8th Grade
Non-Fiction
920L
Healing 'Brick City': A Newark Doctor Returns Home
Passage Summary:
A physician who overcame a difficult upbringing meditates on the nature of his career and the relationship between medicine and public service.
When and How to Pair:
Provide students with this article after they have read Chapter 7, in order to explore the themes of heroism and overcoming adversity that are contained within both the article and novel. In the novel, Ponyboy and Johnny have been deemed heroes, and act that seemed as unlikely for them as it was for Sampson Davis to succeed in the article. Ask students to consider how Ponyboy and Johnny’s heroic act can possibly change the community? How does this contrast with Sampson Davis' views and experience? Using Sampson Davis’ life story as a reference, how did Ponyboy and Johnny’s life experiences prepare them to be heroes?