1. Movies, Mime, Music Karen Guth karen@guth.us
And making connections with Bridging Literature Task, Pre-reading and Post-reading activities
ETAI Conference July 9, 2014
Karen Guth

2. The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

3. The Road Not Taken – By Robert Frost Narration by Alan Bates
Start

4. At almost 40 years old Robert Frost had not published a single book of poems. He was very discouraged by this. In 1911 he received ownership of a family farm and he and his wife made a momentous decision; to sell this farm and start a new life in London where Frost hoped to be able to publish more of his poetry. He later became the most widely admired and highly honored American poet of the 20th century.
How does this information connect to the poem?

5. “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words”. - Robert Frost
How does this information connect to the poem?

6. “Never be bullied into silence
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself” . - Robert Frost
How does this information connect to the poem?

7. Bridging with biographical information of the author – Amy Tan “Rules of the Game”- The family moved nearly every year, living in Oakland, Fresno, Berkeley, and San Francisco before settling in Santa Clara, California. Although John and Daisy rarely socialized with their neighbors, Amy and her brothers ignored their parents' objections and tried hard to fit into American society. "They wanted us to have American circumstances and Chinese character," Tan said in an interview with Elaine Woo in the Los Angeles Times (March 12, 1989).
How does this information connect to the story, “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan?

8. Bridging interview with Ron Jones – The Wave Making Connections between something said in the interview and the story.
Start

9. Pre-Reading – The Road Not Taken
Music

10. Pre-reading “The Split Cherry Tree” – Appalachian English
Start

11. Post- reading- “Richard Cory” – Simon and Garfunkel –
How is their song connected to the poem (also a good compare and contrast HOTS question)? What did Simon and Garfunkel change in their song from what is written in the poem and why do you think they made those changes (also a good HOTS uncovering motives question)?
Start

12. Making Connections in a Post-reading exercise- the meaning of our senses- Marcel Marceau Mime and The Miracle Worker (show YouTube)
Start
Marcel Marceau called mime the art of “making the invisible visible”; whereas, Helen Keller stated, “everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence… ”. She also said, “It is not the senses I have but what I do with them (that) is my kingdom”.
What do these two people have in common and what message have they brought to Mankind?

13. Possible answer for Post-reading on “The Miracle Worker”:
Mime is without speech- Helen Keller lacked the sense of sight and hearing and yet, these two people, Helen Keller and Marcel Marceau, created “wonders even in darkness and silence”. Our senses are all a gift and yet, one can experience the wonders of the world, contribute to the betterment of mankind and as H.K. said, “it is not the senses I have but what I do with them (that) is my kingdom”.

14. Post-reading, “A Summer’s Reading” Orit Keren You Tube – making connections to the story and real pictures-
Start
Describe Mr. Cattanzara’s day working in the IRT station and explain why he said to George, “Don’t do what I did”.
Write a thank you letter from George to Mr. C ten years after the story took place in which he describes his life and how his dreams have come true (use information from the You Tube which shows his “old” neighborhood compared to his “new” neighborhood).

15. Possible Answers for Two Bridging questions on, “The Road Not Taken”
At almost 40 years old Robert Frost had not published a single book of poems. He was very discouraged by this. In 1911 he received ownership of a family farm and he and his wife made a momentous decision; to sell this farm and start a new life in London where Frost hoped to be able to publish more of his poetry. He later became the most widely admired and highly honored American poet of the 20th century.

16. One possible answer:
The new information in the bridging question explains how Robert Frost, who wanted to be a published poet, was not finding someone to publish his work. In 1911 he was at a crossroads when he received ownership of the family farm and decided to sell it, move and start a new life in London. As a result of that decision, he began publishing his poetry and became famous.
This connects to the poem, “The Road Not Taken” because in the poem we read how the author is at a crossroads, trying to decide if he should take the path most people take or “the one less traveled by”. He chooses the one less traveled and says “that has made all the difference”. This is just like Frost’s decision to move to London to publish his poems rather than stay on his family farm to be a farmer all of his life.

17. Bridging question 2:
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words” Robert Frost
How does this information connect to the poem?
The quotation says that a poem is created when an emotion becomes a thought and the thought then is expressed in words. This connects to the poem, “The Road Not Taken” because we see that the author feels the emotion of having to make a choice between two paths, both of which seem pleasant or similar. That debate inside of him becomes the words of his poem. For example, when he says, both looked “fair” but he chose the one that was, “grassy and wanted wear”. He further expresses in his poem that he chose “the one less traveled by” and that made all of the difference for him in his life.

18. Remember – The most important connection is the one we make with our students.
We do that with:
Our passion for learning
Our love and caring for our students
Our creativity in the classroom
Including movies, mime, music, and more