Revised Reading Assignment: I was thinking about how solemn and miserable everyone seemed yesterday in preparation for testing next week, and I'm going to postpone the start of Of Mice and Men for one week. For next week, just make sure you have closely and carefully read all of Chapter 12 in The Outsiders. We didn't get to it this week, and there is a lot to discuss. I'm also going to do a vocabulary review of words we've gone over such as grim, gallant, solemn, allusion etc.
For the writing assignment, please explain which of The Outsiders you think you would most like to have for a friend and why. Please open like this "If I were to have one of the gang members in The Outsiders as my friend, I would ...." *
See that phrase "If I were..." It's very common when a writer wants to describe some experience that is impossible or unlikely, for example: "If I were to earn a million dollars, I would fly around the world"; "If I were able to stop eating sweets, I would be a thin person." "If I were on vacation, I would be sleeping now."
* I'd choose Darry.