Vocabulary

1. Vocabulary • Score • Conceived • Proposition • Endure • Consecrate • Twenty years • Founded • Idea • Last • Make sacred

2. Inferences • What event is President Lincoln referring to that happened “four score and seven years ago?” • President Lincoln says that they cannot dedicate or consecrate the ground at Gettysburg. What does this mean? • The event President Lincoln refers to is the signing of the Declaration of Independence. • When President Lincoln says they cannot dedicate or consecrate the ground at Gettysburg, he means they cannot make it sacred because the soldiers who fought have already done that.

3. Vocabulary • Siblings • Heritage • Brothers and sisters • Personal history

4. Details/Author’s Viewpoint • What does the author say she is determined to do? • What do you think was the author’s purpose in giving this speech? • The author says she is determined to get the best education so she can help the Hmong people. • I think the author’s purpose in giving this speech is to inspire other students with her story.

5. Vocabulary • Agape • Hanging open

6. Author’s Viewpoint/Writer’s Craft • In the last paragraph of the speech, Shao Lee shifts her viewpoint and purpose. Instead of speaking about herself, whom is she speaking about and why? • How do Abraham Lincoln and Shao Lee use repetition in their speeches? • In the last paragraph, Shao Lee begins to speak about the audience to try to inspire them. • In Lincoln’s speech he repeats the term “dedicated,” and in Shao Lee’s speech she repeats the phrase “the face of”

7. Vocabulary • Notwithstanding • Unselfconscious • Regardless or aside from • Not ill at ease

8. Inferences • What does Jerry Spinelli mean when he says, “you. You’re where I get all that stuff?” • Why does Spinelli say that it is “just as well” that the young people don’t know that they are funny and fascinating? • When Jerry Spinelli says, “You. You’re where I get all that stuff,” he means that he gets his ideas by observing young people, and by remembering when he was their age. • Spinelli says it is “just as well” that the young people don’t know they are funny because if they knew, they might act unnaturally or be self-conscious.

9. Vocabulary • Armaments • Ravaged • Hypocrisy • Augmented • Weapons • Devastated • Insincerity • Increased

10. Writer’s Craft • Why do you think Jerry Spinelli includes quotations from children in his speech? • In what ways does the author’s tone in this speech differ from the other speeches you’ve read so far? • I think Jerry Spinelli includes quotations from children in his speech to support his statement that children give him ideas and to add humor. • The author’s tone differs from the other speeches because he uses humor.

11. Topic/Main Idea/Details • What is the main idea of this excerpt from Katherine Ortega’s speech? • How does katherine Ortega demonstrate that “times have changed?” • The main idea of this excerpt from Katherine Ortega’s speech is if you work hard, you will be successful, regardless of your race or ethnicity. • Katherine Ortega demonstrates that “times have changed” because at one time Hispanics weren’t hired, but now they are doing the hiring.

12. Vocabulary • Creed • Oppression • Interposition • Nullification • Belief • Persecution • Intervention • Cancellation

13. Generalizations/Conclusions • What can you learn about the United States in 1963 based on this speech? • In what ways do you think Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s career as a minister influenced this speech? • Based on this speech, you can learn that people in many parts of the United States were judged by the color of their skin. • I think Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s speech was influenced by his knowledge of the Bible because he uses phrases like “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.”