Today students are to reflect in three paragraphs to the following re: The Dance Boots:
Freewrite: Reflect in three (3) paragraphs on the story. What do the "dance boots" represent? What does this symbol represent to Aunt Shirley? Why does she give her boots to Artense?
Memory is also a theme. How do the boots help Artense "remember by rote and teach teach by heart"?
Use three (3) citations: 1 free paraphrase; 1 shorter citation; 1 longer citation.
2. Lit. Circles
3. Revision Strategies--Reflect on your revision process and what you learned from the film, The Write Course: "Revision Strategies," Annenberg CTB Project, and the two handouts from Writing with a Thesis by Skwire and Skwire? http://www.learner.org/
Cyber-Assignment Homework:
Respond to the query in three paragraphs. Use examples from the film and from the two handouts: "Office Hours: Revision: Help from the Audience" (Skwire 217); "Office Hours: Revision: The Psychology of It All" (Skwire 251).
4. Homework--see handout (smile).
As students write they listen to: Shi Keyah: Songs for the People with Radmilla Cody with herman Cody (2011 Canyon Records) http://www.radmillacody.net/
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7 comments:
Anna H.Y. Lim
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
27 September 2012
Reflection on the Dance Boots
Reflect in 3 paragraphs on the story. What do the “dance boots” represent? Why does she give her boots to Artense? Use 3 citations: 1 free paraphrase, 1 short citation, 1 long citation.
Linda LeGarde Grover’s “The Dance Boots” is a collection of stories about Ojibwe—the young and older. In the story, the “dance boots” represent heritage of Ojibwe, and the struggles they face to keep their identity (7).
The boots have been worn by Aunt Shirley then handed down to Artense. The boots keeps Aunt Shirley alive in Artense’s memories and she feels connected with their belief—to remember what their legacy holds:
“We Ojibe believe that God the Creator has put each of us in the living world with a gift or talent, something that we are supposed to search for in ourselves, thank Him for, and contribute to those we share the world with. We are each born for a purpose, each with tasks to accomplish. My aunt Shirley’s was to remember by heart and teach by rote, mine to learn by rote and remember by heart” (1).
Through the story, Grover successfully writes about how “as Indian people [their] interactions with society and with each other include the specter of all that happened to those who went before us” (9).
Anna, why is the dance where Artense wears the boots important for her and her family? Talk about Artense's self-image. Why does Artense take Aunt Shirley's calls? Why does Artense decide to stay sober? How does this help her dance? The "dance" is also a metaphor. Go deeper in your analysis.
Rosetta Egan
Professor Sabir
English 1B
27 September 2012
The Storyteller
The dance boots represent the culture and traditions of Shirley and Artense’s Native American tribe. They also represent the memories of their dead family members and some living family as well. Shirley holds the memories like a sacred trust to be protected and cherished and given to a chosen younger member of the family. Artense is the one Aunt Shirley chooses and she begins to call Artense to impart the history of the family. At first Artense does not understand why Aunt Shirley is telling her the stories but she senses the importance of the story and she listens and remembers the details. It takes ten years for Shirley to tell Artense the story and:
Eventually, having heard the rhythm and patterns of
Repeating and echoing, reechoing and returning, I felt
the story taking root in my brain and in my heart and saw
that the day was coming that I would continue Shirley’s
task of listening and watching, remembering and then doing
part to pass on and continue the story. (Grover 8)
In the early 20th century the US government decided that the Native American children needed to be removed from their tribes and educated in American ways and language. The children were taken from their parents when they reached school age and sent off to boarding schools break the customs of spirituality, hunting, language, traditions and tribal life. When Grover brings up the boarding schools, Uncle George tells Artense, a child, he been sent away to school but for him the boarding school experience was filled with pain and shame (7).
The culture and traditions the government tried to destroy include the language, clothing and oral traditions of the Ojibwe Tribe. Many cultures without a written language have storytellers who keep their traditions and languages alive through oral histories. Shirley is a storyteller and feels compelled to transmit these stories to Artense and when she is dying she passes on the Dance Boots as well. The boots are used during Pow Wow dance ceremonies and when Aunt Shirley first mentions the boots, Artense is embarrassed because she cannot dance. By the time Aunt Shirley dies, Artense is wearing the boots and dancing in Pow Wows and one time she: “[was] dancing so fast it was just dusty out there, you were just a blur …” (17).
Work Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The Dance Boots. Athens,GA: The University of Georgia
Press. 2012.
Bibliography
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The Dance Boots. Athens,GA: The University of Georgia
Press. 2012.
The Write Course: “Revision Strategies,” Annenberg CTB Project.
Dung Le
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
1 October 2012
Dance Boots Reflection
The short stories in “The Dance Boots” by Linda Legarde Grover, describes the life of a young Indian woman name Artense. Artense is usually occupied with motherly task and school, but even with a busy schedule she takes time out of her day to talk to her Aunt Shirley, which shows the importance of her calls, “My days and nights were spent on the run; I thought sometimes about not picking up the telephone, but I always did because it might be Shirley. She was my aunt; she had something to tell me.” (2)
The importance of the calls from Aunt Shirley is later expressed when Artense describes her acceptance and acknowledgement that it was her turn to carry on the story (culture) that her aunt was sharing with her,
Eventually, having heard the rhythm and pattern of repeating and echoing, re-echoing and returning, I felt the story talking root in my brain and in my heart and saw that the day was coming that I would continuing Shirley’s task of listening and watching, remembering, and then doing my part to pass on and continue the story. (8)
Before Aunt Shirley’s death, she gave Artense her dancing boots. She has been calling Artense to talk to her and past on the story that was told to her from her elders. Within those stories contains her own and by passing on his dancing boots, she wants Artense to remember her and continue her legacy, “I’ve been waiting to give them to you. I want you to have them,” Aunt Shirley answered. ‘I’ve been thinking about you dancing in them.” (15)
Works Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The dance boots. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print.
Caitlin Rockwell
Professor Sabir
English 1B
The Dance Boots
In the short story novel “The Dance Boots” by Linda Legarde Grover, she tells stories of Native Americans and the Ojibwe community and their traditions. The first short story was called The Dance Boots and was about family bonds and how traditions are passed down through family members. The story was told by Artense who mostly talked about her relationship with her Aunt Shirley, who is dying with cancer. Artense talks about the stories that her Aunt Shirley tells her over and over again so that she can pass it on to her daughters and that it will keep being passed down through generations. “With Shirley gone, one of these days the time will be right for me to become the teacher”(1) Artense explains she is going to teach the thing Aunt Shirley is teaching her.
In this short story her Aunt Shirley gives Artense her dance boots from when she use to dance in the community powwows. The dance boots were made out of suede and the beading that matches her dress she wears for the dances. The boots represent tradition being passed down because Aunt Shirley can not wear them anymore she is passing them down to Artense who can use the to dance at the powwows. Family relationships are very strong in Native American communities and this story shows that by passing thing down to the younger generation creates a strong bond between families.
Before Aunt Shirley died she gave Artense her boots she tells Artense, “I’ve been waiting to give them to you. I want you to have them. Aunt Shirley answered, “I’ve been thinking about you dancing in them.” (15) The importance of Aunt Shirley giving Artense her boots and calling her to tell her story every so often is because she wanted to pass down pieces of her and her family’s culture down to Artense so that she will remember her even after she has passed away.
Sareth Chhoth
Professor Sabir
English 1B
27 November, 2012
Reflection on The Dance Boots
The novel The Dance Boots by Linda LeGarde Grover has many stories in it about the Ojibwe and their community. The first story is called The Dance Boots. It is about Artense and her Aunt Shirley. Aunt Shirley shared many stories with Artense, so that she can pass down the stories herself to her children. Aunt Shirley died from cancer so it was time for Artense to pass down the stories, “with Shirley gone, one of these days the time will be right for me to become the teacher” (1). Before Aunt Shirley died, she gave Artense a gift.
The gift that Aunt Shirley gave Artense was boots. The boots were “a pair of knee-high fringed boots” that went well with Artense’s shirt and skirt (2). The boots were used during traditional dance at the powwow. The boots also represented something else. The boots represented a tradition being passed down from elders to children and the children will soon do the same. The boots are similar to the stories that Aunt Shirley tells Artense, meaning that both are being passed down.
Artense time was to become the teacher and knew that was her purpose. “We are each born for a purpose, each with tasks to accomplish. My Aunt Shirley’s was to remember by heart and teach by rote, mine to learn by rote and remember by heart” (1). She did not know how to be a great storyteller. She would have to tell her children the stories that she heard from her Aunt Shirley and her children will have to tell their children. Traditions will always be pass down to each generation.
Matt Dillon-Guerrero
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
15 October 2012
Dance Boots
Linda Legarde Grover is the author of a short story novel titled “The Dance Boots. In this book, Grover tells stories dealing with the Ojibwe community. Each short story is told from a different perspective. For instance, in the first short story titled “The Dance Boots” it is told through the eyes of Artense. This story depicts through a series of events the importance of familial bonds and the extreme importance of oral tradition to certain cultures. An example of this is:
Eventually, having heard the rhythm and patterns of Repeating and echoing, reechoing and returning, I felt the story taking root in my brain and in my heart and saw that the day was coming that I would continue Shirley’s task of listening and watching, remembering and then doing part to pass on and continue the story. (Grover 8)
A very important aspect to “The Dance Boots,” is the fact that in the twentieth century the American Government came to the conclusion that Native American children were better suited to be removed from their tribes and sent a way to boarding school to be educated in the “American” ways and language. The first it is mentioned is Artense at this point a child herself is told by Uncle George, that he himself went to boarding school (7).
The dance boots themselves symbolize the passing on of stories, this is an example of oral tradition. As Aunt Shirley is giving Artense the boots, she is telling her stories that she hopes Artense will remember and carry on her legacy. “I’ve been waiting to give them to you. I want you to have them,” Aunt Shirley answered. ‘I’ve been thinking about you dancing in them” (15).
Works Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The dance boots. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print.
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