Thursday's Class Was Not A Rolling Wheel

Today was a good day in class, I really enjoyed your participation with looking at "I am the Highway" by Audioslave. We looked at taking that next step with poetry and not only identifying the metaphor and simile in the text, but thinking about what the author means from the language. Poets, songwriters, playwrights, novelists don't just use metaphors and similes because; they use them to say something or to enhance the meaning of the line.

The line, "I am not your rolling wheel, I am the Highway" is a great representation of saying that the writer is not going to take being used anymore. This is the meaning that you came up with as a class! Great work!

We had a presentation about "Other Voices from the Harlem Renaissance," if you missed the notes, please get them from a classmate.

On Monday, we will finish the activity introduced today in class. Groups of 3 students each to analyze 3 different poems handed out to each group. Each group will be responsible for:

• Write out the main idea of the poem in 2-3 complete sentences (main ideas are not single words)
• Pull out 2 symbols (metaphor, simile, imagery) from each poem using text examples.
• Relate poems back to one of the 6 themes of the Harlem Renaissance that we developed as a class.
• How do the symbols link with the themes. Why would the poet choose that symbol?
• Write down 2-3 words you don't know from the poems. Tell me what you think they mean using the text to inform you. Draw clues from the text.

We will have class time on Monday to finish this project.

See you then!

Have a great weekend!

First Day

After the first day, I have a good feeling about the class. I enjoyed getting to know you all a little better and am really looking forward to this semester.

I began to read your "Who Am I" papers and you did exactly what I wanted. I really have enjoyed the few that I read and look forward to discussing the issues brought up in our next class! Make sure to bring something to write with and keep thinking about who you are and what you want to take away from our class! See you on Friday!