Today in class we used the time to assign positions and talk. I popped in on the conversations percolating; they were all varied and equally interesting regarding the story: "The Dance Boots." We will continue the conversation tomorrow in A-232. Each Thursday we will meet there.
Write about your experience with the Lit Circle. What were your expectations, if any? Were there any pleasant surprises? How has the dialectic process changed the way you regard texts?
How was the range and depth of the discussion enhanced by the multiple perspectives? Be specific in this response as relates to the story read. Describe the people in your group and what they bring to the circle that is unique and valuable.
What does the term "dynamic discussion" mean now that you have experienced a Literature
Circle?
Langston HughesToday two students shared poems written by Hughes. I have posted them here. We will take a moment to respond to one tomorrow morning as a freewrite.
| Theme for English B |
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| by Langston Hughes |
|
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you--
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
Night Funeral in Harlem
Night Funeral
in Harlem:
Where did they get
Them two fine cars?
Insurance man, he did not pay--
His insurance lapsed the other day--
Yet they got a satin box
for his head to lay.
Night funeral
In Harlem:
Who was it sent
That wreath of flowers?
Them flowers came
from that poor boy's friends--
They'll want flowers, too,
When they meet their ends.
Night funeral
in Harlem:
Who preached that
Black boy to his grave?
Old preacher man
Preached that boy away--
Charged Five Dollars
His girl friend had to pay.
Night funeral
In Harlem:
When it was all over
And the lid shut on his head
and the organ had done played
and the last prayers been said
and six pallbearers
Carried him out for dead
And off down Lenox Avenue
That long black hearse done sped,
The street light
At his corner
Shined just like a tear--
That boy that they was mournin'
Was so dear, so dear
To them folks that brought the flowers,
To that girl who paid the preacher man--
It was all their tears that made
That poor boy's
Funeral grand.
Night funeral
In Harlem.
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14 comments:
Ryan Gozinsky-Irwin
Ms. Wanda Sabir
Period 8-8:50
February 1,2012
English 1B
Today in class we broke off into small groups to discuss "The Dance Boots" reading that we did. I felt as if the groups were helpful and gave us time to discuss the text and ask questions to one another. I thought the discussion was going to be bit more organized or structured, what it really came down to was the group leader, who turned out to be me, and developing the conversation.
What we talked a lot about was the oppression that the main character and her mother and aunt had to experience. We talked about how being the scout for the american education as a women in her position would have been challenging.
We also threw some ideas around about what we think will happen in the rest of the book. It will most likely maintain the same style as in the first chapter and go back and forth between the present and the past.
Marie Heide
Professor Sabir
02 Feb 2012
English 1B
Today we were placed into groups to discuss "The Dance Boots." Being an independent worker, I did not like the thought of working in a group. However, when my group was put together, and we had the chance to choose our specific roles and duties that we are responsible for while reading the book. Once we got all of the business taken care of, we were able to discuss the book.
When the group started to discuss and get into the groove of things, that is when I got comfortable. For once, I was not afraid to voice my thoughts and opinions about the book. It was a real eye opener to see that the other students in my group had some of the same ideas and thoughts about the book that I did. That was comforting to know.
Everyone in the group brought alot of fresh and new ideas as well as their own personal stories that really related to the book. To me, it is really amazing when you can relate a personal experience to one that takes place in a book.
In my opinion, so far, the group has a good chemistry and alot of diverse ideas that I believe will bring alot of creative interpretations as we continue to move through the book.
Karesha Lillard
Ms. Wanda Sabir
8:00-8:50 MTWTH
Febuary 2, 2012
English 1B
Yesterday during class we got into out Lit Circle groups. We discussed who would do which positions and summarized "The Dance Boots". I honestly thought that it would be hectic and unoragnized because of past experiences, but it went well. We were able to get so much information that after discussing the story, everyone understood it better. There were not any pleasant surprises but we did talk about how alot of African American men do the things they do, such as violence, because of depression. Things that they have been through, is the cause of their behavior most of the time and i found that pretty interesting. The dialect process changed the way i understood the text a littlr, because some words were very unfamiliar and they through me off just a tad bit. Other than thatm, group discussion was great and very helpful.
Allen Lee
Professor Sabir
English 1B
2 February 2012
In a group with Alex, Billy, Vanessa, Giao, Astrid, and Jontue, we started a literary discussion. The group started slowly with a minor silence. From my expectation, the group would later speed up and ideas would start to flow smoothly. Over time after everyone input their opinions and ideas, the silence faded. The topics we discussed in the literature circle was mainly focused on the book, Dancing Boots. We went over the chapter and interpreted the events that occurred and linked the story details to history. We went into depth of how natives are still oppressed and how that led to alcoholism and drug abuse.
Pauline Ng
Prof. Sabir
2/2/2012
Yesterday in class we split up into small groups to assign positions and talk about "The Dance Boots". Our literature circle took some time to get started, because we did not know each other and no one was really talking until later. My expectation of the literature circle were that everyone would talk and give their insight of what they thought about the book. There were some pleasant surprises while being in the circle. I was surprise how some people thought outside the box about some reason why Artense was an alcoholic and how they connected the dots with reading between the lines. I think the group gives us a chance to discuss any confusion about the reading and to go in deep with some of the important details. The range and depth of the discussion was slow, a lot of the member were lost in the beginning about what they had to do, but with time we started to discuss about the oppression Artense and her people experienced in school. The term "dynamic discussion" mean that a discussion has different views and opinion.
Maribel Arrizon
Professor Sabir
English 1B
2 February 2012
The first circle meeting was better than I expected. Considering that we hadn't been assigned to one another beforehand, I expected it to be quite disorganized but we actually got to talk about the book.
After we each decided what each of us would do in the circle, we discussed the book and our impressions of it. All of us agreed that we need to pay very close attention when we read it because we all get confused. We discusses Artense as a character and what she's been having to deal with and how she'll develop as a character later on in the book. I turned out to be the connector and I was talking about how Artense is oppressed because she has to see how her people are treated by the others and it reminded me of how ethnic groups are treated when they come to the US in bulks like the Irish, Italians, polish, in the 1800's and now the Mexicans and later some other ethnic group that will come. Certainly Native Americans have a deeper sadness and oppression because they didn't immigrate, they were the original inhabitants.
Billy Russell
Professor Sabir
English 1B
2 February 2012
I normally do not like working in groups, but the literary groups we worked in, in class were not so bad. I was expecting the worst eventhough I had read the chapter, I felt like all of it went in one ear and out the other. This proved to be true when I entered the group.
I was chosen to be the summarizer, which I thought was going to be a really easy job. This proved to be harder than I expected, I was only able to briefly outline the chapter. It didn't help that my professor was right behind me when I was doing it, but it still made me realize that I need to take notes and do more than simply read the book.
I was pleasantly surprized by the contributions that my group made, they brought up many things that i missed in the chapter. The dialectic process made me realize, that there was more than one way to view the chapter. For example what I had previously thought was just oddly structured sentences turned out to have deeper meaning.
Alex was the Discussion director, I was the summarizer, Allen was the connector, Venessa was the Investigator, Giao was the vocabulary Enricher, Astrid was the clarifier, and Jontue was the literary luminary.
Sherrlyne Apostol
Professor Sabir
English 1B
02 Feburary 2012
Today we were assigned into our literature cirlce. We began by introducing ourselves with each other. Then we assigned proper job descriptions. Once we all settled in we began our discussion of the first chapter.
Since I am the "Discussion Director" my job is to stir the group discussion in the right direction. My role as the discussion director is to develop important questions for the group to talk about. I am in charge of making sure that my group is talking about the big ideas in the reading. For instance, since we've only ready up to the end of chapter one. I brought up the significance of the dance boots.
I didn't really have much expectations since this was the first time we all got together. However, I was a little suprised the way everyone connected. Everyone was participating which made the experience fun. The group discussion enhanced my understanding about the text because we had so many people in the group giving feedback and helping each other out.
I found it facinating because there were a couple poeple in the group who connected some parts of the story to their own lives. I thought that was great. It helped me comprehend the text in a more personal level.
I feel that everyone in my group will contribute to the literature circle. I am excited to see how well my group does in the future.
Wanda Sabir
English 1B
Juan Sanabria
The circle discussion was interesting to say the least. Didn’t really expect much, just to have a discussion on the book and what the current chapters we read was about. And to reflect our opinion about the information which we received. Some of the pleasant surprises was the characters where drinking, to forget the problems that they had within them. It didn’t really change the way I view text, it just open mind to a broader way of thinking. The discussion was okay, we spoke about what happened in the book and how the characters where dealing with their everyday life. The book so far is an interesting tale, which is keeping me interested.
Giao Bui
Professor Sabir
English 1B
Feburary 3, 2012
I have done something similar to the literature circle in an English class before. I did not really high expectations since discussions are hard to start and keep alive. It was exactly like I had expected although I regret not preparing more for my role, since we got our roles on the same day as we did the circle. I wish that we had picked the groups that class. There was not much surprising but it was nice to hear others’ opinions on The Dance Boots.
The people in my group: Alex, the discussion director; Billy, the summarizer; Alan, the connector; Vanessa, the investigator; Astrid, the clarifier; John Tue, the literary luminary; and me, the vocabulary enricher. The discussion director asked us questions specific to out role. I think that each person had something to mention that others of us missed while reading. One of the things we discussed was our own culture. We compared how much we knew about ourselves to how much Artense knew about herself. We also discussed what reservations were like. This helped me understand more why there were several characters who were alcoholics.
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 1B
2 February 2012
Freewrite- Literature Circles Dance Boots
Yesterday in class we formed literature circles for the novel Dance Boots. We each were assigned a different task while participating in the group. I was assigned the investigator and am going to look up background information about the text. My group discussion went very well. We talked about quotes that struck us, which were very nice to hear the different perspectives people took of the passages. I noticed that a lot of them were poetic in nature. The author Linda Grover is a poet and you can see traces of that in her writing, especially when she reiterates something.
While talking about the text there was a lot of related stories that came up. Estrid was the clarifier and she brought in background information. She had previously lived in Minnesota and knew about the alcoholism that exists in the Native American environment. She said that it was due to them being oppressed and expressed how they drink to “forget the past and not think about the future.”
My definition of a dynamic discussion is when everyone participates by actively engaging in the discussion by telling their perception of the text, favorite parts, and adding their personal knowledge to the subject matter. I really like my literature group and feel that there will be rich commentary to go with our reading.
Aaron Kohgadai
Professor Sabir
English 1B
08 February 2012
On Wednesday, we broke up into groups to discuss the reading that was assigned the previous day. Each member of the group was assigned a position and a responsibility to help contribute to the conversations. My position within the group is to summarize the chapter. I thought this was interesting. I believe this is a great way to have people contribute to a conversation that may not be comfortable or wanting to participate. This will give everyone a chance to talk about their thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc, about the current story and just open up. I really like my group. Everyone is very outgoing and everyone was participating. There were a lot of many great ideas being thrown around and I definitely learned different ideas and views much different from my own. I think this group thing is fantastic idea and I’m really enjoying it.
Alex Scannell
English 1B
W. Sabir
1 February 2012
Today in class, we formed in groups to discuss the literary elements of the first two chapters of the book, “Dance Boots”. At first, I had expected this to be difficult, since I haven’t received my book yet, but surprisingly, our group’s discussion was very interesting and I got to know a lot of the people in my group. Every single one of the group members brought their opinion to the table. Vanessa thought that the author was humorous during parts of the chapters when retelling the story of her family members. Billy gave a clear and brief version of his summary of the first chapters. Allen,connected the book to American culture today. I asked everyone in the group if they have ever been to a Pow-wow before and most of them shook their head, “no”. I was surprised by this since there are some Pow-wow’s held in Berkeley. We then jumped into a deeper conversation about Indian Reservations. Astrid mentioned the literary concept of Alcoholism as one of the huge roles for the author. We then started talking about how drug and alcohol abuse is one of the main problems on Indian Reservations. Johntu was tuned into our discussion so he asked, why these problems occur. Astrid then mentioned that people use alcoholism as a way of fogging the past, or in better words trying to forget. I think that oppression leads to a strong form of wanting to forget…Alcoholism.
Demetria Owens
February 1, 2012
Eng 1B
Wand Sabir
Today we were devided into small groups by proffesor Sabir each group had 7-8 students , we also had to choose a role to Narrowing the Book , "THE Dance Boots" by Linda Degrade. I liked the experince of being in a group dicussing, "The Dance Boot" because it gave me a different presective and interputation on the book. it was very helpful. My group made a lot of interesting points and our groud had a lot of indepth conversation and exploring each character of the book.
We talked about how oppression was very present in the storie along with mental abuse, alcholizm, education , family and depression.
The term "dynamic discussion" now means to me, since i have experiance a literature circle more understanding and open mindedness
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