Bean Trees Projects and Reading

AGENDA:

Work on Bean Trees projects for Thursday presentation.

READING:  Try to finish The Bean Trees for next Mon. TEST on whole book!
For today, make sure you have read up to pg. 160.

Bean Trees Project

AGENDA:

Quiz Ch. 6 and 7

Work on Group Projects

HOMEWORK:  Read Ch. 8 and 9, to pg. 140

Young Arts Competition

http://www.youngarts.org/writing

Bean Trees Synthesis Project

Synthesis Project

Start working on your synthesis project and continue reading The Bean Trees

The Bean Trees – Synthesis Presentation

                                                                                                                                       

Look over previous post and be sure to answer questions 1-17.  Read CHAPTERS 6 AND 7

Task:  To portray your understanding of Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees in an original way, through a presentation to the class.

Requirements:

• This is an open project.  Be creative and have fun!  Select a medium of presentation that will highlight your unique insights about some aspect of the novel.
• The more creative the presentation, the better!
• Your presentation should take no more that 10 minutes and MUST include your visual aid (video, photographs, PowerPoint, 3-D Objects, etc.)
• You will only turn in the visual – no other work will be collected!
• You may choose to work alone, or with a maximum of two other students.

Grading:

• Your presentation will be scored according to the effectiveness of the following:
• Use of time (10 minutes) and the oral presentation of your material
• Visual Aid
• Effort and Polish
• Originality and creativity
• Insights, depth of understanding, and grasp of the novel.

Ideas/Suggestions/Hints:

The ideas below are just suggestions!  Please feel free to select a method of presentation that excites you.  The assignment was designed to offer you the freedom of choice – it’s a student-driven presentation – HAVE FUN!

·         ABC’s of Parenting – Friendship Handbook

• A how-to handbook for parents and/or friends based upon you own advice.  You may also incorporate the advice of the protagonists in the novel.  Maybe incorporate quotations, create “pictures” from the novel, advice from your parents, grandparents.  Create your own handbook.

·         A Symbolic Travel Brochure

• Show Taylor’s metaphoric journey (development) from the time that she leaves Kentucky to the end of the novel.  Do as a storyboard with symbolic visual.  Possibly a shoebox with items that reflect her growth.  Show her transformation and include quotations.

·         A Character Journal or Memory Book

• Select a character and include artifacts, memories, pictures, photographs, quotations, anecdotes to reflect the character’s “life” in the book.  For example, what would Lou Ann or Taylor put in their memory book?

·         A CD of Songs/DVD/PowerPoint

• Put some pictures to music that correspond to the themes, characters, action, allusions to the novel.  Which songs best reflect the meaning of the novel?

·         A Children’s Book

• Create your own picture book for children based upon the ideas, character, and events in the novel.

·         A Puppet Theatre/Skit/Video/Interview:

• Re-create a scene and/or show characters in a skit or interview them to reflect their personalities, motives, development, etc.  Use lines from the novel, etc.

·         A Photographic/Picture Essay

• Create a book of photos, pictures with one quotation form each chapter, centered on a single theme to read to the class.  Include and introduction and a conclusion with a picture.  The quotations “comment” on the picture, and vice-versa.

·         A 3-D Symbolic representation or model:

• Include quotation, pictures, artifacts, etc. to highlight a big idea/concern in the novel.

·         A Controversial Issue Speech/Research Speech/Create a Debate Scenario:

• Make a speech presenting your point of view and research on one of the major controversial issues that were introduced in the novel.  (adoption, teen pregnancy, immigration laws, single parenting, Indian reservation, feminism, hardships of being disabled, homelessness, child abuse, etc.)

·         A Stunning Mural:

• Create a mural that wows the audience with its impact!  Include poetry, quotations, pictures, images, symbols, characters, illustration, etc. that reveal your phenomenal insight about the novel.

·         The impact of Advertising/Propaganda:

• Show the impact of advertising on society by including pictures (make a movie?) to show the effects of advertising and slogans.  How are people manipulated by signs/commercial, etc?  Connect those in our society to the advertising in the novel.  Why are we so susceptible to propaganda?

·         Mini Newspaper/Magazine:

• Write articles, advice columns, etc. to share with the class, incorporate the ideas, events, action from the novel.  Editorials?  Ads?  Feature Article?  Investigative Report?

·         Dictionary of Idioms/Slang/Literary Terms:

• Create a dictionary – the ABC’s of Taylor’s world?  Included pictures, quotations, etc. to show the language (regional) of the novel and idiosyncrasies.  Feel free to include the allusions that Kingsolver used throughout the novel.

These are only suggestions, what ideas have you come up with?

Barbara Kingsolver Bean Trees

Study guide The Bean Trees

For homework and classwork, write 5 sentences using the first 5 vocabulary words and post. Answer the first 6 study guide questions relating to Ch. 1. Read Chapters 2 and 3 for homework.

Writing:
Finish speculative fiction piece, revise work.

Explore Barbara Kingsolver website (see link at right).  Explore Kingsolver on the internet.


Study Guide for The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
1. Describe the “voice” or tone of the narrator.
2. How does Alice Greer compare to/contrast with Mr. Hardbine or Mr. Shanks in terms of parenting skills?
3. Why does Taylor leave Kentucky?
4. Describe Taylor’s reaction to the Cherokee Nation.
5. What is a “home”? How does Taylor’s definition of “home” change in Chapter One? (Think in terms of the comment she made in the letter to her mother about taking her “head rights” with her.)
6. How are women (or girls) treated in Chapter One?
7. Describe the shift in narration in Chapter Two. Who is telling the story now?
8. Why is it relevant that Lou Ann came from Kentucky?
9. How is Lou Ann different from Taylor?
10. Describe Angel.
11. How did Taylor react to Arizona? What made her decide to stay there?
12. Why does Taylor find “Jesus Is Lord Used Tires” and “1-800-THE-LORD” so humorous?
13. Compare/contrast Mattie’s garden to the Garden of Eden.
14. What is Lou Ann’s conflict in Chapter Four? How does she resolve it? What does this say about her character?
15. What does Chapter Four say about the bonds between women?
16. What does the Tug Fork water symbolize?
17. Describe Fei, La-Isha, and Timothy. How are they different from Lou Ann? Why does Taylor choose to live with Lou Ann instead of the others?
18. What does the description of Mattie’s garden in Chapter Six suggest?
19. Describe the attitude toward men on the part of the characters and author in Chapter Six.
20. How is Estevan different from the other male characters we’ve seen?
21. What does Mattie do for people like Estevan and Esperanza? What clues earlier in the story hinted at her activities?
22. What does the “Miracle of Dog Doo Park” refer to?
23. What does Taylor learn about Estevan and Esperanza’s past? How does this affect Taylor?
24. How does Taylor feel about Estevan?
25. How does Lou Ann demonstrate more confidence in herself in Chapters Ten and Eleven?
26. What does the snake symbolize in Chapter Twelve? Think about what is going on at home with Turtle…
27. What does the trapped bird symbolize?
28. What does Taylor learn about Turtle from the doctor?
29. What does the bird outside the window represent?
30. How does Taylor respond to the news that she has no legal claim over Turtle? How does Lou Ann respond? What perspective does Mattie bring to Taylor about parenting?
31. What does the Night-Blooming Cereus symbolize?
32. Describe what happens at the routine immigration check in Chapter Fourteen.
33. What changes have taken place at the Broken Arrow Motor Lodge?
34. What does Taylor discover about the Cherokee Nation in Chapter Fifteen that changes her impression of the area?
35. Why does Turtle bury her doll?
36. Describe what happens in Chapter Sixteen. What does this moment represent for Esperanza? What does Taylor mean when she says all of them buried someone they loved in Oklahoma?
37. Why does Taylor decide to call 1-800-THE-LORD? How does she feel about the conversation she has?
38. What does Taylor discover about wisteria? How is this discovery related to the theme of the novel?
39. What is a “family”? How does this novel ask you to question your definition of “family”?
40. How is “home” defined in terms of geography? How is it defined in terms of people?
In addition to these questions, we will also discuss several important quotations.

Themes we will discuss:
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
1. The Shared Burden of Womanhood
2. The Plight of Illegal Immigrants
3. Respect for the Environment

Motifs we will discuss:
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
1. Rebirth
2. Motherhood

Symbols we will be discussing:
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
1. Beans and Bean Trees
2. Ismene
3. Birds

Vocabulary:
1. presume
2. ornery
3. indelible
4. repulse
5. transient
6. conniption
7. ascendant
8. reticent
9. apoplectic
10. meager
11. dilapidated
12. reverence
13. aptitude
14. pandemonium
15. picayune
16. invocation
17. perturbed
18. prudish
19. compulsion
20. gumption
21. deprivation
22. incarnate
23. dormant
24. pungent
25. noncommittal
26. befuddled
27. cantankerous
28. meandering
29. catharsis
30. rigamarole

Short story/ More Bradbury and Octavia Butler

AGENDA:

READ:
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a14340/ray-bradbury-last-night-of-the-world-0251/

and Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild"
http://boblyman.net/englt392/texts/bloodchild.pdf

http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Tlic

Post a comment to these questions:

1.Who has the power in the story and is it static or dynamic?

2.Why does the story focus on birth? What values and associations does our culture place on birthing? Does this story reinforce, interrogate, or deviate from those values and assumptions?

3.How does one’s control of one’s own reproductivity allow for empowerment or subjectivity? Is reproduction a violent process?

4.How is the pairing of T'Gatoi and Gan similar to and different from male and female pairing in American culture?

5.What is the conflict Gan experiences and why is he conflicted? What would you do in Gan's shoes?

Continue to work on your speculative fiction.

Speculative Fiction Story

AGENDA:

Discuss Age of Miracles.

Check out this website:
https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/

From the previous post of "what ifs",  select 3 ideas that interest you and try writing about one of them.
Could you fashion a short story from one of these ideas?  Try it out.

POST your 3 ideas as a comment below with an explanation of why you find it an interesting prompt.