All Souls/The Color of Water Themeexploration Activity and Essay

All Souls/The Color of Water ThemeExploration Activity and Essay

English IIIH

Introduction:

Step 1:

Over the next two to three class periods, your group will examine both summer reading memoirs (McDonald’s All Souls and McBride’s The Color of Water) through a specific assigned lens. In your discussion, do your best to concentrate primarily on how your topic influences important events, dialogue and setting. Discuss and take notes on how your topic:

…influences plot structure
…impacts the values, feelings, attitudes, goals of the characters
…reflects the historical context of the story
…shapes opportunities, advantages and disadvantages for specific characters
…fuels dialogue and reflection
…is revealed through language, symbolism, structure and imagery

Topics (“Lenses”):

Family Socioeconomic Class Gender Roles/Expectations Social or Cultural Tradition

Neighborhood/Community Education/Employment

Step 2:

Your group will create a large Venn diagram exhibiting your findings on easel paper. Similarities and differences between the memoirs studied through your lens will be represented in the circles and intersecting area, respectively. In your diagram, please include at least three textual supports (include page #s) per book in order to illustrate specific examples that reflect the importance of your topic. Please write neatly and clearly, as these will be displayed for class use in preparation for the essay.

Step 3:

Each group will present its diagram, explaining how its chosen excerpts illustrate the significance of its lens.. Please take notes during each presentation. At the conclusion of the presentations, an open-notes writing assessment will be given in class. Your thesis for this essay will require familiarity with all subtopics—not just your own!

Step 4: In Class Essay

After all groups have presented and you have had a chance to review the posted Venn diagrams, you will use your notes to prepare for an in class essay on the following prompt (you may bring your notes to class on the day of the essay).

Consider the six lenses presented in our presentations on Michael Patrick McDonald’sAll Souls and James McBride’s The Color of Water.. Although these topics or lenses may be considered separately, they clearly intertwine and often directly influence each other.

Choose TWO lenses, and write an organized, detailed four-paragraph essay in which you explore how they are connected. Remember to create a clear introduction and thesis which identify your choices. Also,support your claims with textual supports from both works, properly formatted and explained.