December 9 and 10 Lady or Tiger questions and worksheet

We read the short story, The Lady or the Tiger, and talked about the ending. They also answered parts A, B, and D of the questions at the end of the story. The story and the questions will have to be picked up in class.

Next we began talking about the paper we will write with the story. It will be a persuasion paper in which students answer what came out of the door and why they think that. To help them with the paper, we filled out the following worksheet:

You've just read The Lady or the Tiger?  So, look at the last question that the story asks you.  What do you think came out?  The lady or the tiger?  Think about that princess.  What clues might help us know which door she picked? 

Also, think about human nature and how we act.  Are we generally jealous people and make decisions based mainly on our own selfish interests?  Or are we pretty generous in our actions and put the desires of others ahead of our own. 

Based on what you think, circle what came out.

THE LADY                                THE TIGER

Give me two quotes from the STORY that support your answer.  Include the paragraph number as well.  Then explain how this quote supports your answer.

1.  _____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________Paragraph #:_____________

Explanation: _____________________________________________________________

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2. _____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________ Paragraph #:____________

Explanation: _____________________________________________________________

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Now think about human nature. Write down two examples of how people act towards each other that help support your answer from above.  Then give a specific example.

1.      _____________________________________________________________________

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Specific example: _________________________________________________________

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2.      _____________________________________________________________________

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Specific example: _________________________________________________________

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Now that you’ve got an idea of what came out of the door, and how you are going to go about proving this, let’s work on your first paragraph-the Grabber sentence and the Thesis statement.

Grabber sentence:  Think of an interesting way to begin the paper.  You want to grab the reader’s attention.  Maybe ask the reader a question, or make a dramatic statement about the nature of love.  Or jealousy.

Write a possible grabber sentence here.

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Now that you have your reader’s attention, you have to let that person know what the paper is going to be about.  You need a THESIS STATEMENT.

Thesis statement:  Your thesis statement is a one- or two- sentence statement that tells your reader what your paper is going to be about.  You want to convince your reader what came out of the door and why.  A good thesis statement might follow this template:

In “The Lady or the Tiger,” the (lady or tiger) came out of the door on the right because (give a brief statement about either the princess’ personality or human nature in general).

Now write your thesis statement here.

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Take a look at these two sentences, the Grabber and the Thesis statement.  This is your first paragraph.  Do they work together well, or does it sound wrong?  Your thesis statement should flow nicely from your grabber sentence.  Read it as a paragraph to someone else and brainstorm a way to make it a nicely flowing paragraph.

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     Name of paragraph helper                                                                  Signature