Quickwrite: What do you know about Lance Armstrong? List as many things as you know about him. If you are unsure, look at this picture!

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Quickwrite What do you know about Lance
Armstrong? List as many things as you know about
him. If you are unsure, look at this picture!
Adapted from CSU ERWC Material
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It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong
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Who is Lance Armstrong?

• Lance Armstrong is a world-renowned bicycle
  racer, famous for having won seven consecutive
  Tours de France (a race that is over 2,200 miles
  on a bicycle) from 1998-2005. He was sidetracked
  by cancer early in his career, but made a
  stunning comeback.
• He is also well-known for dating singer Sheryl
  Crow, having divorced his wife shortly after the
  publication of the book from which the excerpt we
  are going to read is taken.

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Survey the Text

• Take a look at the Lance Armstrong article in
  your yellow packet
• What is the significance of the fact that the
  book is written by Lance Armstrong with Sally
  Jenkins?
• What kind of textwhat genredo you think this
  book is? What do you think this book will be
  about?

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Survey the Text

• What is the significance of the fact that the
  book is written by Lance Armstrong with Sally
  Jenkins?
• This is a flag that the book, although seemingly
  "co-written" by Armstrong and Jenkins, was
  probably written primarily by Jenkins. Many
  celebrity-authored books have this type of shared
  authorial byline. It is significant in that it
  indicates that actual authorship is not as
  straightforward as in a more traditional
  autobiography, but a reader can safely assume
  that the viewpoints provided are those of the
  "famous" person.

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Survey the Text

• What kind of textwhat genredo you think this
  book is? What do you think this book will be
  about?
• This text is an autobiography. You may also know
  or predict that this may cover all of Armstrong's
  life, or be limited to a specific time period.

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Making Predictions

• What topics do you think Lance Armstrong might
  talk about that are related to the issue of how
  we value life?
• Do you think Lance Armstrong's claim about the
  value of life will agree with Hamlet's or not?

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Making Predictions

• What topics do you think Lance Armstrong might
  talk about that are related to the issue of how
  we value life?
• If you know about Armstrong's battle with cancer,
  you may predict that he might view that life is
  full of suffering.

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Making Predictions

• Do you think Lance Armstrong's claim about the
  value of life will agree with Hamlet's or not?
• Again, if you know that Armstrong survived cancer
  and went on to great accomplishments in bicycle
  racing, you may anticipate that Armstrong has a
  less pessimistic tone to his piece.

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Vocabulary Preview(Create a Cornell-Note
Vocabulary Chart)

• 1. expire (v) die
• 2. poignant (touching, sentimental)
• 3. demise (ending, death)
• 4. cadence (pace, rhythm)
• 5. marbled (striated, multicolored)
• 6. acrid (bitter, sour)
• 7. puckered (indented, sucked-in)
• 8. catheter (tube used in medical procedures)
• 9. constitution (physical makeup or strength)
• 10. articulate (describe coherently)

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Vocabulary Mapping

• Identify sets or pairs of words that are related
  to each other
• 1. Which words refer to death?
• 2. Which words refer to the body?
• 3. Are there any other categories of words?

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First Reading

• Read the text by Lance Armstrong. As you read,
  pay attention to the way that Armstrong talks
  about the value of life. As we did with Hamlet,
  to try to determine if Armstrong appears to be
  generally pessimistic or optimistic, based on
  your reading of the passage.
• Consider whether Armstrongs view of mortality
  reflects a positive or negative view of life.
  Does the text, in other words, present an
  argument about the value of death?

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Strategic Marking of the Text I

• As we did with the Shakespeare text, mark
  Armstrong's text.
• Use a different highlighter (from HAMLET reading)
  to highlight the sentences, phrases, and/or words
  that Armstrong uses to describe what he thinks it
  means to be alive.
• Note Use a different colored highlighter than
  you used to mark the Shakespeare text.

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Characterizing the Text

• Partners Once you have highlighted Armstrong's
  text, compare what you selected to highlight with
  the choices a classmate made. Then, working
  together, mark some of the commonly-highlighted
  parts with a "" or "-" sign to indicate whether
  the quote shows a generally positive or negative
  outlook on life.
• Discuss the results with your partner and answer
  the question about Armstrong's outlook on life
  is he an optimist or a pessimist?

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Strategic Marking of the Text II

• Second Highlighting Go through the text once
  more, this time with the same highlighter you
  used for Shakespeares text.
• Imagine that you are reading Armstrong's text
  from Hamlet's perspective. Highlight any passages
  that Hamlet would find particularly interesting
  or compelling.
• Some of these may be the same words you already
  highlighted, while others will be new.

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Connecting the TextsThe Mock Interview

• Armstrong and Hamlet, in their respective texts,
  provide quite different perspectives on the
  meaning and value of life.
• Partners Envision a scenario in which somehow
  Hamlet would have the opportunity to interview
  Armstrong and vice versa.
• One partner should write out a series of five
  questions that Hamlet would probably ask
  Armstrong, while the other writes five questions
  for Armstrong to ask Hamlet.

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Connecting the TextsThe Mock Interview

• Interview questions might address such issues as
  Hamlets and Armstrongs attitudes toward death,
  fear, vitality, human relationships, and
  endurance.
• Examples
• 1. Are you afraid of death?
• 2. Are there any benefits to suffering?
• 3. How do you approach challenges?

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Conducting the Interview

• Now, take on the personas of these two, and
  conduct the interviews.
• Be sure to give answers that are in keeping with
  the points of view provided in the two texts.

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Rhetorical Appeals

1. An autobiography is a form of nonfiction--a text
   that tells the "truth." Do you think Armstrong is
   being truthful in his account of his life?
   Explain your reasoning.

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Rhetorical Appeals

• 2. Armstrong's autobiography is written by
  Armstrong "with" Sally Jenkins. What role do you
  think Jenkins played in the writing of the text?
  How does her participation in the creation of the
  text influence your interpretation of Armstrong's
  story? In other words, how does the combination
  of Armstrong and Jenkins as authors affect the
  "ethos" of the text?

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Rhetorical Appeals

• 3. Do you think that Armstrong's story has an
  impact on the reader because of its use of logic
  (logos) or emotion (pathos) or both?
• 4. Unlike Hamlet, Armstrong is not in the midst
  of his crisis when he writes his story instead,
  he writes about his experiences in hindsight.
  Does that have an impact on Armstrong's ability
  to make his ideas and story compelling to the
  reader? Explain your reasoning.

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Chart the Text

• Make an entry in you charts for the Armstrong
  text, filling it out as you did with the
  soliloquy.
• When you reach the entry for "How does this text
  connect to other texts? briefly describe the
  ways that Armstrong responds to and/or challenges
  the assertions made by Shakespeare in his
  soliloquy for Hamlet.

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After the Mock Interviews

• After conducting the mock interviews, discuss (in
  partnerships as well as a whole-class) the
  relative viewpoints of the characters.
• How well would they get along with one another?
• How would each respond to the arguments made by
  the other?