Standards of Focus RL.10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual

evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.10.3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

RL.10.9. Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).

Quickwrite

Should reporters remain detached and objective when reporting a tragedy? OR should they express their personal feelings and become involved with helping victims? What is the proper role of the news media?

And of Clay Are We Created

Story Summary

In this story, Isabel Allende tells about a 13-year-old victim of a volcanic eruption. For three days, the girl is buried up to her neck in water and clay, while a reporter works to get help for her and to keep her spirits up. Her situation forces the reporter to confront buried memories in his own life.

Background When the seismograph began to record the violent earth-shaking caused by

yet another eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia, no one thought that a few hours later more than 23,000 people would be dead, killed by lahars (volcanic debris flows) in towns and villages several tens of kilometers away from the volcano. Before the fatal eruption the volcano was being monitored by scientists at a seismic station located 9 kilometers from the summit, and information about the volcano's activity was being sent to Colombian emergency-response coordinators who were charged with alerting the public of the danger from the active volcano. Furthermore, areas known to be in the pathways of lahars had already been identified on maps, and communities at risk had been told of their precarious locations.

Unfortunately, a storm on November 13, 1985, obscured the glacier-clad summit of Nevado del Ruiz. On that night an explosive eruption tore through the summit and spewed approximately 20 million cubic meters of hot ash and rocks across the snow-covered glacier. These materials were transported across the snow pack by avalanches of hot volcanic debris (pyroclastic flows) and fast-moving, hot, turbulent clouds of gas and ash ( pyroclastic surges). The hot pyroclastic flows and surges caused rapid melting of the snow and ice, and created large volumes of water that swept down canyons leading away from the summit. As these floods of water descended the volcano, they picked up loose debris and soil from the canyon floors and walls, growing both in volume and density, to form hot lahars. In the river valleys farther down the volcano's flanks, the lahars were as much as 40 meters thick and traveled at velocities as fast as 50 kilometers per hour. Two and a half hours after the start of the eruption one of the lahars reached Armero, 74 kilometers from the explosion crater. In a few short minutes most of the town was swept away or buried in a torrent of mud and boulders, and three quarters of the townspeople perished.

Vocabulary1. Embody: to give shape to or visibly represent

2. Fortitude: strength of mind; courage

3. Pandemonium: a wild uproar or noise

4. Resignation: passive acceptance of something; submission

5. Stratagem: a clever trick or device for obtaining an advantage

6. Stupor: a state of mental numbness, as from shock

7. Tenacity: the quality of holding persistently to something; firm determination

8. Tribulation: great distress or suffering

Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, South America, in 1985

Death Toll: 23,000

Deadly Mudslides

Omayra SanchezOmayra was trapped up to her neck in water, concrete, and other debris for three days before she succumbed to gangrene and hypothermia. During three nights of agony, Omayra seemed strong but was suffering. She sang and had normal conversations with the people who were trying to help her. The little girl was thirsty and scared. On the third night, Omayra began hallucinating, saying that she did not want to be late for school. At some point she asked the people to leave her so they could rest. Television coverage of the disaster introduced her to the world when she was still alive. The photo was taken hours before her death.

Analyze Author’s Perspective

Read the About the Author on pg. 585

Based on this information and what we know the story is about, how do you think the authors perspective or background will influence her story?

Fiction or Nonfiction

“And of Clay…” is a fiction piece based on a true story.

While reading, look for clues that it is fiction.

After the story, we are going to read a newspaper article about the actual event and compare them.

News Article

Turn to pg. 599

Read the article: “Girl, Trapped in Water for 55 Hours, Dies….”

Once you finish reading it, you will complete a Venn Diagram comparing “And of Clay…” to the news article

After completing the Venn, put a star next to which piece affected you more strongly (the short story or the news article)