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✨ #17 Analyze Word Definitions (Ch 2-3)

Last updated over 4 years ago
16 questions
Goal:
I can use context to determine the meanings of multiple-meaning words as they are used in chapters 2–3 of Hidden Figures?

Part 1: What do the words mean?

Without looking at a dictionary, talk with your partner what these words usually mean.

Using your own words, write the definitions you and your partner decide upon
1

What does computer (noun) usually mean to yiou?

1

What does black (adjective) usually mean to you?

1

What does hands (plural noun) usually mean to you?

1

What does pyramid (noun) usually mean to you?

Part 2: Finishing the Sentence

- Skim and scan the pages for the quotations below
- Fill in the blanks using words from the text.
COMPLETE AS A CLASS

Page 13:

WANTED: Female Mathematicians

Each of the engineers at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory required
the support of a number of other workers: craftsmen to build the airplane
models, mechanics to maintain the test tunnels, and “number crunchers” to
process the data that was collected during the tests. For the engineers, a plane
was basically a complex physics experiment. Physics is the science of matter,
energy, and motion. Physics meant math, and math meant mathematicians. At
the Langley Laboratory, mathematicians meant women.

Female mathematicians had been on the job at Langley since 1935. And it
didn’t take long for the women to show that they were just as good or even better
at computing than many of the male engineers. But few of the women were
granted the title “mathematician,” which would have put them on equal footing
with some male employees. Instead, they were classified as “subprofessionals,”
a title that meant they could be paid less.

At Langley, the female mathematicians were called “computers.” They did
the computations to turn the results of the raw data gathered by the engineers
into a more useful form. Today we think of computers as machines, but in the
1940s, a computer was just someone whose job it was to do computations, a
flesh-and-blood woman who was very good with numbers.

In 1943, it was difficult for the Langley Laboratory to find as many qualified
women as they needed.
1

Fill in the blank using words from the text.

Page 13:
"At Langley, __________________________ were called “computers.” They did the computations to turn the results of the raw data gathered by the engineers into a more useful form."

"Today we think of computers as ____________, but in the 1940s, a computer was just someone whose job it was _____________________, a flesh-and-blood woman who was _________________________. "

Page 24:

Jobs, Good Jobs, and Very Good Jobs

In Dorothy Vaughan’s world, there were black jobs, and there were good black jobs. Sorting laundry, making beds in white people’s houses, working in tobacco plants—those were black jobs.

Owning a barbershop or a small business, working in the post office or on the railroad—those were good black jobs.

Being a teacher or a preacher, a doctor or a lawyer—those were very good black jobs.

But the job at the aeronautical laboratory was something entirely new, something so unusual it hadn’t been dreamed of yet. It was an opportunity that had the potential to change the future of Dorothy’s family. Even if the war ended in six months or a year, earning a much higher salary for that brief time could help her save money for her children’s education.
1

Fill in the blank using words from the text.

Page 24:
"In Dorothy Vaughan’s world, there were black ______________________, and there were ____________________.

Page 15-16:

" Once hired, the black mathematicians were assigned to a separate work space in the Warehouse Building on the west side of the Langley campus. The East Area Computers were all white; the West Area Computers were all black, except for the supervisor and her assistant, who were white women. There had always been African-American employees at Langley, but they had worked as janitors, cafeteria workers, mechanic’s assistants, and groundskeepers. Hiring black mathematicians—that was something new. For the most part, the engineers welcomed extra hands, even if those hands were black. The Langley Laboratory was operating around the clock to test airplanes to be flown by American soldiers in the war: everyone had a job to do."
1

Fill in the blank using words from the text.

Page 15-16:
"For the most part, the engineers welcomed ____________________, even if those hands __________________."

Page 19:

The job at the plant was hard work. Some of the women loaded the soldiers’ dirty laundry into the boilers. Others heaved the sopping clothes into the dryers. Another team worked the pressing machines, like cooks at a giant griddle. The laundry workers existed at the bottom of the war’s great pyramid of employees. They earned forty cents an hour—among the lowest wages of all war workers— but for women with few employment options, even that modest sum felt like a windfall.
1

Fill in the blank using words from the text.

Page 19:
"The _____________________ at the bottom of the war’s great pyramid_______________"

Part 3: Think Again

Without looking at a dictionary, write a different definition of each word based on how it is used in the text.
1

What does the word computer (noun) mean in Hidden Figures?

1

What does the word black (adjective) mean in Hidden Figures?

1

How is the word hands (plural noun) used in Hidden Figures?

1

What does the word pyramid (noun) mean in Hidden Figures?

Part 4: Analyze

Complete the questions that analyze how the words are used.
1

How is the word computer the same and different?

1

The author uses the word black figuratively in quotation B.
In your own words, what is the author saying about the jobs that were available for black people?

1

The author uses the word hands twice in quotation C.
How are the two uses different from each other?

1

What does the author’s figurative use of the word pyramid in quotation D suggest about attitudes toward laundry workers?