Week 71: College Reading and Writing: Meghan Privitello and Abbey Clements

Week 71: College Reading and Writing: Meghan Privitello and Abbey Clements

Annotating, Summarizing, Imitating, Analyzing, Synthesizing

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

to summarize: to put something in your own words

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

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

to synthesize: to connect two or more texts in your own writing

We are on page 135 of the book today.

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 sentences into your own words in notes in the margins or in your notebook

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the poem

1. Who do you think “God” represents in this poem (Privitello 135)?

2. What role does gender play in this poem?

3. What “is not ours” (Privitello 135)?

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the response

1. Is there a call to action? Who is it aimed at?

2. Why does the mom leave a gift on her daughter’s bed?

Exercise: Summarize the poem

Write a paragraph summarizing the poem in your own words, with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited page.  Don’t include your opinion, just summarize the poem.

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

Meghan Privitello’s poem “[When a child hears gunshots]” tells the story of a world in which “a child hears gunshots” (135). The poem ends by rejecting that world: “we give the whole damned world back” (Privitello 136).

Work Cited Page

Privitello, Meghan. “[When a child hears gunshots]” Bullets Into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence. Ed. Brian Clements et al. Beacon Press, 2017.

Exercise: Summarize the response

Write a paragraph summarizing the response in your own words, with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.  Don’t include your opinion, just summarize the response.

Example summary, incorporating quotation and in-text citation:

Abbey Clements’ response to Meghan Privitello’s poem “[When a child hears gunshots]” begins by stating: “154 shots...I thought they were folding chairs falling” (137). She goes on to explain that for her “[s]urviving is a gift and a burden”(Clements 137). She concludes by sharing a mom’s story: “every day after school she left a gift...sitting on her [daughter’s] bed” (Clements 137).

Work Cited Page

Clements, Abbey. “Response to ‘[When a child hears gunshots]" Bullets Into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence. Ed. Brian Clements et al. Beacon Press, 2017.

Exercise: Synthesizing Analysis

Question for synthesizing analysis: What are some techniques you see here for how adults negotiate seeing kids deal with the unknown, which is death? What are some techniques that work for you in dealing with the unknown, which is death? Remember to use quotations from the poem to make your points, and cite them!

Exercise: Imitation

Write a conversation poem. You’re in jail, I’m sure there are many things you want to say to many people, take this opportunity to hash out an unsatisfactory conversation. What could you change? What is the alternate ending? Use elements from Privitello’s poem that you admire to make your own story stronger.  

For homework, revise these in a blue book or on loose paper; do not turn in your notebook or rip out pages to turn in.

1.         Summary of Privitello

2.         Summary of Clements

3.         Synthesizing Analysis

4.         Imitation

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.