1. “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” by Louise Erdrich
Close Reading Poetry
Rahel Gottlieb, SDHS-IS

2. Text Essential Question Purpose for Reading
What cultural conflicts are expressed in the Louise Erdrich’s poem, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways”? How does this experience affect the speaker?

3. What does the text say? General Understanding
What is going on inside the text? Who is the speaker of this poem and what's happening?
Discuss with partner.

4. What does the text say? Who are the runaways? Why do they run away?
In lines 12-13, what can we infer has happened to the runaways?

5. Language and Connotation
Highlight all of the positive words in the poem with one color and all of the negative words with a different color.
Round Robin Share Out – Novel Ideas
What patterns do you notice in the poet’s use of positive and negative language? What is the poet expressing with this structure?

6. Connotation – 1A Positive Delicate tolerant Warm Sleep Love Home
Dresses
dreams
Leaves
Color
Run
Negative
Long insults
Shame
Old injuries
Less tolerant
Dark
Lame
Worn down
Dumb
Lost
Regulation
Shameful
Sherriff
Shiver
Scrub
Insults
Shoot
Lacerations
Scars
Punishments
Cold
Get lost
pale
Hurt
Welts
Frail
green

7. Connotation – 1b Positive Love Dreams Warm Turtle Boxcars Us Delicate
Sleep
Scars
Color
green
tolerant
Negative
Runaway
Old
Frail
Laceration
Green
Cracks
Lame
Dumb
Dark
Lost
Break
Shame
Injuries
Hurt
Cold
Scrub
Sherriff
Insults
Punishments
Welts
Cut
pale
Shiver
Hardened
Shameful

8. Connotation Positive Dreams Love Home Warm Rails Turtle mountain Sleep
Place
Close
Sheriff
Dresses
Hum
Color
Green
Tolerant
Negative
Scars
Stumbling
Lame
Cracks
Dumb
Punishments
Scrub
Hurts
Welts
Runaways
Injuries
Cant
Lost
Dark
Worn down
Shameful
Lacerations
Cut
Shiver
Pale
sheriff
Cold
Shame
green

9. What is the main idea of each stanza?
Table talk – Share out
What is the connection between each stanza and what does that tell us about the poem’s message.

10. What does this tell us about the Native American experience?
Why do you think the poet refers to train tracks (rails) as lacerations?
Partners talk and write down ideas
What does this tell us about the Native American experience?

11. Capt. Richard Pratt, 1892
“A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
Going back to the essential questions, how does this quote change or support the speaker’s message about Indian culture and identity?
Use our discussions AND evidence from the poem or other texts we’ve investigated.

12. Stating a Claim Arguable
What is the text saying about ______________________________?
Not a claim: In his essay, “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie writes about his education.
A claim example: In “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways,” by Louise Erdrich, the speaker suggests that Indian culture has been destroyed by the Indian Boarding schools assimilation practices.
Is that statement arguable?

13. Citing Evidence Using Exact words Paraphrasing Quotation Marks Exact
Must cite the author
Paraphrasing
Your own words
The essentials of what the text said

14. According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).

15. Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

16. Giving Credit – the Citation
In the sentence
In her article, “MVPA Students Are the Best,” Dr. Casillas argues, “at MVPA, our students know what they have to do to succeed and do their best” (25).
After the sentence
At least one principal has spoken out for students at MVPA and argued that students there strive for success (Casillas 25).
Embed the quote in a sentence – quotes are never alone!

17. Question/Prompt 1
In class we engaged in close reading of the poem and discussed its structure and message with an essential question as our focus.
Question: What cultural conflicts are expressed in the Louise Erdrich’s poem, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways”? How are they expressed and how does this experience affect the speaker?
What do you think the poem is saying about the speaker’s culture?

18. Question/Prompt 2
After examining the poem we were introduced to the following quote by Captain Richard Pratt.
“A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
Captain Richard Pratt, 1892
Question: How does this quote challenge or support Louise Ehrlich’s message about Indian culture and identity?