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English
Quarter 3 – Module 3:
Compose an independent
critique of a chosen selection
English 9 Grade 9
Quarter 3 – Module 3: Compose an Independent Critique of a Chosen Selection
First Edition, 2020

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English 10
Quarter 3 – Module 3:
Compose an Independent
Critique of a Chosen Selection
Introductory Message
This Self-Learning Module (SLM) is prepared so that you,
our dear learners, can continue your studies and learn while at
home. Activities, questions, directions, exercises, and
discussions are carefully stated for you to understand each
lesson.
Each SLM is composed of different parts. Each part shall
guide you step-by-step as you discover and understand the
lesson prepared for you.
Pre-tests are provided to measure your prior knowledge on
lessons in each SLM. This will tell you if you need to proceed on
completing this module or if you need to ask your facilitator or
your teacher’s assistance for better understanding of the lesson.
At the end of each module, you need to answer the post-test to
self-check your learning. Answer keys are provided for each
activity and test. We trust that you will be honest in using these.
In addition to the material in the main text, Notes to the
Teacher are also provided to our facilitators and parents for
strategies and reminders on how they can best help you on your
home-based learning.
Please use this module with care. Do not put unnecessary
marks on any part of this SLM. Use a separate sheet of paper in
answering the exercises and tests. And read the instructions
carefully before performing each task.
If you have any questions in using this SLM or any difficulty
in answering the tasks in this module, do not hesitate to consult
your teacher or facilitator.
Thank you.

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 Let Us Learn!
Reader-response and critiquing is suggestive that the role of the
reader is essential to the meaning of a chosen selection. The
purpose of a reading response and critiquing a chosen selection is to
examine, explain and defend your personal reaction to a chosen selection.
Critiquing a chosen selection asks you to explore the overall article.

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

▪ Explain why you like or dislike the chosen selection;
▪ Explicate whether you agree or disagree with the author;
▪ Identify the purpose of the chosen selection; and
▪ Compose a critique for the chosen selection.

Let Us Try!
Identify whether the following statements are true or false in
composing a critique in a chosen selection. Write the word True on
the space provided before the number if you think the statement is true and
write false if you think the statement is false.

__________ 1. It is acceptable to write in composing a critique for a selection

that the selection has nothing to do with you.
__________ 2. Do not give examples on how your views might have changed
or have been strengthened by the written selection.
__________ 3. Use quotes and examples to discuss how the selection agrees
or disagrees with what you think about the world and about
right and wrong.
__________ 4. You can write, “I agree with everything that the author wrote.”
__________ 5. Reading and writing “critically” is the same thing as
“criticizing in everyday language.
__________ 6. Use quotes or examples to illustrate the quality of the selection
as art or entertainment.
__________ 7. Your overall reaction to the selection should be included in
composing a critique.
__________ 8. Whether you would read something similar with the current
text you are critiquing should not be included in your
composition.
__________ 9. Whether you would read a selection by the same author should
also be included in your composition of a critique.
__________ 10. Choosing a selection to critique is the first step in critiquing a
selection.

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Lesson
Composing a Critique for
1 a Chosen Selection

Let Us Study
Read the Amy Ferdinandt’s Critique of James Thurber’s “The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. After reading and understanding
the composition, you are tasked to answer the questions below. Write
your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

To Misread or to Rebel: A Woman’s Reading of “The Secret Life of Walter

Mitty”

As “The secret Life of Walter Mitty” begins, a military officer orders an

airplane crew to proceed with a flight through a dangerous storm. The
crew members are scared but are buoyed by their commander’s
confidence, and they express their faith in him. Suddenly, the setting
switches to an ordinary highway, where Walter Mitty and his wife are
driving into a city to run errands. The scene on the airplane is revealed to
be one of Mitty’s fantasies.

Mitty’s wife observes that he seems tense, and when he drops her off in
front of a hair styling salon, she reminds him to go buy overshoes and
advises him to put on his gloves. He drives away toward a parking lot and
loses himself in another fantasy. In this daydream he is brilliant doctor,
called upon to perform an operation on a prominent banker. His
thoughts are interrupted by the attendant at the parking lot, where Mitty
is trying to enter through the exit lane. He has trouble backing out to get
into the proper lane, and the attendant has to take a wheel. Mitty walks
away, resentful of the attendant’s skill and self-assurance.

Next Mitty finds a shoe store and buys overshoes. He is trying to

remember what else his wife wanted him to buy when he hears a
newsboy shouting about a trial, which sends Mitty into another
daydream. Mitty is on the witness stand on a courtroom. He identifies a
gun as his own and reveals that he is skillful marksman. His testimony
causes a disturbance in the courtroom. An attractive young woman falls
into his arms; the district attorney strikes her and Mitty punches him.
This time Mitty brings himself out of his reverie by remembering what he
was supposed to buy. “Puppy biscuit,” he says aloud leading a woman on
the street to laugh and tell her friend, “That man said ‘Puppy biscuit’ to
himself”

Mitty then goes to a grocery store for the dog biscuits and makes his way
to the hotel lobby where he has arranged to meet his wife. He sits in a
chair and picks up a magazine that carries a story about airborne
warfare. He begins to daydream again, seing himself as a heroic bomber

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 pilot about to go on a dangerous mission. He is brave and lighthearted as
he prepares to risk his life.

He returns to the real word when his wife claps him on the shoulder. She
is full of questions, and he explains to her that he was thinking. “Does it
ever occur to you that I am so sometimes thinking?” he says. She replies
that she plans to take his temperature when they get home. They leave
the hotel and walk toward the parking lot. She darts into a drugstore for
one last purchase, and Mitty remains on the street as it begins to rain.
He lights a cigarette and imagines himself smoking it in front of a firing
squad. He tosses the cigarette away and faces the guns courageously ___
“Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.”

Let’s answer.
1. Is the composition racist?
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2. Does the composed critique puts down things such as religion, or
groups of people, such as women or adolescents, conservatives or
democrats?
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3. Is the composed critique poorly written?
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4. Is the composition too emotional or too childish?
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5. Does the critique contain too many facts or figures?
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6. Are there typos or errors in the composed critique?
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7. Does the author’s idea wander around without making a point?
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Composing a critique for a chosen selection suggests that the role of

the reader is vital to the meaning of the text, for only does the reading
experience does the selection come alive. Thus, the purpose of the critiquing
a chosen selection is to examine, explain and defend your personal reaction
to a chosen selection.

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 Your critique of a chosen selection allows you to explore:
▪ Explain why you like or dislike the chosen selection;
▪ Explicate whether you agree or disagree with the author;
▪ Identify the purpose of the chosen selection; and
▪ Compose a critique for the chosen selection.

There is no right or wrong answer in critiquing a chosen selection,

however, it is pertinent that you demonstrate an understanding of the
composition and clearly explain and support your reactions. Do not use the
standard approach of just writing. “I liked this text because it is so cool and
the ending made me feel happy,” or “I hated it because it was stupid, and
had nothing to do with my life, and was too negative and boring.” In writing
a critique, you may assume that the reader has already read the text.
Thus, there is no need to summarize the contents of the texts at length.
Instead, you need to take a systematic, analytical approach to the
selection.

In composing a critique for a chosen selection, it is fine if you do not

like the selection but you need to criticize it either through principle or
form:

• principle, for example:

o Is the selection racist?
o Does the selection unreasonably puts down things, such
as religion, or groups of people, such as women or
adolescents, conservatives or democrats, etc. ?
o Does the selection include factual errors or outright lies?
Is it too dark and despairing? Is it falsely positive?
• form, for example:
o Is the selection poorly written?
o Is the selection too emotional or too childish?
o Does it have too many facts or figures?
o Are there typos or other errors in the selection?
o Do the ideas wander around without making a point?

In each of these cases, do not criticize, but provide examples. Be

cautious, of criticizing any text as “confusing”, since readers might simply
conclude that you are slow to understand and appreciate it.

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 Let Us Practice
Choosing a selection to compose a critique with is the first step in
making a critique. Once a selection has been chosen or has been
provided, the challenge is to connect with it and have a conversation with
the selection. In this part, you are tasked to read the selection entitled, “The
Unicorn in the Garden” by James Thurber. After reading and studying the
selection, answer the following questions in order for you to be able to
discern the steps in composing your own critique.

Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook

looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden
horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the
bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in
the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and
looked at him.

"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on
him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The
unicorn was still there; now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here,
unicorn," said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The
unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his
garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he
said,"ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a
booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch."

The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch,"
and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a
unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said.
He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his
forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the
unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the
roses and went to sleep.

As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up
and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat
in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she
told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police
and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with
great interest.

"My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police
looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told
me it ate a lily," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police
looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of
its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police
leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing

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her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as
they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.

"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of
course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all
I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but
your wife is as crazy as a jaybird."

So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an
institution. The husband lived happily ever after.

Moral: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.

1. What is the title of the selection that you have read?
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2. Who is the author of the selection?
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3. What is the gist/main idea of the selection?
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4. What does the selection have to do with you personally?
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5. Does the selection agree or clash with your view of the world and what
you consider right and wrong?
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6. What did you learn and how much your views and opinions
challenged or changed by this selection?
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 ____________________________________________________________________
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7. How well does the selection address things that you personally care
about and consider important to the world?
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8. What can you praise about the selection and what problems did
you have with it?

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9. How well did you enjoy the selection as entertainment or as work of
art?
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 Let Us Practice More
Based on the selection, “The Unicorn in the Garden” by James
Thurber, make your own conclusion of the critique by answering the
guide questions and merging all your answers which will comprise the
conclusion of your critique.
Guide questions:
1. What is your overall reaction on the text?
2. Would you read something similar to the selection in the future?
Explain.
3. Would you read another selection by the same author? Explain.
4. Would you recommend the selection to other people? Why or why
not?
Provide your conclusion of the critique on the box below.

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 Let Us Remember
In the composition of a critique of a given selection, the reader/writer
is essential to the meaning of the selection since they bring the
selection to life.
• The purpose of critiquing a chosen selection is to examine, explain
and defend your personal reaction to a selection.
• When writing a critique, write as an educated writer addressing other
writers appropriately.
• As a writer, be cautious of using words like “boring,” “crazy,” or “dull.”
If you compose a critique, base it on the principle and form of the
selection itself.
• The primary challenge of composing a critique is to show how you
connected to the selection.

Let Us Assess
Compose your own critique of the provided selection entitled, “The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by Jame James Thurber. Follow the guide given
in the previous activities on the composition of the critique.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

"WE'RE going through!" The Commander's voice was like thin ice
breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap
pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. "We can't make it, sir. It's
spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me." "I'm not asking you, Lieutenant
Berg," said the Commander. "Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8500!
We're going through!" The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-

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pocketa-pocketa-pocketapocketa. The Commander stared at the ice forming
on the pilot window. He walked over and twisted a row of complicated dials.
"Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!" he shouted. "Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!"
repeated Lieutenant Berg. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" shouted the
Commander. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" The crew, bending to their
various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, looked at
each other and grinned. "The Old Man'll get us through," they said to one
another. "The Old Man ain't afraid of hell!" . . .

"Not so fast! You're driving too fast!" said Mrs. Mitty. "What are you
driving so fast for?"

"Hmm?" said Walter Mitty. He looked at his wife, in the seat beside
him, with shocked astonishment. She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a
strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd. "You were up to fifty-five,"
she said. "You know I don't like to go more than forty. You were up to fifty-
five." Walter Mitty drove on toward Waterbury in silence, the roaring of the
SN202 through the worst storm in twenty years of Navy flying fading in the
remote, intimate airways of his mind. "You're tensed up again," said Mrs.
Mitty. "It's one of your days. I wish you'd let Dr. Renshaw look you over."

Walter Mitty stopped the car in front of the building where his wife
went to have her hair done. "Remember to get those overshoes while I'm
having my hair done," she said. "I don't need overshoes," said Mitty. She put
her mirror back into her bag. "We've been all through that," she said, getting
out of the car. "You're not a young man any longer." He raced the engine a
little. "Why don't you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?" Walter
Mitty reached in a pocket and brought out the gloves. He put them on, but
after she had turned and gone into the building and he had driven on to a
red light, he took them off again. "Pick it up, brother!" snapped a cop as the
light changed, and Mitty hastily pulled on his gloves and lurched ahead. He
drove around the streets aimlessly for a time, and then he drove past the
hospital on his way to the parking lot. . . .

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 "It's the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan," said the pretty
nurse. "Yes?" said Walter Mitty, removing his gloves slowly. "Who has the
case?" "Dr. Renshaw and Dr. Benbow, but there are two specialists here, Dr.
Remington from New York and Dr. Pritchard-Mitford from London. He flew
over." A door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out.
He looked distraught and haggard. "Hello, Mitty," he said. `'We're having the
devil's own time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal
friend of Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you'd take
a look at him." "Glad to," said Mitty.

In the operating room there were whispered introductions: "Dr.

Remington, Dr. Mitty. Dr. Pritchard-Mitford, Dr. Mitty." "I've read your book
on streptothricosis," said Pritchard-Mitford, shaking hands. "A brilliant
performance, sir." "Thank you," said Walter Mitty. "Didn't know you were in
the States, Mitty," grumbled Remington. "Coals to Newcastle, bringing
Mitford and me up here for a tertiary." "You are very kind," said Mitty. A
huge, complicated machine, connected to the operating table, with many
tubes and wires, began at this moment to go pocketa-pocketapocketa. "The
new anesthetizer is giving away!" shouted an intern. "There is no one in the
East who knows how to fix it!" "Quiet, man!" said Mitty, in a low, cool voice.
He sprang to the machine, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-queep-
pocketa-queep . He began fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. "Give
me a fountain pen!" he snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen. He
pulled a faulty piston out of the machine and inserted the pen in its place.
"That will hold for ten minutes," he said. "Get on with the operation. A nurse
hurried over and whispered to Renshaw, and Mitty saw the man turn pale.
"Coreopsis has set in," said Renshaw nervously. "If you would take over,
Mitty?" Mitty looked at him and at the craven figure of Benbow, who drank,
and at the grave, uncertain faces of the two great specialists. "If you wish,"
he said. They slipped a white gown on him, he adjusted a mask and drew on
thin gloves; nurses handed him shining . . .

"Back it up, Mac!! Look out for that Buick!" Walter Mitty jammed on
the brakes. "Wrong lane, Mac," said the parking-lot attendant, looking at

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Mitty closely. "Gee. Yeh," muttered Mitty. He began cautiously to back out of
the lane marked "Exit Only." "Leave her sit there," said the attendant. "I'll
put her away." Mitty got out of the car. "Hey, better leave the key." "Oh," said
Mitty, handing the man the ignition key. The attendant vaulted into the car,
backed it up with insolent skill, and put it where it belonged.

They're so darn cocky, thought Walter Mitty, walking along Main

Street; they think they know everything. Once he had tried to take his
chains off, outside New Milford, and he had got them wound around the
axles. A man had had to come out in a wrecking car and unwind them, a
young, grinning garageman. Since then Mrs. Mitty always made him drive to
a garage to have the chains taken off. The next time, he thought, I'll wear my
right arm in a sling; they won't grin at me then. I'll have my right arm in a
sling and they'll see I couldn't possibly take the chains off myself. He kicked
at the slush on the sidewalk. "Overshoes," he said to himself, and he began
looking for a shoe store.

When he came out into the street again, with the overshoes in a box
under his arm, Walter Mitty began to wonder what the other thing was his
wife had told him to get. She had told him, twice before they set out from
their house for Waterbury. In a way he hated these weekly trips to town- -he
was always getting something wrong. Kleenex, he thought, Squibb's, razor
blades? No. Tooth paste, toothbrush, bicarbonate, Carborundum, initiative
and referendum? He gave it up. But she would remember it. "Where's the
what's-its- name?" she would ask. "Don't tell me you forgot the what's-its-
name." A newsboy went by shouting something about the Waterbury trial. . .
.

"Perhaps this will refresh your memory." The District Attorney

suddenly thrust a heavy automatic at the quiet figure on the witness stand.
"Have you ever seen this before?'' Walter Mitty took the gun and examined it
expertly. "This is my Webley-Vickers 50.80," ho said calmly. An excited buzz
ran around the courtroom. The Judge rapped for order. "You are a crack
shot with any sort of firearms, I believe?" said the District Attorney,
insinuatingly. "Objection!" shouted Mitty's attorney. "We have shown that

12
the defendant could not have fired the shot. We have shown that he wore his
right arm in a sling on the night of the fourteenth of July." Walter Mitty
raised his hand briefly and the bickering attorneys were stilled. "With any
known make of gun," he said evenly, "I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst
at three hundred feet with my left hand." Pandemonium broke loose in the
courtroom. A woman's scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely,
dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty's arms. The District Attorney struck at
her savagely. Without rising from his chair, Mitty let the man have it on the
point of the chin. "You miserable cur!" . . .

"Puppy biscuit," said Walter Mitty. He stopped walking and the

buildings of Waterbury rose up out of the misty courtroom and surrounded
him again. A woman who was passing laughed. "He said 'Puppy biscuit,'"
she said to her companion. "That man said 'Puppy biscuit' to himself."
Walter Mitty hurried on.

He went into an A. P., not the first one he came to but a smaller one
farther up the street. "I want some biscuit for small, young dogs," he said to
the clerk. "Any special brand, sir?" The greatest pistol shot in the world
thought a moment. "It says 'Puppies Bark for It' on the box," said Walter
Mitty. His wife would be through at the hairdresser's in fifteen minutes'
Mitty saw in looking at his watch, unless they had trouble drying it;
sometimes they had trouble drying it. She didn't like to get to the hotel first,
she would want him to be there waiting for her as usual. He found a big
leather chair in the lobby, facing a window, and he put the overshoes and
the puppy biscuit on the floor beside it. He picked up an old copy of Liberty
and sank down into the chair. "Can Germany Conquer the World Through
the Air?" Walter Mitty looked at the pictures of bombing planes and of
ruined streets. . . .

"The cannonading has got the wind up in young Raleigh, sir," said the
sergeant. Captain Mitty looked up at him through tousled hair. "Get him to
bed," he said wearily, "with the others. I'll fly alone." "But you can't, sir,"
said the sergeant anxiously. "It takes two men to handle that bomber and
the Archies are pounding hell out of the air. Von Richtman's circus is

13
between here and Saulier." "Somebody's got to get that ammunition dump,"
said Mitty. "I'm going over. Spot of brandy?" He poured a drink for the
sergeant and one for himself. War thundered and whined around the dugout
and battered at the door. There was a rending of wood and splinters flew
through the room. "A bit of a near thing," said Captain Mitty carelessly. 'The
box barrage is closing in," said the sergeant. "We only live once, Sergeant,"
said Mitty, with his faint, fleeting smile. "Or do we?" He poured another
brandy and tossed it off. "I never see a man could hold his brandy like you,
sir," said the sergeant. "Begging your pardon, sir." Captain Mitty stood up
and strapped on his huge Webley-Vickers automatic. "It's forty kilometers
through hell, sir," said the sergeant. Mitty finished one last brandy. "After
all," he said softly, "what isn't?" The pounding of the cannon increased;
there was the rat-tat-tatting of machine guns, and from somewhere came
the menacing pocketa-pocketa-pocketa of the new flame-throwers. Walter
Mitty walked to the door of the dugout humming "Aupres de Ma Blonde." He
turned and waved to the sergeant. "Cheerio!" he said. . . .

Something struck his shoulder. "I've been looking all over this hotel
for you," said Mrs. Mitty. "Why do you have to hide in this old chair? How
did you expect me to find you?" "Things close in," said Walter Mitty vaguely.
"What?" Mrs. Mitty said. "Did you get the what's-its-name? The puppy
biscuit? What's in that box?" "Overshoes," said Mitty. "Couldn't you have put
them on in the store?" 'I was thinking," said Walter Mitty. "Does it ever occur
to you that I am sometimes thinking?" She looked at him. "I'm going to take
your temperature when I get you home," she said.

They went out through the revolving doors that made a faintly derisive
whistling sound when you pushed them. It was two blocks to the parking
lot. At the drugstore on the corner she said, "Wait here for me. I forgot
something. I won't be a minute." She was more than a minute. Walter Mitty
lighted a cigarette. It began to rain, rain with sleet in it. He stood up against
the wall of the drugstore, smoking. . . . He put his shoulders back and his
heels together. "To hell with the handkerchief," said Waker Mitty scornfully.
He took one last drag on his cigarette and snapped it away. Then, with that

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faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect
and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated,
inscrutable to the last.

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Rubrics for Composing an Independent Critique for a Chosen Selection

5 4 3 2 Comments

Introduction There is a well- Introduction Introduction Background

developed creates interest. adequately details are a
and
introduction with Composition explains the random,
Conclusion an attention states the background, unclear
(Background/ grabber that grabs position. but may lack collection of
History) the reader’s Conclusion detail. information.
interest and effectively Composition Composition
continues to summarizes the states the is vague and
engage the reader. topic. topic, but key unclear.
The composition elements are Conclusion
should clearly missing. is not
state the effective and
experience or does not
event that will be summarize
described as well main points.
as the effect on
the writer.
Conclusion should
effectively wraps
up and re stresses
the importance of
the composition.
Main Points Well developed Three or more Three or more Less than
main points/topic main points main points three
(Body
sentences that relate to the are present, ideas/main
Paragraph) relate directly to composition, but but lack points are
the composition. some may lack details in explained
Supporting details. The describing the and/or they
examples are analysis shows event. Little are poorly
concrete and events from the descriptive developed.
detailed. The author’s point of language is The story
analysis is view, but could used. tells; it
developed with an use more doesn’t
effective point of descriptive show.
view. language
Organization Logical Logical Organization is Writing is
Progression of progression of clear. not
(Structure and
ideas with a clear ideas. Transitions are organized.
Transitions) structure that Transitions are present at The
enhances the present times, but transitions
composition. throughout the there is very between
Transitions are composition, but little variety. ideas are
effective and vary lacks variety. unclear or
throughout the non existent.
paragraph, not
just in the topic
sentences.
Style Writing is smooth, Writing is clear Writing is Writing is
skillful, and and sentences clear, but confusing
(Sentence Flow,
coherent. have varied could use a and hard to
Variety) Sentences are structure, Idea is little more follow.
strong and consistent. sentence Contains
expressive with variety to fragments
varied structure. make the and/or
Idea is consistent writing more runon
and words are well interesting. sentences.
chosen.
Mechanics Punctuation, Punctuation, There are only Distracting
spelling, and spelling, and a few (3- 4) errors in
(Spelling,
capitalization are capitalization are errors in punctuation,

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Punctuation, all correct. No generally correct punctuation, spelling, and
errors. with few errors spelling, and capitalization
Capitalization)
(1-2) capitalization. .

Let Us Enhance
Below are some words found on the selection entitled, “The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber. Make use of a dictionary and
provide the definition of the given words for easier comprehension and
understanding of the selection.

1. Rakishly- __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

2. Turret- __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. Hydroplane-________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. Astonishment-______________________________________________________

5. Lurch-______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6. Mythical-____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
7. Glistening-__________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
8. Insolent-____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
9. Slush-______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
10. Insinuatingly________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Let Us Reflect
THINK-PAIR-SHARE
Students will be asked to pair up with the person on their right.
Then they will be instructed to do the following:
1. Write one word that you associate the selection entitled “The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty” by James Thurber.

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Let Us Reflect Let’s Answer Let us Try
Let us Practice
1-3. Answers 1-7. Answers 1. False
1. The Unicorn
may vary. may vary 2. False
in the Garden
2. James 3. True
Thurber 4. False
3-9- Answers 5. False
Let us Assess may vary 6. True
Answers may 7. True
vary. 8. False
9. True
10.True
Answer key to Activities
3. Compare answers with a partner.
2. Identify an experience that comes to mind for the selection.
 References

Elias, Robert H. “James Thurber: The Primitive, the Innocent, and the
Individual.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 5. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. 431–32. Print.

Fetterley, Judith. The Resisting Reader. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1978. Print.

Hasley, Louis. “James Thurber: Artist in Humor.” Contemporary Literary

Criticism. Vol. 11. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. 532–
34. Print.
Iser, Wolfgang. The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins UP, 1981. Print.

Lindner, Carl M. “Thurber’s Walter Mitty—The Underground American

Hero.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 5. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. 440–41. Print.

Rosenblatt, Louise M. Literature as Exploration. New York: MLA, 1976. Print.

Thurber, James. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Literature: An Introduction to

Critical Reading. Ed. William Vesterman. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace,
1993. 286–89. Print.

Tompkins, Jane P. “An Introduction to Reader-Response Criticism.” Reader

Response Criticism: From Formalism to Post-Structuralism. Ed. Jane P.
Tompkins. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1980. ix-xxvi. Print.

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For inquiries or feedback, please write or call:

Department of Education – Division of Tagum City

Office Address: Energy Park, Apokon, Tagum City, 8100

Telefax: (084) 216-3504

E-mail Address: [email protected]

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