Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a movie or book in which a character changes a lot from the beginning to the end. Write one sentence about who the character is at the start and one about who the character is at the end. Then write one sentence about what the change might teach a viewer about life."

   Collect two or three examples. Point out that the third sentence is a theme, and that students found it by looking at a character who changes. Tell the class that in grade 8 they will look at three things that carry a theme: the characters, the setting (where and when the story happens) and the plot (the chain of events). A story's theme is built by all three.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Review four terms and add three:

   • Theme: a message about life that a story suggests, written as a complete sentence that could apply to real people. Central idea means the same kind of big idea; this lesson uses "theme."
   • Topic: a word or two naming what a story is about, such as greed or Christmas. A topic is not yet a theme.
   • Development: how a theme is built and changed over the course of a text.
   • Objective summary: a short retelling of the main events in order, in your own words, with no opinions or judgments.
   • Characters (new focus): the people in the story. Ask what each one wants, how each one treats others, and whether anyone changes.
   • Setting (new focus): the time and place of a story, including weather, season and the way people live. Ask what the setting shows about the characters and the message.
   • Plot (new focus): the chain of events, from the starting situation through the turning point (the moment that changes the direction of the story) to the ending. Ask what each event tests or proves about the theme.

   Introduce the story: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) is set in London. Ebenezer Scrooge is a rich, stingy businessman whose partner, Jacob Marley, died seven years earlier. Dickens divided the story into five chapters called staves (the verses of a song, or carol). Words to know: tight-fisted (stingy), a hand at the grind-stone (someone who works others hard for money), covetous (greedy for more), flint (a hard stone that makes sparks when struck with steel), self-contained (keeping to himself), solitary (alone), gait (way of walking), rime (frost), dog-days (the hottest days of summer), entreaty (begging), "came down" handsomely (a joke: rain comes down hard, and a generous person "comes down handsomely" with money), implored (begged), bestow a trifle (give a little money), what it was o'clock (what time it was), courts (small yards between buildings), evil eye (a look believed to bring bad luck) and "nuts" to Scrooge (a great pleasure for him). Read the passage aloud while students follow the numbered paragraphs.

   1Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.

   2External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often "came down" handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

   3Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, "My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?" No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, "No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!"

   4But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call "nuts" to Scrooge.

   • From topic to working theme

     A student says the theme of the opening is "greed." How can the class turn that into a theme?

     Result: "Greed" is a topic. A theme says something about it in a full sentence that could apply to real people, for example the working theme on the board: "People who shut others out to guard their money end up cold and alone, while kindness brings warmth." After one passage it is only a working theme. The class will test and revise it as Scrooge's story develops.

   • Theme and character

     How does the description of Scrooge's character start the theme?

     Result: Scrooge is "secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster" (paragraph 1), and he chooses this life: "It was the very thing he liked" (paragraph 4). The theme is about a person who shuts others out, so Dickens begins with a character who does exactly that and is happy to do it.

   • Theme and setting

     The story is set in winter. How does Dickens tie the cold weather to Scrooge?

     Result: He turns the weather into Scrooge himself: "The cold within him froze his old features" (paragraph 1), and "No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him" (paragraph 2). Scrooge even "iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas" (paragraph 1). Cold stands for a heart closed to others, so readers can watch for warmth as a sign of change.

   • Theme and plot

     Nothing happens yet in these paragraphs. How do they still matter for the plot?

     Result: They set up the starting situation. "Nobody ever stopped him in the street" (paragraph 3) to greet him, and he warns "all human sympathy to keep its distance" (paragraph 4). The plot will have to answer whether Scrooge can change. A theme about shutting people out needs this clear starting point, so the events that follow can test it.

   • Objective summary

     Summarize the opening passage objectively in three sentences.

     Result: The narrator describes Scrooge as a stingy, hard old man who keeps to himself, and he says Scrooge's coldness shows in his face and voice and even in his office. No one greets Scrooge in the street or asks him for help, and even the dogs of blind men pull their owners away from him. Scrooge likes being left alone. (Not objective: "Scrooge is the worst person in London, and he deserves to be lonely.")

   Show Diagram 1, the theme web. Fill in the three Stave I boxes together from the examples: one detail each for character, setting and plot, and how each supports the working theme. Explain that students will add a later detail to each box as they read, and revise the working theme if a later passage points somewhere new.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read the next passage aloud. It is Christmas Eve, and Scrooge is working in his counting-house (office) with his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who sits in a cold little room called the Tank. Scrooge's cheerful nephew, Fred, has just visited to invite him to Christmas dinner, and Scrooge has refused. Now two gentlemen arrive. Words to know: provision (supplies), destitute (very poor), in want of (lacking), Union workhouses (places where very poor people were sent to live and work in hard conditions), the Treadmill (a large wheel that prisoners were forced to walk on as punishment), the Poor Law (the law that sent poor people to workhouses), in full vigour (working hard), multitude (a great crowd of people), Want and Abundance (need and plenty, written as if they were people), anonymous (not named), establishments (the prisons and workhouses), surplus population (extra people, more than are needed) and facetious (joking).

   1"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

   2"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

   3"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

   4"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

   5"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

   6"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

   7"Both very busy, sir."

   8"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very glad to hear it."

   9"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?"

   10"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.

   11"You wish to be anonymous?"

   12"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned--they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."

   13"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

   14"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides--excuse me--I don't know that."

   15"But you might know it," observed the gentleman.

   16"It's not my business," Scrooge returned. "It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!"

   17Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew. Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.

   Pairs work through three questions, one for each part of the story, and add a detail to the matching box of Diagram 1:

   1. Plot: what happens, and what does it test? Teacher note: two gentlemen ask Scrooge to give money for the poor, and he refuses: "Nothing!" (paragraph 10). The event tests the working theme with a real choice between money and people, and Scrooge chooses money.
   2. Character: how do Scrooge's own words match the narrator's description? Teacher note: "I wish to be left alone" (paragraph 12) says in his own voice what the narrator said about him in the opening passage. "It's not my business" (paragraph 16) shows that he does not see other people's suffering as his concern. Ask students to underline his answer in paragraph 14 as well; they will need it later in the story.
   3. Setting: why does Dickens set this scene at Christmas? Teacher note: the gentleman says they chose this time "because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices" (paragraph 9). The season of giving makes Scrooge's refusal stand out, and the poverty of the city is part of the setting too.

   Then show Diagram 2. Pairs decide which of its six sentences belong in an objective summary of this passage and which do not, then write their own three-sentence summary and trade it with another pair to check for opinions.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read two later passages on their own. That night, Marley's ghost warns Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. In Stave II the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his youth, when he was an apprentice (a young worker learning a trade) for a kind merchant, Mr. Fezziwig, who gave a Christmas Eve dance in his warehouse. Dick Wilkins was the other apprentice. In Stave III the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, on Christmas Day. The Cratchits are poor, and the youngest son, Tiny Tim, is ill and walks with a crutch. The family cannot see Scrooge or the Ghost. Paragraph numbers restart in each passage.

   Words to know for Stave II: domestic ball (a dance held at home or at work), 'prentices (apprentices), corroborated (agreed with, confirmed), agitation (excitement), render (make), burdensome (heavy and hard to bear), toil (hard, tiring work) and insignificant (tiny). Words to know for Stave III: hearth (the floor of a fireplace), compound (a mixture; here, a hot drink), tumblers (drinking glasses), goblets (fancy cups), withered (thin and weak), vacant (empty), unaltered (unchanged), adamant (a legendary stone too hard to break), forbear (stop), cant (empty talk) and rebuke (a sharp scolding).

   1When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the two 'prentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left to their beds; which were under a counter in the back-shop.

   2During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation. It was not until now, when the bright faces of his former self and Dick were turned from them, that he remembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear.

   3"A small matter," said the Ghost, "to make these silly folks so full of gratitude."

   4"Small!" echoed Scrooge.

   5The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so, said,

   6"Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?"

   7"It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self. "It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune."

   8He felt the Spirit's glance, and stopped.

   9"What is the matter?" asked the Ghost.

   10"Nothing particular," said Scrooge.

   11"Something, I think?" the Ghost insisted.

   12"No," said Scrooge, "No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That's all."

   1At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel-full of chestnuts on the fire. Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one; and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle.

   2These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily. Then Bob proposed:

   3"A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!"

   4Which all the family re-echoed.

   5"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

   6He sat very close to his father's side upon his little stool. Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him.

   7"Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if Tiny Tim will live."

   8"I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die."

   9"No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit! say he will be spared."

   10"If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

   11Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.

   12"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!"

   13Scrooge bent before the Ghost's rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground. But he raised them speedily, on hearing his own name.

   On the handout, students (1) add one detail from each passage to Diagram 1, in the box it fits best, and explain what it adds to the theme; (2) decide whether the working theme still fits, and rewrite it if it does not; (3) write a three- or four-sentence objective summary of one of the two passages. The quiz uses both passages and the Stave I passages.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one character, one setting detail and one plot event from today's passages, and write one sentence for each saying what it adds to the theme. (2) Write your revised theme statement for the story so far.

   Teacher note on language: Dickens wrote in 1843, and some of his words and ideas belong to that time. Some people then argued that the poor were a "surplus population" and that workhouses and prisons were enough help; Dickens wrote the story partly to attack that view, and Scrooge speaks it so that the story can answer it. Tiny Tim's "withered little hand" and crutch describe his illness in the words of the time, and the opening mentions "blind men's dogs"; talk with students about how we describe illness and disability today. In Stave V, "intercourse" is an old word for dealings, and the "Total Abstinence Principle" is a promise never to drink alcohol, which people called "spirits"; Dickens is making a joke about ghosts. Keep Dickens's words as he wrote them. The Stave V passage leaves out one paragraph, marked [...] and described in the source note.

   For homework: students read the last scene of the story, printed below. After the third spirit shows him a future in which he dies alone and Tiny Tim has died, Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning, alive and changed. He spends Christmas Day at his nephew Fred's house. The next morning he hurries to his office early, hoping to catch Bob Cratchit arriving late, and Bob comes in eighteen and a half minutes behind time. Words to know: accustomed (usual), feign (fake), waistcoat (a vest), earnestness (seriousness), smoking bishop (a hot, spiced drink), coal-scuttle (a bucket for coal), dot another i (write another word), alteration (change) and malady (illness).

   1"Hallo!" growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as near as he could feign it. "What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?"

   2"I am very sorry, sir," said Bob. "I am behind my time."

   3"You are?" repeated Scrooge. "Yes. I think you are. Step this way, sir, if you please."

   4"It's only once a year, sir," pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. "It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir."

   5"Now, I'll tell you what, my friend," said Scrooge, "I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore," he continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the Tank again; "and therefore I am about to raise your salary!"

   [...]

   6"A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!"

   7Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

   8He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   RL.8.2 adds something to the grade 7 theme standard. What must a grade 8 reader also analyze?

   AHow the theme relates to the characters, setting and plot BWhether the author's own life matches the events of the story CWhich character the reader likes best, and the reasons why DHow many times the theme is stated in the text's own words

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence belongs in an objective summary of the Fezziwig passage (Stave II)?

   AMr. Fezziwig is the kindest and most generous boss that any young worker could hope to have BThe two apprentices sleep in beds under a counter in the back-shop CThe Fezziwigs shake hands with every guest and wish each one a Merry Christmas DScrooge should have treated people the way Fezziwig did all his life

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The Ghost says Fezziwig "has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money" (Stave II, paragraph 6). Which theme does Scrooge's answer in paragraph 7 support most directly?

   AMoney spent on parties at work is always money wasted BKindness can give people a happiness that money cannot measure CEmployers should always pay their workers more than they earn DMemories of the past are happier than life in the present

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Scrooge answers the Ghost "speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self" (Stave II, paragraph 7). What does this show about how the theme develops through Scrooge's character?

   AScrooge was already cold and stingy as a young man BScrooge is only pretending to agree so that the Ghost will take him home CScrooge has forgotten almost everything about his youth DThe warmer young Scrooge is still inside him, so change is possible

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Scrooge say he would like "to say a word or two to my clerk just now" (Stave II, paragraph 12)?

   AFezziwig's kindness makes him think of how he treats his own clerk BHe wants to warn his clerk to be at the office early the next morning, as usual CHe has just remembered that his clerk owes him a small sum of money DThe Ghost has ordered him to go back and apologize to the clerk

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The Ghost says, "I see a vacant seat... in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved" (Stave III, paragraph 8). How does this picture of the setting develop the theme?

   AIt shows that the Cratchits will soon move to a larger house BIt shows the same hearth with Tiny Tim gone, the cost if nothing changes CIt proves that Tiny Tim died before this Christmas began DIt shows that the family cannot afford a new crutch for Tim

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which is the best objective summary of the Fezziwig passage (Stave II)?

   AFezziwig's wonderful Christmas party finally ends, and Scrooge sadly realizes that he has become a terrible, selfish boss to his own poor clerk. BThe ball ends at eleven, the apprentices go to their beds under a counter, and the light on the Ghost's head burns very clear. CScrooge refuses to watch Fezziwig's ball, argues that the party was a waste of money, and asks the Ghost to take him home. DThe Fezziwigs say goodnight to each guest; Scrooge defends Fezziwig's kindness against the Ghost and then wishes he could speak to his clerk.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The Cratchits drink from "Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle," which "held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done" (Stave III, paragraphs 1-2). What does this setting detail suggest?

   AThe Cratchits secretly own a set of golden goblets BThe drink tastes worse because the cups are chipped CThe family's love makes their poor things feel as fine as riches DBob is ashamed of how little his family owns

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 6 of the Stave III passage, why does Bob hold Tiny Tim's hand?

   AHe loves Tim and fears that he may lose him BTim is frightened by the Ghost standing in the room CBob wants Tim to stop talking during the toast DTim has burned his hand on the chestnut fire

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    The Ghost asks Scrooge, "Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die?" (Stave III, paragraph 12). What is the Ghost's point?

    AScrooge has the power to cure Tiny Tim with medicine BOnly spirits are allowed to decide who lives and dies CScrooge should become a doctor and spend his money caring for the poor DScrooge has no right to judge whose lives are worth saving

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How does Scrooge react when the Ghost quotes his own words back to him (Stave III, paragraph 11)?

    AHe argues that his words were right all along BHe hangs his head, sorry and full of grief CHe laughs and tells the Ghost it is a humbug DHe demands to be taken back to his own room

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Scrooge asks "with an interest he had never felt before, 'tell me if Tiny Tim will live'" (Stave III, paragraph 7). What does this show about his character at this point in the plot?

    AHe wants to know whether Tim will be able to work for him BHe is only curious about how ghosts can see the future CHe is beginning to care about someone other than himself DHe already knows that Tim will live and is testing the Ghost

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence would NOT belong in an objective summary of the gentlemen scene (Stave I, in Guided Practice)?

    AWhen asked what he will give, Scrooge answers, "Nothing!" BScrooge says the poor should go to the prisons and workhouses he helps pay for. CSeeing that they cannot change his mind, the gentlemen leave. DScrooge's answer about the poor is the cruelest line in the story.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How do the Fezziwig passage and the Cratchit passage develop the theme in the same way?

    ABoth show that people are happiest when they have plenty of money BBoth show warmth and happiness that do not depend on spending much money CBoth show Scrooge refusing to feel anything about what he sees DBoth take place inside Scrooge's own counting-house on Christmas Eve

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    At the end of the ball, Fezziwig and his wife wish every guest a Merry Christmas, "shaking hands with every person individually" (Stave II, paragraph 1). Explain how Fezziwig, as a character, is a contrast to the Scrooge of Stave I, and how the contrast develops the theme. Quote one more detail about Fezziwig from the Stave II passage and one detail about Scrooge from a Stave I passage.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write an objective summary of the Cratchit passage (Stave III) in three or four sentences.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Stave I, Scrooge "iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas" (opening passage, paragraph 1). Compare this with the setting of the Cratchits' home in Stave III, paragraphs 1-2. Explain how the contrast between the two settings develops the theme, quoting one detail from each.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Scrooge is described in Stave I as "Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire" (opening passage, paragraph 1). In Stave II, he answers the Ghost "heated by the remark" (paragraph 7). Explain how the change in these words about Scrooge's character develops the theme.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Stave I, Scrooge tells the gentlemen that the poor who would rather die "had better do it, and decrease the surplus population" (gentlemen passage, paragraph 14). Find where these words come back in Stave III, and explain how this repetition in the plot develops the theme.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences that states a theme of the four passages in the lesson and traces its development. Include one detail about a character, one about the setting and one about the plot, each quoted with its stave and paragraph number.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RL.8.2: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.