Ar Expectations 9
Ar Expectations 9
Accelerated Reader (AR) is an essential part of English 9. AR is worth 10% of your overall
grade. You are expected to read every day, and once you are finished reading a book, take a quiz
on that book. Questions range from ten to twenty.
This year students are asked to earn 10 AR points (equal to, two six point books). Depending on
how well you do on an AR quiz determines how many AR points you earn. That means you
could read a book and depending on how engaged you are with your book, you can either pass or
fail the quiz. You only earn points when you get questions right.
Reader’s Journal
You will write in a reader’s journal weekly, answering questions, making predictions and
observations. Entries will vary but it is important to answer these questions every time we read
AR as a class. You want to make connections; connecting your book with your life, with other
books, and society as a whole.
AR Log
You will keep track of the books you read and the points you earn on your AR quizzes. Paste
your AR Log to the inside of your reader’s notebook. You do not want to lose your AR log.
Paige Sullivan
February 8th, 2016
Sullivan 3rd Period
The Outsiders
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a coming of age novel about two rival gangs, the Socs
and the Greasers, one is rich and one is poor. The narrator is Ponyboy Curtis, a greaser, along
with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop, and their friends Johnny, Dally, Two-Bit and
Steve. Ponyboy is unlike any other greaser, he is smart and sensitive and likes to read and look at
sunsets. One night he meets Cherry Valance and his life is turned upside down. Ponyboy and
Johnny are confronted by Bob, Cherry’s boyfriend and his Soc friends. A fight breaks out, and a
Soc is left dead and Jonny is left clenching a bloody knife. Wanted for murder, the boys run
away and have to deal with the fact that not only did they kill a Soc, but their lives will never be
the same. On the run, they take refuge in an abandoned church where they deal with the
realization that, “nothing gold can stay.” When an unexpected fire breaks out, they’re left with
the decision to walk away, or do what they can do to help. Their decision takes them from being
juvenile delinquents to heroes, but sadly, because of their heroics, they must also sacrifice the
most important thing to them, each other. The Outsiders is a story about family and friends, and
how sometimes your friends are the only family you have. The novel at times is funny; boys
being boys, but also about how unfair life can be, and that sometimes, the wrong people get all
the breaks.
Ponyboy Curtis, the main character is very likeable and also very innocent. He often
struggles with how the Greasers are treated compared to the Socs, and has a hard time knowing
what’s right, especially when it comes to his Greaser friends. Ponyboy is one of my favorite
characters because he’s different than the other greasers; along with Johnny. I like that he likes to
read and that he talks about sunsets and genuinely cares about his friends. Johnny is also a
character I really liked. Johnny comes from a difficult family, parents who neglect him, and who
often abuse him. He’s shy and doesn’t really like to fight. He longs to live where Greasers and
Socs don’t exist and instead have a “normal” life. He’s like a puppy dog, and I love how all the
other Greasers seem to protect him. He, for me, is the anchor of the group; I think Johnny is the
reason that the Greasers are not as bad as the Socs and there’s still some gold in them.
I really liked, The Outsiders. The story was exciting because of the rivalry between the
two gangs but it’s also about friendship which is my favorite thing to read. I really liked how
Ponyboy is unlike other boys, that he’s very sensitive and smart and likes to read. I thought the
story was funny, with boys being boys but it’s also very sad. It’s sad that the Greasers have it bad
and that no one seems to be paying attention to these young boys. It’s sad that they get into the
trouble they get into, killing a Soc. It was devastating when Johnny died because, he really was
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the best one in the group, he was “gold” as they say and I don’t think he would have ever killed a
Soc if it hadn’t been in self-defense. I also really liked Dally. I liked that he was hard and bad
and that unlike Ponyboy, and Johnny, you had to look hard to find what made him good. How
much he cared about Johnny, and the fact that he knew what people thought of him but still did
good things when no one was looking. The ending of the story, is heartbreaking but also, allows
the characters to realize that the most important thing is each other, and that people shouldn’t
judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore, or which side he was born on, but rather, listen to
his story, and realize, that there are more things that make us alike then make us Socs or Greasers
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