1a. When Kate visits the garden house at the end of the two weeks, what does she see Helen do? What has Annie taught Helen?
2a. What does Helen do at the dinner table after returning home? Why does she do these things?
3a. What miracle occurs at the pump?
4a. Analyze Annie's motivations for teaching Helen. Consider her past, her current options, and the voices she hears.
5a. Assess whether Annie took the right approach in assuming that the most important thing she could teach Helen was language. What other doors are now open to Helen?
1b. Explain why the Kellers are satisfied with what Helen has learned.
2b. Why don't the Kellers discipline Helen? Why is Annie's attitude toward Helen a necessary part of teaching her?
3b. Does this one miracle open the doors Annie thought it would? Why is the word teacher so important to Helen?
4b. In addition to Annie's motivations, what character traits helped her reach Helen? What do you think Annie has learned from Helen?
5b. Look at the description of "sign" in "If You Could Write One Great Poem, What Would You Want It to Be About?" How does sign language do all of these things? Use examples from The Miracle Worker or from your own experiences with sign.
Suspense. How is suspense heightened in act 3?
Conflict and Resolution. Identify the central conflict in The Miracle Worker. How is this conflict resolved? What is the internal conflict Annie experiences? What is the external conflict?
Simile and Metaphor. Identify a simile or metaphor that describes Helen in each act. Explain what each thing has in common with Helen and/or her situation.
Characterization. Briefly describe Helen at the beginning of the play, in the middle, and at the end. Identify specific examples from the play that create this character. Next, explain how the character of Annie is developed. What techniques does the playwrite use to develop the characters of Helen and Annie? Explain.
1. If you could write one great poem, what would it be about? Write a four-line stanza about your subject.
2. More than once during the play, Annie writes letters about her experience with Helen. Write a letter from Annie to Anagnos about her latest experience with Helen.
3. Write a human interest story to be published in Captain Keller's newspaper about Helen and her teacher.
Dramatizing Vocabulary. Write definitions for each of the following words.
1. amiably =
2. facetiously =
3. hoarsely =
4. blandly =
5. meekly =
6. mournfully =
7. reluctantly =
8. curtly =
9. vexedly =
10. dourly =
11. wryly =
12. eagerly =
13. witheringly =
14. grimly =
15. testily =
16. baffled =
17. wistful =
18. emphatic =
19. placating =
20. jovial =
Working with Negatives. Read the Language Arts Survey 3.25, "Working with Negatives." Rewrite correct sentences to make them negative. Correct any sentences with double negatives.
1. I can't never stay out past midnight.
2. Rachel opens the store on Saturday.
3. The soup didn't have no onions in it.
4. He could not barely lift the suitcase.
5. Jack always leaves a tip when eating at a restaurant.
6. The café never has no good specials.
7. Steve doesn't hardly ever make it to class on time.
8. Kendall loves algebra.
9. I'm going to visit Mario on Saturday.
10. There aren't no good movies this weekend.
