Week 108: College Reading and Writing Ross Gay and William V. Begg

Week 108: College Reading and Writing

Ross Gay and William V. Begg: 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 twenty-first poem and response in the book today, starting on page 68. 

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 does the bullet crave?

2.     To what is the bullet compared?

3.     What does the bullet not want to know?

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the response

1.     What did most medical professionals “stand by” and do prior to Sandy Hook?

2.     What kind of issue is gun violence, according to Begg?

3.     What were the issues doctors worked to change in the last generation?

Homework Assignment: Summarize the Poem

Write a 7-9 sentence paragraph summarizing the poem with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

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

Ross Gay, in his poem “The Bullet, in Its Hunger,” personifies a bullet. We see into the bullet’s mind as it thinks “[l]et me be a ravenous diamond…” and that it does not “want to know the nature / of the conflict…” (Gay 68).  The poem ends with the haunting line “[l]ike you, only wants / to die in someone’s arms” (Gay 68).

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Gay, Ross. “The Bullet, in Its Hunger.” Bullets Into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence. Ed. Brian Clements et al. Beacon Press, 2017.

Homework Assignment: Summarize the Response

Write a 7-9 sentence paragraph summarizing the response with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

Homework Assignment: Analysis

Question for analysis: In his response, Begg writes, “The bullet will be in charge no longer” (Beggs 69). In Gay’s poem, he personifies a bullet and gives it power in the poem. When the bullet is given power in the poem, who or what is stripped of their power?  Quote and cite lines from both the response and the poem to answer this question in 7-9 sentences.

Homework Assignment: Imitation

Write a poem where you personify an object and give it power.

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.