First I want to talk to you about today's whole class discussion goal. So what you've been doing so far this year, this is your seventh Socratic seminar. What you've been doing so far this year is building your skill at listening to each other, and building on each others ideas. And most recently at asking questions that deepen the conversation. Do you remember how we talked about that during the last seminar? >> Yeah. >> Remember how one of our goals was not to let someone's statement just rests there? But to say why you think that and to draw out the reasoning behind someone's thinking? All right, so today we're going to take that farther. So, that's what we're doing. Your next goal is to develop your skills by analyzing evidence instead of just inserting it. So, when we did To Kill a Mockingbird, you guys got really good at finding evidence in the text that supported your point, but we didn't really analyze it. We didn't look at the words the author was using, and that's going to be the goal today. And we're doing this with poetry, because since poetry's kind of compact and short, it makes it a little easier, right? So you have fewer things to deal with. So, how do you do that? I bet you're wondering. Four easy steps to analyzing evidence, okay? First step, make a claim. Everybody in this room knows how to make a claim and to make really good ones. Second step, site evidence. This part is going to be really important today. One of the things I want you to do after, let's say Gloria says, she wants everybody to look at to a 20 volume suicide note, I want Gloria to give everybody time in the room to find that poem on their sheet. So Gloria I want you to look around the room, check to see that everybody's there before you actually start reading the poem, right? That's why your lines are numbered on the poem, right? On your 15 poem? So if you want to go through your poems right now. And quickly just every five lines, one, two, three, four, five, five. One, two, three, four, five, ten. One, two, three, four, five, 15. On all of the poems on your wait sheet. Okay, it's. >> Yeah, did I put those on there? >> Yeah. >> I'm a genius. You're a stud. I am. All right, there you go. Awesome. So that should help you a lot. So cite the line number, and then start reading, making sure everybody's with you. Third step. Identify the key poetic element you want people to focus on. Meter, line, figure, or rhyme. All right, so that everybody knows exactly what it is that you want to bring up and why you're talking about the poetry. And then finally, connect it to a theme with commentary. Remind you of a literary analysis paragraph? Right, does this look like the body paragraph? You make a claim, you use evidence, you support with commentary. Commentary is what we're going to be working on today, okay? So, I want to show you what this looks like. Can I get somebody to read step one. How about Ben Roberts. Go. >> In 15, William Stafford argues that making good decisions marks the passage from boyhood to adulthood and that the moment of transitions happens without warning or planning. >> Very good Ben, thank you very much. All right, so that's step one, does anybody have any questions about why that's a claim? Peter, why is it a claim? >> because it's not really just evidence. >> It's not evidence, true, but what makes a claim a claim? >> Because it can argued against. >> That's right, it can be argued against. Okay, so someone could think if there's another point at home right, or another reason. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, that's good. Second, cite evidence. Please turn to line 18 of 15. Can you guys find line 18 of 15? We're just going to practice this little quick. I'm going to start reading from there. Can somebody read me lines 18 through 21 of 15? Can I get a volunteer? Great, Tiffany. >> So, it starts with over the rail? >> Okay, over the rail. He blood on his hand, was pale. I helped him walk to his machine. He ran his hand over it, called me good man, rode away. I stood there, 15. >> Okay, great. So if I were Tiffany in the discussion that's what I would've done. I would've said, can you turn to line 18? I'm going to start reading from there, okay. Third, the device. What I would say is, notice that here the poet stops comparing a motorcycle to a horse and instead calls it a machine. Remember how we talked about that in class? How it was a horse while he felt like a boy, but once he felt like a man, he started describing the poem, the motorcycle in denotative rather than connotative terms, all right. So, can somebody read the fourth part, the commentary for me? Can I get a volunteer on that? Gene, thank you for volunteering, that was great. >> Okay, here Stafford stops using figurative language to describe the motorcycle. This tells the reader that the mind of the speaker has changed. He's no longer seeing the motorcycle in the same way. It's not a horse that he could ride to freedom, it's a motorcycle that he needs to returned to its owner. >> All right, excellent. Questions about this process? Four steps for analyzing evidence. Awesome.
