Freshman Writing Seminar SELF DESCRIPTION Bronx High School of Science
NAME:______PERIOD:____
DO NOW: Write your autobiography in 8-10 words—avoid unnecessary words (i.e. extra prepositions like “the”). ______
AIM:______
DIRECTIONS: With your group, reread the following poem out loud together and answer the following questions:
1)Identify (circle) examples of figurative languageand what they represent to you.
2)Describe the speaker in the poem based on the clues he/she is giving you.
3)Interpret the poem’s meaning. Write your responses in the space to the right of the poem.
WHERE I’M FROM by George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. ______I am from the dirt under the back porch.(Black, glistening, ______it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush______the Dutch elmwhose long-gone limbs I remember______as if they were my own.
I'm from fudge and eyeglasses, ______
from Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls______
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down! ______
I'm from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb ______
and ten verses I can say myself.
I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch, ______
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost ______
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box______
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces______
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments--______
snapped before I budded --
leaf-fall from the family tree. ______
SEE BACK
Last Name, First ______
Where I'm From Poem Template
DIRECTIONS: Write your own ``Where I’m From’’ poem, incorporating your knowledge about your name. Use the template below to get started. Copy the finished product on a separate sheet I will collect tomorrow.
I am from ______(specific ordinary item), from ______(product name) and ______.
I am from the ______(home description)… ______(adjective, adjective, sensory detail).
I am from the ______(plant, flower, natural item), the ______(plant, flower, natural detail)______(connection to self)
I am from ______(family tradition) and ______(family trait),
from ______(name of family member) and ______(another family name) and ______(family name).
I am from the ______(description of family tendency) and ______(another one).
From ______(something you were told as a child) and ______(another).
I am from ______(representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.
I'm from ______(place of birth and family ancestry), ______(two food items representing your family).
From the ______(specific family anecdote about a specific person and detail), the ______(another detail, and the ______(another detail about another family member).
I am from ______(location of family pictures, mementos and archives) ______(several more lines indicating their worth).