Monday

Please place all preliminary drafts to your commentaries, stapled together, on the roll table by the door as you enter. Or after you have been seated and have seen this note, place them there...

Note that you will have a timed commentary in class on Wednesday. Prepare by reviewing all poems we have discussed in class -- including today's poem, "Love's Usury." This assignment will be the last grade in the quarter.

Be seated in a nice, cozy circle. Take the poem, "Love's Usury." Read it aloud at least twice. Come on, readers! Step up. Justin, how about you? On the second reading, try ACTING! (By the way, I'm really sorry I'm not there for the imaginaterpretive thingies today. Can you please have them Wednesday or Thursday (if Mr. Galeota allows)?

First, choose a facilitator among yourselves -- someone who can help guide the conversation through these steps. Of course, everybody should help with this, but it helps to have one who is thinking about it. (Facilitator: don't rush it, and fear not when silence descends like a pall. Which isn't likely knowing this crowd).

Then, after the readings, discuss the unfamiliar terms and phrases. Look them up, if necessary. And answer -- why is this guy "praying" to the god of love now? Does he feel himself falling? No? Wut?

Next, discuss in depth all figures of speech. Line by line, identify any figures of speech you see. You can use your "Lit Terms" handout if you need to. Note them on the poem and discuss with the group to have consensus on what figure it is (metonymy? metaphor?) Be sure you realize what comparisons reside in those figures, and discuss how the figures affect meaning. Put little stars by the two or three standout figures of speech that you find most important to the poem. You might identify other aspects of the poem that can be identified with your "literary terms" under "meaning."

Then discuss in depth all aspects of structure and form that contribute to the poem's overall effect. Note the stanza form and the meter. Any reasons for these choices that you can see? Does it fit within Alicia's hypothesis about Twoo Wove, Devotional, and Cynical poems? Explain that to each other.

Finally, take on sound. Discuss and choose two limited, key spots in the poem where sound stands out the most -- where has the poet interfered most flagrantly with the established meter? Where does he use other aspects of sound as defined in your lit terms? What effect do his disruption of pattern and his re-establishment of pattern have on the poem? (It won't always be directly about meaning...)

Apply this thinking to other poems to prepare for the commentary.

TEACHER: The Pointe Time plans are as follows -- Explain that we are trying to gather some data on student understanding of PBIS. Here is a link to a quiz students are to take in Pointe Time to help collect that data. Allow them to use their phones for this (I guess -- how else?) After the quiz, link to this video. Ms. Dreher next door may be helpful in explaining the assignments for this time, but the video is related to Ms. Fields's "Celebrate My Drive" initiative. Now go to the third block web site.