I would call this story the black dot because that is what the story is about. We don't know what the black dot is until the end.
I thought that someone was going to die. I could sense it from he beginning when the kids ran and got rocks and when they pulled the slips of paper it was quiet.
3) How did you feel when the end of the story was not given to you?
When the end of the story wasn't given to me i was so angry. They told us the whole story and then just said go. I wanted to know the end for the whole day. I kept thinking what was going to happen. In class and at home I was anxious to open the end.
4) How did you feel when you were handed the mystery paper? What did you think was in it? Did you follow the instructions? Why/why not?
5) How did you feel about the black box and the black spot/blank paper? Explain.
When they had the black box i wondered what it was for, because in the story the black box is bad. So i wondered if this black box was bad. When I got the paper, mine had a spot on it and no one in my group did. I wondered what it was for. In other groups only 1 person had a spot as well. I thought maybe we had to do something differently then the others.
When I read the end of the story i was confused. I didn't think they would stone the lady to death. It frightened me when I tried to picture it in my head. I didn't get why they picked twice out of the box. When they were all silent it felt as if the atmosphere in the story was weary. It was almost as if everyone was watching each other. I was frightened how the kids would stone the lady as well. They killed her and didn't even care. The town killed one of their own.
7) Were your predictions correct? How did you feel about that?
I was correct that someone would die. The story was foreshadowing a lot. Also the author kept the story weary and creepy. I thought that someone would have been hung because it said there was a stage where they all stood on and in the old times people would be hung on stages. I was wrong, but also right.
8) What would have helped you to make a better prediction?
If they had told more about the stones and why they did this every year. If the had said, 'the stones were ready to be thrown' or 'every year the town grows larger and that is why one must go,' then i would have had a better prediction. I was mostly right anyway.
9) Why did the author leave these voids in the story?