Talker, I think Melody will overcome many obstacles that she could never have done without this machine.
ReplyDelete~Madison Soucey