GROUP WORK:  All members of your group must be actively involved in  the design and construction of  the mandala or the graphic essay and writing and finding  evidence for your essay. 

GRAPHIC:  Your group will construct either a mandala and group essay or a graphic essay.

mandala and group essay: Your Mandala should show the character change in a chosen character throughout the book.
            1.  As a group, choose the character you want to study.

            2.  Each member of the group will choose two qualities to chart.

            3.  As you progress through your reading of the book, construct a chart with the name of your character, the qualities you are charting, a  mandala-type symbol for each quality, and the reason you selected that symbol.  After you have finished the book, if you see that the character has changed, draw a symbol for each quality at the end of the book and explain your  symbol.

            4.  When we finish the novel, each group will draw a completely symbolic graphic (mandala ) of their character.  You may use as many symbols as you choose, but you must use at least one symbol from each      member of your group.  Use Sun images to represent the character      early in the book and Shadow images to represent the character later or     at the end of the book.

            5.  All elements of the graphic - shape, colors, texture - should relate specifically to your interpretation of the character.

ESSAY:  Based on what you have learned from yor mandala, write a group essay explaining how your character has changed and grown over the course of the novel.  You must use evidence and             quotations from the novel to support your thesis.  You must give page numbers in parentheses for quoted material.  

Or

Graphic Essay:

Your group will create a graphic essay that provides a visual analysis – using symbols, images, colors and text – of one aspect of your novel. You will present your final project to the classmates.

A graphic map is defined as a visual project (two- or three-dimensional) that combines color, symbol and words to make a unified statement. The aim of this project is to help you synthesize and organize many details from the text, connecting them and making sense of them.

In this particular graphic essay, you will demonstrate your understanding of the major themes and relationships within the novel, backing up your knowledge with examples from the text.

REQUIREMENTS:
1.  Use a combination of color, symbol and words to convey your message. You may draw, but do not use clip art or cut out pictures.  This is not a collage.

2.  Use color in a meaningful way; remember that color can be used symbolically and/or as a way to organize your graphic's various elements.

3.  Select a unifying symbol or symbols. Symbols are not necessarily artistic. Shapes, colors, sizes, natural objects, etc. can all be symbols (such as  a crown for a king). On occasion, words can also be used as symbols.

4.  You must include extual evidence on the graphic: quotations and/or references to specific events in the Novel to back up your images

5.  AND you must include a text commentary that explains why you chose certain elements for each quotation or selection of evidence. That means you must include a statement that tells why a certain quote or image was included in the graphic

6.  All of the images and text selections, with commentary, should work together to support one main THESIS STATEMENT, which must be placed on the graphic to clearly identify the idea you are exploring

7.  Integrate your colors, symbol(s) and words to form a pleasing and logical design.

* You will work on this project with your group.  Each member is responsible for two graphics, two quotations, and two text sections. You will present your project to the class, and we will scan your projects to your web site.

INDIVIDUAL:

            1.  Choose a passage in which the language and images particularly strike you.  Convert this prose passage into a poem by deleting words and playing with line breaks. (See accompanying model)

            2.  After you write your poem, you will write your paralog.  See Daybook For Critical Reading and Writing by Fran Claggert, Louann Reid, and Ruth Vinz,  Page 201.   (See accompanying model)

  MODEL POEM

(Based on vivid description of Rawlin’s and John Grady’s departure into the night at the start of their journey on page 30)

They rode along the fence-line
 Across the open pastureland
Leather creaked,
Horses loped,
Lights fell away.
Stars swarmed around them

 Out of the blackness.
  A bell tolled where no bell was.
  The round Dais of the earth                         
Bore them up into the swarming stars.
 They rode not under but among them,
 Jaunty, circumspect,
 Like thieves newly loosed
 In that dark electric,
 Ten thousand worlds for the choosing.

PARALOG

(Words from the poem are underlined)

                        They rode along the highway,

                        Across the darkened prairie.

                        Tires hummed,

                        Metal pinged.

                        Lights led the way.

                        Stars swarmed above them

                        Lighting the blackness.

                        A horn blared where no horn should be.

                        The straight ribbon of the highway,

                        Bore them toward the curve of the horizon.

                        They rode not on it but above it,

                        Jaunty, confident,

                        Like falcons soaring free

                        In that dark night.

                        Ten thousand roads for their choosing.  

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