Beginning Poetry Out Loud

I've posted, in the set of links to the right of this screen, the link to the allowable Poetry Out Loud poems. The majority of the poems in your English anthology are also allowed, but check with the list online to confirm that a poem you're interested in memorizing is indeed acceptable.

We'll be studying poetry in class as well as working on how to recite memorized poems. 

Reading Hogan's poetry

Read Hogan's poems as many times as you need to. Get comfortable with them. As she suggests in her essay, listen. That's the key. Then answer these questions.

1. For each poem, provide one idea that you found in it.

2. For each poem, tell me at least one line (I do mean line, not sentence or stanza) that you liked and why you liked it.

3. Having now read an essay by Hogan as well as several of her poems, identify any common elements (phrasing, ideas, images) you find among her writings.

For Friday

Read twice and annotate Linda Hogan's "Hearing Voices" and Diane Ackerman's "We Are all A Part of Nature."

1. What is the point of Hogan's essay? That is, what does she want readers to take away from it?

2. Hogan connects ideas and real-world things that we might not usually connect. Identify two such connections that she makes between things we don't usually connect. Are those connections convincing to you? Why or why not?

3. On what points might Hogan and Ackerman agree?

4. On what points might they disagree?

5. Ackerman refers to personal experiences in her essay. What effect does it have on the essay for her to include those personal experiences?

6. Pick at least one sentence—from each essay—that stands out for you and retype it.

We'll go over, as well, the sentences you chose from the Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass essays.

For Wed., 10/22

In your anthology, read twice and annotate the essay excerpts by Frederick Douglass ("Learning to Read and Write," p. 24) and Malcolm X ("Coming to An Awareness of Language," p. 91). Be sure to read the biographical information as well. Some words will be unfamiliar to you; use a dictionary if you cannot determine the meaning from the context. Then answer the following questions. Answers are to be typed; format them in the usual way.

1. Find one sentence (or two together) in either one of the essays that you especially like and type out this sentence. Then explain: What makes it stand out to you? Notice how the sentence is constructed as well as the idea behind the sentence. Fully explain your thinking. You will likely need to refer to other aspects of the essay from which the line was taken.

2. In the readings, what similarities do you find between these two authors? Fully explain this answer.

More MLK

As we discussed in class, I want you to listen to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, delivery of his famous speech and write down anything you notice about how he speaks: What phrases does he say differently than you might expect? Where does he speed up? Slow down? What words take on more emphasis in his reading that in your own reading? Does he pause in any unexpected spots or speed through what you think should be a pause? Does his voice rise or fall in ways that strike you? Anything you notice, I'd like to hear about. I won't collect the assignment, but I want you to be able to tell me something when I call on you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs&list=PLC0eGfrn5UNrLt4aJTRLxW5P01vU67AIn

For Thusday, Oct. 16

In your anthology, read twice and annotate Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream," looking especially for those elements identified in the introduction: "metaphors, biblical and literary allusions, and repeated phrases (anaphora)." Then type the answers to the following:

1. Identify (by quoting them) four metaphors and explain what King literally means in each instance.

2. Identify any biblical or literary allusions or references to any other texts. For each example, explain why (in your view) he uses each of those allusions.

3. What phrases are repeated?

For next Tuesday

In your red and white MPH English 9 anthology, read twice and annotate Brian Doyle's "Joyas Voladoras." Then, complete all of the following exercises. Be sure to use directly quoted material to support your answers for numbers 1-3 (see pp. 69-70 in your grammar books to see the proper format for quoting from the essay).

1. What is different about the hummingbird and the blue whale?

2. How is Doyle's writing about the hummingbird different from his writing about the blue whale? 

3. Re-read the essay, but skip the sixth fourth paragraph (about the blue whale). What does the paragraph on the blue whale add to the essay?

4.  Write two paragraphs that contrast two related but different things that you're familiar with, e.g., a favorite pen and pencil, two pets, two plants, two rooms in your home, two siblings, two parents, two favorite drinking glasses, two classes you take at MPH, and so on. Use the kind of descriptive language you've read in the Twain and Doyle essays. 

For Thursday, 10/9

Reading: Please read Twain's "Two Ways of Seeing a River." Read it twice, and annotate it. We'll be reading it aloud next time and discussing people's annotations. Notice (since we talked about it today) Twain's use of figurative language.

Writing: The only writing is to annotate.