Warren Pryor paragraph is due on Monday.
Today we discussed the word conformity and read the poem Non-conformist from Sightlines. Students were able to understand the fundamental irony of that poem.
We discussed the marking rubric for the Warren Pryor paragraph:
6/6 shows insightful interpretation
5/6 shows above average interpretation
4/6 shows some interpretive thought
3/6 shows mostly literal level of thought
2/6 shows a misunderstanding of the poem or topic
1/6 is often very brief, can be off topic, or has a significant misunderstanding of the poem or topic
We read the following paragraph and discussed how it had a very list-like quality to it, even though it showed above average interpretation.
Listy Paragraph
There are many images in the poem “Warren Pryor.” He is in a “barren hole” is an image that is
used near the very end of the poem. This
image shows that Warren Pryor feels like he’s an animal trapped underground. He
really isn’t an animal who is trapped because he works in a bank. Warren is filled with anger because he chose
to listen to his parents and go to college.
He should have been a stronger person and spoken to his parents. His
inability or desire not to communicate with his parents is the reason that his
life was so miserable. He is trapped in
“his teller’s cage” is an image that is used near the middle of the poem. This image shows that Warren feels like he is
trapped, just like being in a hole. He
is working in a bank but feels that he is confined by what has happened to his
life. His silence when it came to talking
to his parents is the ultimate reason for his unfulfilling life. He will resent what has happened to him each and every day
as he toils and paces back and forth in a cage that he has created himself.
The good
-it’s on topic
-it uses brief quotations
-it shows understanding of the poem
-it is in full sentences
-it shows above average interpretation
-it has a strong conclusion that is not repetitive
The not so good
-first sentence does not have a strong thesis or topic
-all sentences are the same grammatical type: subject – verb – object
-it has a “listy” feel to it – it is disjointed and choppy
- no connecting words such as although, furthermore, as a
result, moreover,
