p. 1-12: What do you learn about Josh in these few pages?. himself, his relationship with his parents, with his classmates, with guns
p. 13-27: 1) Find these words: BUCK-RUTS-MAGAZINE-GAME-HEAD as a verb-CROSSHAIRS-CATSUP. Look them up and write their meaning in the cotext you find them.
2) Look at page 22: What is Josh's mask? / Read the two poems: How and when do we wear masks? For what reason?
3) Page 26: In what way is what is depicted here a turning point in the story?
p. 28-39: 1) On what three ocassions in all the story does Josh wear a mask?
2) Discussion guide in your photocopies: questions 4-7 and 9-13
3) Define HOAX and GUILTY PARTY on page 34
p. 40-50: 1) How does Josh feel now?
2) Look at page 43: How does Josh explain why he wrote the message on the board?
3) Page 47: What's the meaning of the expresssion LOSE FACE?
p. 51-65: In your photocopies, do these activities: THE ANSWER IS ...(only write possible answers) / IT HAPPENED IN A FLASH(BACK)! (mention only three examples in the first column) / PLOT DIAGRAM / TELEPHONE TALK (only the first part)
MOVIE VS. PLAY (questions 1,2,3,4,6,8 about this phrase: "Why don't you decide who you are before someone else does?")
Final work:
“…and they give you a
name: Trashcan, pizzaface, loser, faggot, loser, weirdo, spaz, retard. You know
the name does something to you. It changes who you are, it alters your
molecules and one day you wake up and you look in the mirror and you don't
recognize yourself anymore, because you believe them. They win you lose. You
wanna cry, please leave me alone, but nobody listens, because nobody cares,
because you don't have a name anymore because they took it away, and then one
day they say that name and you hear something go snap. You realize what you
gotta do, you gotta take back your name and you've gotta do it in front of the
whole school because that's where they took your name away from you.”
Comment on this. Have you ever been called
names? How did you feel? Have you ever called anybody else names? Why?
