Course Assignments
Projects (20%)
Research Project- Students will work in groups of 2-4. You will pick a topic from the list below. You will do research on it and present your findings to the class. Additionally, you will need to explain how your research might impact your understanding of the topic and how the topic impacts the future, etc. The goal of these is for the class to gain some basic background information on a variety of topics in the past that come up in the texts we read. Basic understanding of these topics is essential to think about how they impact our view of the past and future.
Possible topics: Slave trade, Court cases, Eugenics, Tuskegee experiments
Project after reading Water Dancer- Being inspired on the text, think about your own family history. Do some interviews with people in your family to identify some important events that have shaped your family. Create a multi genre project about your findings and your analysis of the events. How have they shaped your personal future? The future of your family? How have those events impacted events in your personal life in a way that has impacted your growing up? Consider what genres will be most effective with the stories you are telling. You can consider photographs, other images, poems, journaling, or others.
Papers (25%)
Literary elements papers (2 papers total)- Beginning with Parable of the Sower, you will find literary elements, write about what they mean in the text, and about futurism. You will pick a few examples from the text to analyze in depth. After reading Things Fall Apart, you will add on to your initial paper using examples from Things Fall Apart. You will find similar examples (maybe similar devices, like similes, or devices that do similar things for the reader, however you chose to make connections). You will make connections between these literary elements and how readers understand futurism.
Imagination Gap paper- After reading Children of Blood and Bone, you will begin to dig into the idea of the imagination gap. You will find some examples of other media (television shows, books, movies, etc.) that are not diverse and that only give a single story. Write about how this impacts the imagination of children and young people. Compare it with Children of Blood and Bone and/or other texts we’ve read. How does reading books with more than one story, with diverse characters, help to inform the imagination? Why might this be important to children and young people? This will be an exploratory essay that traces your understanding of the topic. Don’t feel that you need to be an expert or come to many final conclusions.
Creative paper- After reading Flight, rewrite a historical event in the future. You can pick any historical topic you’d like. You can use actual people and change them as necessary and/or make new characters. The event should remain the same enough to decipher what is it, but get creative with it.
Final project (35%)
Connect the texts to issues today. You will work in groups to first identify an issue from one of the texts we’ve read. For example, climate change is an issue in Parable of the Sower. You might find a group that works to stop climate change. Or, domestic violence is an issue is Lagoon. You might find a group that works with victims of domestic violence. With your group, you will find out more about the group, formally ask to meet with someone from the group, then meet with them to get information that will help us learn ways we can get involved. Individual students will then create a proposal for themselves to get involved, a plan of action, try to get involved, then reflect on it
Class discussions (10%)
Be prepared to actively engage in discussions and activities regarding the readings each class.