Aim: How does a writer create effects through the connotations of words and images?
Before the Lesson
Before we began with the lesson, Ms. Peterson informed us about H.O.S (Habits of Success) grades and also about the recent news of schools reopening. In general, Habits of Success cannot be determined this early into the semester. As students, our Habits of Success will be graded based on our current and future behavior.
Marigolds by Eugenia Collier
Before today’s lesson began, we went over Marigolds by Eugenia Collier. We have to read and annotate the text before the next class so we can discuss it in greater detail in groups. This will also help us gain a mastery of annotation and how to abide by the annotation rubric.
What if life had a RESET button?
Everybody has regrets in life. As a class, we discussed what it means to regret; what could we do if we went back in time? Students shared things they’ve regretted in their lives that they wished they could reset time to undo. Then, Ms.Peterson herself went into an anecdote about a story of an experience she had in Florida when she was 13 that she regretted. She unconsciously attempted to drown her cousin in a fit of confusion and even though she laughs about it now, she realizes how foolish it was at the time. A lesson can be learned from this experience; teaching us that even though we might think that things are fine now, we should see things from the perspective of our future selves. What would we think about said action in the future? Would we live to regret it?
Denotation and Connotation
After the intriguing anecdote and valuable life lesson presented by the anecdote, we resumed with the lesson and discussed denotation and connotation. We discussed the difference between them using simple, straightforward examples like describing the ocean. The lesson does a great job of showing us
Denotation: Literal or primary meaning of a word. It’s as literal and straight-to-the-point as can be. It’s less negative and positive—it just describes the word.
Connotation: Ideas, feelings, or emotions that are invoked from a statement. Unlike denotations, words with the same meaning can have extremely different emotions associated with it.
After we went over example sentences, we watched a video that helped us better understand the difference between denotation and connotation, and we were able to advance our comprehension of the literal meaning of denotation and the varying interpretations that can be associated with certain word’s connotation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz9V1FfC6bA&ab_channel=KevinSpaans
We also discussed that denotation and connotation is very important in literature. Some people struggle with connotation and denotation because they speak in different languages, where translation might make the line between the two blurry. We were informed that this topic would be present in our sophomore and senior years.
Working in Teams
After we went over these two incredibly important principles of writing, we went into our breakout room groups and were instructed to find denotation and connotation in different lines from an excerpt from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Through the word choice of the author, we identified that many of the statements had basic denotations, but far more meaningful, vivid connotations. We also rewrote these sentences to be neutral to keep the diction and concept intact, but change the tone and feelings associated. My group, The Sheep, managed to come up with sentences that I believe captured the essence of our lesson, so here they are as an example:
“I dive into the stream of fourth-period lunch students and swim down the hall to the cafeteria.”
What connotations do the images of diving into and swimming through other students have here?
The connotation that the image gives off is that you are going through a bunch of other people and it feels like you are alone and standing out since you don’t really know anyone and you do not interact with people most of the time. The diving feeling kind of gives me a feeling that a person is kind of new and still fresh to a particular thing and they would be really shy and try to be conspicuous to not get noticed by people. The word choices dive and swimming kind of makes it like the speaker is trying to be graceful to not embarrass themselves as well.
Now rewrite the sentence, trying to keep the same denotative meaning but changing the connotations to make them neutral.
I went down the hall filled with fourth-period lunch students and proceeded to go to the cafeteria.
“I ditch my tray and bolt for the door.”
Based on the verbs, what inferences might you draw about the speaker’s feelings at this moment?
Based on the verbs ditches and bolt, the inference that I made particularly was that the speaker was rushing to get out of the situation that they are currently in and regardless of their situation, all they are focused on is getting out of that door. They were probably feeling panic and stress.
Now revise Anderson’s sentence to be more neutral.
I left my lunch behind and went to go out the door.
Back in Class
After 15 minutes of group discussion in our breakout rooms, we regrouped and began to talk about what we conversed about during the breakout sessions. For once, people from all the different groups in the class participated, and as a point master, it felt like there was an intense competition between the different teams in attempts to be on top; but in the end, The Sheep were miraculously not yet dethroned.
Marigolds by Eugenia Collier, cont.
After the activity, we read a short excerpt from Marigolds by Eugenia Collier, which we would continue as homework. We identified the sensory details (connotation) associated with the town that the narrator/main character lived in in her childhood. Personally, it helped illustrate to me how using sensory details can really make words in a book come to life, and I could imagine what was being described in the story; an old, dusty, desolate town during the summer.
Reflection
This lesson has taught me valuable information and I argue that the lesson on denotation and connotation was and will continue to be extremely useful as both a reader and a writer. Now I see why it’s no wonder that it is considered one of the fundamentals of good writing. Between this lesson and the last, re-reading the lines from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson gained a new meaning as I was able to identify the extra meanings behind each and every sentence. Learning how to invoke the senses of the reader is incredibly important as it keeps the reader interested and allows them to imagine the scenes in the book as if they were in them themselves. I believe that we learned the difference between and usage of denotation and connotation because authors often use it in their works of literature and we need to learn how to identify it within a story. Knowing when to use sensory details and adding specific connotations is crucial in writing and it can really be a make or break point in literature, so I will use what I have learned in today’s lesson by being mindful of it and incorporating it into my writing pieces.
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