Mrs



|Entry # 1 |Connection |

|“Teacher Tamer” | |

|Avi |Here’s some background on what’s happening in this part of the story. |

|10 pages |Gregory has shown up to school very early before the other students arrive |

| |for a special reason. He wants to show his appreciation of Mrs. Wessex by |

|“After a moment Mrs. Wessex looked up. She began to smile, caught |going in to tell her she’s a good teacher. He wants to do this because he |

|herself, and frowned. “Yes, Gregory,” she said, rather severely. ‘The |has learned that her seemingly unfair treatment of him was meant to help |

|bell hasn’t rung. What do you want?’ |him. She was trying to help be accepted by his classmates. Because Gregory|

|“In spite of himself, Gregory blushed. ‘It was about yesterday.’ |was new to the school and was very bright, he stood out from the rest of the|

|“ ‘Yes . . .?’ said Mrs. Wessex. There was pain in her eyes. |kids in his class and. He wasn’t fully accepted by them. She figured that |

|“Gregory wanted to put his arms around her and give her a hug. Instead|by blaming him for stuff and punishing him that the students would be more |

|he said, ‘ I just wanted to say . . . you’re the best teacher in . . .|sympathetic and accepting of him because now he’s more like one of them. He|

|the . . . the whole world’ ” (Avi 10). |wants to let her know he appreciates what she has been trying to do for him.|

| |This passage shows the theme of compassion. This theme shows characters who |

| |want to make those who are suffering feel better. (NOTE: This definition is|

| |from the Themes in Literature sheet.) Gregory wants to make Mrs. Wessex |

| |feel better because she is very unhappy and thinks her students hate her. |

| |He has discovered that she is a good person who does try to help her |

| |students. She is trying to help Gregory fit in. Proof of Gregory’s |

| |compassion is when he tells her he thinks she is a good teacher. This shows|

| |that despite some of the tough treatment she has given him that he can |

| |understand her sad feelings and wants to make her feel better. His |

| |compassion does make her feel better. Evidence of this is that for almost a|

| |month after Gregory tells Mrs. Wessex she is “the best teacher . . . in the |

| |whole world” she does not get angry with her class. Showing compassion to |

| |those who are suffering is the right thing to do. |

|Entry # 2 |Question |

|“Teacher Tamer” | |

|Avi |Here’s some background information about what is happening in this part of |

|10 pages |the story. Gregory was dared by his classmates to get back at Mrs. Wessex |

|“ ‘Because Gregory is the smartest one in the class. It makes the |for picking on him. He visits a kid named Tiny who sells him two types of |

|other kids resent him. But I keep thinking if I pick on him enough the|bombs. Gregory finds out where Mrs. Wessex lives and sneaks into her house |

|other kids will accept him. Can you grasp that? I’m afraid that if the|through a crawlspace. He crawls through the cluttered space and ends up |

|kids turn against him, he’ll want to deny his intelligence. I want to |finding a trapdoor to her apartment that leads to a closet. While in the |

|keep him smart. That’s what it comes to. I’m picking on him so he’ll |closet, he overhears Mrs. Wessex explaining to her mother about why she |

|stay smart and amount to something. It’s crazy. |picks on Gregory. To his surprise, he learns that she is actually trying to |

|But you know what, Ma? At the same time I resent Gregory. Because he’s|do Gregory a favor because by picking on him, he might be more accepted by |

|so young and could do so much and I can’t do anything anymore.’ |his peers. In this conversation, Mrs. Wessex also reveals that she is |

|“ ‘What did he do when you blamed him?’ |saddened by how her students have become such a rambunctious crew. |

|“ ‘Gregory? He made fun of me.’ |Why does Mrs. Wessex think Gregory dropped his coins out of his pocket on |

|“ ‘How?’ |purpose? Gregory admitted, to himself, when he saw Mrs. Wessex’s house he |

|‘He dumped his money—coins—on the floor.’ |was surprised at how dilapidated it looked because he thought teachers were |

|“ ‘Please, Madge, I wish you wouldn’t cry.’ |rich. She thinks that by dropping his coins on purpose right in front of her|

|“ ‘Ma, do you know what it is like to have a room full of kids who |he was showing disrespect towards her. She believes he was “throwing” money |

|hate you, despise you, have no respect for you? I hate teaching. It |in front of her face to mean that he has money and she doesn’t. She’s being |

|used to be good. I can’t stand it anymore ’ ” (Avi 8). |way too overly sensitive about the situation. She was the one who asked him |

| |to empty his pockets, and so he did as he was told. Obviously, if there was |

| |something in his pockets, and she told him to empty them, then she should |

| |expect something such as coins to drop out. I don’t agree with her thinking |

| |that this was a sign of disrespect. He was only doing as he was told. |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download