Assignment #1 – Reading Poetry Aloud i.e., The Sound of Poetry

Read the following short poems:

° Nikki Giovanni “Poetry”

° Rita Dove “Sonnet in Primary Colors” p.354

° Emily Dickinson “I’m Nobody! Who are You?” p.361

° Robert Frost “Fire and Ice” p.369

Read each of your four poems silently to yourself four times. Breathe deeply, and take your time. Sink into the poem and try to understand its soul.

Category 1

Next, summarize each poem in one or two sentences. How is sound working in the poem? What happens in the poem? Who is speaking? What is the poem’s message? What do you notice about the way that the poem sounds? Does this poem make use of any poetic sound devices that you learned about i.e., assonance, consonance, repetition?

Then read each one of your poems out loud four times, using four different voices. This is really fun. See if you can make a small child laugh. Read it with different emotions, like anger or grief. Or pretend you’re a favorite cartoon character. As you do this, get used to the rhythms of each poem and the play of words. Understand the persona. Listen to yourself speaking the poem out loud. Who are you? And who are you talking to?For each poem, write one or two paragraphs commenting on the experience of reading aloud. This writing exercise should be 4 – 8 paragraphs in length.

Category 2

Next, summarize each poem in one or two sentences. What happens in the poem? Who is speaking? What is the poem’s message?

Category3

Choose one of the poems from your set and write a 3-4 paragraph response in which you describe the pictures these poems create in your mind. Make specific reference to each poem’s use of metaphor and metonymy, as well as their imagery. Be sure to review these key terms/ideas in our textbook.

Example:

Here is an example to get you started, using a famous Ezra Pound poem:

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

I see a crowded subway platform, and out of the moving crowd of people, various beautiful faces take shape, one upon another. I get this particular picture for several reasons. I see the subway platform because of the title, and I see the crowd because the poem says there’s a crowd. The reason the crowd appears to be moving lies in the main feature of the poem, which is its metaphor. Essentially, the poem is nothing but a metaphor, where the second line is a metaphor for the first line. In other words, “petals on a wet, black bough” is a metaphor for “the apparition of these faces in the crowd.” To me, this means the crowd (bough) is moving and undifferentiated (wet, black) and the faces are incredibly beautiful (petals on a bough). In my picture, singularly beautiful faces take shape in succession because they are “apparitions.” They appear to me from the moving, undifferentiated mass of bodies (the crowd). Note: while metaphor and imagery are technical terms and therefore objective, interpretation is subjective. The point is, don’t get hung up on finding the correct meaning of a poem while learning the techniques of poetry, just dive in and share what you ‘see’!

Draft

Begin by reviewing IP 1 from Week 1 to ensure that you understand the entire project.

Part 1

Research what a presentence investigation is, what purpose it serves during the sentencing process, and how it is used to inform the sentencing process. Then, address the following in a Word document that is 750–900 words in length:

• What is a presentence investigation report, and what kind of information does this document typically contain?
• Why is this information collected, and how does this information relate to an offender’s sentencing?
• What relationship exists, if any, between the presentence investigation and other aids to sentencing, such as sentencing guidelines and a victim impact statement?
• Compile your responses to the above questions into your final Word document.
• The content of the paper must be 750–900 words in length.
• You must reference at least 3 outside sources, and all sources must be referenced using APA style.

Part 2

Despite your best efforts to guide John McMahon away from drugs and crime, he has incurred a new arrest. Specifically, he was arrested in the 800 block of Greenview Drive in Lynchburg, Virginia after plainclothes officers observed him make what appeared to be a drug transaction. He was cooperative during the arrest, and a search of his person turned up 3.5 grams of a white powdery substance that field tested positive for cocaine. Mr. McMahon was read his rights and transported to the Blue Ridge Regional Jail. During questioning, he admitted that he had purchased the drugs for his own personal use moments before his arrest. In a Word document of 1,000–1,200 words, create a presentence investigation report for Mr. McMahon that includes all of the information that would ordinarily be included in such a document. You may find it useful to create section headers in your document to separate the different elements of the report. Feel free to make up information that is not specifically stated, provided that doing so is not likely to impact the sentencing outcome. You will want to reference and include material taken from the Phase 2 individual projects and the Phase 3 individual project.

For the purposes of this assignment, assume the following:

• Mr. McMahon’s underlying charge of possession of cocaine (the one he was placed on probation for in the first place) represents his only prior conviction.
• Mr. McMahon’s parents were married at the time of his birth and remain so to the present day.
• Mr. McMahon has 2 younger brothers, both of whom still live with his parents.
• Mr. McMahon is in good overall physical health and has no history of mental health or substance abuse treatment aside from any that was ordered in the context of his current probation case.

Here is week one to better help

Because of a number of high-profile crimes committed by individuals on probation or parole in other states, the leaders of several citizens’ groups have approached your supervisor and asked for information on how probation supervision works and how it can keep the community safe. Your supervisor has asked you to create a short presentation on the community supervision function of probation. Your presentation should include the following elements:

Assignment Guidelines

Address the following in 10–12 content slides with a PowerPoint presentation:

• What are some standard conditions that probationers must follow?
• What are some examples of special conditions that a judge might impose on a specific probationer?
• What percentages of people on probation successfully complete their term of probation?
• What happens when a probationer violates 1 or more of the rules of his or her probation?
• What happens when a probationer is arrested for a new crime?

Your final presentation should follow the following format:

• Title slide with your name, course code, and phase number
• 10–12 content slides containing your responses to the above questions
  • Each content slide must contain 100–200 words of speaker notes.
• Reference slide in which all sources are referenced using APA style

Scholarly sources are peer-reviewed articles written by experts in a specific field. When you are writing a paper, they are also typically referred to as secondary sources. You can read more about what a scholarly source is here. You can also view the difference between popular and scholarly sources by watching the video here: SPC Library Guide. Scholarly sources are not only the best and most credible sources for your research paper, but reading these will give you a better idea of what a literary analysis/interpretation should do and look like.

In the folder labeled “Scholarly Articles” above, you will find short scholarly articles about “Editha” and “The Real Thing.” For this assignment, you need to choose one of the articles to read. As you read, you will want to try to identify the author’s argument about the short story. You should also make note of the evidence (textual support from the story, which is considered a primary source) that the author uses to support his or her argument.

Assignment: After you have read your article, write a short essay (approximately 400 words and at least three paragraphs) that determines whether or not you agree with your article’s argument. Consider whether or not the author’s interpretation of the story agrees with your own. You might also think about whether or not the author uses sufficient evidence from the story to support his or her argument. Use the outline below to construct your essay. Make sure you read the assignment requirements after the outline as well. You may want to view this Sample Scholarly Source Response.

Organization:

1. Introductory Paragraph: This paragraph should introduce your article by its title and author name as well as the original short story you are working with. You should include the author’s argument, but you might also choose to include a brief summary of the short story as well. You should also end this paragraph with a thesis statement that determines whether or not you agree with your article’s interpretation.

2. Body Paragraph 1 (and possibly 2): This paragraph should develop your thesis statement by including details about why you either agree or disagree with your article. You should use direct quotes from both the original article as well as the story. You may also paraphrase from the article. Any quotations or paraphrases must include an in-text MLA citation.

3. Conclusion: Sum up your essay.

Assignment Requirements

• Essay must be in MLA Format.
• Essay must contain a thesis statement that addresses the assignment
• Paragraphs should be organized and unified/coherent.
• Direct quotations should be introduced (see the handout in the Start Here folder called Avoiding the Floating Quotation).
• Include a Works Cited page and in-text citation (See the Citation information in the Writing About Literature folder in the Start Here section).
• Submit your essay to this dropbox as .doc, .docx, or rtf file. NO PAGES files or PDFs will be accepted for credit.
• Approximately 400 words
• Do not use the first person (I) or the second person (you).

Week 4 Discussion

Grammatical Errors in Communication

Your grammar can affect other’s perceptions of your professional competence—or lack thereof.

A well-executed paper implies that your paper is worth reading. When
you make grammatical errors, readers might assume you are not very
smart, you are lazy, or that you do not apply critical thinking skills.
When working in a public role, it is of vital importance to ensure that
what you communicate is grammatically correct. You should try to avoid
grammatical errors that might produce any misunderstanding in the
message you are trying to communicate.

For this Discussion, pay attention to the grammatical rules and
conventions for writing competently. Reflect on how violating these
rules could contribute to miscommunication. Then select a message where
the interpretation of the message was impacted by the incorrect use of
grammar. Finally, consider how you could apply grammatical rules and
conventions to make the message more effective.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 a brief description of a personal or
professional message where the incorrect use of grammar conveyed a
different meaning than the one intended. Then describe two grammatical
rules and conventions that could be applied to make the message more
effective and explain how.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Week 4 Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to
scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning
Resources.

Required Resources

Readings

• Johnson, W. A., Rettig, R. P., Scott, G. M., & Garrison, S. M. (2015). The criminal justice student writer’s manual (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
  • Chapter 2 “Writing Competently”
  • Chapter 3 “Student Paper Formats”
  • Chapter 5 “Citing Sources in APA Style”

Media

• Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Grammar Assessment. Baltimore: Author.

Please proceed to the Discussion.