Bridging Text and Context – As I Grew Older

Bridging Text and Context – As I Grew Older

The information we are given is about Langston Hughes and about the African – American artistic movement which is trying to improve the life of the African American people.

The information we are given about Langston Hughes is that he is a writer and a poet.
It tells us about his goal to achieve equal rights and freedom for the African American people. He tried to deliver the emotions and the voice of the African American people through his writing and to motivate otherAfrican American people to react towards the reality that is forced on them. He expressed pride in his blackness so others could rise and resist.

The information above is reflected in the poem. In the poem I can interpret that he has a dream that he wants to accomplish, and that dream is to get freedom and equal rights to the African American people. He wants to break the "wall" that prevents him and his people from being free and accomplishing their dreams. His fight against the laws of segregation is also reflected in the poem in the words "break through the wall!" he wants to encourage others to resist the segregation laws and fight for their equal rights in life.

As its says in the information, Langston in the poem "As I grew older" tries to motivate the African American people to believe in themselves and not to feel weak or inferior because of the color of their skin.
On the contrary, he wants them to believe that they can change the situation with their bare hands, he is trying to motivate them through the words "My dark hands break through the wall find my dream help me to shatter the darkness" with those words he tries to motivate his people to fight for their rights and for their dreams.
Using their hands also suggests creative artistic work, that is done with their hands.

Based on the information, I think that the speaker is the poet himself.

In the information I was told that he was a writer and a poet and that he wanted to express the African American emotions and voice through his writing, so I can infer that the speaker in the poem is also the Langston that is trying to tell his story and the story of his people. I think that the best way to deliver his message is to give a personal example from his life.
In that way, African Americans could identify with his idea of giving them the freedom and the rights they deserve. 

Better. Well done!
(93)
Daphna 

(תיקנתי)    

Post Reading – Introduction to Poetry

Introduction to Poetry – Post Reading

In Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins, the poet, is saying that students and teachers should learn and teach poetry in a way they can both enjoy and experience the way to the understanding of the poem. He wants the teachers and the students explore the true meaning of the poem and not teach it by the book, he wants the teachers and the students to understand it on their own way.

I support Billy Collins' way of teaching poetry.

The way that  students and teachers make towards understanding the meaning of the .poem is the most important part in poetry and in many aspects of life

They change their way of thinking so they can understand the poem and as a result they open their minds and think more creative. 

Moreover, I think that in order to understand the meaning of the poem each student and teacher should make their own interpretation of the poem, in that way they can gain the best from the poem. I think that when poetry is taught students learn the teacher's interpretation of the poem.
The teacher is trying to make poetry easier for the students but actually he hurts the students by not letting them express their own feelings and their own thoughts about the poem.

To sum up, I think that each student needs to learn poetry on his own way and that he needs to find the clues or the words that he can relate so he could understand and interpretate the song by himself. Teachers need to be more open with the different opinions from the students towards a poem they teach them. If teachers want the students to open their minds and to be more creative in poetry, they need to let the students express their feelings and thoughts.

(תוקן)    

This is much better, but still needs work.
(77)
Daphna

 A Summer's Reading Reflection page – 49
1. I enjoyed reading the story, because I learned that lying can cover the truth

George lied him picking up his education, it made him feel bad about himself, about the lie he told Mr. Catanzara.At the end he raised about those feelings and he started to pick up his education.

2. Learning about the skills of Explaining Cause and Effect and Uncovering Motives influence my understanding of the story, it helped me understand the character's behavior and their intention in the story.

The Uncovering Motive helped me to understand why Mr. Catanzara helped George and not told that he lied, why he covered his lie by another lie to help him.

I uncover the intention of Mr. Catanzara to help George improve his life.

The Cause and Effect skill helped me to understand why George had to lie about him reading books.

He wanted people to respect him and treat him as a big boy, but he knew that he had to lie about something that will make him seem as he grew up and not the little boy, immature that drop out from school.

3. The characterization of character will add to my enjoyment of the story, because it helped me the characters in the story, their role in the story and how they affect each character in the story.

With the characterization I could predict the character's behavior and what they will do in the future.        

 A Summer's Reading Post reading page – 49 option 1

June 15, 1920

Dear diary,

Today I told Mr. Catanzara that I'm(gr.-was) planning to read a hundred books in the summer, so I could pick up my education. Of course I lied to him, I wanted him to respect me and treat me as a big boy.

I hope he won't tell anyone in the neighborhood about our conversation so no one will ask me questions about it and discover that I lied.

June 16, 1920

Dear diary,

Today, when I went (out) to the street for my regular walk at night in the neighborhood, something strange happened.
The shoemaker on the next block stopped me and said that I'm(gr.) a good boy, I thanked him and continued my walk across my neighborhood.

After a few moments, I realized that Mr. Catanzara had told the shoemaker about me picking up my education. Now that the lie had been told(gr.) it won't cause any trouble.

June 17, 1920

Dear dairy,

Today, when I woke up, my sister Sophie behaved very strangely, she was kind to me and she gave me a buck instead of a few nickels.

I realized that she also heard about the lie that I'm(gr.) trying to pick up my education and wanted to support me.

I think the lie about the books helped me, it helped me gain the respect of the people in my neighborhood, and they started to treat me as a grown up.

June 18, 1920  

Dear diary,

Today was not a good day. I went again for my nightly walk, when I saw Mr. Catanzara

I noticed from his walk that he was drunk, so I thought I could pass him without him noticing me, but I was wrong.

Mr. Cattanzara noticed me and started to ask me about the books I was reading. I was calm but inside I was crumbling, I feared that he discovered  that I had lied about the books and so he would be angry at me and that he is(gr.) going to tell everyone that I was lying  and they are going hate me.

I didn't say much about the books, instead, I pushed him aside and I ran from him.

The next morning I was walking in the street and people were treating me kindly and they told me they were proud of me.  I guess that Mr. Catanzara told them that I had finished reading all my books.

I thought that the lie is be(gr.) a good solution for my life but I realized that it hurt me, so I learned that lying is bad. So now I'm going to the library and I will start reading some real books so I can pick up my education. 

Much better. Well done!

(94)

Daphna

A Summer's Reading - Bridging

Bridging Text And Context page – 49

The background information tells us about Bernard Malamud, the writer of the story "A Summer's Reading". It tells us who he is, what he is writing about and what is the message that he is trying to deliver through his writing. The information says that the main subject of his writing is about characters that are often awkward and isolated from society. In "A Summer's Reading" the main character, George, is searching for hope and meaning within poor urban settings.

Like the background information about Bernard Malamud, the writer of the story "A Summer's Reading" choose(gr.) to write about George, (Start a new sentence) his age is close to twenty, (he is) a loner, with no job and education, he is poor, he doesn't communicate with the people in his neighborhood and he is searching to improve his life.

In "A Summer's Reading" George lies about him trying to pick up his education,(New setence) he lied because he wanted to impress Mr. Catanzara so he wouldn't think that he was a lazy, dumb person who wasn't doing anything with his life.

In the story "A Summer's Reading", education is very important, if someone has education it makes it easier to get a job and money, George didn't had(gr.) (an)  education so he didn’t had(gr.) a job so(מיותר). he felt the need to lie so no one will(gr.) think he is(gr.) lazy.

George felt embarrassed in front of Mr. Catanzara, who was his only friend, (new sentence)he wanted him to respect him so he lied to him and told him that he was reading to pick up his education.

The moment that George had to lie to Mr. Catanzara is the awkward situation in "A Summer's Reading" of Bernard Malamud, it is (also) the starting point of the change in Georg's personality and in his life.
The information helped me understand the purpose of each event in the story between each character(phr.), it helped me understand George's character, his difficulties and the reason for his actions in the story.



 

It's better.Good work.
(90)
Daphna

Post Reading

At the beginning of the story the narrator disliked Mr. Kelada, he laughed on his name, on his luggage, his personality and his behavior. 

At the end of the story he starts to realize that Mr. Kelada is not a bad person as he thought, the narrator says that he does "not entirely dislike Mr. Kelada", the narrator  started to change his mind about him.

The narrator was more restrained towards Mr. Kelada, he started to listen to what Mr. Kelada had to say, he opened his mined to his ideas, and started to take him more seriously.

He started to see Mr. Kelada as a good person, with good intentions to help others and not just to himself.

He saw Mr. Kelada as a reliable person, after that Mr. Kelada lied about the necklace to help Mrs. Ramsay he knew that his a smart man, that he isn't a selfish person and started to trust Mr. Kelada.

Mr. Kelada was seen by the narrator as a real English gentleman, as a man he wants to be with, a man with 

good qualities and good personality.

For the rest of the sailing the narrator bond with Mr. Kelada, he loved his company, he accepted Mr. Kelada as his friend and as an English gentleman.  

Reflection

Reading the story was very enjoyable, the story had surprising events and it was funny to hear what each character think about other character.

The story was surprising, moving and amusing.

The story surprised me when it turned out that the pearls that Mrs. Ramsay wore were real and not fake, and that Max Kelada knew about it but preferred to lie to her husband so he won't hurt her.

In the end of the story I was moved by the narrator, I was moved because he started to change his mind about Max Kelada and he started to like him.

I find amusing the way that the narrator behave to Max Kelada,I enjoyed reading how the narrator wanted to ignore him throughout the story.

Learning the thinking skills of Explaining Patterns and Uncovering Motives helped me understand the story behind each character and to understand the behavior of each character in the story. Explaining Patterns help me to understand the behavior of the narrator, it helped me to identify his personality, identify who he behave to another type of

person. In the story it is seen when he dislike Max Kelada just base of his luggage and base of his name,

with the explaining pattern we learn that he is a judgmental person and a close minded about new things.

The Uncovering Motives skill helped me understand the behavior of Max Kelada throughout the story.

Max Kelada did many things on the ship, "he managed the sweeps", "conducted the auctions",

"collected money for prizes at the sports, "he was everywhere and always".

With the Uncovering Motives skill I learn the real motives about his actions,

Max Kelada was not a typical English man, he was born in a colony of the British Empire he wanted to all the people who were on the ship to like him,

so he did all of those action so he will be accepted as a real English man.