Cassie looked over the article her literature teacher gave her entitled "Universal Themes and 19th Century American Writers." She reviewed her instructor's assignment guidelines before getting
started. Then, she spent some time writing out any connections to this content that she could
think of. Then, she reviewed each paragraph's topic sentence carefully.
Which sentence describes an effective step for finding the main idea of a text? Select the best answer

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine.com. poetry magazine, n.d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?