Week 73: College Reading and Writing: Roger Reeves and Yvonne Crasso

Week 73: College Reading and Writing: Roger Reeves and Yvonne Crasso

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 143 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. How does the word choice work in this poem?

2. What do you think will “linger inside a suicide” (Reeves 143)?

3. Who is the speaker addressing in this poem?

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the response

1. What has the speaker “learned” (Crasso 144)?

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

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:

Roger Reeves’ poem “Maggot Therapy” tells the story of decomposition, a “dress decanted of bones and snow-blown skin” (143). The poem ends with a request: “teach me to travel light with their bodies in my belly” (Reeves 143).

Work Cited Page

Reeves, Roger. “Maggot Therapy” 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:

Yvonne Crasso’s response to Roger Reeves’ poem “Maggot Therapy” begins with a memory of Crasso "getting a call from [her] mom” (144). She goes on to explain that “[t]hrough the years my grief has morphed” (Crasso 144). Crasso finds that even today she’s sometimes “startled” by the fact of her sister’s death, that it’s both "unreal, inconceivable” and "the realest, hardest thing [she’s] ever felt” (Crasso 144).

Work Cited Page

Crasso, Yvonne. “Response to ‘Maggot Therapy” 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: This week is about dealing with grief. What are some strategies you see here for dealing with grief? Some people say “time heals all wounds"; do you think the poem and response agree with this statement? Remember to use quotations from the poem to make your points, and cite them!

Exercise: Imitation

Write a therapy poem. Therapy is defined as a treatment intended to relieve or heal. You can choose something big like a broken heart, fear of change, disappointment in society. You can choose something small like a tear in your shirt, a bad haircut, or an itch. Use elements from Reeves’ 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 Reeves

2.         Summary of Crasso

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.