Blogger #1
John Pierre Alkhoury
Period 9
9/20/21
Aim: How can we develop our close reading skills through an analysis of Katherine Brush’s “Birthday Party”?
Today’s lesson began with the class discussing how close reading can lead to more efficient intake of information. Then the questions of what constitutes close reading were asked as well as how an individual can apply it most effectively. The following is a list of indicators of close reading developed:
- Writing annotations as you read.
- Asking questions about the text.
- Indicating literary devices.
- Summarizing short portions of text.
Ms. Peterson alluded to detectives for use as an example when annotating. Like a detective, the purpose of close reading is to break down text and analyze its very smallest details in order to better understand it.
The following videos were used for annotation enrichment:
https://youtu.be/EJ8nhlzYx9o
https://youtu.be/muZcJXlfCWs
https://youtu.be/w5Mz4nwciWc
After our short introduction to annotation, we began the main section of the lesson, an analysis of Katherine Brush’s short story titled “Birthday Party”.
Different portions of the story were treated individually to allow for more in depth annotation. Below are some sections that stood out.
“The man had a round, self-satisfied face, with glasses on it; the woman was fadingly pretty, in a big hat.”
- This was the entry to the story and it had the significant role of describing the primary characters. It quickly introduces what to expect from the characters and their main qualities
- I highlighted the words “self-satisfied”, “fadingly pretty” and “big hat”. These words reveal to me that the man is the dominating character and possibly the main focus. They also indirectly reveal a timid nature as well as an appreciation for fashion by the woman as she still finds it necessary to dress extravagantly.
“It arrived, in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle burning in the center.”
- This sentence does not seem to contain much info rather than a small description of the man’s birthday cake.
- To me, it depicted and set a somber yet awkward tone for the whole passage, in accordance with the “small but glossy” description.
“When it suddenly became obvious that this was an occasion - in fact, the husband’s birthday, and the wife had planned a little surprise for him.”
- This section reveals the main event of the passage, the husband’s birthday party.
- It also reveals the attitude of at least the wife and her feelings towards her husband, which are those of love.
- Again, the word “little” is used adding to the tone of the passage.
“And the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise, and such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause.”
- The oxymoron “shy pride” as pride is usually shown through confidence and being outspoken.
- The small audience joining in on the applause adds to the somber and awkward atmosphere.
After several short portions of the passage, the lesson was finished and the class was left to try and predict what would happen next in the story. The sections shown only really served the purpose of description. Consequently, I was left with the question of how this story could possibly end. Could there be a twist to this seemingly normal situation?
Attached is the full pdf to the story if you would like to complete it:
https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The-Birthday-Party-Brush-Katherine.pdf
Reflection:
This lesson served as a very strong and necessary foundation for the rest of our year in literature. It defined and then applied annotation, a skill that will be imperative to our literary success. Annotation can be defined as the probing of text at its very core but it is unique to any person who does it which is what makes it so helpful. I would say my most important takeaway from this lesson was how personal annotations could be and still function, as long as they help you to understand and refer back to the text. The lesson itself was highly entertaining and the story used was remarkable in its simplicity and blatancy. I always annotated at my leisure, but after this lesson, I will definitely try to apply it as often as possible.
“And the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise, and such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause.”
- The oxymoron “shy pride” as pride is usually shown through confidence and being outspoken.
- The small audience joining in on the applause adds to the somber and awkward atmosphere.
After several short portions of the passage, the lesson was finished and the class was left to try and predict what would happen next in the story. The sections shown only really served the purpose of description. Consequently, I was left with the question of how this story could possibly end. Could there be a twist to this seemingly normal situation?
Attached is the full pdf to the story if you would like to complete it:
https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The-Birthday-Party-Brush-Katherine.pdf
Reflection:
This lesson served as a very strong and necessary foundation for the rest of our year in literature. It defined and then applied annotation, a skill that will be imperative to our literary success. Annotation can be defined as the probing of text at its very core but it is unique to any person who does it which is what makes it so helpful. I would say my most important takeaway from this lesson was how personal annotations could be and still function, as long as they help you to understand and refer back to the text. The lesson itself was highly entertaining and the story used was remarkable in its simplicity and blatancy. I always annotated at my leisure, but after this lesson, I will definitely try to apply it as often as possible.
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