Creation Myths Group Project

We will be working on the project below over the next couple of days.  Please use your class time wisely.  I expect you to get as much done as possible before we go on break.  The due date will be announced in class.

World Mythology:  An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics (25 Points)

You are going to be the teacher of one of the creation myths listed below.  You will be responsible for presenting a chosen myth to a small group of students.  The group members have not read your myth.  Therefore, you are the expert on your chosen myth.  Provide them with the significant characters, details, etc. that are important to the understanding of your creation myth.  Be creative!

The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe (India) Pages 291-295

The Creation of the Universe and Human Beings (China) Pages 324-329

The Creation Cycle (New Zealand – Polynesia/Maori) Pages 351-359

The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe (Northern Europe) Pages 459-466

The Creation of the Universe and Ife (Nigeria—Yoruba) Pages 509-514

The Origin of Life and Fire (Zaire-Boshongo/Bakuba) Pages 515-517

The Creation (Guatemala—Maya) Pages 595-599

1.  Create a Brochure/Newsletter for your presentation.  The brochure/newsletter should contain the following:

• The newsletter title or the opening page of your brochure should have the title of the myth and your name, date, and period

• Provide information to the students pertaining to the Historical Background and Appeal and Value sections before presenting your myth

• Provide a map showing the location from where the myth originated

• Provide a list of the main characters in your myth (if possible)

• Provide the important events/details of your myth – What do we learn?

• Provide the Questions for Response, Discussion, and Analysis from the end of the myth and a response for each.  You only have to pick three questions to answer.

The brochure/newsletter should be visually appealing and informative.

2.  Create a comic strip recapping the major events of your myth and provide the important characters, too.  This can be a part of your brochure/newsletter – you may have to draw it by hand after you finish the rest of the brochure.  If you don’t like this idea – you may create a 6 panel comic strip on a separate piece of paper. 

The House on Mango Street

UPDATE:  FINAL VIGNETTE PROJECT IS DUE ON TUESDAY, MARCH 27.  A LETTER GRADE PENALTY WILL BE GIVEN IF HANDED IN ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28.  A TWO  LETTER GRADE PENALTY WILL BE GIVEN IF HANDED IN ON THURSDAY, MARCH 29.  I WILL NOT ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT AFTER THAT DATE.

 

The House on Mango Street Project (55 Points)                              

Sandra Cisneros uses vignettes to describe, share, and reveal various aspects of the life of Esperanza.  In doing so, she also incorporates various poetic devices and figurative language throughout these pieces to paint a vivid picture for her audience.  Using The House on Mango Street as a model, write your own vignettes by doing “copy changes.”  To “copy change” means to write your own vignettes following the structure and style of one that already exists.  It is similar to taking a song, keeping the same music, but rewriting the lyrics.  Therefore, keep the sentence structure of Cisneros, while changing the words to make it your own.  The procedure and vignette topics are listed below. 

• Each vignette will have a title.
• Each vignette will have at least two examples of figurative language (similes, metaphors, imagery, personification, etc.).
• Each example of figurative language must stand out in the typed vignette – you may bold them, underline them, put in italics, etc. (be consistent throughout)
• You may substitute an example of figurative language by including internal rhyme, end rhymes, and near rhymes sporadically throughout the different vignettes – “Lazy Poetry.”
• Each vignette will be typed – use appropriate font style, size, and color.
• Each vignette will be visually appealing – borders, watermarks, clip art, and/or own artistic abilities may be used.
• All vignettes will be placed in order and compiled into a short booklet with a visually appealing cover – The title page will include The House on [insert your street name], your name, class, and date.

House Vignette

“The House on Mango Street”

Pages 3-5

Create your own “The House on Mango Street” vignette.  It will be called “The House on [insert your street name here].”

Using the questions below, make a list of details to include in your vignette.  Focus on the importance of the details – the feelings they evoke, the stories associated with them, and their history.  Once you are satisfied with your list, you’ll be ready to write your vignette. 

What does it look like?  What colors stand out? How big or small are surrounding buildings, plants, fields, and/or yards? How wide are the streets? What is the house like inside?

How does your house make you feel? What sounds are found in your house?  Who or what makes these sounds? Any other important details?

Family Vignette

“Hairs”

Page 6

What metaphor could you use to describe your family?  Could it be the style of jeans they wear?  What about their eyes?  Pay attention to Cisneros’s style.  Who does she devote an entire paragraph to?  Why?  Who would you devote an entire paragraph to?  Write this vignette in Cisneros’s style.

Name Vignette

“My Name”

Page 10

Section 1 sets the mood with sensory details.  What does your name mean in English?   What emotion, action, and number does your name represent?  What color describes your name?  What sound?  How does it look?  What type of song or music is your name?

Section 2 is the story behind the name.  Who were you named after?  Describe this person?  If you were not named after someone, tell the story behind your chosen name?  Notice how this is the first time the name is mentioned. 

Section 3 shares a school story.  Do teachers say your name wrong?  What school activities does your name mean?  What does your name mean to your friends?  This section is to show me the type of person you are now.  You could include nicknames in this section, too.

Section 4 enables you to rename yourself.  Follow the format of the last paragraph.  What would you rather be called?  Why? 

Neighborhood Vignette

“Those Who Don’t”

Page 28

Why are people that are not from your neighborhood/hometown afraid of it?  How do you react going in a town you are not familiar with, especially in a city area?  Why do you feel safe in your neighborhood/hometown?  Try to create a short but effective neighborhood vignette mimicking Cisneros’s style.

It would be acceptable to mimic the style of a different neighbor/neighborhood vignette in place of “Those Who Don’t.”  We will discuss these other options during our class discussion on Esperanza’s neighborhood.

Dream House Vignette

“A House of My Own”

Page 108

Attempt to follow Cisneros’s style in this vignette.  She has a very short but very effective vignette.  You may simply want to take the template below to create this vignette or go on your own.  However, if you go on your own, it is not to be long and wordy.  The specific requirements will be given when we read “A House of My Own” together.

Not a ______.  Not a _______.  Not a _________.  A House all of my own.  With my ______, my _______, my _______.  My ________ and my ________.  Nobody to _______.  Nobody’s __________.

Only a house (simile) _________ as ________, a ______ for me to go, (simile) ______ as _________.

Romeo and Juliet & Julius Caesar

The Shakespeare background quiz has been moved to Wednesday, February 15. All notes, handouts, the webquest, and the PowerPoint handout should be reviewed before Wednesday.

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Please review the February calendar given in class for the reading due dates and written assignments for Julius Caesar. Update:  The final two acts of Julius Caesar are due on Friday, February 24 instead of Thursday, February 23. We will discuss the final two acts (bring discussion questions) on Monday, February 27.  The end quiz on Julius Caesar will be on Tuesday, February 28. 

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Review the assignment below for the writing log for Romeo and Juliet. The due date for the assignment is on the February calendar. Update:  This writing assignment is due on Wednesday, March 7. 

Romeo and Juliet Writing Prompt

Compose a well-developed essay to the writing prompt below.  Your log should include a strong thesis statement in the opening paragraph and specific support from the text of the play (including at least three direct quotations).  It should be approximate 2-3 pages in length.  Use the proper MLA heading and internal documentation format for this formal log entry.  All formal thesis paper rules apply.  You will print out a copy of this and also upload it to www.turnitin.com.

Your Name

My Name

9 Honors English

Due Date (Day Month Year)

Title

Internal Documentation for a play:             (Shakespeare Act. Scene. Line)

WRITING PROMPT:

DISCUSS THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN IN ROMEO AND JULIET.  HOW DO ROMEO AND JULIET INTERACT WITH THEIR PARENTS?  ARE THEY REBELLIOUS, IN THE MODERN SENSE?  HOW DO THEIR PARENTS FEEL ABOUT THEM? CONSIDER ISSUES SUCH AS COMMUNICATION, TRUST, CONFLICT, AND ADVICE.  EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE WITH YOUR PARENTS BY COMPARING IT TO THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN IN ROMEO AND JULIET.

I will be grading you on the following:

• Strength of thesis statement and introduction
• Body paragraphs contain specific, convincing, & well-organized support; direct quotations are carefully chosen and effectively incorporated
• Essay includes vivid vocabulary and a variety of sentence structures (diction and syntax)
• Overall mechanics (no you, no fragments or run-ons, no contractions or informal language) and style           

The proper use of I 

Poem Assignment

Due Date:  Monday, February 6

Create your own “point of view” poem that gives the reader the perspective of a character from The Odyssey.  You must put yourself in the shoes of the character and portray what their life might be like based on what you have learned about them or portray they way you believe they see our hero, Odysseus. Choose from one of the following characters: 

·         Kalypso

·         Ino

·         A Crew Member to Odysseus

·         kikones

·         Kirke

·         Poseidon

·         Aiolos, the god of the wind

·         Telemakhos

The poem can be free verse or poetic style.  However, it should only be 10-15 lines in length. 

Shakespeare Unit

We will begin Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar at the beginning of February.  I will be giving you a calendar for the reading due dates.  Please keep up with weekly reading assignments.  You will also be required to write a log entry for Romeo and Juliet.  This assignment will be given in class and a due date will be set.  You will also be having an end test on both works.  The test(s) will consist of essay questions, multiple choice questions, passage identification, and also matching section.  The following websites will be used for the in-class webquest on Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar :

http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/

http://www.renfaire.com/   

http://elizabethan.org 

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/elizabethan-theatre-facts.htm

http://www.edu.pe.ca/threeoaks/english/webquests/caesar/webques.htm



  

The Odyssey and Exam Review

The next few weeks before mid-term exams will be devoted to reading and discussing The Odyssey.

Exam Review is listed below:
Section I: Matching (20 Points)
This section will include literary terms; vocabulary terms; authors and their works; authors and their contributions to literature, drama and poetry; and literary movements. You should study your notes, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations. The following terms/people should be studied, as well as all of the other items found in your notes, handouts, and PowerPoints: Simile, Metaphor, Apostrophe, Assonance, Alliteration, Consonance, internal rhyme, Magical Realism, Xenia, Epic and Characteristics of an Epic, Epic Hero, Invocation to the Muse of Poetry, Epithet, Epic Similes, Formal Rhetoric, “In Medias Res,” Dramatic Irony, Theatron, Orchestra, Skene, Parados, Dionysus, Oracle, Strophe & Antistrophe, Tragedy, Greek Masks, Thespis, and Aeschylus.  
Section II: Short Essay (10 Points)
A. Review all of the background information on the authors you have been exposed to throughout the first semester. Review the time period in which each author lived and study the contributions these authors have made to literature, poetry, or drama. The authors we have studied include: Paulo Coelho, Homer, Sophocles, Yasmina Khadra, Erich Maria Remarque, and Daoud Hari.
B. Understand the significance of the titles of each of the works you have been exposed to throughout the first semester: The Alchemist, All Quiet on the Western Front, or The Swallows of Kabul/The Sirens of Baghdad/The Attack.  
Section III: Formal Essay (70 Points)
For this section, you will be creating a thesis statement and defending it based on the novels we have used during the second marking period: The Alchemist, Oedipus, Antigone, Minority Report, and The Odyssey. All formal thesis paper rules apply and MLA documentation formatting is to be followed. In order to be prepared for this section, please read David Ewing Duncan’s article “DNA as Destiny.”

*Helpful hints for studying: Review all notes, old tests and quizzes, logs and writing assignments. Refresh your memory of the main characters, settings, themes, topics of discussion, etc. for each work. The works we have covered during the first semester include the following: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Odyssey by Homer, Oedipus &Antigone by Sophocles, Minority Report directed by Steven Spielberg, Yasmina Khadra novel, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, A Midnight Clear directed by Keith Gordon, and The Translator by Daoud Hari.

Have a great summer!