Do a quickwrite about cities. What would you see, smell, taste, touch, or hear in a city? How do you feel when you are in a city? You may focus on cities in general or a particular city that you have lived in or visited.
1. Listen as your teacher reads “in the inner city” aloud. Keep your own ideas about cities in mind as you listen. What details does the speaker mention about the city? How does the speaker feel about the city? Compare the speaker’s ideas to your own.
2. Read “The City Is So Big” on your own. Again compare your ideas about cities to the ideas presented by the speaker.
If you have trouble determining the speaker’s feelings, do a think aloud with a partner. Read a few lines of one poem. Pause and say what you are thinking. What images strike you? How do the lines make you feel? How do you think the speaker feels? Your partner should express his or her ideas and comment on what you said. Read a few more lines and stop to think aloud again.
With a partner, compare views of cities. Compare your images of and feelings toward cities with those of your partner and those of the two speakers. What do you think accounts for any differences?