HITCH by Jeanette Ingold, Socratic Seminar Questions

HITCH by Jeanette Ingold is a story which describes what life was like working in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Set mostly in Montana, the story is told through the eyes of Moss Trawnley, a young man from Texas and Louisiana who goes to Montana in search of his father, a man who had abandoned his family and lost his way in life. Although Moss found his father, he decided not to follow in his dissolute dad’s footsteps. When an opportunity to enroll in the CCC was presented to Moss, he signed up. During his “hitch” (a six-month enrollment in the CCC), Moss learned the value of hard work, and the importance of taking responsibility for his own future.   

This PDF of Socratic Seminar Questions contains both a student question section as well as a thorough answer key section for HITCH. There are 48 carefully crafted questions which first summarize the key events in a chapter and then challenge students to find details, offer opinions, make predictions, compare or contrast events, draw conclusions, or brainstorm possible answers. The last question, Question 48, requires a more detailed and lengthy response from the students, asking them to include ideas found throughout the entire book.

All of the questions can be used to facilitate in-class Socratic Seminar discussions about the novel. They can also be used for other purposes, such as homework assignments or classroom quizzes. The answers the students give will help teachers gauge whether or not students have read and understand the important ideas presented in the novel. 

It is my hope that these Socratic Seminar Questions will be helpful to teachers who present HITCH to their students. I believe that as the students read the story they will find that the companion questions will help them develop critical thinking skills in English and Language Arts.

Common Core Standards for Reading and Writing for grades seven through nine are included at the end of this PDF.

If you find that these questions are helpful to your students, please contact me with the names of other novels that you use in class and I will see if I can write questions for those books. My email address is: gary.ciesla@gmail.com. Thank you.

You can find similar resources in my store!

This PDF Contains both student pages and teacher answer pages, as well as Common Core Standards for Grades 7-8-9.