Outliers Chapter Organization

Please create this organizer on a notebook paper and continue it as you finish reading each chapter. This will help you flesh out Gladwell’s purpose and also help you organize your research paper when it comes time to write it. I will stamp this paper every two chapters.

A. Chapter Number and Title / Introduction: The Roseto Mystery
B. Title Quote / “These people were dying of old age. That’s it.”
C. Interpret Quote and Briefly Summarize to Reveal Author’s Purpose / Dr. Stewart Wolf discovered that the residents of Roseto, Pennsylvania do not suffer from heart disease in the same way that most Americans do. This peculiarity is not due to their strict dietary habits or exercise regiments, but to their strong sense of community, a community that was founded hundreds of years earlier in the tiny town of Roseto, Italy. This is the first time that health was thought of in terms of community as opposed to biological or genealogical traits.
D. Data/Stats/Anecdotes to Support Purpose / 1st Rosetans arrive in Pennsylvania from Italy in 1882. In Dr. Wolf’s 1950s study, no one under 55 had any heart disease in Roseto. The sociologist John Bruhn found that there were no suicides, alcoholism, or drug addiction in Roseto. They attribute these (+) results to the strong sense of community that Rosetans share --people talking in streets, respect of elders, 3 generations living in one house-- dating all the way back to Italy.
E. Challenge and/or Agreement / I agree with Dr. Wolf’s assessment and see on a daily basis how a healthy sense of community and trust can have positive effects in the classroom. If a student is mistrustful of the teacher or of his peers in class, it can adversely affect his ability to learn and pay attention. This sense of community goes hand in hand with participation, too. Raising hands and sharing answers is a student’s way of conveying their level of civic engagement, which tends to result in better understanding of the material, and therefore, better grades.
A. Chapter Number and Title / Ch. 1: The Matthew Effect
B. Title Quote / “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath”
C. Interpret Quote and Briefly Summarize to Reveal Author’s Purpose
D. Data/Stats/Anecdotes to Support Purpose
E. Challenge and/or Agreement