Somebody Wanted But So

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Reading Skills

• Identifying conflicts and resolutions
• Identifying character differences, goals, and motivations
• Identifying main ideas and details
• Recognizing cause-and-effect relationships
• Making generalizations
• Understanding how shifting the point of view emphasizes different aspects of a story

Overview of the "Somebody Wanted But So" Strategy

Student identification of plot elements, such as conflicts and resolutions, can be facilitated by the use of the "Somebody Wanted But So" (SWBS) reading strategy. With SWBS, students complete a chart by creating a SWBS statement that identifies a character, the character's goal/motivation, a conflict that impedes the character, and the resolution of the conflict. The chart has four column headings:

Somebody (character)	Wanted (goal/motivation)	But (conflict)	So (resolution)

While the SWBS reading strategy lends itself to after reading, it can be used during the reading of specific chapters or a section of the text and with the main plot as well as subplots.

Activities for the "Somebody Wanted But So" Strategy

• Have students read Wish You Well in its entirety; then explain the SWBS reading strategy to them.
• Model the SWBS reading strategy by doing the following:
  1. Read aloud the model passage (chapter 23, last section) in which George Davis demands restitution for his damaged still.
  2. Ask the students to use the information from the model passage to create a written SWBS statement for George Davis, supporting their statement with evidence from the text.
  3. Ask the students to share their SWBS statements for George Davis, as in the following example:

4. Discuss differences among the student SWBS statements for George Davis.
5. Explain that there can be more than one SWBS statement for a character. Differences among SWBS statements can be attributed to the differences in the students themselves, their experiences, their viewpoints, and their personal interpretations of the passage. Differences can also be accounted for by the fact that characters, like real people, may have many goals and motivations, each of which may be complicated by a conflict, some of which may remain unresolved.
6. Discuss how the SWBS chart helps readers identify conflicts and resolutions in literary works.
7. For reinforcement of the SWBS strategy, place students in small groups and have them practice creating SWBS statements for characters from television shows they have recently watched, supporting their statements with evidence from the script.
8. Have students share their SWBS statements with the class.

• For individual practice of the SWBS reading strategy, do the following:
  1. Distribute the blackline master of the SWBS charts for Wish You Well.
  2. Remind students that novels have multiple subplots and multiple important characters.
  3. Tell students that there are many SWBS statements for the characters of Wish You Well.
  4. Have students complete the SWBS charts. (Note: While Part 1 of the blackline master can be completed at any point or at multiple points during the reading of the novel, Part 2 can be completed only after reading the entire novel.)
  5. If students have difficulty completing the charts, allow them to work with partners.
     Have students share their SWBS statements in small groups and discuss the similarities and differences in the statements.
  6. Have each group select a representative SWBS statement to share with the class, supporting their statement with evidence from the text.
  7. Discuss the similarities and differences in the student-generated statements.
  8. Ask students to identify conflicts as resolved or unresolved.

Assessment

Use the following rubric to assess the student's ability to identify conflicts and resolutions, using "Somebody Wanted But So" Statements:

• BEGINNING (Score 1): The student cannot identify conflicts or resolutions.
• DEVELOPING (Score 2): The student can identify some conflicts and some resolutions.
• ACCOMPLISHED (Score 3): The student can identify most conflicts and most resolutions.
• EXEMPLARY (Score 4): The student can identify conflicts and label them internal/external and man vs. himself/man/society/nature/the supernatural. The student can identify conflict resolutions and unresolved conflicts.

Blackline Master
Somebody Wanted But So
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Name __________________________________________________

Class _____________________________ Date ________________ 

Skill: Identifying Conflicts and Resolutions 

Part 1. Identify three conflicts presented in Wish You Well. In the charts provided below, create "Somebody Wanted But So" statements for each section of the novel you have selected.

1. (pages _____ - _____ ) The conflict presented in this section of Wish You Well is the struggle between ________________________ and ________________________ in which (describe the conflict)
   
   ________________________________________________________________
   
   ________________________________________________________________

Somebody (character)	Wanted (goal/motivation)	But (conflict)	So (resolution)

2. (pages _____ - _____ ) The conflict presented in this section of Wish You Well is the struggle between ________________________ and ________________________ in which (describe the conflict)
   
   ________________________________________________________________
   
   ________________________________________________________________

Somebody (character)	Wanted (goal/motivation)	But (conflict)	So (resolution)

3. (pages _____ - _____ ) The conflict presented in this section of Wish You Well is the struggle between ________________________ and ________________________ in which (describe the conflict)
   
   ________________________________________________________________
   
   ________________________________________________________________

Somebody (character)	Wanted (goal/motivation)	But (conflict)	So (resolution)

Part 2. On the remainder of this sheet, identify what you consider to be the central conflict of David Baldacci's Wish You Well. At the novel's end, is this conflict resolved? Explain. Could the novel have ended differently? Explain. Why do you think Baldacci ended the story as he did?