Week 82: College Reading and Writing: Wrigley and Pollack Mindich

Week 82: College Reading and Writing: Wrigley and Pollack Mindich

Robert Wrigley and Jessica Pollack Mindich: Annotating, Summarizing, Analyzing, Imitating

to annotate: to make notes on something to help you understand it better

to summarize: to put something in your own words

to analyze: to consider a question on the text, providing supporting examples from the text

to imitate: to create an original piece of writing based on something you have read

We are doing the poem and response in the book today, starting on page 170. 

Exercise: Read and annotate

1. Read the poem and response out loud and underline any words you need to look up.

2. Write any questions you have in the margins or in your notebook.

3. Put tricky parts into your own words in notes in the margins or in your notebook.

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the poem

1.     What does the speaker mean “from what they were into what they were not”?

2.     How do you interpret the change from Cambodia to Idaho?

3.     Why does the candelabrum burn for lost American lives?

Exercise: Summarize the poem

Write a paragraph summarizing the poem with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

example too-short summary, incorporating quotation and in-text citation:

Robert Wrigley’s poem “Kalashnikov Candelabrum” begins by explaining the lack of art supplies in Cambodia and how “the government of Cambodia donated thousands of decommissioned Kalashnikovs to the visiting artists” (170). The poem describes the kinds of what the children made with the former weapons: “flowers, chairs, and tables; elephants, miraculous fish, and other mythical beasts” (Wrigley 170).

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Wrigley, Robert. “Kalashnikov Candelabrum.” Bullets Into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence. Ed. Brian Clements et al. Beacon Press, 2017.

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the response

1. What does art create?
2. What does art provide Pollack Mindich?
3. According to Pollack Mindich, what had jewelry made possible?

Exercise: Summarize the response

Write a paragraph summarizing the response with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

Exercise: Analysis

Question for analysis: In her response, Pollack Mindich writes that her transformed jewelry creates a cycle of hope” (171). Do you see a cycle of hope happening in Wrigley’s poem? Use examples from the poem to demonstrate where you see a cycle of hope in Wrigley’s poem.

Exercise: Imitation

Write an English sonnet about an object that means a lot to you. An English sonnet is 14 lines with rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. There must be a change of tone starting at line 11.

Homework:

1. Summary of Poem
2. Summary of Response
3. Analysis of Poem and Response
4. Imitation of Poem

About this class:

In this class, you are welcome to submit homework for a grade.  If it’s not strong enough to earn an A, I’ll give you some comments to help you revise it, and let you do it over again. You have as many chances as you want to complete and perfect the work in this class, and you are welcome to do more than one week’s worksheet for homework at a time; ask me for sheets you’ve missed.  Students who complete 15 weeks of graded assignments and a longer paper can qualify for college credit.  When you get close to completing 15 weeks, I’ll help you get started on your longer paper.