ALL PERIODS: 07/02/2012

Great work today! You all succeeded in having your first analytical fishbowl! I know how awkward they can be but you all did amazing!

Dancing Definitions: 


Gumption (adj.): guts and spunk
Commiserate (v.): to pity or sympathize

Homework:

- Read Chapters 10, 11, 12 (awesome chapters!)
- 6 annotations
- Studying for vocab quiz
- Begin High School Assignment*


*9th Grade High School Assignment


This assignment(s) is meant to prepare you for high school level assignments! Both in content and length.
You need to budget your time to do your high school assignment well along with our other work in class.
You can do this!
Below is the 9th Grade High School Assignment description we passed out in class:
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9^th Grade English High School Assignment: Due Friday, July 13^th

Transitioning from middle school to high school necessitates a distinct adjustment period. In an effort to help you get a sense of this transition, we are assigning you a typical high school length assignment– in addition to your regular homework.

To begin to answer our guiding questions of ‘What is American Literature?’ and ‘Why is American Literature significant?’ we want to give you guys a two week, long term project to get some serious thoughts and opinions on these two questions. Though each assignment has its set of guidelines, each assignment should be focusing on how to answer the two guiding questions.

To achieve this, you must complete two parts.

Part A) Structured Assignment: What is American Literature?

A two page, 12pt, Times New Roman font, on:

What is your definition of American Literature? This definition should be based on your opinions and thoughts so far on the text as well as what we have discussed in class. The next part of this paper is: How does Their Eyes Were Watching God fit into your definition of American Literature? Use specific examples of themes and symbols from TEWWG to support your definition.

Part B) Creative Assignment: Why is American Literature significant?

With your definition of ‘what is American Literature?’ clear and definite, use one of the three creative assignments to explain why is American Literature significant? Again, using themes, examples, and characters from TEWWG prove why American Literature is significant through one of the creative assignments below:

1) For the spoken word/poetry enthusiasts – Choose a character from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and write a poem/spoken word piece to another character in the novel (from your original character). For example, if I chose Tea Cake, I might write a piece to Janie. Ensure that when you’re writing your piece, you’re writing it as if you were the character you choose. So with this example, I’d be writing as if I were Tea Cake writing to Janie.

2) For the creative writers and storytellers – Create another chapter for the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. The chapter can come before or after any of the chapters we’ve read. For example, I might write a new chapter 12 (to replace the one we read) or I might write a chapter that comes after chapter 16 (the last chapter we’ve read so far). Or you can write your own ending to the novel etc. Get creative with it. You could even choose to write a “modern day” version of one of the chapters in the book. Your only rules are that you maintain the original characters in the novel.

3) For the artists  – Create an art piece representative of your favorite component of the novel. Imagine your work will be displayed in a museum in Eatonville celebrating Zora Neale Hurston – in other words, ensure your work has work put into it. If you choose this option – your piece must be on poster board of some kind. Please talk with Carolyn or Julian if you need help getting a poster board or if you have some burning reason you’d like to use something else. You can use paint, markers, materials or anything you like. Your piece should be accompanied by an artist’s description of your work. i.e. a paragraph explaining why you created the piece and what it represents to you.

*Because of the time we are allotting you, your work needs to be nearly perfect! We will be able to tell right away if you did your assignments the night before! Please put in the effort to make these assignments as awesome as we know they can be! They maybe used in Celebration! preshow!!!

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Thanks so much!!!