The People Could Fly

Define the genre of folk tales.

• Informational text

• A story that could possibly happen

• A story that teaches a lesson about life

• A story passed down by mouth from generation to generation

What seems most important to remember about the characters who "could no longer breathe the sweet scent of Africa"?

• Some still had The secret power of flying, though they look like everyone else.

• Sam still had the secret power of flying though they looked like blackbirds.

• Some shed their wings and forgot about flying.

• The folks were full of misery and got sick.

Reread the two paragraphs beginning on line 33 and sum up the conflict shown.

• Driver tore Sarah's dress to shreds.

• Driver cracked the whip over the baby.

• The sun was burning Sarah's face.

• Toby was not able to help Sarah stand up again or he would be whipped.

Identify the context clues that help you understand the meaning of the word bawling in line 33.

• "cry," in line 35

• "quiet it down," line 35

• "hollered," line 39

• Answer options 1 and 3

What was the effect of the dialogue used in 64 - 70?

• The speaker sounded a illiterate.

• The speaker sounded harsh and overbearing.

• The speaker sounds natural and sincere.

• Answer options 1 and 2.

When summarizing a story, include information about the most important characters and events.

Reread lines 98 - 109.

Which of the following best summarizes what is MOST important about old Toby and the people who could fly?

• The slave old Toby is a seer. They rose in the air. They flew away to freedom.

• The old slave Toby is a seer. The bent backs straightened up. Old and young who were called slaves and could fly joined hands.

• Old Toby is a seer. He still remembers the ancient magical words that cause all the people who could fly to raise into the air to freedom. Old Toby flies, too.

• Toby still remembers the ancient magical words that cause all the people who could fly, but he doesn't use them. Toby remains a slave overseer. Toby is killed by the slave owner.

A Plantation is a large farm or estate on which crops are raise.

What does the plantation probably represent to the African Americans you told this folktale?

• A place of employment

• A symbol of the South

• A time of hardship in their history

• A memory when the slaves could not fly

A resolution is when the conflict in the story is resolved.

Which of the following would be a good final sentence for the story's summary?

• The people who could fly escaped to freedom, but those who couldn't remained slaves.

• The slaves who could not escape remained on the Plantation awaiting help to escape.

• The young men slaves passed out from the heat in the fields.

• The slaves who could fly took the slaves who could not fly on their backs and escaped to freedom.

A folk tale reveals what is important to the cultural group that first told it. Values such as cleverness and courage are often features of folktales.

Reread lines 118 - 123 and identify one sentence that reveals the values that are most important to those who told the story.

• "The one called master said it was a lie, a trick of the light."

• "They did so love firelight and Free-dom, and tellin' "

• "Hadn't had the time to teach them to fly."

• "They say that the children of the ones who could fly told their children."

Where is "The People Could Fly" set?

• at Valley Fair
• in a shopping mall
• a Northern town in 1775
• on a Southern cotton plantation