Thursday, October 24, 2024

Two Annotation Practices: Porphyria's Lover and Life Is Sweet at Kumansenu

 Here are two annotation practices you are welcome to make use of in your classroom.  If you would like to share a practice of yours with me, I would be delighted to see it and potentially use it in my class.  Just send it to me in an email.  

The first one is the first poem I use with my AP Lit students when we start our poetry unit (they've gotten other poems, but this officially starts our poetry section.  It is "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning, one of my favorite poems of all time.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14q5wdaJYzZTZvA3f5BKqHqlGGpcbpObfdd_6-fF4e_4/edit?tab=t.0

The directions are on the back and guides them for what to look for.


The other practice is one I am trying with my English II Honors students to step up their game a bit.  It is, for most of them, their first go at real annotation, so I built it up as a big deal.  It is with the short story "Life Is Sweet at Kumansenu" by Abioseh Nicol.  It was fun to see that some of the students got excited and whipped out a pouch full of highlighters or color markers.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1krB0CmLVjGv-UaySLzLDNW4ah2LAH6dT3twRAcn1j_g/edit?tab=t.0

We had just finished our archetype notes, which is why I specifically go out of my way to mention that in the directions.  If you have students struggling to discern deeper meaning in texts, then I suggest teaching archetypes.  It is a game changer.

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