Aim: How can active reading be applied to interpret writers' choices that create a narrative voice?
DO NOW: For the Do Now, we had a whole class discussion on the question-What does it mean to you when you hear the phrase to “come of age”? Some said it could signify the transition between your childhood and adulthood. It comes with many responsibilities of adulthood that you wouldn’t have before your coming of age and requires much more maturity. In simpler words, it's when someone reaches the status of an adult. For some it means when they are no longer a minor but others can vary. There are also cultural ideas revolving around the coming of age such as a Bat Mitzvah or a Confirmation.
DOUBLE ENTRY JOURNAL:
We were introduced to a double entry journal which was new to many people. This is a note taking journal used to make note taking easier and help to better your understanding of the text you’re reading. You are allowed to bridge your own thoughts on the events and character developments and share your own experiences and connections with what’s stated in the text in the journal. We use this later on in the lesson for the Speak.
NARRATIVE VOICE
Narrative voice is the perspective the story is told in. In first person narration, the person telling the story is part of the story and uses pronouns such as, “I, mine, me, and we.” In the video, they didn’t talk much about 2nd person, but it’s when the reader is addressed directly, often used to draw the reader in and make them seem like a character in the story. When writing in this POV, the words, “you, and yours” are used. When the writer chooses to write in third person, they make the narrator tell the story from the outside. Third person uses pronouns such as, “he, she, it, hers, his, and/or hers.” An example of this is, “He waited and tried to maintain his calm”. The pronouns “he” and “his” gives it away that the narrator is not in the story, but is rather telling it from a distance. Here is the 2 minute video that explains all of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHl7mDZzfDw&ab_channel=mistersato411
SPIRIT READING:
In the following scene from Speak, the narrator, Melinda, is dealing with a new experience: the first day of high school.
DIRECTIONS: As we read, we were to highlight quotes in the text that made us think. The use of diction (word choices), imagery (words to create sensory details), and/or syntax (complexity of the sentences) in a particular sentence would also be something to highlight. Then we use the chart to create different responses to the text. We later discuss the responses after the spirit reading.
From Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
1 I find my locker after social studies. The lock sticks a little, but I open it. I dive into the stream of fourth-period lunch students and swim down the hall to the cafeteria.
2 I know enough not to bring lunch on the first day of high school. There is no way of telling what the acceptable fashion will be. Brown bags—humble testament to suburbia, or terminal geek gear? Insulated lunch bags—hip way to save the planet, or sign of an over involved mother? Buying is the only solution. And it gives me time to scan the cafeteria for a friendly face or an inconspicuous corner.
3 The hot lunch is turkey with reconstituted dried mashed potatoes and gravy, a damp green vegetable, and a cookie. I’m not sure how to order anything else, so I just slide my tray along and let the lunch drones fill it. This eight-foot senior in front of me somehow gets three cheeseburgers, French fries, and two Ho-Hos without saying a word. Some sort of Morse code with his eyes, maybe. Must study this further. I follow the Basketball Pole into the cafeteria.
4 I see a few friends—people I used to think were my friends—but they look away. Think fast, think fast. There’s that new girl, Heather, reading by the window. I could sit across from her. Or I could crawl behind a trash can. Or maybe I could dump my lunch straight into the trash and keep moving right on out the door.
5 The Basketball Pole waves to a table of friends. Of course. The basketball team. They all swear at him—a bizarre greeting practiced by athletic boys with zits. He smiles and throws a Ho-Ho. I try to scoot around him.
6 Thwap! A lump of potatoes and gravy hits me square in the center of my chest. All conversation stops as the entire lunchroom gawks, my face burning into their retinas. I will be forever known as “that girl who got nailed by potatoes the first day.” The Basketball Pole apologizes and says something else, but four hundred people explode in laughter and I can’t read lips. I ditch my tray and bolt for the door.
7 I motor so fast out of the lunchroom the track coach would draft me for varsity if he were around. But no, Mr. Neck has cafeteria duty. And Mr. Neck has no use for girls who can run the one hundred in under ten seconds, unless they’re willing to do it while holding onto a football.
8 Mr. Neck: “We meet again.”
9 Me:
10 Would he listen to “I need to go home and change,” or “Did you see what that bozo did”? Not a chance. I keep my mouth shut.
11 Mr. Neck: “Where do you think you’re going?”
12 Me:
13 It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.
14 Mr. Neck makes a note in his book. “I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. I’ve taught here for twenty-four years and I can tell what’s going on in a kid’s head just by looking in their eyes. No more warnings. You just earned a demerit for wandering the halls without a pass.”
GROUP WORK:
In the breakout rooms, we each choose four of the highlighted quotes (a variety of types, of course), record them down, and react to them in the chart. After this is done, we were to pick a partner to exchange the document to, within the groups. We wrote responses to our partner’s comments and explained our own reaction to the quote and/or feelings about the partner’s response. So in simpler words, did we see things similarly to our partner or not?
One of the quotes I chose were, “All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie.” I chose this quote because it expresses a harsh reality. Whatever the media and TV say about speaking up and/or communicating to express your thoughts may be true but they left out an important piece. It’s not easy to speak up for yourself especially when you know they will not care about what you have to say or even believe it. My partner overall agreed and said it exemplified the difficulties of speaking up, and believing that sometimes speaking up would do more harm than good.
Another one of the four quotes I chose were “..but four hundred people explode in laughter”. Although there may have not been 400 people all laughing together at her expense, in the moment it was what she felt, with reason. This use of figurative language portrays the girl’s pure humiliation as she is harassed by a “popular” guy, along with the stress of trying to fit into the crowd and not be singled out. Instead it horribly backfires and instead becomes the laughingstock of the lunch period. The embarrassment exemplifies a thousand times when she sees not one person bothering to stand up for her, and instead laughs at her. Some may ask why she didn’t say anything, but if you really look at it, would it even help? If anything, the audience would most likely laugh even harder. My partner also agreed and she added that the fact that it was the 1st day of school made it even worse, as we know there is a lot of stress implemented on the start of a new year.
INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY
After the group work, we had an activity to do individually. Anderson was 38 when Speak was published, but she still imposes a teenager girl’s voice and thoughts through diction, syntax, and imagery. Diction is the writer/speaker’s choice of words, syntax is order, placement, and formation of the words in the sentence, determining its meaning and complexity. Imagery is the language and words the writer uses to vividly convey an experience, and the figures of speech used to express ideas and feelings. We had to choose three quotes that we thought sounded particularly authentic to a teenager’s voice and respond to the two bullet points:
Does Melinda’s sarcastic interior monologue seem authentic? Why or why not?
What inferences can students draw based on her voice? From her voicelessness?
My response was that Anderson was able to impose a sarcastic inner monologue and make it seem authentic because it really captures the mentality and outlook of a highschool teenager. The quote, “Buying is the only solution. And it gives me time to scan the cafeteria for a friendly face or an inconspicuous corner” shows the mentality of someone who tries to not stand out in such a judging crowd of high schoolers. Everything matters, even lunch, which much older people would not think is such a big deal. Teens spend much of their years obsessing over every mistake or thing that makes them not the norm. This also brings out the idea of social norms where there are certain accepted behavior in social groups and if you happen to fall out of line, they will judge you for being different. This showcases a real struggle many teens face. “All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie” is another quote showing the authenticity of Anderson’s writing. Most teens do not really value communication as they believe no one really cares or believes what they are to say. Even if they do manage to muster the courage to speak up, there always will be others who judge you for standing against an idea or the norm. In her case, she was in trouble with a teacher and instead of explaining why she was wandering the halls and what happened in the cafeteria, she chooses to go along with it. This was because she knew he wouldn’t believe what happened, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t care and say she was still wandering the halls. An inference that can be made is that Melinda feels she must not be seen or stick out of the crowd in order to survive her high school days. She also feels her thoughts and voice is invalidating which was proven multiple times as she decides to stay silent.
REFLECTION:
Throughout today’s lesson I’ve learned the different ways a story can be written and how the story is delivered and has a huge influence on the reader’s connection to the characters and events in the story. If a story is told in first person, they focus mainly on the feelings and thoughts of the narrator, allowing a deeper insight to the character. Anderson was 38 when she wrote Speak, but still managed to capture all the thoughts and feelings a teenage girl would have during a situation like that and allowed the targeted audience to be able to sympathize with Melinda. Although I learnt what diction, syntax and imagery were in the last lesson, I saw an example of what it looked like in a short story and deepened my understanding of these three devices of literature. I also learned that imagery could just simply allow the reader to experience something rather than it just being a visual. I also learned how to use the double entry journal strategy to strengthen my understanding of an excerpt and how it would help in not just this class, but any that requires an understanding of a concept/text.
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