Waiting Room Example Response

[Catchy Opening] Sometimes when children speak, they cut straight to truths that most adults cannot or will not tackle. [Thesis Statement] In the confessional poem, "In the Waiting Room," by Elizabeth Bishop, her precocious seven year-old self suddenly becomes aware of her existence, and she is puzzled and overwhelmed with questions.  Why should I be my aunt, or me, or anyone? What similarities made us all just one? Why should you be one? In that moment in the waiting room, we witness a child coming to terms with the "black wave" of confounding awareness, modelling for all readers the necessity of facing the big question of life - what is the point? [Body of ideas/quotes/argument] In the beginning of the poem, the speaker simply describes the ordinary and mundane details of the waiting room. And those "overcoats, lamps and magazines" are familiar to readers; we immerse in a comfortable and familiar environment. But, like our speaker, we are in for a traumatic surprise - the young speaker is about to fall into an existential void, one that adults understand, but avoid dealing with. The source of the crisis is comical, a National Geographic magazine filled with "Long pig[s]," "babies with pointed heads," and "awful hanging breasts." Between the reading of that magazine "right straight through" and the "bright and too hot" dentist's waiting room, the girl bursts "an oh! of pain." That "oh!" is an existential epiphany; it is not the "foolish and timid" aunt that the speaker seems so eager to mock. "It was me." Her awareness is excruciating. She "falls" into what most readers will realize is the "nothing stranger" moment when you see that you are human, "shadowy" and "in it."  She tries, like we all do, to define "it," to peg life down. After all, isn't all that "blue-black" space definable and compartmentalizable? No. At the end of the poem, she slides "beneath a big black wave, another, and another..." [Conclusion] Like all of us, our innocent seven year old speaker has just realized that she is alive and that being alive is miraculous and weird.

In the Waiting Room/Sad Daughter Response

1) Draft of What a Young Woman/Man Wants Poem - how is your first draft coming? Final draft due on Tuesday.

2) Another brief response to a poem.

• In a long paragraph response, analyze the theme of either "To a Sad Daughter" or "In the Waiting Room." 
• Show that you are in control of a close reading of the poem. 
• Explain the significance of the beginning, middle and end of the poem. 
• At least SIX small INTEGRATED quotes of only 1,2, or 3 words in length.
• See the example paragraph (above).
• You may use the following resources. However, if you read them you must put a Works Cited at the end. 

example:

Works Cited

Web. 17 May 2013. http://www.shmoop.com/in-the-waiting-room-bishop/

Resources:
In the Waiting Room Online - http://www.shmoop.com/in-the-waiting-room-bishop/
To a Sad Daughter - http://www.enotes.com/sad-daughter

Louder than a Bomb and More...

1) Finish Louder than a Bomb - there are only 20 minutes left.

In a group of two or three, discuss the following questions - co-write a paragraph response to each:

• Given that Comox is a capital S Small town, and given that many of you are putting your heads into your cell phones more than you are into anything else and given that the internet is changing our brains (watch the video).... What do you think Ms. Colborne thought you would get out of this documentary? Why did she think it might be "good" for you?
• Speaking your mind and expressing your emotions can be difficult. The Louder Than a Bomb competition has a saying, “The point is not the points. The point is the poetry.” Why do you think they stress this saying? What can you personally take away from this perspective? Why should expressing one'e emotions be first and foremost?
  
  Due today - put your names on it.

2) Creative Writing Assignment - most of the Louder than a Bomb poems were about the ordinary but heavy concerns of teens living in a family, surviving in a school, enduring a society.

Check out this poem I found in the most recent copy of The Claremont Review - an International magazine of student writing that is published in Victoria, BC. http://www.theclaremontreview.ca/

Read aloud - twice: What a Young Woman Wants

What do you want? Not as in what do you want to buy (shallow stuff), but as in what do you want to be allowed to experience? How do you want to be percieved?

Now, write your own version - see handout. Due Thursday. (Keep in mind a new written response will be assigned tomorrow)

Poetic Terms Review, Poems of Childhood Begin

1) Poetic Terms

Alliteration - the repetition of sounds/letters at the beginning of words in a line of poetry.

EXAMPLE: seven stars go squawking

Allusion - a reference to something that most people are familiar with (can be literary, biblical, historical, popular, etc...).

EXAMPLE: "the Giant is enchanting to Jack" (as in Jack and Jill)

Assonance - the repetition of vowel sounds near to each other in a line of poetry (beginning, middle and ends of words).

EXAMPLE: "O look, look in the Mirror"

Consonance - a poetic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession, as in "pitter patter" or in "all mammals named Sam are clammy".

Hyperbole - deliberate exaggeration for emphasis.

Metaphor - a direct comparison. A=B

Onomatopoeia - when the pronounciation of the word imitates the sound of the word.

Personification - to give a non-animate thing human characteristics.

Simile - an indirect comparison that uses the words "like" or "as."

Symbol - an object that represents or stands in for something else.

2) My Papa's Waltz

• Read three times
• Questions to Ask of a Poem
• Discussion

One man's take on it: 

3) Your work - Those Winter Sundays

Into the Wild...

1) Altered Journals (and Chapter Q's) DUE 

2) Self Assess and Submit. (Copies of Rubric)

3) Wild - connotations? Poetry - connotations?

4) Poetry Unit Outline
5) Tara, this is stupid stuff! And Questions to Ask of a Poem.

Next Week: Library to get independent novel study. Another two poems. First written response.

Wrapping Up The Kite Runner

1) Chapters 22 - 24 Discussion

What happens when Amir meets with the man who has Sohrab? How did you react?
p. 302 - why is this scene so important?

Ch. 23/24 - the hospital... Farid is still there... Sohrab is okay... looking for orphanage... letter from Rahim...visiting the mosque... asks Sohrab if he would like to come back to America with him.

"I think he was ashamed of himself."

The embassy. Trying to get Sohrab papers to go to the US. The promise. The disappointment. The heart-break.

25 - He is alive. But, he is silent. The silence that lasts a year.

The ending - p.387 -

• Given this ending, why is the book called The Kite Runner?
• Is the ending apt?
• Would you recommend this book to others?

2) Group Activity - Develop a theme statement. See handout. Write it on the board.

We all make mistakes, sometimes even terrible mistakes that deeply hurt the people we love; to move forward from dark times, we must face our wicked actions, and make peace with what we have done.

OR

Suffering is a universal experience; once we know this we must do what we can to help the people that we can.

3) Unit Review Notes - use these notes to prep for tomorrow's test.

20 marks of Multiple Choice

30 marks - Choice of Written Response topics - multi-paragraph. You can use the book for this part of the test, if you want.

4) Journals - take them home! There is no more time to work on them in class. Make it beautiful and engaging.

Chapter 7 - 10

Discussion Questions:

1. How is Hassan's dream of the lake and the monster important?
2. p.71 - What has he really won? Why is this winning the greatest moment of his life? "I was a hero."
3. The worst moment of his life - p 78 - 83 What is dissociation? Where is it that Amir retreats to? What thoughts keep him from remaining present at the scene of the crime?
4. We can all agree that rape is wrong. What about rape as a symbol - Rape in the news http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/a-letter-to-my-son-about-consent/ - Rape of boys in Afghanistan http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/brinkley/article/Afghanistan-s-dirty-little-secret-3176762.php - reacting to any of this, would make for excellent journal topics.
5. What happens at home afterwards? Silence, the trip, he says it, insomnia...
6. "Have you ever thought about getting new servants?" What is Amir up to?
7. The Pomegranate Exchange - p98
8. The Birthday Party - what happens?99- 106
9. Chapter Nine - the money and the watch p.110 WHY?
10. Chapter Ten - escaping the country - what are the most memorable scenes? 

Quiz - Read this poem and write a short response to the following question. How is Hassan like the lamb? How does this make him noble and good? How does this quality also make him weak? Use at least three specific examples from the book. A paragraph response.

The Lamb

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

Gave thee life & bid thee feed. 

By the stream & o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice! 

         Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

         Little Lamb I'll tell thee,

         Little Lamb I'll tell thee!

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb: 

He is meek & he is mild, 

He became a little child: 

I a child & thou a lamb, 

We are called by his name.

         Little Lamb God bless thee. 

         Little Lamb God bless thee.

Time to work on Journal Entries - bookable lab. Check out your journals...