Short+Literature

Essential Questions //How does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?// //How does the use of figurative language and rhetorical devices work to create author purpose?// //How do we define our individual identities?// //What things influence the way we perceive the world around us and the way the world perceives us?// //What is integrity and how is it exhibited?//

Short Literature Projects We are going to be reading literature based on the three themes we discussed on the first day of school: identity, perception , and integrity. For each theme, you will read one essay and two poems. You are tasked with the following:

1. Reading the literature for each theme. 2. Completing a SOAPS for each piece of literature. 3. Explicating each piece of literature for elements. 4. Answering online comprehension questions. 5. Juxtaposing the three pieces of literature within each theme.

// Read below for complete descriptions of each activity. //


 * 1. Reading the literature, using your active reading symbols. **
 * Identity: “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, and “Maybe Dat’s Your Pwoblem Too” by James Hall [[file:IDlit2011.doc]]
 * Perception: “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self” by Alice Walker, “Suicide Note” by Janice Mirkitani, and “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks [[file:perceptionlit2011.doc]]
 * Integrity: “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard, excerpts I and II from “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman, and “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas [[file:Integritylit2011.doc]]

"Suicide Note" explication: **2. Complete a SOAPS for each piece of literature.**
 * After reading the literature, either together or independently, you should discuss it. Use the SOAPS reading strategy to guide your discussion: Who is the speaker and what do we know about him/her? What is the occasion that is making the speaker write? the setting of the story? Who is the audience the speaker hopes to reach? What is the speaker’s purpose? What subject is s/he speaking about? What is the tone/attitude toward that subject? What is the style (think literary elements!) used to create the purpose?
 * Go here for a visual explanation.
 * [[file:blanksoap.pages]]

**3. Explicate for elements.**
 * After downloading the literature and completing the SOAPS, you will go through and highlight the literary elements. After you highlight, insert a comment and identify what the element is.
 * Download the following instructions for how to do this:
 * [[file:wordcomments.pdf]]

**4. Answer online comprehension questions.**
 * Go to the links below for each theme and answer the questions. You should discuss them first and use evidence from the text to support your answers.
 * Identity Literature Questions
 * Perception Literature Questions
 * Integrity Literature Questions

**5. Juxtapose the three pieces of literature to illustrate their commonalities and their differences.**
 * You want to point out how each of the three pieces of literature stands alone as well as how they relate to each other. What is unique about each piece? What do they have in common with one or the other piece? What do all three have in common?
 * You can use the venn diagram provided or you can create your own method: poster, powerpoint/keynote/prezi, etc.
 * [[file:IDENTITYLITVENN.isf]]
 * [[file:PERCEPTIONLITVENN.isf]]
 * [[file:INTEGRITYLITVENN.isf]]