Aim: How can active reading be applied to interpret writers' choices that create a narrative voice?
Do now:
We started off the lesson by having a class discussion on what the phrase “to come of age” means to us. The class expressed similar ideas along the line of it being a milestone where you mature and become more responsible. As said by Ms. Peterson, the phrase “to come of age” is like a rite of passage where you transition from childhood to adulthood.
The Double-Entry Journal:
After that, we were introduced to what a double-entry journal is. A double-entry journal is a way to take notes while actively reading. It resembles a T-Chart where on the left side is the direct quote from the text, and the right side you write down your thoughts and analysis on that particular quote. As shown below, these are some prompts to use on the right side of the chart to
express your opinion.
Narrative Voice:
We then moved on to the main part of the lesson, narrative voice. The class watched a short youtube video that reviewed what first person, second person and third person point of views are and pronouns associated with them. Here is the video.
Spirit Reading:
Afterwards, we moved on to spirit reading a passage from the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. As we spirit read, we were annotating the passage for signs of diction, imagery and syntax. This is for our upcoming group work which incorporates the double-entry journal. Here is the passage we read:
Think/Pair/Share Breakout Rooms:
After completing our spirit read, we moved on to our group activity where we were put into breakout rooms of our own teams. The activity was to pick 4 annotations and use the double-entry journal to respond to them. Then we will share our own document with our partner of choice and they will respond to your annotation and comments in the double-entry journal.
In my group, we had an odd number of people so we agreed on sharing our documents through a rotation. I chose 4 annotations that stood out to me and used the prompts to fill out the double-entry journal. Afterwards, I shared my document to my partner and opened up the document for me to comment on. Here is my filled out double-entry journal:
The group activity took about 20 minutes and we concluded with going back to the main room to discuss our findings. We discussed as a class about whether or not we shared the same ideas as our partner. Some of us did and some of us wrote the same thing or had completely different takes on the quote.
Individual Activity:
To conclude the lesson, we participated in an individual activity where we pick 3 quotes that we think sounds like a teen’s voice. Then, we answer two follow up questions. One of them is “Does Melinda’s sarcastic interior monologue seem authentic? Why or why not?” and the other one being “What inferences can students draw based on her voice? From her voicelessness?”. Here are my takes on the activity.
Reflection:
From today’s lesson, there were things introduced as a review and things introduced as a completely new concept to me. To summarize, we reviewed diction, imagery and syntax and learned about double-entry journals, different perspectives, narrative voice as well as how to put them into action. Knowing and identifying diction, imagery and syntax is important because it helps you break down a piece of writing to better understand and analyze the text. In addition to analyzing the text, the new note-taking strategy, double-entry journals, was a big help in understanding and analyzing the passage from Speak. I was able to use double-entry journals to actively read, reflect and express my thoughts to get a better sense of how Laurie Halse Anderson put her narrative voice into play. The main part of our lesson, the narrative voice, is such an important aspect of writing because it conveys the author’s tone and what the author wants you to feel while reading. Knowing how to incorporate narrative voice in your writing through diction, imagery and syntax is very important because you need to know how to manipulate your readers into thinking or feeling the way you want them to. That way you can successfully deliver your message across. Just like how Laurie Halse Anderson put on the persona of Melinda, a high school student, to make you think it is a student who is experiencing all these situations.
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