The questions are burning into my brain. Which brings me to this point, with questions and the deep curiosity to know, the answers must be forthcoming. The flip side of questioning is finding the answers. It's a very strong and powerful strategy. The reader develops an intense desire to find the answers. It drives the reading.
What fun! >Ginger and I have been having a conversation offline about this >poem, which I used recently with teachers to demonstrate >how easily questioning takes you into the text. We thought we would >invite you to join us by first reading the poem and >asking four different questions. Before taking your thinking >deeper, share your questions with the group. Hopefully a few >others will respond with their questions and we can see where it >takes our thinking. I will begin with mine. > >Where is she calling from? >Why is she so desperate to call someone? >Is she in a phone booth or a glassed in room? >Is it temperature or temperment that makes her lean on the glass, sweaty? > > >>The Phone Call >>Philip Levine >> >>She calls Chicago, but no one >>is home. The operator asks >>for another number but still >>no one answers. Together >>they try twenty-one numbers, >>and at each no one is ever home. >>"Can I call Baltimore?" she asks. >>She can, but she knows no one >>in Baltimore, no one in >>St Louis, Boston, Washington. >>She imagines herself standing >>before the glass wall high >>over Lake Shore Drive, the cars >>below fanning into the city. >>East she can see all the way >>to Gary and the great gray clouds >>of exhaustion rolling over >>the lake where her vision ends. >>This is where her brother lives. >>At such height there's nothing, >>no birds, no growing, no noise. >>She leans her sweating forehead >>against the cold glass, shudders, >>and puts down the receiver. >> >> > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Mosaic mailing list >Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org >To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > >Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
