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D.i.y. Biology, On The Wings Of The Mockingjay (1120l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet

Vale Middle School Reading Article

D.I.Y. Biology, on the Wings of the Mockingjay (1120L)

Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES

Read the following article carefully and make notes in the margin as you read.

Your notes should include:

o Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main

idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)

o Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.

o Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.

o Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, perspective,

support) and choices affect the article.

Your margin notes are part of your score for this assessment.

Answer the questions carefully in complete sentences unless otherwise instructed.

Student ____________________________Class Period__________________

Notes on my thoughts,

D.I.Y. Biology, on the Wings of the Mockingjay

reactions and questions as I

read:

Genetically modified organisms are not wildly popular these days, except one: a

fictional bird that is central to the hugely popular movie and book trilogy “The Hunger

Games.” That’s the mockingjay, a cross between a mockingbird and a genetically

engineered spy bird called a jabberjay. The action in “The Hunger Games” takes place

in a fictional future in which teenagers are forced to hunt and kill one another in annual

competitions designed to entertain and suppress a highly controlled population. The

mockingjay first appears as a symbol, when Katniss Everdeen, the heroine, is given a

pin that depicts the bird. Mockingjay pins, although not the birds, have spread to the real

world.

“They’re funny birds and something of a slap in the face to the Capitol,” Katniss

explains in the first book. And the nature of that slap in face is a new twist on the great

fear about genetic engineering, that modified organisms or their genes will escape into

the wild and wreak havoc. The mockingjay is just such an unintended consequence,

resulting from a failed creation of the government, what Katniss means when she refers

to “the Capitol.” But rather than being a disaster, the bird is a much-loved reminder of

the limits of totalitarian control.

The origin of the bird, Katniss explains, is that the rulers modified an unspecified

species of jay to make a new creature, an animal of the state called a jabberjay.

Jabberjays were intended to function as biological recording machines that no one

would suspect. They would listen to conversations and then return to their masters to

replay them.

Gorman, J. D.I.Y. Biology, on the Wings of the Mockingjay. May 10, 2012. New York Times.

D.i.y. Biology, On The Wings Of The Mockingjay (1120l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet