English 10, Periods 5 and 6

Please read to the beginning of Chapter 20 in Indian Horse.  Your response to the poem, "I Lost My Talk" is due next Thursday.  You can respond with a paragraph, a poem, or a hand-drawn image.  You will be marked on the Producing Text rubric, so make sure your response is thoughtful and demonstrates effort.  Finally, you should also be collecting five vocabulary words and definitions; this list is also due on Thursday.

For those of you who may have been absent on Friday, here is the response assignment:

Now that you have read Chapters 11-15, respond to the poem below about your feelings regarding Saul and his introduction to Saint Jerome’s Indian School. Use any background knowledge you have from class discussion to add detail and depth to your response.  You may respond with a paragraph, a poem, or a hand-drawn image of your own creation.

“I Lost My Talk” by Rita Joe

I lost my talk.

The talk that you took away.

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school.

You snatched it away:

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

Your way is more powerful.

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.