"Marigolds" and "American History" Analysis, Homework, and Quiz

This is a combination of two stories' analyses, homework, and the quiz. The analyses include a varying range of questions from comprehension to inference. They also include an activity for the students to learn how to assign character traits to characters and to provide textual evidence for these traits. I generally guide them through one or two traits and then let them finish that portion as a collaborative activity with a partner.
The homework allows the students to take what they learned and apply it to what they know. They are to choose two characters as complete character profiles for each. In class the following day, I usually have students create a short story based on one character and one of their partner's characters. Then, they share the stories with the class. The possibilities for expansion on the homework are endless.
The quiz is thirty questions for each story and also covers character notes and vocabulary, which are posted separately.