4/12/18

The objectives of today's class were to analyze tone and symbols in poetry that create themes about a common topic and understand how to navigate PARCC. We started class with a brief explanation of how to navigate PARCC. Mr. Rivers discussed the many tools that can be utilized to making the test easier. There are tools like answer eliminator, identifying glass, line reader, etc. After talking about PARCC, we learned about poetry and how it is about imagery with rhetorical devices, stanzas instead of paragraph, a specific form, how it expresses feelings, and how implicit a poem can be. We then talked about Symbols that have meaning and how there are two types which are literal (concrete) and figurative (abstract). We then read a poem, I Hear America Singing, by Walt Whitman. We thoroughly dissected the poem, identifying the symbols from specific words to developing a theme or message within the poem. One example would be "American citizens have a niche to fill, which compels them to be happy. Through Unity and togetherness, Americans are happy." Within the phrase, we took the words unity, happy, and togetherness and came up with theme of Americans are free to be happy. This one one of the examples that supported this theme in the poem. This can be used outside of today's class because it is important to know these skills of how to interpret a poem so that later on in life we can easily read a poem and understand the true message it is trying to portray to the readers. It is also important to know which specific tone words contribute to the theme, knowing the difference between positive and negative connotation words that emphasize an author's point.