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KATRINA

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PATRICIA SMITH

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INSTRUCTIONAL

NOTE

Feel free to modify, add, or select specific questions from this bellringer to best fit your instructional goals and available time. Adjust as needed to align with your lesson focus or classroom pacing.

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Also, some of the materials in these bellringers contain sensitive subject matter and/or language. Please preview the resources beforehand and make any alterations as needed.

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BELLRINGER FOCUS: SOUND DEVICES

  • Read “Katrina” by Patricia Smith.
    • Go to http://bit.ly/4m1bdxT to access the poem.
  • Answer the following question(s):
    • How does the alliteration in phrases help build the voice of the storm? What effect do these repeated sounds have?
    • Identify a moment where the storm's voice feels most physical or forceful. What specific sounds (words or combinations) create that impact?
    • How does the shift from sharp, aggressive sounds to slower, softer ones in the final lines affect the tone? What does this reveal about the storm’s relationship to its victims?

CREATIVE WRITING EXTENSIONS

  • Write a poem from the point of view of a natural force or weather event.
  • Use alliteration to give your poem a bold, physical voice.
  • Describe a moment of destruction using vivid sound-based language.