Reader Response Introduction & Activity

1. Reader Response Introduction & Activity Mr. Sultan February 10-11, 2014

2. Reader Response • What you interpret, experience, feel, IS WHAT MEANING IS TRUE/ VALID. • If you think it, as long as you can prove it, it’s “game” (you can use it to defend your point).

3. What Reading Comprehension Skill is the Most Important for this particular Literary Lens? http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/jdpO0uxJKuScD7a Would anyone like an explanation of any of these strategies just incase their name/ title is unfamiliar to you?

4. Modeled Demonstration of a Reader Response THESIS, and FIRST POINT We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. What do I know?

5. Violence against Black’s especially by the police was intense, common, and relentless • I have seen movies that had broadened my perspective such as: X, Mississippi Burning, The Ghosts of Mississippi, The Help, etc. • I do endorse the use of violence in DEFENCE to an aggressive/ violent mistreatment by ANY group/ coalition • Listening to rap music in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Malcolm X was spoken about A LOT. • I know that Malcolm X was most feared because the government/ Caucasian population of America believed he would be behind creating a violent resistance among Black men/ women against the law enforcement and government of America. He was seen as a trouble maker. • 1960’s were a time when the civil rights struggle for Black Americans was at it’s highest and most heated (emotion-filled, violent, restless) • Malcolm X was in stark contrast (extremely different) to Martin Luther King Jr., another extremely well-known civil rights leader • Malcolm X spoke in fiery and exhausted tones • He was a Muslim by name, and used his practice to fuel his criticism of the treatment of Black Americans. What do I know, feel, and think

6. Thesis • Single, provable statement • Reader’s Response Lens: Can be an opinion, feeling, thought I construed from my own thinking • My back thoughts that I think I want to prove with this speech (small excerpt): It might not be violence he was calling for, but everyone thought he meant that because of the simple things he was asking for, and how Black Americans were being treated at the time • The items he was asking for were simple, and shouldn’t have had to be asked for in the first place (at that point in the 20th century).

7. Thesis Malcolm X’s comment “By Any Means Necessary” was seen as a call to violence by popular American society because the demands he was making were for simple human rights and dignities. What’s the problem here?

8. Thesis • Malcolm X incited fear of a violent backlash against Caucasian Americans with his statement “by any means necessary”. What other lens could this relate to? • Biographical/ Historical Lens • Marxist Lens What I’m going to do: • Analyze my understanding of what was happening to Black Americans at the time, by police and the government. • Explain how the tone and anger in the voice convince me that he is exhausted, and make me feel that “now is the time”

9. Argument 1 “By any means necessary” can mean a multitude of things. What I’m Going to do: • Explain in my opinion what “by any means necessary” could mean • Could mean demonstrations, protesting, financial divestment, civil disobedience.

10. Possible following argument • Argument 2: By Any Means necessary was perceived as a call to violence only because Blacks were constantly dealt with that sort of treatment. • Always check to see if it relates back to your thesis!

11. Your Turn • Poem by: SuheirHamad • Pre-Thinking and Help Deconstructing: • 4th of July is the American Day of Independence • Don’t be offended with the comment about Malaysian girls • “Wet” is a double entendre of the beach water, and sexual imagery • Shrapnel is a type of bomb that when it explodes, it sends metallic pieces in numerous directions • Countries/ territories mentioned: Iraq, Palestine, Malaysia, Phillipines, America • The term “baby” is a term of endearment to a love/ marital/ sexual partner.

12. Groups • Same as Friday • Discuss any TERMS, CONCEPTS, HISTORICAL CONTEXTS THAT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND (not yet the meaning of the poem) • For example: “What’s Palestine?”, “Where is Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and why would their babies be headless?”. • Only discussing contextual understanding, not yet what you interpret from the poem.

13. Starter Questions • What does this line mean? • How does this make me feel? • Does this poem remind you of anything? (A person, a place, a thing) • Setting, time? • Point-of-View? • Who are the characters?

14. Larger Questions • How does the interaction of text and reader create meaning? • What does a phrase-by-phrase analysis of a short literary text, or a key portion of a longer text, tell us about the reading experience built into that text? • Do the sounds/shapes of the words as they appear on the page, or how they are spoken by the reader, enhance or change the meaning of the word/work? • How might we interpret a literary text to show that the reader‘s response is similar to the topic of the text?

15. The Big Questions • What’s the point? • What’s the theme? • What’s the message? • What’s the meaning? • What’s the lesson?