There Will Come Soft Rains

1. There Will Come Soft Rains

2. First Reading Tasks • You will Pair-Share read through the entire story, switching partners for every page. • As you read through the story, stop where you come to a word that you do not know and highlight it. • After you have finished the story, go back to your highlighted words and define each using your dictionary (either online using a smart device* or the dictionary).

3. For Okapi check this website • http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/okapi

4. Second Reading Tasks • You and your partner must re-read the story pair-share style again, switching partners every page. • As you read through the story, use your red pen to circle any use of personification.

5. Third Reading: The Poems • Silently on your own, re-read “Four-Thirty”: The Children’s Hour • Also, re-read “Nine O’Clock” through the end of the paragraph after the poem. • This story includes Sara Teasdale’s poem “There Will Come Soft Rains,” even using its title for the story title. It also makes an allusion to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Children’s Hour”.

6. Partnership Venn Diagram • You and a partner will use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the story to the poem “There Will Come Soft Rains.” The world outside and within The world within the poem the home and nursery • You are required to have at least fivedetailedcomparisons and contrasts for each of the three sections of the Venn diagram

7. Classwork/Homework • You alone will use the backside of the previous Venn diagram to compare and contrast the story to the poem “The Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. • You are required to have at least five detailed comparisons/contrasts for each of the three sections of the Venn diagram

8. Individual Venn Diagram:Classwork / Homework There Will Come Soft Rains: Life within The Children’s Hour Life outside and within the home and nursery • You are required to have at least five detailed comparisons/contrasts for each of the three sections of the Venn diagram

9. The Literary Evaluation ChartClasswork / Homework • Individually, you will select ten of your best examples of personification from the story to use with the literary evaluation chart.

10. The Literary Device Evaluation Chart Quote from the Text in MLA Format: In the text it states, “quote” (author’s last name and page number). What literary device is being used in this quote? Explain in literal language what is meant by the literary device: what is being compared, what does it literally mean? Based on the use of this literary device, how would you explain the effect it has on the meaning of the text? In the story is states, “the voice-clock sang” (Bradbury 248). Personification The author is giving the house a cheerful personality. The house is oblivious to the fact that all the humans are dead, which gives the story a sense of irony in that it is cheerful in the aftermath of a massive catastrophe.

11. Beyond the Text Questions • Get out a blank sheet of paper (not torn out of your English notebook) • Write your heading in the upper corner • First and Last Name • Period # • Date (written out in full) • Title the paper: “The Highwayman” Questions

12. Beyond the Text Questions Ray Bradbury writes, “The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly” (Bradbury 250). The author uses a metaphor to describe the house’s actions in terms of a religion without any gods but the ritual of worship continues anyway. How would you explain why this house is compared to an altar and religion in this way? We will: • Answer the question with our own argument (reason, opinion) • Cite a quote from the text that supports and defends our argument using MLA format • Explain in detail to clearly show why the quote supports our argument.

13. Beyond the Text Questions How would you explain why Bradbury’s use of personification to make the house come “alive” creates a sense of irony with the story’s setting? You will: • Answer the question with our own argument (reason, opinion) • Cite a quote from the text that supports and defends our argument using MLA format • Explain in detail to clearly show why the quote supports our argument.

14. Beyond the Text Questions How would you compare the ideas about the world Bradbury gives the reader in this short story to the ideas about the world Sara Teasdale gives us in her poem of the same title? You will: • Answer the question with our own argument (reason, opinion) • Cite a quote from the text that supports and defends our argument using MLA format • Explain in detail to clearly show why the quote supports our argument.