The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
Senior Summer Reading Assignment
1. Read The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates ACTIVELY! Make your thinking visible by
including notations that explain why you chose each of your selections.
Criteria for Success
Highlight at least two significant passages, lines or words per chapter.
Record your notes in the book’s margins, or on post-it notes. (If you use post-it notes, be sure to keep them on the appropriate pages in the book.)
Consider, but do not limit yourself to ideas related to these major THEMES: choices, opportunities, support, fate and the importance of education.
SUGGESTED SKILLS FOR ACTIVE READING: MAKE YOUR THINKING VISIBLE!
- Highlight a Passage: Highlight quotes, lines, words that you feel are powerful or important. Take notes explaining why you chose these lines.
- Important or confusing words: Highlight words that you feel are powerful or confusing and jot down a side note explaining why you highlighted it and possible meanings.
- Questions: Highlight areas that may be confusing or you want to know more about. Record questions in the side notes that you have about author’s intentions, things that are confusing; things that you want to know more about, motives,
intentions of people in the book…
- Connect: Highlight areas that you can make a connection with. Make a connection to the text. (Book to book, book to society, book to life, book to music, book to movie, book to history…) Take side notes on why or how you made this connection.
- Predict: Make a prediction and record it in the side notes. Highlight areas that support your prediction.
- Summarize: Summarize sections of the book that relate to a theme or are confusing. Highlight the area that you are summarizing.
2. Select one of the assignments outlined in the following pages. Refer to the specific assignment
for requirements.
OPTION 1:
THE INTERVIEW
Wes Moore allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about why people fail and succeed in life. By interviewing others and learning about their successes and or failures you can develop a clearer understanding of Wes’s messages and learn from others in your family and/or community.
Your task is to interview two-three (2-3) people and analyze data from your interviews in order to draw your own conclusions about why people succeed and/or fail in life.
What you should do:
Select two-three (2-3)people who have diverse experiences, ages, backgrounds, cultures.
Use the interview questions/worksheet found on the following page. You will need to make copies of the worksheet, or record the responses on a separate sheet of paper.
Submit worksheets for each of the interviews. In addition to the interview questions, write a 2-3 page reflection, explaining the conclusions you can draw about what is necessary to overcome adversity and achieve success in life. Use relevant examples from your interviews and from the text to support your findings.
Paper requirements are as follows: Double spaced, Times New Roman/Calibri, 12 point font, and one inch margins.
Include a cover page with the following information and in this format:
Your name
Ms. Perez
British Literature
August 25, 2015
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
UNDERSTANDING OTHERS: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Complete the following about the person you are interviewing:
Name: ______Age: ______Gender: ______
How do you know this person? ______
Highest Education Level: H.S. Diploma Bachelor’s Degree Master’s Degree Other: ______
Occupation:______Marital Status:______# of Children: ______
Race/Ethnicity: ______Religion: ______Country of Birth:______
Ancestors' Country of Birth: ______Languages Spoken: ______
1.What is your definition of the American Dream?
2. What is one major goal you have set for yourself to help you get closer to your dreams for the future?
3. How has it been difficult for you to achieve this goal? Why?
4. In what ways does our system (political/economic/educational) help make your goals easy to achieve?
5. What are/ were the expectations set for you by others growing up?
6. What expectations do you have for yourself?
7. How do you think your environment has helped or hindered you in achieving your goals?
8. How much do the characteristics you inherit play a role in achieving your goals?
9. Have you always held yourself accountable for your own choices and decisions? How does holding yourself accountable impact your actions/ choices differently than if you do not take responsibility for your actions/ choices?
10. If you knew then what you know now, what is one thing that you would have done differently in life?
OPTION 2:
A PAGE OUT OF YOUR OWN BOOK
Reflect on the themes in the book (choice, opportunity, support, fate, education) and how they relate to you.Imagine that you are writing a book about your own life. If someone flipped through your book and read a page out of it, what would it say?
Your task is to write a well- written page out of your own book depicting a moment in your life that connects with a major theme in the book using appropriate elements of writing.
Criteria for Success
You are required to use relevant details about a time in your life that connects with one of the major themes in the book.
Explain the lesson you learned looking back on that moment. Be sure that your voice and personality can be heard in your writing.
Use relevant language, dialogue, and point of view to make the page out of your book as realistic as possible. (Use Wes Moore’s writing style as a model)
Create a thoughtful title for your book and place it at the top of the page (NOT on the cover page).
Include a cover page with the following information and in this format:
Your name
Ms. Perez
British Literature
August 25, 2015
Minimum of one full page typed (single spaced) or two full pages (double-spaced), Times New Roman/Calibri, 12 point font, and one inch margins.
The more creative… the better!!!
OPTION 3:
PERSONAL REFLECTION
The first chapters of The Other Wes Moore focus on themes of identity, decisions, and growth. We follow the two Wes’ experiences and early childhood. As you read this novel, consider your own identity, growth, and evolution. Begin by reflecting on significant events in your life—first day of high school, first crush/love, or something either joyful or traumatic that you have experienced. Make a note of the prompts below and then list events in the order they come to you—sometimes the first moment you think of will make for the best essay, even if it seems insignificant to you.
Your task is to write about an experience in your life that shaped your identity, a moment or an
event that helped make you into the person you are today. Use detail to describe the particular
experience or moment. As you write, try to focus on the specific qualities and characteristics that emerged as a result of this experience.
Use these questions as guidelines:
- How did you feel before that moment? After?
- How did the experience shape you?
- Who were you before the experience?
- Who did you become after the experience?
- The poem on page 183 states, “I am the master of my fate/ I am the captain of my soul”. Do you believe this to be true? Or is fate sometimes out of our hands?
- Reflecting on the lessons learned in this story about choices and their impacts, as well as one’s environment, are we “products of our environments”?
Criteria for Success
Include a cover page with the following information and in this format:
Your name
Ms. Perez
British Literature
August 25, 2015
Paper requirements are as follows: 2-3 pages, typed, double spaced, Times New Roman/Calibri, 12 point font, and one inch margins.