Unit Two: Obstacles
1. Essential Questions
As we explore our own struggles and life obstacles through writing the personal statement, we will also grapple with these same themes by reading and writing poetry and by exploring the drama of our own lives as well as in the play Fences by August Wilson.
Essential Questions we will explore though reading, writing, listening and speaking will be:
Essential Questions we will explore though reading, writing, listening and speaking will be:
- Is it possible to live without obstacles?
- During moments of struggle, how can we make choices that enrich our identity?
- What are ways we can persevere through the hard times to achieve an outcome better than when we started?
Final Essay and Discussion Wrap Up
the_ground_which_we_stand_fences_.docx | |
File Size: | 142 kb |
File Type: | docx |
2. Read Fences by August Wilson
As you read Fences for the week use this annotation guide to help you build your close reading skills. On this annotation guide is also a reading and annotation schedule for the week.
3. Fences Literature Circle work
Expert Groups:
1. Start off by looking up the denotative meaning of the words “home” and “fences” and brainstorming a web of literal ways in which each of the the terms is used.
2. Then, collect notes to share later in "teaching" groups either in list or web form from all of ACT I/II on your assigned topic.
Group 1: Home in the literal sense.
Group 2: Home as it is used in baseball.
Group 3: Fences in the literal sense.
Group 4: Fences in baseball.
1. Start off by looking up the denotative meaning of the words “home” and “fences” and brainstorming a web of literal ways in which each of the the terms is used.
2. Then, collect notes to share later in "teaching" groups either in list or web form from all of ACT I/II on your assigned topic.
Group 1: Home in the literal sense.
Group 2: Home as it is used in baseball.
Group 3: Fences in the literal sense.
Group 4: Fences in baseball.
Assignment for Scene Skits
You will be performing a section of the play. The guidelines follows:
Preparation
***Try using padlet.com to collaborate with your group on the visual. Share the link with me via Edmodo to share with the class after your performance. After you finish creating it, make sure to lock it.
Performance
You will be performing a section of the play. The guidelines follows:
Preparation
- Choose a two-minute part in the scene that holds a significant example of a literary device in action (tone, characterization, personification, allusion, diction, etc.) This scene also must represent all the roles in your designated scene.
- Close reading- Do a close reading analysis of your scene: take notes on major literary devices, historical allusions (Negro Baseball League, Bessie Smith/ Ma Rainey- blues, institutional racism and others). You will have to do some research for this.
- Literary Criticism- Read and take notes on significant portions of the two works of literary criticism posted here that are evidence for your group's thinking about the function of the allusion, meaning or author’s style.
***Try using padlet.com to collaborate with your group on the visual. Share the link with me via Edmodo to share with the class after your performance. After you finish creating it, make sure to lock it.
Performance
- Give a brief explanation on why you picked that part of the scene (see above guidelines)
- Act it out, you have 2 minutes to perform your skit. Your scene should be partially memorized.
- Share your visual paragraph according to the guidelines above.
baseball_as_history_and_myth_in_august_wilsons_ | |
File Size: | 4563 kb |
File Type: | baseball as history and myth in august wilson's |
3. Write a Personal Statement
To prepare us for writing a personal statement we will brainstorm the specific details of our lives by writing the "Where I'm From" poem.
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UC PromptsPrompt #1 Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
Prompt #2 Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are? *** ***Following the personal statement, there’s a section called Additional Comments. Use this space — up to 550 words — to tell us anything you want us to know about you that you don’t have the opportunity to describe elsewhere in the application. |
Common App Prompts
- Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
- Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
- Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
- Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
- Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.