Week 81: College Reading and Writing: Vuong and Lasher-Sommers

Week 81: College Reading and Writing: Vuong and Lasher-Sommers

Ocean Vuong and Clai Lasher-Sommers: 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 poem and response in the book today, starting on page 164. 

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.     How many winters has passed since the speaker receiver the shoebox?

2.     What is in the shoebox?

3.     What do you think “Open this when you need me most” means in the first line?  

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:

Ocean Vuong’s poem “Always & Forever” tells the story of a kid receiving a gun from his father. The poem begins with his father sliding the “shoebox, wrapped in duct tape” (164) beneath the speaker’s head.

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Vuong, Ocean. “Always & Forever.”  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. What is there no language for?
2. What language does Lasher-Sommers resist?
3. What does Lasher-Sommers mean by “he would hang from a wall night after night”?

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: Lasher-Sommers response ends with “…I must tell the truth.” What truth is Vuong speaking in his poem?

Exercise: Imitation

Write a poem about something you know to be true but is somehow difficult to articulate. Write in couplets.

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.