Every student should complete the 3 required assignments by the specified due dates. No late work will be accepted.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
AND view the film:
Hotel Rwanda (2004: Rated PG-13: starring Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo)
Reading Assignment #1: Annotation in A Long Way Gone
30 pt.
Directions: Annotate 3 chapters (you choose) of A Long Way Gone. You should mark and label at least 10 examples of literary terms (see list below) in each chapter, and you should not use a term more than twice in a chapter.
Literary Terms:
simile
metaphor
hyperbole
understatement
allusion
symbol
irony
motif
personification
theme
paradox
apostrophe
epithet
antithesis
oxymoron
onomatopoeia
epiphany
synecdoche /metonymy
foreshadowing
parallel structure
imagery (indicate the sense)
characterization
Please refer to http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/drama_glossary.html
If you need definitions and/or examples of the above literary terms.
Annotating or highlighting can be a record of a reader’s intellectual conversation with the text.
Annotating can help a serious reader to keep track of patterns, contrasts, plot events, and character
development. It can assist a student in studying for a test or writing a paper that requires the use of quotations to support ideas. From time to time in class you will be asked to submit your highlighted and annotated books as reading checks. Students who learn to highlight and annotate become active readers and recursive thinkers who notice patterns, symbolic elements, and contrasts almost effortlessly as they absorb the text.
Highlighting and annotating a text is like having a conversation with a book—it allows the active reader to
ask questions, comment on meaning, and mark events and passages he or she wants to revisit later. The
annotation of a text can take place during a reading, a lecture, or a discussion that is focused on a certain poem or passage. The advantage of marking the actual text is obvious—you will never lose your notes and your thoughts will be readily available.
· Students, then, should learn how to mark, highlight, and annotate a text to discern patterns, contrasts, and relationships. When readers first begin to highlight and annotate in order to organize their understanding of a text, they may wish to begin by following these simple guidelines.
· Make brief notes at the top of the page or on a sticky note to mark important plot events.
· Circle or highlight words that are unfamiliar or unusual. Try to figure out what the words mean
through the way they are used; supplement your guesses by discussing the words with a parent or
teacher, or by consulting a dictionary.
· When new characters are introduced highlight phrases that describe them.
· Highlight words, images, and details that seem to form a pattern throughout the text. For example,
clocks, windows, plants, flowers, if used in a recurring pattern indicate a thematic idea. Highlight these related strands and observe the rest of the text closely to see if the author uses other linked words, images or details.
· Highlight passages you think may be symbolic.
· Mark key ideas and note briefly your reflections about them.
· Highlight passages in which figurative language appears.
· Mark the syntax, or sentence structure such as long, short, medium, and comment on its effect. As a rule, the shorter the sentence is, the more dramatic the effect.
When you get an idea while reading the text, note it in a brief form in the margin. You may never think of this idea again unless you write it down.
· If you have a question about something in the book, passage or poem, write it on the page when it first occurred to you.
· Use parentheses, brackets, checks, stars, bullets, or asterisks to mark very important items or things you want to come back to later. Simply highlighting or underlining text without accompanying commentary is meaningless.
· Don’t mark too much. If you mark everything, nothing will stand out.
Reading Assignment #2: Theme in Hotel Rwanda and A Long Way Gone
25 pt. Daily Grade (due on the 2nd class period)
Directions: After you have thoroughly read A Long Way Gone, view the film Hotel Rwanda. Complete the
following questions in detail. Be prepared to discuss these questions in class, as they will form the basis for our first Major Grade of the semester. Feel free to use another sheet of paper if you need more space.
Chart #1
A Long Way Gone explores the disastrous effects of violence (physical, psychological, and social) on the human spirit. Use the chart below to discuss 5 examples of violence (and its’ effects) in the book. Then, discuss how this theme proves true in the film Hotel Rwanda. Use specific details (and at least 5 examples)!
A Long Way Gone:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Hotel Rwanda:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Chart #2
A Long Way Gone explores the theme that a committed person can survive despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Compare the ways in which Ishmael Beah (A Long Way Gone) and Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Rwanda) exemplify this theme in their respective lives. In the chart below, identify 5 specific examples for each man.
Use concrete details--“Ishmael Beah survives a civil war” is NOT specific! Use correct MLA citations for all
examples taken from A Long Way Gone.
Ishmael Beah:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Paul Rusesabagina:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Reading Assignment #3: Images
Use the internet to research images that reflect the characters, setting, conflict, and theme of A Long
Way Gone. You should find 10 images. You may not use images from any of the book covers. You
must save all of your images with full source citations (see the MLA style guide at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ for complete citation information).
Be prepared to explain how each image directly reflects
ovel. You do not need to bring these images to school on the first day of class, but be prepared to
use them for an assignment.