Patricia Smith; Selections from Blood Dazzler

This afternoon please take the next 20-30 minutes to complete the revision for one of your 300-400 word articles (probably the one you workshopped, but either one will do, provided that you have revised and cleaned up or improved the article.)


 Please SEND me a Google Doc (share with bradley.craddock@rcsdk12.org) so that I can revise/publish your work on our school journal page.

When you complete this task, please turn your attention to the handout articles (or complete and turn in your homework--see below for details!)

Patricia Smith: Journalist or Poet? A Response to Katrina

 

 

Essential Questions: Is Smith a journalist? Why or why not? How does Smith’s fabrication of quotes and characters relate to the reading you’ve done about ethics (see post below)? What responsibility does a journalist have to her readers? Why is this responsibility important or valued by our society?

Please read the handouts/articles linked here for a background on our subject today!

• http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/19/us/boston-columnist-is-ousted-for-fabricated-articles.html
• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/nyregion/patricia-smith-finds-solace-and-success-in-poetry.html?_r=0
• http://articles.philly.com/1998-06-23/news/25730768_1_patricia-smith-fiction-journalism
• http://the-puzzle-palace.com/files/A_note_of_apology.htm

During period 7 please read/think/take notes on what you read concerning Patricia Smith. Then, it's off to the next room (238) to discuss the issue as a class.

Part two:

Essential Questions: How does Smith’s work interact with facts, quotes, and documents? What can a poem achieve that a newspaper article cannot? What can a newspaper article achieve that a poem cannot? Are truth and fact the same thing? 

After reading the model with us, get into your small groups and read Patricia Smith's poem(s). As you read annotate literary elements (for the poetry), evidence of the journalistic function & evidence of investigative journalism, evidence of journalistic ethics and bias, and identify the hook or lead for the poem.

HOMEWORK: Find and print out or bring a copy of an important or interesting news article to class.