August 26-27
•
When you come in…
– Get out a piece of paper, pen/pencil, highlighter and put everything else
away
(NO ELECTRONICS)
•
Today we are…
– Beginning our look at history’s influence on writing
– Discussing the impact of experiences on our beliefs
– Analyzing the use of sentence variation and details in our writing
•
When you leave you should be able to…
– Better annotate a poem
– Use sentence variation in your own writing
– Write your own poem that imitates, “Abandoned Farmhouse”
“Abandoned Farmhouse”
Creating Life from Details
What we will learn…
• Through studying this poem we will…
– Practice using different types of sentences.
– Understand subject verb agreement.
– Use prepositional phrases to complicate our
descriptions.
– Infer the relationship between detail and life.
– Create details using complex sentences to explain
ourselves and our lives.
Read the poem on your own…
• Read the poem silently to yourself at least
twice.
• Begin thinking about what the poem is about
and what clues help you arrive at this
conclusion.
Listen to the poem…
• Listen as we read the poem out loud.
• On the back of the poem answer the following
questions:
– 1. What do you think happened in the poem?
– 2. Describe the people in the poem? What are
they like?
– 3. What do you think happened to the people in
the poem? Use textual evidence to support this
response. Be thorough.
Compare
• Share your response with a person seated
next to you.
• Did you have the same type of response?
What details stood out to each of you? Do
you think your prior knowledge and/or
experiences play any role in your
assumptions?
• Share results with the class.
Now let’s take a closer look
at the details of the poem…
Diction (Word Choice)
What is the feeling of this poem? What words
make it feel that way?
Circle all the negative words in the poem.
Did you find - broken, fearing, broken, leaky,
scarce, lonely, wrong, choked, nervous,
strewn, rusty, broken, wrong?
Now let’s look at the
subject – verb agreement
• Notice that it is the items in the poem that “speak.”
They tell the story.
• The poem says: “He was a big man, says the size of his
shoes…”
• Normally, we would say: “The size of his shoes says he
was a big man…”
(Remember it is the “size” speaking, so it is singular, although “shoes” is plural.
The size says, “he was a big man”, but if the shoes were “speaking”, the shoes
say,
“he was a big man.”)
• Underline all places where an item “says” something.
Ex. - He was a big man, says the size of his shoes…”
Prepositional Phrases
• What is a preposition?
(Hint…something a squirrel can do to a tree)
• A preposition shows the relationship between
two items. It gives context for the objects and
adds detail.
– The squirrel was by the tree.
– The squirrel was on the tree.
– The squirrel went around the tree.
There are about 150 prepositions, but these are
the most common ones.
about above across after against along among
around at before behind below beneath beside
between by down during except for from in
in front of inside instead of into like near of off
on onto on top of out of outside over past since
through to toward under underneath until up
upon with within without
Discuss
• Notice that the first two stanzas go in the
following order:
1. what is said
2. the item that says it
3. Where the item is located
• Why would Kooser invert the natural order of
the sentence? Where is the emphasis in each
description?
Now try imitating the author
• The items in this poem “say” things about the people?
• Find one item from the classroom you think says something
about your English teacher.
• Imitate the author’s style and create a sentence on your
paper explaining what the item says about your teacher.
• Volunteers can share with the class.
She is passionate about the environment, says the recycle box
sitting anxiously beside the trashcan.
Time to Look at the Final Stanza…
How is it different?
• It asks a question. Why is this the only question?
– “And the child?”
• Simile:
– “like branches after a storm”
– What does this simile tell you about the family and what
must have happened to them?
• Short Sentence that is repeated at the beginning and
end of the stanza:
– “Something went wrong.”
– Overall idea that the objects convey
Brainstorm/Graphic Organizer/Pre-writing
• Think of a space or an event. Choose something that is
comfortable and you know well.
(Example: Home, room, car, practice field, breakup,
move, funeral, holiday, competition, meal etc.)
• Create three columns – Says, Item, Location – on your
paper.
• List items in the middle column. Be creative.
• What do the objects say about you or the event?
– Remember, what the object says comes first.
– Example: She was an active woman, say the running shoes
discarded on the cluttered floor…
• Where are the items in the space? (prepositional
phrases)
After you have picked your items..
• Now you can use this outline to create your
own imitative poem.
• Your poem should be broken into stanzas
• It should include 10-15 items and plenty of
original details
• It should follow the same structure and
formatting as the mentor text
• The last stanza should have a line that is
repeated, a central question, and a simile
Final Tips Before You Turn It In –
Take ownership and pride in your writing.
– What message do you want revealed?
– Do you have enough sensory details to make it vivid?
– Is your diction precise and does it evoke the feeling you
want?
– Have you slowly proofread your poem OUT LOUD to catch
any errors?
FINAL DRAFT OF THE POEM IS DUE NEXT CLASS