Ms Mattison

Sep 12

Objectives:

To understand how autobiography can shed light on the experiences of people living in a specific place at a specific time.

To grasp the importance of setting in a narrative work.

To recognize simile and metaphor as forms of figurative language and to gain practice in identifying these elements.

Procedures:

Using What You Know: (Mon)

Maya Angelou describes her early years after she was sent to live in Stamps, Arkansas. Have you ever traveled to another city, town, or country? What were some of the things you had to get used to?

Literary Focus: Setting

Setting is the time and place in which a narrative occurs.

*Description gives a sense of place

*Dialogue makes a setting come to life

Setting a Purpose: Angelou grew up in a Southern town that suffered from poverty and the effects of racism.  As you read, ask yourself what you might gain from reading about the life of a person like Maya Angelou.

Homework: Read "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" pp 32-41

Do: Identifying Facts and Interpreting Meanings p. 42

Directions: Write questions and answers.

Procedures

 Do: Literary Elements: Understanding Setting p. 42 (Mon)

Setting is a very important element of Angelou's autobiography. She devotes many pages to describing the small rural comunity of Stamps. Her details include the countryside, the Store, pople and food.

Example: "Customers could find food staples, a good variety of colored thread, mas for hogs, corn for chickens, coal oil for lamps, light blbs for the wealthy, shoestrings, hair dressing, balloons, and flower seeds. Anything not visible had to be ordered."

*What does this passage reveal about the lives of the people?

*What does it show about the significance of the Store?

Homework: Find passages that describe these ideas about the community of Stamp:

*What does Angelou show about the interactions of the people and their activities?

*How was she affected by the sights and sounds of her childhood?

Recognizing simile and metaphor: P. 42

Simile is a form of figurative language where two unlike things are compared using like, as or than.

Metaphor is comparison of two unlike things that does not use the terms like, as, and than.

Directions: Determine whether each of the following quotations uses a simile or a metaphor, and explain the comparison. p. 43 

1. Label each quote simile or metaphor.

2. Explain the comparison in each.

Source: African American Literature

Mini-Lecture: Simile and Metaphor-The Language Network

Descriptive Writing

Using Specific details in Description

1. " ...grandmother would...creak down to her knees and chant in a sleep-filled voice..."

*. In this passage, Angelou could have wrote "Grandmother got on her knees and prayed and....walked across the floor."

*Grandmother rose at four o'clock every morning without the help of an alarm clock every morning and issued orders even before completely rising to her feet.

*What do you learn about her from the words of her prayer?

2. "...she pushed her large feet into homemade slippers and across the bare lye-washed wooden floor.

*How does each italicized word add to the image being created?

3. Look over the selection for other instances where words and details create an image that is interesting and vivid.

1. Write at least three passages.

Minilesson:  Descriptive Writing (Tues/Wed)

Source: The Language Network

Homework: Write a paragraph in which you describe the physical appearance and personality of a real or an imaginary individual. Use vivid words and specific detailsescriptive Writing

Assessment: Homework (Thurs)

Quiz: (Fri)