Week 33: College Reading and Writing: Rebecca Morgan Frank and Lieutenant Brian Thiem

Week 33: College Reading and Writing: Rebecca Morgan Frank and Lieutenant Brian Thiem

Frank and Thiem: 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 nineteenth poem and response today, starting on page 66.

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, “the numbers are gunning for you”?

2.     What does the speaker mean by “violence rests”?

3.     What kind of  effect do the questions have on the reader?

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:

Kyle Dargan’s poem “Natural Causes” tells the story of a boy who purchases a gun “from a farm in Virginia” (31) from a farmer who “keeps his gaze down as to remember nothing of the boy’s face” (31). The speaker of the poem insinuates that the farmer has sold guns to other boys like this one, when they say, “His customers rarely return older” (31).

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Frank, Rebecca Morgan. “Gunning for It.” 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. According to Thiem, what is the problem with the emphasis on “the gun part of violence”?
2. What is targeting guns “easier than”?
3. According to Thiem, what is the only thing that will solve the problem of gun violence?

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 Thiem’s response to Frank’s poem, he writes, “Neighborhood residents know who they are, but they look the other way. During political protests, black-masked anarchists shoot guns and throw firebombs, and then meld back into the crowd, while the ‘peaceful’ protestors look the other way” (67). How do you see this statement at work in Frank’s poem? Write an analysis where you answer Thiem’s implicit question about who or what’s to blame for the problem of gun violence by examining who is being indicted in Frank’s poem.

Exercise: Imitation

Write a poem where you question a family story or history that’s been told to you.

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.