Aim: How can active reading be applied to interpret writers' choices that create a narrative voice?
Topic: Speak & Narrative Voice - Excerpt From “Speak,” by Laurie Halse Anderson
Do now: For the Do now we had a class discussion in which we answered the question, “What does it mean to you when you hear the phrase: ‘to come of age’? My answer to this Do Now was that the phrase “to come of age” was that it means when an individual has reached their full development in which they had learned what they needed throughout their life. Natalia also said that this phrase means to grow up. She said an example was that the coming of age was growing up as we are becoming adults. Sasha had also contributed and had said that she thinks that it means an individual who is becoming a teen or becoming someone who wants to enjoy the last bit of their childhood. Sasha had added that she thinks that age depends on their culture and their religion. Jessy in our class had also said that “coming of age” could also mean the 15th birthday for different cultures such as in Latin or Mexican culture.
Notes: In today’s class we had also discussed how to do a double-entry journal. We also had discussed in class what the definition is and how to do it. A double-entry journal is a note-taking strategy for actively reading a text. In our journals, we can connect our own experiences to those of the characters, share our opinions about what is happening, trace the development of the characters, and comment on the writer’s choices that create the voice of the narrator. Mrs. Peterson had given us an example of how we can use the double-entry journal. For example, she had stated that if something had surprised her she would write a “wow.” To start the double-entry journal, we first put the quote from the passage or text, and then we can put our own opinions and analysis based on the quote. Mrs. Peterson also had provided us with some sentence starters to help us do an analysis or make a connection on the quote. In class, we had also watched a video about the narrative voice. The video had discussed how in fiction, the writer creates a narrator in which tells the story(narrative). The video had also explained how there are different types of narratives that the narrator can be which include a first-person, second-person, or third-person. The pronouns usually used for first-person would be I, me, we, and mine such as an example provided in the video that stated, “They terrified me.” In the third person, the narrator tells a story from a distance and the pronouns used would be he, she, it, and they. Sometimes in the third person, that narrator focuses on the thoughts and feelings of only one character. For the second person, the pronouns used would be you or yours.
Questions Answered: At the end of the video, there was a question about which narrative it had been based on the lines given. Daria had answered this question by saying the third person due to it being the character’s inner voice and the pronouns that had been used.
The Link to today’s youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHl7mDZzfDw
*For today’s classwork, we had also used what we had learned yesterday about diction, imagery, and syntax to help guide us in highlighting the quotes that we had used for the double-entry journal.*
Work: After watching the video, we had worked on using what we learned about doing a double-entry journal and applying it to a text after reading. So, as we read the text as a class we had to highlight quotes in the text that make you think; we had to pay particular attention to diction (What word choices does the speaker make? Formal or informal?), imagery, (What words and phrases include sensory details to create images?) and syntax (Are the sentences short, long, simple, complex?). Then, we used the Double Journal chart to write a variety of responses to the text. As we had read the text we had done spirit reading which included a variety of students each contributing to reading a portion of the text. After we had finished reading, my partner and I had gone over what we had annotated as our diction, imagery, and syntax. Natalia and I had come to an agreement that some examples of imagery would include: “The hot lunch is turkey with reconstituted dried mashed potatoes and gravy, a damp green vegetable, and a cookie,” “This eight-foot senior in front of me somehow gets three cheeseburgers, French fries, and two Ho-Hos without saying a word,” and “Thwap! A lump of potatoes and gravy hits me square in the center of my chest.” Some examples of diction that we had agreed on included: “Some sort of,” “hip way,” and “sticks a little.” Moreover, some examples that we had agreed on for syntax include: “Think fast, think fast,” ``He smiles and throws a Ho-Ho,” and “Must study this further.” After we had finished highlighting the quotes, we had begun the activity which had involved us using the double-entry journal method. Using this, we had to pick 4 quotes from the text and analysis, state our opinion, or ask a question about it. The first quote that I had used was “ ‘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.’ ” I would say that if this was me and I had the first day of school like that I would feel miserable and extremely disappointed in myself. Furthermore, I would also be very embarrassed as it was not my fault for getting mashed potatoes thrown into my face and then getting dentition for really no exact reason. My partner did agree with me as this would be an embarrassing first day of school to remember. Another quote from the text that I had used was “My face burning into their retinas.” We can tell by the diction and tone that the speaker was embarrassed by what had happened. My partner and I had also viewed this example from the text similarly as we can tell by the language and vocabulary words that the speaker used in how they try to express how they are feeling and why they feel that way.
Additional resource on Narratives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwcJ2VoYdCg
Individual Activity: Although we did not have much time left to do the individual activity we were told that Anderson was 38 years old when Speak was published, while she captures a teen girl’s voice through her diction, syntax, and imagery. The assignment was to choose 3 quotes that represent how she sounds like a teen. One of the quotes I had found was, “ ‘Did you see what that bozo did’? Not a chance. I keep my mouth shut.” Another quote that I had provided was, “Some sort of Morse code with his eyes, maybe. Must study this further.” Lastly, I found a quote that states, “Think fast, think fast.” I had chosen these 3 quotes because in each of the individual quotes we see that the vocabulary is not precise nor is it complex. The sentence structure that is also used is simple and is very short as well as what a teen might say nowadays. For the other part of the individual activity, we were asked to answer two bullet point questions which were “Does Melinda’s sarcastic interior monologue seem authentic? Why or why not? What inferences can students draw based on her voice? From her voicelessness?” I do not believe that Melinda's sarcastic interior monologue seemed authentic as it seems like she uses sarcasm to hide her real emotions and use them to cover what she might really be feeling. Furthermore, based on her voice, students would infer that she is part of a younger generation and does use the usual teen words that we would use. Moreover, based on her dialogue we can also infer that she doesn’t like to show her true emotions and would rather cover them up with sarcasm or jokes.
Reflection: After today’s lesson, I was able to gain and gather knowledge from the information provided. First of all, I had learned about various ways that I could use a double-entry journal. I am now able to know that in order for you to be able to do an effective double-entry journal, you have to pick a quote from the source provided and do an analysis on it. This can include asking various questions to yourself such as I really like/dislike this part because I wonder why…? The diction/imagery creates a tone of, This quote shows the narrator's / character’s voice by, I predict that This reminds me of the time when I, If it was me, I would, Wow! I can’t believe it… These are just some of the questions that we are able to use in order to understand what we have read and done a further explanation and analysis of it. Furthermore, I had also learned about the different narrative voices. For example, we had learned about the first person, second person, and third-person narratives. Each narrative has its own definition and pronouns attached. First-person is when the narrator is speaking directly to the reader. The second person is when the narrator uses the pronouns such as you or yours. Lastly, the third person is when the narrator tells the story from a distance. To add on, using what I had learned today about making a double-entry journal, I was able to create one in class today using the text that was given to us called “Speak.” I was able to highlight the imagery, diction, and syntax that I had noticed in the text and used those quotes to help analyze them further in the double-entry journal. Using this format, I was able to ask myself open-ended questions that allowed me to think deeper into the meaning of the quote. I will use what I had learned today in class, to help me throughout the year in making me think and analyzing pieces of evidence more closely now that I am able to make double-entry journals. After reviewing my response with my partners, I was also able to gain a better understanding of their point of view on that piece of evidence and help me further my thinking in another direction. Utilizing a double-entry journal is beneficial and can help guide me throughout this year and it is an important piece of information to know. Therefore, this is what I had learned throughout today's class and how I will be able to enhance my thinking
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