September
2
ELA 20: Sept 02 “Back Home” poetry and childhood boundaries…
- The assigned paragraph from last Thursday’s class was due today.
- We finished discussing / analyzing the poem “(I Remember) Back Home” and answered the questions. Students worked on the questions individually and then shared their responses.
- We discussed (or rather I explained) the reality that when you return to a childhood place it is never as you remember it. Going to your old elementary school playground would leave you slightly disappointed with how small everything seemed, even though in youth you used to be amazed by how big the playground equipment was. Our perspective changes over time.
- Their assignment from today’s discussion was to think of a particular place that has special meaning to them in their childhood. They have to diagram or chart the boundaries of this place, in as much detail as possible. Next, they have to take care to be somewhat artistic and colour their representation. The final step is to detail the specific memories that go with each part of their chart that explain its significance. I showed them some students examples of the same assignment and we laughed at the detailed thoughts some students included on their page, like that the knot in the wood of their tree fort was used to peek to see if anyone was coming so they would know whether to hide or not.
The due date for this assignment was negotiated with the class and Thursday was their agreed upon date. - Tomorrow, we’ll continue on and read an essay together.