Model DRTA for Uncle Jed’s Barbershop

 

Model of a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)

 

A. Before Reading (Day 1)

 

  • Read title—What does the title suggest?

 

·        Look at the front cover—Who are these characters?

·        What are they doing?

 

      • Notice face of little girl. How does she seem to feel?
      • How do you know?
      • Where do you think they are?

 

  • Look at title page spread?

 

      • When do you think this story takes place? What are the clues?
      • Where do you think it takes place?
      • What do we call the time and place (when and where) a story takes place? [Setting]

 

  • What do you think this story may be about?

 

 

B. Stop #1: pages 1-6 (Day 1)

 

  • Are we given any information about the setting for this story?
  • Who is Uncle Jed?
  • What does he do?
  • How does the little girl feel about him? How do you know?
  • Can you see a problem in the story yet? (What might it be?)
  • What is Uncle Jed’s goal?
  •  (Prediction) Do you think he will ever open his barbershop? Why or why not?

 

C. Stop #2: pages 7-14 (Day 1)

 

  • The author has described for us a little more about the setting? What have we learned so far about the time and place of the story?
  • What are sharecroppers? How do you feel about this idea of being a sharecropper?
  • When it says, “…People didn’t have dreams like that in those days.” (p. 8), what is the author getting at? What does the author mean by these words?
  • What happened to the little girl?
  • What did we learn about segregation?
  • What details does the author give us that persuade the reader that segregation is unfair (bad)?
  • How is life today different from life at the time of the story?
  • (Predict) What do you think will happen to the little girl?

 

Learning Log/Response Journal:  Complete an open mind map of Uncle Jed. What will he be thinking when he hears about the little girl?

Open-Mind Portrait

 

Uncle Jed’s Mind—What is he thinking?

 

D. Stop #3: pages 15-end (Day 2)

 

  • Who is Sarah Jean? (p. 16) How do you know? (First-Person Narrative---uses words like “my” “mine” “I” “me”)
  • What happened to Sarah Jean? Who paid for her operation?
  • Do you think Uncle Jed should have given up his savings to pay for Sarah Jean’s operation? Explain/justify your answer.
  • What happened to the money Uncle Jed had in the bank? (p. 19 The bank failed and lost its customers’ money; this was the beginning of the Great Depression)
  • How did Uncle Jed react to the loss of his life-savings? What do you think about that? How would you have reacted?
  • On page 19 the story mentions the Great Depression. What do you know about that time in history?
  • How did Uncle Jed’s customers pay him for his services? (hot meal, eggs, vegetables)
  • How do you know this story took place over time and not just during one season? (When Uncle Jed finally got his barbershop, Sarah Jean was there for opening day and she was grown up; or Uncle Jed needed a long time to save all the money he had lost during the Great Depression; or Uncle Jed is older than he was in the beginning of the story because now he has grey hair and is 79 years old.)
  • Why do you think so many customers show up at the opening of Jed’s shop?
  • How do you think Sarah Jean felt when she sat in Uncle Jed's barber chair? (Proud because Uncle Jed had a dream and believed he could make it come true; happy because even though he had made a sacrifice for her, he was able to have what he always wanted.)
  • Sarah Jean says she believes that Uncle Jed died a happy man. Do you agree? Why or why not?
  • How do you think the author feels about the idea of following a dream? Why do you think she wrote this book? Read the inside of the back cover—about the author. What do we learn about her? (She believes it is good to follow your dreams; you may face hardships and difficulties along the way; work hard to overcome them; she may be trying to persuade readers to believe that dreams come true if you work hard, believe, and persevere)

                       

Learning Log/Response Journal:

Think about the community in the story and your own community. Use a graphic organizer to show how Sarah Jean's community then and your community now are alike and different. Focus on transportation, goods and services, and social practices (like segregation).

Goods are objects- things that can be bought or sold

Services are activities that are provided by something or someone; they satisfy what people need or want