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Unit 3, Part 3

Whatif and Jimmy Jet and

His TV Set

Unit 3, Part 3

(pages 388–393)

Unit 3, Part 3

Selection Menu

Before You Read

Reading the Selection

After You Read

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

For pages 388–393

In studying this text, you will focus on the following objective:

Literary Study: Analyzing meter and rhythm.

Unit 3, Part 3

Meet Shel Silverstein

Before You Read

Click the picture to learn about the author.

Author Search For more about Shel Silverstein, go to glencoe.com and enter QuickPass code GL19756u3.

Unit 3, Part 3

What is a worrywart? What does a worrywart worry about? What is a couch potato? What does a couch potato do?

Before You Read

Connect to the Poems

List Make a list of worries that a worrywart might have. Then make a list of things a couch potato does and does not do. Share your lists with a partner.

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

Build Background During the 1950s, Shel Silverstein served in the U.S. Army and worked for the armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes as a cartoonist. Later he created cartoons, songs, humorous poetry for adults, and children’s stories. His books of humorous poetry for young people continue to be very popular.

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

Set Purposes for Reading

As you read each poem, ask yourself, what traits does the main character have?

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

Set Purposes for Reading

Rhythm is the pattern of beats made by syllables that are meant to be stressed (spoken with greater force) and syllables that are meant to be softer. Meter is a regular, predictable rhythm.

Rhythm and meter create a musical quality that makes poetry fun to read.

Rhythm and Meter

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

Set Purposes for Reading

In the lines below, the stressed syllables are underlined. Read them aloud and listen for the rhythm and meter.

I’ll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet—

And you know what I tell you is true.

He loved to watch his TV set

Almost as much as you.

Rhythm and Meter

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

Set Purposes for Reading

As you read, listen for the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Ask yourself, to what words or ideas do the stressed words call attention?

Rhythm and Meter

Unit 3, Part 3

Before You Read

Unit 3, Part 3

Unit 3, Part 3

Rhythm and Meter Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 389. Read this line aloud. Which syllables do you stress?

Answer: The stressed syllables are sang, same, Whatif, and song.

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 389. What does this poem reveal about the character traits of the speaker?

Answer: By listing common fears, the poet is saying that it is common to have “What if?” worries even when things are going well. This is part of what makes us who we are.

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 389. What does “swell” mean in line 25?

Answer: It means “fine” or “great.”

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

Rhythm and Meter Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 390. How do the stressed syllables draw attention to Jimmy Jet’s problem?

Answer: The word watched is stressed twice, emphasizing how much TV Jimmy watches. Day and night are also stressed, which shows that he watches TV all the time.

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

You may have heard television shows claim to be rated #1 or that they are the “most watched.” Many of these claims are based on the Nielsen rating system, which was developed by Arthur Charles Nielsen and applied to television shows beginning in 1950. This rating system evaluates television shows according to popularity.

Reading the Selection

Cultural History

Unit 3, Part 3

Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 391. How has watching TV affected Jimmy’s personality?

Answer: It has made him completely passive, unable to move or think for himself.

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

Look at the illustration on page 391. Shel Silverstein wrote and illustrated several books for children, but started his career as a cartoonist for the army. What are the advantages of having the writer of works also be the illustrator?

Answer: The drawing can extend or add depth to the meaning of the work.

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

Reading the Selection

Unit 3, Part 3

Unit 3, Part 3

Answer: The Whatifs sing their song inside the speaker’s ear.

Respond and Think Critically

1. Where do the Whatifs sing their song? [Recall]

After You Read

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

2. In your own words, explain what happens to Jimmy Jet. [Paraphrase]

After You Read

Answer: He watches television so much that he actually turns into one. Then people plug him in and watch him.

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

3. About how old is the speaker of “Whatif”? What clues help you to infer this? [Infer]

After You Read

Answer: The speaker seems to be a school-age child. The clues include references to school, tests, growing taller, parents getting divorced, and growing new teeth.

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

After You Read

4. Compare the speaker of “Whatif” with Jimmy Jet. How are they similar? [Compare]

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

TIP: Comparing

After You Read

Here are some tips to help you answer question 4. Remember, when you compare, you find similarities between two things.

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

•  Identify each character’s problem or struggle.

•  Identify what happens to each character.

•  What similarities do you notice?

After You Read

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

After You Read

Answer: Both characters seem to be children. They both have a problem that becomes worse. Both characters are passive, or inactive—the “Whatif” character worries about things he or she can’t change, while Jimmy Jet sits around all day watching television.

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

After You Read

5. What lessons can you learn from “Whatif” and “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set”? Are these lessons valuable? Why or why not? [Evaluate]

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

After You Read

Answer: “Whatif” teaches us that it is normal to worry about things but not to worry too much about things we can’t change. “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set” teaches us that watching too much TV can metaphorically turn a person into a television, or someone with no mind of his own.

Unit 3, Part 3

Respond and Think Critically

After You Read

Answer: Some may feel they are like the speaker in “Whatif” because they worry a lot; others may say they are like Jimmy Jet because they spend too much time in front of a screen.

6. Which character is more like you—the speaker of “Whatif” or Jimmy Jet? Explain. [Conclude]

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

In “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set,” Shel Silverstein raises a significant issue: What are the results of watching too much television? To become more familiar with the word significant, fill out a graphic organizer like the one shown below.

Unit 3, Part 3

Rhythm and Meter

After You Read

1. A poem’s rhythm can be regular (having a predictable pattern or meter) or irregular. Is the rhythm of “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set regular or irregular? How can you tell?

Answer: It is regular. In most lines, every other syllable is stressed.

Unit 3, Part 3

Rhythm and Meter

After You Read

2. How do the meter and rhythm in “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set” affect the poem’s tone?

Answer: The meter and rhythm give the poem a playful, lighthearted tone.

Unit 3, Part 3

As you learned on page 338, a rhyme is made of words whose sounds match, such as jet and set or here and ear. In poetry, rhymes can occur at the ends of lines or within a line.

A rhyme scheme is the pattern formed by the end rhymes in a poem. To identify the rhyme scheme, assign each new end rhyme in a poem a letter of the alphabet.

After You Read

Review: Rhyme

Unit 3, Part 3

Review: Rhyme

After You Read

3. Where do the rhyming words occur in “Whatif”?

Answer: They appear at the end of lines.

Unit 3, Part 3

Review: Rhyme

After You Read

4. What is the rhyme scheme of “Whatif”?

Answer: It is aabbccdd, etc.

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

Compound Subjects and Predicates As you know, every complete sentence has a subject (who or what) and a predicate (what the subject is or does). You also know that complete subjects and predicates consist of more than one word.

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

• A compound subject has two or more simple subjects that have the same predicate. The subjects are most often joined by the word and or or.

His family and friends watch Jimmy Jet.

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

• A compound predicate has two or more simple predicates, or verbs, that have the same subject. The predicates are most often connected by and or or.

What if I flunk that test and cry?

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

• A sentence can have both a compound subject and a compound predicate.

Jimmy and Johnny just sat and stared at the TV.

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

Practice In one of the poems, find a sentence that has a compound predicate. Then write your own sentence with a compound subject, a compound predicate, or both.

Unit 3, Part 3

Apply Sound Devices Think of a person with a special or unusual trait. The person might be a worrywart, a brilliant thinker, or unusually strong. Write a poem about this person using rhythm, meter, and rhyme. Then read your poem aloud and have a partner tap along as you read.

After You Read

Unit 3, Part 3

Does your poem have a smooth rhythm? Are there parts that sound awkward? Does your poem follow a rhyme scheme? Have your partner make suggestions for revising.

After You Read

Selection Resources For Selection Quizzes, eFlashcards, and Reading-Writing Connection activities, go to glencoe.com and enter QuickPass code GL19756u3.

Unit 3, Part 3

After You Read

Unit 3, Part 3

Unit 3, Part 3

What do you worry about?

Bellringer

Bellringer Transparency

Unit 3, Part 3

Bellringer Transparency

Unit 3, Part 3

This time my pet mouse won’t get out so easily.

I patched up his box and did the repair carefully.

Now he sits quietly and looks curiously for that hole.

Unit 3, Part 3

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