TOPIC: What motivates Malcolm X to become passionate about learning

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TOPIC What motivates Malcolm X to become
passionate about learning?
Consensus
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I woke up the next morning, thinking about
those wordsimmensely proud to realize that not
only had I written so much at one time, but Id
written words that I never knew were in the
world. Moreover, with a little effort, I also
could remember what many of these words meant. I
reviewed the words whose meanings I didnt
remember. Funny thing, from the dictionarys
first page right now, that aardvark springs to
my mind. The dictionary had a picture of it, a
long-tailed, long-eared, burrowing African
mammal, which lives off termites caught by
sticking out its tongue as an anteater does for
ants.
I was so fascinated that I went onI copied
the dictionarys next page. And the same
experience came when I studied that. With every
succeeding page, I also learned of people and
places and events from history. Actually
the dictionary is like a miniature encyclopedia.
Finally the dictionarys A section had filled a
whole tabletand I went on into the Bs. That was
the way I started copying what eventually became
the entire dictionary. It went a lot faster after
so much practice helped me to pick up handwriting
speed. Between what I wrote in my tablet, and
writing letters, during the rest of my time in
prison I would guess I wrote a million words.
Which paragraph contains the most powerful
evidence for what motivates Malcolm?
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I suppose it was inevitable that as my
word-base broadened, I could for the first time
pick up a book and read and now begin to
understand what the book was saying. Anyone who
has read a great deal can imagine the new world
that opened. Let me tell you something from then
until I left the prison, in every free moment I
had, if I was not reading in the library, I was
reading on my bunk. You couldnt have gotten me
out of books with a wedge. Between Mr. Muhammads
teachings, my correspondence, my visitorsusually
Ella and Reginaldand reading of books, months
passed without even thinking about being
imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been
so truly free in my life.
Select 3 quotations.
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I have often reflected upon the new vistas
that reading opened to me. I knew right there in
prison that reading had changed forever the
course of my life. As I see it today, the ability
to read awoke inside me some long dormant
craving to be mentally alive. I certainly wasnt
seeking any degree, the way a college confers a
status symbol upon its students. My homemade
education gave me, with every additional book
that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the
deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was
afflicting the black race in America. Not
long ago, an English writer telephoned me from
London asking questions. One was Whats your
alma mater? I told him, Books. You will never
catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which Im
not studying something I feel might be able
to help the black man.
Select 3 quotations.
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Three factors motivate Malcolm X to become
passionate about learning.
Main Idea _______________________________________
________________
First,
history
a sense of discovery
the glimpse of a new reality
intellectual discovery
a dictionary
another inmate
_________________________________ motivates him
to learn
words that I never knew were in the world.
(Malcolm X 2)
the new world that opened. (Malcolm X 2)
the new vistas that reading opened for me.
(Malcolm X 3)
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Three factors motivate Malcolm X to become
passionate about learning.
Main Idea _______________________________________
________________
First,
__________________________________ motivates him
to learn
Id never realized so many words existed.
(Malcolm X 2)
Second,
_________________________________ motivates him
to learn
It was both ideas together that moved me to
request a dictionary (Malcolm X 2)
Finally,
__________________________________ motivates him
to learn
Where else but in prison could I have attacked
my ignorance by being able To study intensely
(Malcolm x 4)
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Three factors motivate Malcolm X to become
passionate about learning.
Main Idea _______________________________________
________________
intellectual discovery
First,
___________________________________ motivates him
to learn
Id never realized so many words existed.
(Malcolm X 2)
Three factors motivate Malcolm X to become
passionate about learning.
he experiences intellectual discovery
First, Malcolm gets excited when
___________________________________.
For example, he explains that Id never realized
so many words existed (Malcolm X 2).
His discovery is like
a gold mine of new treasures each word
represents a new achievement in his intellectual
growth. This process of discovery and
acquisition spurs him to learn more.
Second,
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Interpretation Strategy 1 Use a personal event
Malcolm reveals that, the ability to read awoke
inside me some long dormant craving to be
mentally alive (Malcolm X 3)
Malcolms awakening reminds me of myself in the
fifth grade. I had always struggled with Dyslexia
and hated reading. After finding a great tutor in
the fifth grade, I could finally understand the
words on the page. Then reading became my best
friend instead of my enemy. Although I will
always struggle with reading at times, it fuels
my intellectual and creative energy.
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Interpretation Strategy 2 Ask a question or a
series of questions
Malcolm reveals that, the ability to read awoke
inside me some long dormant craving to be
mentally alive (Malcolm X 3)
Have you ever had an awakening moment? Can you
recall an event that was so powerful that you
immediately knew that it would change your life?
When Malcolm X learned to read, he was able to
recognize meanings where there had only been
obscure symbols on the page. Can you imagine what
it would be like to look at a map and not know
what anything meant? Can you imagine what it
would be like to suddenly know that every little
scribble on the map meant something real? That
was how Malcolm X felt after he learned how to
read.
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Interpretation Strategy 3 Define some key terms
in the evidence
Malcolm reveals that, the ability to read awoke
inside me some long dormant craving to be
mentally alive (Malcolm X 3)
Malcolm describes the event of his intellectual
birth, or perhaps rebirth. Until this moment,
his mind had been dormant, asleep and
unmotivated by lifes challenges. But a
craving was always deep inside of him, like a
giant grisly hibernating through a long, dark
winter. Now Malcolms intellect roars to life as
he emerges from his cave of ignorance and
darkness. Stretching his intellectual muscles
for the first time, he feels mentally alive and
ready to discover the world.