TEACHER COPY: TWELVE ANGRY MEN - CommonLit

TEACHER COPY: TWELVE ANGRY MEN

By Reginald Rose

DURING- AND POST-READING QUESTIONS

Skills Focus

In these lessons, you'll determine the theme of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.

How do we determine the theme of a text?

In order to track the theme, we pay attention to the topics or big ideas that come up in a text. Then we collect details to determine the message the author is trying to convey about that big idea.

ACT ONE

Section A (pages 5 - 12)

Stop after 7TH JUROR: Okay, slugger, be my guest.

Page Number

DURING READING QUESTIONS

STUDENT RESPONSE

Directions: Stop at the page and line indicated. Answer the question and be prepared to review with your class.

Page 6: JUDGE'S VOICE: Think & Share: What crime is the defendant accused of committing and what would be his punishment ...The death sentence is if convicted? mandatory in this case. Murder; the death penalty

Page 6: 7TH JUROR: ... I Think & Share: The play is set during a very hot summer day. What could it be foreshadowing about the

almost dropped dead in mood of the play?

court.

Uncomfortable, tense

Page 7: The 2nd JUROR... refills his cup and stands alone, sipping.

Write: What is the 3rd Juror's attitude towards the defendant?

He is prejudiced. He already thinks the defendant is guilty just because he is a kid.

HINT: "Sometimes I think we'd be better off if we took these tough kids and slapped 'em down before they make trouble, you know?" (7)

Write: How does the 2nd Juror seem to feel about the 3rd Juror? How can we infer this?

The 2nd Juror feels intimidated by the 3rd Juror or doesn't agree with him.

HINT: "The 2ND JUROR looks nervously at the 3RD JUROR, nods, rises, moves to the watercooler, refills his cup and stands alone, sipping." (7)

Page 9: 7TH JUROR: You're quite a ball fan, aren't you?

Write: Describe the 7th Juror's attitude towards serving on this jury.

He thinks the verdict is obvious because the defendant's story is unbelievable. His biggest

Page 10: 10TH JUROR: ... Know what I mean?

Page 11: 8TH JUROR: The man! He's sixteen years old. Page 12: 7TH JUROR: Okay, slugger, be my guest.

Write: What does the 10th Juror mean when he says, "It's those people! I'm telling you they let the kids run wild up there"? (10)

Think & Share: How old is the defendant? 16

Write: Why did the 8th Juror vote "not guilty"?

concern seems to be the baseball tickets he has for later that night.

HINT: "G****** waste of time... And what about that business with the knife? I mean, asking grown-up people to believe that kind of b*******." (7)

HINT: "This better be fast. I got tickets to a ball game tonight." (9)

The 10th Juror is prejudiced against "those people." NOTE TO TEACHERS: In the context of NYC, "up there" most likely refers to Harlem, which is uptown. 98% of the residents of Harlem were black in the 1950 census.

The 8th Juror is unsure if the defendant committed the crime. He wants to talk it over.

HINT: "I don't know whether I believe it or not... It's not easy for me to... send a boy off to die without talking about it first." (12)

Name:

Period:

Date:

TEACHER COPY: TWELVE ANGRY MEN

EXIT TICKET for Section A: (pages 5 - 12)

Directions: Respond to the Short Response prompts below.

SHORT RESPONSE

1. Name two jurors who show signs of prejudice. Cite textual evidence to support your answer. [RL.3]

The 10th Juror: "It's those people! I'm telling you they let the kids run wild up there"? (10) and "Well, look, you've gotta expect that. You know what you're dealing with." (8)

The 3rd Juror: "I think we'd be better off if we took these tough kids and slapped `em down before they make trouble" (7)

2. Name one juror who seems to be keeping an open mind. Cite textual evidence to support your answer. [RL.3]

The 8th Juror: "I don't know whether I believe it or not." (12) and "We can't decide in five minutes. Suppose we're wrong?" (12)

3. What is the 7th Juror's attitude towards the responsibility of jury duty? Cite textual evidence to support your answer. [RL.3]

He doesn't seem to take it very seriously. He makes jokes (8) and talks about baseball (9-10). He refers to the trial as a "waste of time" (8). He is in a hurry to get it over with because he has baseball tickets (9).

Section B (pages 12 - 24)

Stop after FOREMAN: There's no point in milling around here.

Page Number

DURING READING QUESTIONS

STUDENT RESPONSE

Directions: Stop at the page and line indicated. Answer the question and be prepared to review with your class.

Page 13: The 12TH JUROR doodles on his notepad.

Think & Share: What has the defendant's life been like? Lives in an undesirable neighborhood, mother dead, dad in jail, lived in an orphanage for 1.5 years.

HINT: 8TH JUROR: "Living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery." (13)

Write: Pay attention to the pronouns used by the 10th Juror. When he says "`em" and "they're," what does this reveal about him?

He's prejudiced against whatever group of people he's referring to.

Page 18: 3RD JUROR: ... Write: Describe the relationship between the 3rd All right. Let's get on Juror and his son. with it.

The relationship between the 3rd Juror and his son is terrible.

HINT: "When he was sixteen we had a battle. He hit me in the face... I haven't seen him in two years. Rotten kid." (18)

Write: How might this relationship impact the 3rd Juror's opinion of the defendant?

This has made the 3rd Juror think all kids are bad, so he might vote guilty just because the defendant is a kid.

Page 18: The 5TH

Write: How do the 4th and 10th Jurors think the

JUROR does not look up. boy's upbringing might have affected him?

These jurors believe that growing up in a "slum" makes the boy more likely to be a violent criminal.

HINT: 4TH JUROR: "Slums are breeding grounds for criminals... Children from slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society." (18)

HINT: 10TH JUROR: "The kids who crawl outa those places are real trash." (18)

Write: What understanding does the 5th Juror have that none of the others do?

The 5th Juror's life experiences are similar to the defendant's. This gives the 5th Juror an understanding of the defendant's background and mindset that the other jurors do not have.

HINT: "I've lived in a slum all my life... I used to play in a backyard that was filled with garbage." (18)

Page 22: 4TH JUROR: ...and stabbed his father with it just to be amusing?

Think & Share: Does the 4th Juror believe the defendant? No, he doesn't believe the defendant. The 4th Juror's tone is sarcastic and disbelieving.

HINT: 4TH JUROR: "This is the charming and imaginative little fable the boy invented."(22)

Page 24: FOREMAN: There's no point in milling around here.

Think & Share: How does the 8th Juror cast doubt on the knife evidence? The 8th Juror pulls out a knife he bought that is extremely similar to the one used in the murder. The knife is not unique, so it's possible someone else in the boy's neighborhood had a knife just like his.

HINT: 8TH JUROR: "I walked through the boy's neighborhood. The knife comes from a little pawnshop three blocks from his house." (23)

Write: Describe the 8th Juror's attitude towards serving on this jury.

The 8th Juror seems to take his duty as a juror very seriously. He thinks the defense attorney did a poor job, so he set out to check the facts himself, like by seeing if he could buy a knife similar to the murder weapon in the boy's neighborhood.

HINT: "But I started to feel that the defense counsel wasn't doing his job. He let too many things go." (20)

HINT: "I walked through the boy's neighborhood. The knife comes from a little pawnshop three blocks from his house." (23)

Name:

Period:

Date:

TEACHER COPY: TWELVE ANGRY MEN

EXIT TICKET for Section B: (pages 12 - 24)

Directions: Respond to the Short Response prompts below.

SHORT RESPONSE

1. How has prejudice influenced the 3rd, 4th, and 10th jurors so far? Cite textual evidence to support your answer. [RL.2, RL.3]

The 10th juror is prejudiced against a group (Ethnicity? Race? Socioeconomic group?) of people to which the defendant belongs. He believes that all of "them" are "born liars" (13) and "real trash" (18). To the 10th Juror, nothing the defendant says can be believed.

The 4th Juror thinks that "Children from slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society" (18), and, therefore, he believes that the defendant is predisposed to be a criminal.

The 3rd Juror is estranged from his own son, with whom he had a violent relationship. This makes him believe that "the kids... nowadays" are "Angry! Hostile!" (17). Therefore, the 3rd Juror sees the defendant in the same light.

2. Consider the way the 5th juror contributes to the discussions among the jurors. What does this suggest about how diversity on a jury can impact that jury's understanding of the case? Refer to the text to support your answer. [RL.2, RL.3]

Having diversity of life experience on a jury can expand the jury's understanding of factors of the case. For instance, the 5th Juror grew up in poverty and works with poor people on a daily basis at his job. He has a more sympathetic outlook on poverty than the 4th and 10th Jurors.

Section C: pages 24 - 36

Stop after 11TH JUROR: Facts may be colored by the personalities of the people who present them.

Page Number

DURING READING QUESTIONS

STUDENT RESPONSE

Directions: Stop at the page and line indicated. Answer the question and be prepared to review with your class.

Page 26: FOREMAN: That sounds fair.

Think & Share: What solution does the 8th Juror propose for the deadlock? The 8th Juror proposes that they vote again and, if everyone else votes "guilty," they will end the debate.

Page 27: 3RD JUROR: ... Write: Consider the way the 3rd Juror reacts to Make it easier for him. other people changing their votes. What does this

reveal about his attitude towards the defendant?

The 3rd Juror gets angry at any hint another juror might change his mind. The 3rd Juror appears to be taking this case personally. He has no sympathy for the defendant.

HINT: "Brother, you're really something! You come in here and you vote guilty like everybody else,...So you change your vote. If that isn't the most sickening..." (26-27)

Page 31: 10TH JUROR: Everyone's a lawyer!

Think & Share: How does the 8th Juror cast doubt on the idea that the defendant was the only one with a motive to kill his father? The 8th Juror points out that the father was involved in shady things and knew lots of shady people; there could potentially be many other people with motives to kill him.

HINT: 8TH JUROR: "He could have been murdered by one of many men he served time with in prison. By a bookmaker. By a man he'd beaten up. By a woman he'd picked up. By any one of the people he was known to hang out with." (31)

Page 35: 8TH JUROR: Well, I think that testimony that could put a human being into the electric chair should be that accurate.

Think & Share: How does the 8th Juror cast doubt on the old man's testimony that he heard the boy threaten to kill his father? The 8th Juror compares the old man's testimony with testimony from the woman in the apartment across the train tracks. The old man claims to have heard the boy yell just seconds before the murder, but the elevated trains are very noisy. If the train was passing, it's doubtful that the old man could have clearly heard the boy's voice.

HINT: 4TH JUROR: "The woman saw the killing through the windows of a moving elevated train." (32)

HINT: 8TH JUROR: "The old man, according to his own testimony, hearing `I'm going to kill you' and the body falling a split second later, would have had to hear the boy make this statement while the el was roaring past his nose. It's not possible that he could have heard it." (35)

Write: What is the 8th Juror trying to accomplish by going through the evidence piece by piece?

He's trying to get the other jurors to consider things in a factual, logical way, rather than judging based on their prejudices or emotions.

Page 36: 11TH JUROR: Facts may be colored by the personalities of the people who present them.

Write: What understanding does the 9th Juror have that none of the others do?

He is the only one who shares the experiences of the old man. He can understand this witness in a different way than the other jurors.

HINT: "He was a very old man... I think I know him better than anyone here." (36)

Write: What does the 11th Juror mean when he says, "Facts may be colored by the personalities who present them"?

Even if people are telling or mean to tell the truth, they may put extra emphasis on what they think is important, or say something in a way which discredits it. This may affect the listeners' understanding of or belief in the facts presented.

Name:

Period:

Date:

TEACHER COPY: TWELVE ANGRY MEN

EXIT TICKET for Section C: (pages 24 - 36)

Directions: Respond to the Short Response prompts below.

SHORT RESPONSE

1. Consider the way the 9th juror contributes to the discussions among the jurors. What does this suggest about how diversity on a jury can impact that jury's understanding of the case? Refer to the text to support your answer. [RL.2, RL.3]

Having diversity of life experience on a jury can expand the jury's understanding of factors of the case. The 9th Juror understands the old man who testifies better than any of the other jurors do, so he is able to help them better understand the old man's circumstances and motivations.

2. Name one juror who seems serious about fulfilling his responsibility as a juror. Cite textual evidence to support your answer. [RL.2, RL.3]

The 8th Juror: "Suppose you were the one on trial" (30). The 9th Juror: "It's only one night. A boy may die" (25). Students may also say that the 4th, 6th, and 8th Jurors bring up specific facts from the trial and debate them in a

serious way.

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