Writing on NIGHT

Link for assignment is here. Note that it should read "five to seven paragraphs," not "four to six."

Outline, due Wednesday, should contain:

Opening few sentences.

Topic sentence for each of the three-to-five body paragraphs.

Brief notation of possible details for each body paragraph.

The paper, due next Tuesday, will require page numbers for direct and indirect quotations.

Poetry Out Loud preparation

Here are the videos (with tips for recitation) from the Poetry Out Loud site:

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems-and-performance/tips-on-reciting

Glossary for NIGHT

The glossary for Night is in the set of links to the right. (You may need to look up other words as well, but I thought it would be useful to go over this specialized set of terms. Why you all stayed in a line once you'd figured out your order is beyond me, but I figured, as long as you're back there, just keep standing!)

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.