Week 87: College Reading and Writing: Martín Espada

Week 87: College Reading and Writing: Martín Espada

Espada: 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 reading a poem by Martín Espada.

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 poems

1.     What words help shift the tone between the first and second stanza?

2.     What does the speaker mean “[h]e was my last job”?

3.     What is the significance of the foreman’s wallet, and the action surrounding it?

Exercise: Summarize the poem

Write a paragraph summarizing the poem with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

Example Summary: Too short, but incorporates quotation and in-text citation:

In Martín Espada’s poem “The Foreman’s Wallet,” we find that the speaker of the piece, along with their co-workers, suddenly lose their job. The speaker and the co-workers retaliated by destroying the printing plant and attempting to shrink-wrap the foreman’s head. When the attempt fails, the speaker “shrink-wrapped the foreman’s wallet” (Espada 40).

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Espada Martín. “The Foreman’s Wallet.” Imagine the Angels of Bread: Poems. W.W. Norton, 1997

Exercise: Write a response to this poem. What are your first impressions? How do you connect or disconnect to the subject and speaker? Does the poem remind you of anything from your own life and experience?

Exercise: Summarize the response

Write a paragraph summarizing the response with quotations, in-text citations, and a Work Cited Page.

Exercise: Analysis

Question for analysis: In Martín Espada’s poem, the speaker is comparing and contrasting the bosses against the retaliating workers with both obvious and subtle descriptions. What are some of these descriptions? Do you find them to be successful?

Exercise: Imitation

Write a poem about finding a job or losing a job.

Homework:

1. Summary of Poem
2. Response of Poem
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.