"I'm __________________:
Who Are You?"
AUTHOR: Claire C. Lamonica
SUBJECT: English
GRADE: High School
ABSTRACT:
High school freshmen are often unsure of themselves and overwhelmed by the enormousness of the task of making new friends in an unfamiliar environment. Similarly, their teachers are often overwhelmed by the necessity for finding assignments which will provide an opportunity to assess the skills of a large number of new students from a variety of backgrounds. In this article the author offers a sequence of two beginning-of-the-year assignments that can meet the needs of both students and teachers.
OBJECTIVES:
Assignment 1: A Formula Poem 1. To help students think about how they view themselves. 2. To introduce/review the basic poetic devices of rhyme scheme, rhythm pattern, imagery, metaphor, and simile. 3. To provide an introduction to brainstorming as an invention technique. 4. To provide an introduction to journal writing. 5. To offer students a non-threatening introduction to poetry writing.
Assignment 2. A Personal Letter 1. To help students make a new friend in a new school. 2. To offer students an opportunity to consider the possible importance of letter writing in a high-tech world. 3. To introduce/review the conventional elements of personal letters: heading, salutation, body, closing, signature. 4. To provide practice in writing personal letters. 5. To provide students with a real purpose and audience for their writing. 6. To introduce the concept of "audience appropriateness." 7. To provide practice in journal writing and brainstorming.
MATERIALS NEEDED
1. Copies of Emily Dickenson's poem, "I'm Nobody" 2. Copies of Garrison Kellior's article, "How to Write a Personal Letter" (Reader's Digest, Nov. 1987, pp. 129-131)
PROCEDURES
Day 1
On the first day of this assignment sequence, students were provided with copies of Emily Dickenson's poem, "I'm a Nobody," and with a handout outlining a specific reader response-based approach for considering the work in groups of 3 or 4. Afterwards, the class reconvened to listen to group reports and to discuss the poem together. Students were generally divided as to whether the persona in Dickenson's poem was content to be "nobody," as the second stanza's unfavorable comparison of "somebody" to a "frog" would suggest or whether the persona was actually unhappy to be "nobody" and the description of "somebody" was a "sour grapes" reaction to his/her perception of him/herself. Some students seemed concerned when the instructor refused to offer closure by taking a stance as to the "real" meaning of the poem.
Day 2
The class began with the instructor sharing an art print entitled "All is Vanity" which depicts, depending upon the viewer's perspective, either a human skull or a young woman sitting before a mirror at a vanity table. Students were invited to look at the picture and tell what they saw and were delighted to find two different pictures in one.
The instructor then explained that poetry is often like that picture. One poem may have more than one meaning, depending on who reads it and how. This does not mean, however, that any interpretation is valid. Just as the picture can be either a skull or a young woman -- but not a boy playing baseball, a poem might mean one thing or another, but not necessarily a third. The reader must be able to provide specific evidence from the text for any suggested meaning.
Students were then asked to take 10 minutes to respond in writing to the following prompt: "Think for a minute about Emily Dickenson's poem, 'I'm Nobody.' If you need to look at the poem again, do so. Now, take ten minutes to write about the poem. How do YOU think the persona in the poem feels about being 'nobody'? What evidence can you offer to support your belief? (Use evidence from both the poem and your personal experience.)" Responses to the prompt were collected at the end of ten minutes.
The next item of business was the distribution of the following: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ASSIGNMENT: A POEM After reading and discussing Emily Dickenson's poem, use it as a model to compose a poem about yourself by filling in the blanks in the copy of the poem below. If you wish to change more of the words, you may write your version of the poem on a separate sheet. Put your name on the BACK of the sheet you turn in. I'm _________________________! Who are you? Are you ______________________, too? Then there's a pair of us--don't tell! They'd ___________________________ us, you know.
How ______________________ to be ________________________! How ______________________, like a _________________________ To __________________________ the livelong _____________________ To __________________________________________________________!
EXAMPLE: I'm a learner! Who are you? Are you a learner, too? Then there's a pair of us--don't tell! They'd make us stop, you know.
How boring to be one who knows! How stagnant, like a pond That stays within its banks all day And never moves beyond.
You will be graded on: the extent and originality of your alterations: Did you put new words in all the blanks? Did you change some other words too? Are the words you chose unusual--or even unique? the aptness of your phrases and/or images: Do the new words you chose work together (like "stagnant", "pond", and "stays within its banks" in the example)? your ability to maintain the original rhythm pattern and rhyme scheme: Do your new words have the same number of syllables as the ones they've replaced? Do the same lines rhyme in your version as in Dickenson's original?
CHALLENGE OPTION: Write an original poem that offers the reader some understanding of the person you feel you are. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In the course of reviewing the assignment with the class and answering questions, the instructor offered brief explanations of the poetic devices of rhyme, rhythm, imagery, metaphor, and simile, noting that these were devices students would have to utilize in order to complete the assignment effectively.
The final activity for the day was a brief brainstorming session during which students were asked to take out a piece of scratch paper and given three minutes to brainstorm all the words they could think of to describe themselves. This was to serve as an aid in completing their assignment. A token reward was given for the longest list in each class. Students were given two days to complete their formula poems.
Day 3
(Note: This is the third day devoted to these activities, but not the third consecutive class day.)
On this day, the instructor collected the students' poems to be evaluated over the weekend. She then asked students to respond to the following journal prompt: "Please take a few minutes to think and write about LETTERS. You might want to consider some of the following questions: How do you feel when you get a personal letter? Why? Have you ever received an especially important or meaningful letter? What made it special? In these days of instant communication (telephone, e-mail, fax, etc.) do people still need to write letters? Why or why not?"
This activity was followed by a class discussion about the importance of letters in our lives. Since the students had already been writing about this issue, they had lots to say during the discussion period.
After the discussion, the instructor distributed copies of Garrison Kellior's article "How to Write a Personal Letter" and asked the students to read it silently, marking any points which seemed particularly important or interesting to them. This activity was followed by a class discussion generated by the following question: "What are the most important or interesting things Kellior has to say about writing personal letters?" Student responses were listed on the board, and students were encouraged to copy the list in their notebooks.
Day 4
Before classes began for the day, the instructor posted all of the students' poems about themselves on the walls. Instead of names (which were concealed), the poems were identified by numbers assigned by the instructor. Evaluations had been completed on separate evaluation forms to maintain the poets' privacy. Students were generally excited to see the massive array of poems and spent the time before class reading some of the work.
The class began with the instructor explaining that although Kellior maintains that form is not important in a personal letter -- and it's not when the recipient of the letter is a close personal friend or relative -- there are times when people want to write personal letters that are a little more formal in nature. Such occasions might be writing to an older relative whom one does not see often or writing to a pen pal whom one has not met. This explanation was followed by a brief lesson on the formal elements of a personal letter: heading, salutation, body, closing, and signature.
This lesson was followed by the distribution of a letter writing assignment.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Your next English assignment is to write a personal letter to another freshman at our school. You will select a student to write to by choosing a poem from the classroom walls. Choose a poem which appeals to you for some reason. (For example, you might choose someone you think you might have something in common with.) Once you have chosen a poem, place a sticker on the poem you have chosen (you may not choose a poem which already has a sticker on it), and make a note of the green ID number in the upper right corner so that we have a way of identifying the person you are writing to.
Your letter should include a heading, a salutation, a body, a closing, and a signature. Since you will want to make the most of this opportunity to make a new friend, it is important that the body of this letter include the kind of information which will help you do that. Use the back of this sheet to record the ideas which result from our in- class brainstorming session on what to include in your letter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After the teacher had reviewed the assignment with the class, the students held a brief brainstorming session in response to the question, "What kinds of information might be included in a letter to a friend you haven't met yet? Students suggested describing themselves, their families, their hobbies, their favorite pastimes, and so on. After completing this activity, students were allowed to roam the room, reading poems and looking for a fellow poet to write to. If there was time remaining, students were encouraged to begin writing their letters.
Day 5
On the fifth day of the assignment sequence, students brought drafts of their letters to class. As they read an article for an upcoming unit, the instructor quickly read through the drafts and responded in "code": Req? = missing requirements (heading, salutation, closing, signature) N.D. = needs development (usually followed by a jotted question or two to spur further development of ideas) N.A. = not appropriate (used to indicate concerns about words or sentences which letter recipients might find offensive or hurtful)
Although the instructor had been concerned about whether or not she would be able to complete this task during the 55 minute class period, she did manage to respond to all 24 letters in each class, usually with 5 or so minutes to spare. Using the code helped, as did resisting the urge to correct mechanics. Mechanical perfection was not an objective at this point since the letter was being sent to a "friend," and students had been told they could use appropriate slang words and informal punctuation if they wished.
Students were then given two days to complete their final drafts and copy them neatly before submitting them for evaluation and delivery. Before delivering the letters, the instructor evaluated them on the basis of their use of the required formal elements, the development of ideas in the body, and their appropriateness to the "audience." (Letters of questionable taste or a hurtful nature would not have been delivered.) On the last day devoted to this series of assignments, letters were delivered to their recipients at the end of class.
An unanticipated development was the discovery that a sizeable number of students wanted to write and/or receive responses to the letters. This is both the benefit and (for the teacher) hazard of having a real audience. The instructor agreed to deliver one return letter per student, but reserved the right to read these responses to make sure they were appropriate. She also agreed to allow a few "extra credit" points for return letters and suggested that students use the responses to make arrangements for future meetings or letter deliveries.
Claire C. Lamonica cclamon@.ilstu.edu
7100 University High School Illinois State University Normal, IL 61790-7100 ph (309)
438-8448 Fax:(309) 438-5198
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