Page 206 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade7_Flipbook

September 11 perspectives
aCTIvITy 3.7
Learning Targets
• Compare and contrast a fictional account of a disastrous event with a nonfiction account, with a focus on the perspectives of the narrator and author.
• Analyze the author’s point of view and purpose in a nonfiction text.
Preview
In this activity, you will read “A Stunning Tale of Escape Traps Its Hero in Replay” and think about its author’s perspective and purpose.
Setting a Purpose for reading
• As you read the news article, underline words and phrases that reveal how the author feels about Jan Demczur.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
• Mark the text for details that identify the 5Ws and an H: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
A stunning tale of escape traps its hero in replay
by Harry Bruinius
1 JERSEY CITY, N.J. Sunlight seeps through the translucent curtains on his living room window, making the lacquered matrioshka dolls on the wall case gleam. Sitting on the sofa, Jan Demczur leafs through a thick binder of news clippings about his heroic Sept. 11 escape, still in a daze at the story they tell.
2 He stays home often now, speaking more Ukrainian than English, a language still difficult for him. When he does venture out, he’s sometimes overcome with a sense of fear, his head dizzy and heavy, like a big ball of lead. It’s been almost a year, but Mr. Demczur has still not returned to his job as one of the workers who wash the endless sheets of glass stacked to the sky in Manhattan.
3 It’s become a safe new routine, sitting here amid pillows adorned with his wife’s cross stitchings, telling how he survived. His ordeal was compelling — he was trapped in an elevator with five others after the first plane struck Tower 1, and barely escaped by clawing through the walls with only his squeegee — and media from around the world have since flocked to him, reporting his story of survival, and the tiny tool that saved him.
my Notes
aCademIC voCabULary
The word perspective can
have different meanings,
depending on how it is
used. For example, in art
perspective refers to how
objects are painted on a flat
surface to show depth and
distance. When referring
to point of view in a piece
of writing, perspective
describes one’s opinion or
outlook about a topic.
About the Author
Harry Bruinius is a journalist, an award-winning author, and a teacher. He grew up in in Chicago and then moved to New York City to become a writer.
News article
Unit 3 • Choices and Consequences 179
LearNING STraTeGIeS:
Think-Pair-Share, Note-taking, Summarizing
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.