english

Your final assessment for this class asks for the strongest synthesis of critical thinking and creativity that you have exerted so far. Your role is that of an artist working in the 4th genre. Your task is to illustrate your own relationship to the literary elements of the sea.

Yes, as a starting point this project asks you to consider your relationship to the sea, across the span of your own life and the larger human story your life is a part of. Then it asks you to consider how you understand that relationship through literature and literary elements – the ones you have studied all quarter which show readers what the sea can do and stand for. Task

You can choose to do this project individually, or you can choose to work in a team to produce a single collaborative project. Your plan for the project, and your team if you choose to work with one, must be established by class time on Wednesday June 5th.

For this project you could write a personal essay (which is not the same as a critical essay – it will not include citations and will need an explanatory statement to accompany it). Or you could create a piece of visual art, or a piece of music. Or you could make a video or a blog or other website, or any kind of media you can think of that serves the assignment outcomes.

You could incorporate maps, or artifacts like pictures, postcards, diary entries, or other mementos that are already in your life. Your project could be 3D. You could collect pieces from research, write letters, interview people, or go out in the Sound and record waves or take sea life samples. You could focus on other islands or oceans, or on the (Salish) Sea around us.

Your illustration could take many formats, and could include many details. At least, it must:

· refer to at least one specific experience in your own life

· refer to Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us*

· refer to at least one other text – from any genre – that we have studied in this class*

· refer to at least one other text about the sea that you discover through research* *Note: “refer to” does not necessarily mean quote, or even name directly; it means incorporate recognizable elements from it into your project in some way.

· incorporate audio and/or visual elements, through written or actual imagery

· synthesize all the elements, so that it is not just a collection of separate parts stuck together, but rather a holistic text with seamless connections between its parts

· be accompanied by a minimum 500-word statement which explains how the project came together, and includes MLA in-text citations for any direct references and a works consulted list of at least three sources *see list above.

Whether the project is individual or collaborative, everyone must submit a link or file for both the illustration, and an individually composed explanation statement, to the Canvas assignment by Wednesday 6/12 (the assignment will close on the last day of spring quarter 6/14).

Process

1. Read Rachel Carson, and consider what creative nonfiction is made of, as well as what the sea is made of.

2. Review your informal response journal, and highlight the details from your literary study of the sea that have the most impact on you.

3. Free write about you own experience with the sea, whatever it may be.

4. Outline a plan, individually or with a team, for an illustration that will connect your own experience to others you have read about (in class 6/5).

5. Gather all the artifacts you want to include in the illustration, and then arrange them.

6. Compose.

7. Revise. Edit.

8. Present. Submit.

Outcomes

Learn Actively— practice a process of literary analysis that includes reviewing assignment parameters, brainstorming, close reading, researching, and articulating ideas and details, and connecting course concepts to your personal experience and expression. 10 points

Think— strengthen habits of sorting and synthesizing information, patterns, and details into a focused illustration; develop a strong sense of the depth and scope of literary traditions; consider form as well as content to express how literary elements, devices and contexts contribute to meaning; use research and analysis to formulate a dynamic illustration that serves as a reference tool for studying this literary theme. 10 points

Communicate— choose project components thoughtfully and precisely; compose written elements with attention to clarity and originality; balance captivating your audience with establishing your credibility as a literary analyst and artist; plan and revise your project to ensure it is soundly structured and error-free. 10 points

Interact— practice meaningful collaboration as you work with classmates to create and/or to share a compelling presentation; encourage your peers’ analysis and push ideas beyond the first layer; apply literary contexts and themes to diverse and complex personal perspectives and experiences; ensure that all elements of the project are cohesive and compelling. 10 points