Week 42: College Reading and Writing: Leanne Howe and Amanda Gailey

                                   

Leanne Howe and Amanda Gailey: 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 twenty-sixth poem and response in the book today, starting on page 93.

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. Who is in conversation in this poem?

2. What does history teach the reader in this poem?

3. What is the importance of the alligator?

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:

Brenda Hillman’s poem “The Family Sells the Family Gun” tells the story of siblings getting rid of their father’s gun after “his ashes...were lying” (87). The speaker questions what it means to own and get rid of a gun in America, saying, “[w]e couldn’t take it to the cops even in my handbag” (Hillman 88).

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Howe, Leanne. “Gatorland.” 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. Who is the speaker and is it important to know?
2. What does “tyranny is the gun” mean (Howe 93)?      
3. What is the effect of the “guns are” repetition (Howe 93)?

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: Both Howe and Gailey write about history of gun ownership and violence in the US. Think about the techniques Howe and Gailey use to discuss this history. Is one author more convincing than the other? Closely examine the two texts and write an analysis where you explore the relationship here between US history and gun violence. Use lines from both the response and the poem to support your answer.

Exercise: Imitation

Write a poem about a fear no one would expect you to have, a real one or one you make up. Ask yourself, what do you need to do to get over that fear? What would someone tell you to do to get over that fear? Use elements from the Howe’s poem that you admire to make your own poem stronger.

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.