Question generation for essays: Some practice
1. Questions on meaning (plot?)
2. Questions on purpose & audience (why?)
3. Questions on method and structure (how?)
4. Questions on language (tone, literary devices, style, characterization)
- Write one question for each category.
- Share w partner. Revise as needed.
- Gallery walk ... star three in each category you like.
- Put top questions on board & discuss.
Top questions generated in class
- What is the role of women in the story and why?
- How does the conflicting relationship between the town and Sweet change as the team succeeds? Why does this change come about and what is its significance?
- What message should we draw from a story fueled by a desire to win but that ends in a loss? How do we reconcile the differences?
- How did the reader's perspective of Macon change to reflect the team's success during the two seasons? (focus on how the reader only sees Macon through the lens of baseball)
- What is the deeper meaning beneath the story?
- Who is the intended audience?
- What is the significance of the reader's perception of McClard and how does that shift over the course of the story?
- How does the nature of Macon being a small town play into the American Dream?
- How does the characterization of the conservative and the hippie reflect America at this time? (changing American identity?)
- How does Sweet and McClard's relationship emphasize the social and political changes of the time?
- Why does Ballard create so many one-sided characters and how does he use them to create a collective emotion?
- How does the motif of father/son interactions teach us about the role of masculinity during the pursuit of the American Dream?
- In what ways does Ballard's characterization make this a coming of age story?
- How does the tone towards winning state develop throughout the book? Significance of this change?
- How does the use of symbols help emphasize the David and Goliath like run of the Macon Ironmen?
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