Week 46: College Reading and Writing: Dana Levin and Kate Ranta
Dana Levin and Kate Ranta: 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 thirtieth poem and
response in the book today, starting on page 106.
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 kinds of stops occur in this poem?
2. What is the importance of
instructions?
3. Who is the “you” in this poem?
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)
Levin, Dana. “Instructions
for Stopping.” 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
- Who is the speaker and why it important?
- Is “stop” in the response always the same
(Ranta 108)?
- Why is “curled-up fish” repeated in the
response (Ranta 108)?
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: There are
similarities and differences to how Levin and Ranta write about the power of
the word “stop” and domestic violence (106, 108). Closely examine the two texts
and write an analysis where you think about each author’s perspective and how
they each approach their encounter with domestic and gun violence.
Exercise: Imitation
Write an instructional poem. Choose
something you can instruct someone else to do. It can be how to change a tire,
cook a meal, dance a tango, you decide. Use elements from Levin’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:
Your notebooks belong to you; you can
write first drafts in them, and make notes for yourselves. To turn in
homework, revise your work in a blue book or sheets of paper you can get from
your instructor. 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.
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