Show lasting practical help
Junior describes Roger’s repeated rides on later nights.
“And he drove me home plenty of other nights, too.” (Alexie 129)Read in the chapter
This week’s aim
Junior spends the winter formal pretending he isn't poor. What happens when the truth comes out?
Start here · Read
Read the text. Find one detail for the aim. Write in your notebook.
Read this week →Before you start
Junior hides how little money his family has. The dance makes that hard to keep secret.
Words to think about
“I lied about how poor I was.”
Why does Junior hide this?
Read and listen
Open a chapter. Read the words as you listen. Write one useful detail in your notebook.
- Chapter 17 · pp. 118–129Read & listen: Chapter 17 →
Dance, Dance, Dance
LOOK AT THE DRAWING · CHAPTER 17
The work of hiding poverty
What does Junior say when he cannot afford something? Choose one excuse and explain what he is trying to keep hidden.
Printed page 120 · Read in context →
Words in the drawing
Title: “How to Pretend You're Not Poor.” Selected speech bubbles: “I'm not hungry anyway…”; “I'm OLD SCHOOL.”; “There's this INDIAN CEREMONY at home…”
Connect it to the aim
The panels show that hiding poverty takes repeated effort. Read the winter-formal scene to test Junior's fear about what his friends will do when they learn the truth.
- Chapter 18 · pp. 130–132Read & listen: Chapter 18 →
Don’t Trust Your Computer
- Chapter 19 · pp. 133–134Read & listen: Chapter 19 →
My Sister Sends Me a Letter
Audio opens with the chapter. If asked, use your Pritzker Google account.
Talk it through
Say your answer out loud first. You can try it with a partner.
Keep the order clear
Before disclosure
Roger lends money before Junior admits his poverty.
Telling the truth
Junior tells Penelope what he has been hiding.
Later support
Roger gives him rides on later nights too.
Try saying: “I think ___ because the text says ___. This shows ___.”
LOOK AT THE DRAWING · CHAPTER 17
One question, five possible escapes
Which response gives Penelope a direct answer? What do the other responses help Junior avoid?
Printed page 128 · Read in context →
Words in the drawing
Heading: “Are You Poor?” “POSSIBLE RESPONSES:” Selected responses: “No.”; “Yes.”; “Yes, I have many.”; “LOOK OVER THERE!”; “Run away!”
Connect it to the aim
The cartoon makes the choice between honesty and hiding visible. The next actions in the prose show what happens after Junior tells the truth.
Need another way to think about it?
From a highlight to your writing
Notice the words
“I figured she was going to march out of my life right then. But she didn’t.”
Margin note
Junior predicts that admitting poverty will end the relationship. Penelope stays instead, so comparing his expectation with her action is central evidence for this week’s aim.
My notebook
Expects: she leaves. Actual: she stays. His fear ≠ her response.
See note 3 beside the passage · Alexie 127
See the observation become sentences
- What it says
Junior predicts that Penelope will leave him, but she stays after hearing that he is poor.
- What it helps explain
He has been hiding poverty partly because he expects it to cost him a relationship. Her response gives him evidence against that fear.
Your turn: another detail
What do “plenty of other nights” add beyond one ride? Write a sentence explaining the lasting change.
Test a possible misreading
First thought: Junior admits he is poor, so Roger immediately gives him forty dollars.
Keep the order straight
Junior narrates Roger lending him money before the confession.
“He opened his wallet and handed me forty bucks.” (Alexie 126)Read in the chapter
Look again: The money comes first, after the wallet excuse. Junior later tells Penelope he is poor; the continuing rides show what help follows the fuller truth. Keep these moments in that order.
Your notebook → your Aim Response
Build your response
Choose your evidence here. Write your sentences in your notebook.
What does my answer need to cover?
What Junior hides
Explain the fear or problem before the truth comes out.
What changes
Use what his classmates do afterward to explain the result.
Write your answer
Junior hides ___ because ___; when the truth comes out, ___ changes because ___.
A starting shape, not the only way to write your answer. Replace the spaces with your own thinking.
Pick quote 1. Explain it.
The exact quotation, its context, and its citation will appear here.
What it saysIn my own words, this means …
What it showsThis helps answer the question because …
Pick quote 2. Explain it.
The exact quotation, its context, and its citation will appear here.
What it saysIn my own words, this means …
What it showsThis helps answer the question because …
Choose two different quotations. Then check that your writing explains every part of the aim.
Connect the two details
The first detail shows … . But / So / Because … . Together, these details help explain … .
Choose the connector that matches your reasoning: but contrasts, so gives a result, because gives a reason.
See the shape in a complete model
This model answers a related question. Notice where the quotes, explanations, words, and appositives go.
Establish the concealment
Junior describes the pressure of hiding poverty at the winter formal.
“I lied about how poor I was.” (Alexie 119)Read in the chapter
Can help with: What Junior hides.
Keep the order straight
Junior narrates Roger lending him money before the confession.
“He opened his wallet and handed me forty bucks.” (Alexie 126)Read in the chapter
Can help with: What Junior hides.
Mark the admission
Junior tells Penelope about his poverty.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m poor.” (Alexie 127)Read in the chapter
Can help with: What Junior hides; What changes.
Show lasting practical help
Junior describes Roger’s repeated rides on later nights.
“And he drove me home plenty of other nights, too.” (Alexie 129)Read in the chapter
Can help with: What changes.
Compare fear with the result
Junior describes Penelope’s response when he admits his poverty.
“I figured she was going to march out of my life right then. But she didn’t.” (Alexie 127)Read in the chapter
Can help with: What changes.
Name the meaning of her response
Junior describes Penelope’s concern after she learns more about his situation.
“She was concerned about me.” (Alexie 127)Read in the chapter
Can help with: What changes.
DRAWING → EXPLANATION
Use a visual detail in your explanation.
- The work of hiding poverty · page 120
Use one panel to explain why Junior keeps pretending. Then compare his fear with Penelope's or Roger's actual response.
- One question, five possible escapes · page 128
Explain why the short answer matters. Support your explanation with what Penelope or Roger does after Junior's admission.
Add the assigned words
Words of the day 2 points
Use one word from each of these 4 groups. Complete all 4 groups for the vocabulary points. Words separated by “or” are alternatives.
Meaning + one sentence example
assume (verb) — To treat something as true before checking it.
Junior assumes that admitting poverty may change how his classmates see him.
Original writing example · More word help
Meaning + one sentence example
individual (noun / adjective) — One person; or separate and different from other people or things.
Roger responds to an individual who needs help instead of making a public example of him.
Original writing example · More word help
Meaning + one sentence example
ecstatic (adjective) — Extremely happy and excited.
Junior does not have to be ecstatic for the change to matter: his classmates show concern and help with problems he had been hiding.
Original writing example · More word help
Meaning + one sentence example
repressed (adjective) — Held back instead of being openly expressed.
Trying to hide his poverty puts pressure on Junior during the evening.
Original writing example · More word help
An alternative from a listed root family fills the same group. Review words in a practice model do not replace this list. Connect each word to your point; a made-up event is not evidence.
Add two appositives
Introduce two people or ideas 2 appositives · 2 points
The words between the commas give another name for the noun.
Roger, another name for this person or idea, …
See one that works
Roger, a classmate with the means to help, offers money for food.
“a classmate with the means to help” and “Roger” name the same person or idea. Keep both commas; finish with your own point.
Penelope, another name for this person or idea, …
See one that works
Penelope, Junior’s companion at the dance, learns something he has been hiding.
“Junior’s companion at the dance” and “Penelope” name the same person or idea. Keep both commas; finish with your own point.
See more evidence
Explore the evidence
Before: hiding and early help
What does Junior hide, and what help does he receive before he tells the whole truth?
Turning point: telling the truth
When does Junior admit the truth, and what has already happened?
After: how friends respond
How do Penelope and Roger respond, and what changes beyond that night?
Establish the concealment
Junior describes the pressure of hiding poverty at the winter formal.
“I lied about how poor I was.” (Alexie 119)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
Junior admits that he has hidden his poverty. Keep this fact beside his fear of losing friends so the lie has a reason, not just a label.
Keep the order straight
Junior narrates Roger lending him money before the confession.
“He opened his wallet and handed me forty bucks.” (Alexie 126)Read in the chapterChange
What this detail can show
Roger gives Junior money after the forgotten-wallet excuse, before Junior fully admits that he is poor. The help does not depend on a complete confession.
Mark the admission
Junior tells Penelope about his poverty.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m poor.” (Alexie 127)Read in the chapterChange
What this detail can show
Junior answers Penelope directly instead of continuing the wallet excuse. This is a turning point to compare with what he feared would happen.
Show lasting practical help
Junior describes Roger’s repeated rides on later nights.
“And he drove me home plenty of other nights, too.” (Alexie 129)Read in the chapterChange
What this detail can show
Roger’s rides continue after the dance. The response changes a repeated problem in Junior’s life, rather than ending with one kind gesture.
Compare fear with the result
Junior describes Penelope’s response when he admits his poverty.
“I figured she was going to march out of my life right then. But she didn’t.” (Alexie 127)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
Junior expects rejection after admitting poverty. Penelope’s decision to stay challenges that prediction.
Name the meaning of her response
Junior describes Penelope’s concern after she learns more about his situation.
“She was concerned about me.” (Alexie 127)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
Junior recognizes concern in Penelope’s response. He starts to read her questions as friendship instead of only as a threat to his pride.
Find more evidence in the chapter
- Chapter 17: Before the restaurant scene, find one way Junior tries to hide his lack of money at the dance. Pair the detail with his later prediction that Penelope will leave.
Choose a second quote that adds something
You showed that Penelope stays instead of rejecting Junior. Which quote adds a lasting change in what his friends do?
In your notebook: explain what your second quotation adds that the first one could not show alone.
Check your paragraph
10 points total · 2 points in each area
Point to the evidence in your own paragraph before checking a box.
These boxes are a self-check, not a grade. Development reflects how your argument builds and your growth as a writer. Checks stay in this browser.
Your paragraph goes in your notebook. Follow your teacher’s directions for turning it in. Nothing on this page submits your work.
Extra reading practice
Check yourself
Complete the explanation
Use each choice once. These are practice sentences, not quotations.
Tracking order keeps an explanation accurate. Junior offers a missing- story before admitting his poverty, and Roger first provides a . Later, Penelope asks a direct question and Junior tells her the . A reader can then compare the rejection he expects with the she actually shows. Her questions reveal another practical need: a safe home. To explain the scene, keep the first helpful action separate from the help that follows fuller knowledge. Then ask what each response allows Junior to reconsider about the people around him.
- Blank 1: The object Junior claims he left at home.
- Blank 2: Money given with the possibility of repayment.
- Blank 3: An honest account rather than a cover story.
- Blank 4: Worry about someone's well-being.
- Blank 5: Transportation in someone's car.
Keep help and disclosure in the right order
Drag the blocks or use the arrow buttons. Keyboard: focus a block and press Alt + ↑ / ↓.
- Outside the school, Penelope asks if Junior is poor, and he admits it.
- Junior admits that his father is not coming and describes walking or hitchhiking home.
- Junior tells Roger that he forgot his wallet.
- Penelope tells Roger the situation, and Roger drives Junior home.
- Roger gives Junior rides on other nights as well.
- Roger lends Junior forty dollars.
Take it into your writing
Choose one response Junior expects and the action he actually receives; write one sentence explaining the difference; cite the printed page shown beside the quotation.
Practice feedback is for you. These activities do not submit a grade.