Senior Inquiry 14-15

August Wilson’s Project- Due 10/16

Standards: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a drama (e.g., the development of the characters and relationships through the lens of socialization)

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

Targets: I can analyze a play structure and identify themes, as well as make inferences from the August Wilson’s Piano Lesson with a lens of socialization.

I can create a presentation of a August Wilson play and highlight the themes, characters, and storyline, as well as connect it to Race and Social Justice, as well as discuss guiding questions.

August Wilson’s plays are a window into the 1900’s African American experience.

The big question: How does August Wilson give voice to the African American experience in the United States through his characters?

Read your play and as a group do the following: Map out the characters in the play and describe who they are and why August Wilson might of created that character as social commentary on racism in the United States. Capture at least 2 quotes from the main characters in the play and connect how those quotes represent who they are.

Map out the themes and storyline of the play, including introduction, rising action, climax, and ending, as well as what the story is really telling us about the African American experience and their struggles. Some themes I have noticed are police harassment/brutality, dreams of making it big, knowing one’s place, displacement, splitting up of families, music, women needing a man, healers, and belief in the supernatural.

While you’re reading, please put sticky notes on possible important passages that will make up the 3 most important passages your group will select. What do the passages tell us about life in the United States? Write out each of the passages and your group analysis of it. Be prepared to read or act out one passage and explain it to your classmates.

Try to find things in the play that relate to Race and Social Justice.

Try to find things that relate to the four university goals.

Try to find things that relate to current events in the United States.

Try to chart how socialization and the characters’ or audience’s social construction of knowledge impacts the events of the play

Prepare a presentation and a poster on your play to last 10 minutes. Be prepared to field questions and feel free to be creative with your poster and presentation. Use the things you did above to put your poster together, as well as other important information.

August Wilson: The Piano Lesson Guiding Questions

Target: I can analyze a play structure and identify themes, as well as make inferences from the August Wilson’s Piano Lesson with a lens of socialization.

Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

Make sure you read all the questions first, and then write yourself notes with the page number of the passages.

Cite evidence from the play to support your work. How have the life experiences in the various characters shaped how they had been socialized into society?

What happened to Lymon down south?

What were some of his problems with the judicial system?

What did Bernice think of his story?

What was Boy Willie’s experience with the judicial system?

What did he learn?

What happened to their father, Boy Charles?

Why does Bernice blame Boy Willie for her husband’s death?

What is Boy Willies account of how Bernice’s husband, Crawly, got killed?

Which characters internalized racism? Cite evidence from the play.

How does this play represent aspects of Michele Alexander’s, The New Jim Crow?

What are examples of Power and Oppression in the play?

Read page 37 top right column, then research the vagrancy laws and other Jim Crow laws Post-Civil War, make connections between them and The Piano Lesson.

What was the role of Religion in the play?

How did the family acquire the Piano?

Does that having meaning in the play?

Explain, Why won’t Bernice sell the piano? What’s her explanation? What is the significance of the piano to her?

Why won’t Boy Willie stop trying to sell the piano? How does he explain why he needs to sell it? What does that represent in his struggle?

Identify how the socialization of characters has affected their outlooks on life and their relationships to each other. Think about what this says about the black experience. This will help prepare you for the coming paper.

Think about what you know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or what is commonly known about him by most people in our country.

Then read one of his most important speeches, When Silence is Betrayal. In addition go to Democracy Now.org and look through past shows. Listen to the segement on 9/11/14 about Dr. King's last year before his death by Tavis Smiley. 

Answer the following questions in short essays using your opinion and insights, as well as evidence from the resources above.

How has Dr. King's legacy been socially constructed?

Based on the reading and Tavis Smiley, what do you think Dr. King would say about our world today? Especially in terms of Miiterism, Poverty, and Racism? What would he advocate us all to do?

Due Monday for discussion and write up can come in Wednesday. Typed please

Focus on your Haidmaid's Tale first.

Senior Inquiry 14-­‐15

Bishop/Lupro/Rodgers

Critical Film Analysis – Assignment Sheet 1-­‐2 pages Due Wed Sept 17

Assignment Description: Choose one of the critical perspectives we discussed in class to practice. In (no less than) 1 to (no more than) 2 pages, critically analyze your the film using an appropriate critical perspective. Remember, we are not interested in a thumbs up/thumbs down review, but rather a critical deconstruction of the text using one of the critical lenses we have engaged in class.

Assessment rubric is available through the google doc link under "useful links" under "SrinqFilmAnalysis15"

Due 9/22/14 Your first paper assignment will be to do an analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale through one of the critical lenses that we have used in class; Class, Race, Gender (suggested), or the lens you used during your reading over the summer. You will analyze the text through your chosen lens and generate a thesis about what the novel is saying about the particular issues that your lens addresses. Your thesis could, for example, answer the question “What is ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ saying about gender relations in our real, current society?” Your paper should be 2-3 pages and must be in MLA format. This means that it should be double spaced, in12-point font, have an appropriate header, and a title. Do not adjust the margins to make the paper look longer or put unnecessary spaces at the top of the page (i.e. making the actual writing of the paper start halfway down the first page). These guidelines apply to all future papers as well. Be specific in your examples, use quotes from the text, and be as clear as possible in making your argument.

You will be graded using the following 2 scales:

SCALE #1- Reading

4- I can prove a compelling thesis using specific and highly relevant evidence derived from my analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale through my specific lens.

-I can use the best possible evidence to support my thesis

-I can explain my analysis of the evidence clearly and compellingly

3- I can cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis derived from my analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale through my specific lens. I can meet all level 2 learning targets AND….

-I can use my lens to identify evidence and create a strong thesis based on that evidence

-I can locate textual evidence within a text to support my claim

-I can explain the significance or implications of what the text says 2- I can…

-Use a lens to analyze my text

-Explain how readers use textual evidence to reach a logical conclusion

-Demonstrate understanding of explicit information

-Make a justifiable inference about the text

1- I can meet few of the targets listed under 2

0- No evidence 

SCALE #2-Writing

4- I can write compelling arguments to support my thesis using a lens from class with virtually no errors in logic, style, organization, grammar or syntax

3- I can write arguments to support my thesis in an analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale, using a lens from class, valid reasoning, relevant and sufficient evidence, and strong grammar, organization and syntax.

I can…

-Introduce a precise, knowledgeable thesis and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), reasons, and evidence.

-Develop my thesis fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence

-Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, and create cohesion

-Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.

-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. -Use correct grammar and spelling the vast majority of the time

2- I can…

-State a thesis and supply some evidence for it -Use academic language to explain my point

-Lay out my paper using basic organization

-Use grammar and spelling that does not impede the reader’s understanding of my essay

1- I can meet few of the targets listed under 2

0-No evidence

Over the summer you have a two-part assignment. You will read two books, one assigned, the other you will choose from a list. For the shared book, you will gather evidence as you read for our first paper, for the second you will do a short write up on the ending (see details below on both these tasks). Reading two novels over the course of several months is a tiny taste of the levels of work and reading you will be asked to do in college. If you are not already an avid reader, the job of this class is to help you become one.

1.The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood All students will read The Handmaid’s Tale. You will choose a lens to read through, paying close attention to that lens throughout the text. After you have finished reading, look at the patterns that you have noticed throughout your reading and come up with a thesis/theme statement based on your exploration through this lens. You should come in one the first day of class with a thesis statement and at least five pieces of evidence from the text to support your thesis. Your first task of the year will be to write a paper based on this information. For example, if I use the lens of looking at the setting, I would read the novel paying close attention to the setting and then, make a claim about how the setting contributes to an overall theme or thesis based on the patterns I notice as I read. I will then mark my evidence that I noticed along the way to prove my thesis/theme statement.

You will need to have a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale for the first couple weeks of the school year. If you take it out from the library, please plan accordingly.

Lens to consider (you will choose one):

Relationships between characters (What do the relationships between main characters reveal about the world of The Handmaid’s Tale?)

Setting descriptions (What does the physical setting show us about the world of the novel? What kind of language is used to discuss it? How is the setting before Gilead (as seen through Offred’s memories) compared/contrasted with that of Gilead?)

Recurring objects/symbols (What objects/symbols come up repeatedly throughout the novel? What do these objects/symbols show us about the world of the novel?)

Structure analysis (why does Atwood structure the story the way she does? Why does it skip through time? How do the parts fit together?)

Failure to complete this assignment will result in removal from Senior Inquiry as you will not be able to complete our first paper.

2. A second book of your choice. All students will choose a book from the list below to read. At the beginning of the year you should be ready to do a quick share out on your book, letting your peers know what it was about and why you do, or do not, recommend the book for them to read in the future. You will also hand in a short (1 page) response to the book that explains whether or not you found the ending satisfying.

Book list:

Non-Fiction

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down-Anne Fadiman

Random Family- Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Devil’s Highway- Luis Alberto Urrea

Mountains Beyond Mountains-Tracy Kidder

 Woman Warrior- Maxine Hong Kingston

 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks-Rebecca Skloot

 Whatever it Takes- Paul Tough

 Lakota Woman- Mary Crow Dog

 Fiction

So Far From God-Ana Castillo

 Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston

 A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry

 Americanah- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver  

The Known World- Edward P. Jones  

The Round House- Louise Erdrich

100 Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez