English homework

Interview a Fictional Character

Completing this assignment will fulfil the requirements for the Dallas College Critical Thinking Core Competency Assignment. The Critical Thinking Core Objective allows students to develop a wide variety of skills:

· Analyze issues

· Complex/creative problem solving: anticipate problems, solutions and consequences

· Knowledge application: apply knowledge to make decisions

· Pattern detection: detect patterns/themes/underlying principles

· Research: gather proper resources and information to conduct research

· Analysis and interpretation: analyzing and interpreting data to synthesize information

Upon successful demonstration of a skill, you may be eligible to apply for a Digital Badge. 

Interview a Fictional Character

Choose any one character from the readings you have completed in this class. This character could be someone you found interesting or intriguing. You will first read the literary text and gain some understanding of the character and the character’s motivations.

Have a conversation with an AI-crafted fictional character to explore the underlying intricacies of a literary text.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

· Engage in critical dialogue with a fictional persona to develop conversational skills Practice active listening in order to probe lines of inquisition previously unexplored for a certain fictional character

· Critically reflect on the accuracy of AI to capture the nuances of characters from well-interpreted literary texts

INSTRUCTIONS

Generate Interview Questions

1. Students generate interview questions for a fictional or historical character that are broad, open-ended, and show an understanding of historical or literary context. Students may use an AI tool of their choosing, such as  Character.AI, (in the past, some students have said that this tool is hard to navigate) ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. Students may work with a tool that has enhanced voice mode features, such as GPT-4o (I found this tool to be the best) or Google Assistant, to create a sense of flowing conversation. You can send me your questions to review before you conduct the interview.

· This step is guided by a rubric, peer feedback, and teacher feedback to ensure questions will generate meaningful conversation. 

· Students should “put themselves in their character’s shoes” and imagine what types of questions will “get them talking.”

· Students should consider noting down particular themes that they may want to focus on (e.g., political views, personal values, relationships, etc.).

2. Sample open-ended questions:

· Can you describe a significant friendship or rivalry and its effect on your life?

· What has been the most challenging obstacle you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it?

· If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be and why?

· Were you involved in any significant political events and, if so, how did it shape or alter your beliefs?

· What are your thoughts on the societal norms and expectations of your era?

· How do you perceive your own role in the narrative? Do you agree with how the author has portrayed you?

Conducting the Interview

1. Students practice interviewing a character of their choosing and share the experience in class.

· If possible, students are encouraged to use the voice chat feature that some AI models offer to support a conversational experience.

· Students interview the historical or fictional character in question using a rubric for active listening as a guide. Active listening entails maintaining attentiveness, understanding and empathizing with responses, reflecting on answers, demonstrating non-judgmental engagement, and responding appropriately with opinions.

Evaluation

1. Students will then copy and paste and share the chat transcripts with the teacher for evaluation and assessment of critical thinking, active listening, problem-solving, and any other objectives the teacher chooses. 

· This can further the goal of developing empathy in students, conversational skills, or problem-solving, analysis, and critical thinking.

Analysis

1. Students then analyze the chatbot. Did it further their understanding of the character in question? Did it mimic the character from the book or from history, or did it fail to capture characteristic nuances? 

2. Students will write a paper using quoted evidence from the chat transcript itself– in comparison with the book or textbook– to show that the bot either mimicked/missed mimicking the character in question or furthered/did not further their understanding of the character in question. 

This week you will read a selection of literary works from the Neoclassicism to the Romantic era.  Student Learning Outcomes Addressed:   

· Identify key ideas, significant historical or cultural events, and characteristic perspectives or attitudes expressed in the literature of different periods or regions.

· Analyze literary works as expressions of individual or communal values within the social, political, cultural, or religious contexts of different literary periods.

  Core Competencies Addressed:

· Biographical, historical and literary analysis

 Readings: Literary Project Instructions

        From     British Literature I ,  "Part 4: Neoclassicism and the Eighteenth Century”

· “Introduction,” pages 2120-2124.

· Aphra Behn,  Oroonoko, pages 2125-2132.

· Jonathan Swift,  Gulliver’s Travels, Part IV, Chapters 1-3, pages 2608-2619.

· Olaudah Equiano, from  The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Chapter II, pages 2906-2917.

            From   British Literature II  (Volume II), “Part 1: The Romantic Era”

· “Intro,” pages 1-5

· William Wordsworth, “I Wondered Lonely As a Cloud,” pages 37-39, and 66.

· Dorothy Wordsworth, Grasmere Journal, page 77.

· Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind,” pages 174-176.

· John Keats, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” pages 206-208, 219-220. 

           From  A Glossary of Literary Terms

· “Novel,” pages 252-258

· “Satire,” pages 352-355

· “Ode” pages 262-263

· “Ballad,” pages 25-26

Assignments or Assessments: One Discussion board post and responses:

· Discussion 4: Neoclassicism and the Eighteenth Century and The Romantic Era

One reading quiz on the readings for this week. One Journal

This week you will read a selection of literary works from the Tudor Age to the Age of Revolution. Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts. Texts will be selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving British experience and character.  We begin the course by reading about the origin of British literature. The literary texts you will read in this unit will provide you with knowledge of the history that impacted the earliest works.   Student Learning Outcomes Addressed:   

· Identify key ideas, significant historical or cultural events, and characteristic perspectives or attitudes expressed in the literature of different periods or regions.

· Analyze literary works as expressions of individual or communal values within the social, political, cultural, or religious contexts of different literary periods.

  Core Competencies Addressed:

· Biographical, historical and literary analysis

 Readings: Interview a Character Assignment Instructions

        From   British Literature I   “Part 2: The Tudor Age,” 

· Introduction, pages, 599-602.

· Sir Thomas More’s “Preface” to Utopia, pages 602-607.

· William Shakespeare, “Sonnets 18,” and “Sonnet 106,” pages 1174-1177, page 1178, and page 1182.

· William Shakespeare,  King Lear, Act 1 & Act II pages 1280-1298.

          From  British Literature I,  “Part 3: The Seventeenth Century: The Age of Revolution”

· “Intro,” pages 1415-1420.

· John Donne, “Holy Sonnet 10,” pages 1420-1421, and pages 1428-29.

· John Milton, “Lycidas,” pages 1712-1714 and 1722-1726

          From  A Glossary of Literary Terms

· “Sonnet,” pages 369-370

· “Tragedy,” pages 405-408

· “Three Unities,” pages 403

· “Drama,” page 95

· “Elegy,” page 103

Assignments or Assessments: One Discussion board post and responses

· Discussion 3: The Tudor Age and The Seventeenth Century

One reading quiz on the readings for this week One Journal

Annotating a LITERARY Text: Poem

Annotating involves interacting with the text and making meaning of what you are reading rather

than simply reading for theme. Every so often, stop and record OBSERVATIONS about different

elements that you see in your poem such as tone,  speaker, language,  imagery, symbolism, or other characteristics. Don’t simply note the existence of these elements; write a few sentences to elaborate on your observations and connect those observations to the points that the author is making about humanity and life, including points about psychological, historical, political, and/or social issues. You will be reading beyond the plot for the layers of meaning created by the literary devices used by the author.

In this assignment, you’ll be asked to read and annotate any one poem from this week’s readings. Please remember to copy and paste the poem you wish to annotate below. Before proceeding, turn on Track Changes under the Review tab in Word . Be sure your Track Changes shows All Markup not just a Simple Markup.

Alternately, you can annotate with pen on printed paper. Take a picture or scan the paper once you are done and upload it to this link.

Step-by-Step Guide to Annotating a Poem

First, read the poem a few times, then take out a pen and begin to annotate if you wish to do it on paper. You may want to take out a few different pens, and use a different color for each step. If you want to annotate on Word, you will have the option to change the color of the ink.

Step One: The Title

□ Comment on the title. Is it significant? How does it relate to the poem?

□ What do we learn through the title, before we even read the poem?

Reflect on the connotations of words in the title; underline significant ones.

Step Two: Understanding the Meaning

□ After each stanza, briefly summarize the meaning (try to do this in a few words only).

□ Try to paraphrase the whole poem in one line.

□ Identify the speaker; highlight words which relate to the speaker.

Step THREE: Stanza Structure and Rhyme Scheme

□ Indicate how the poem is divided (or not) into sections. Is it regular or irregular?

□ Note the rhyme scheme (use corresponding letters for end rhymes: e.g. ABAB CDCD etc.)

Step Four: Line Structure

□ Identify the syllable stress, foot and meter.

□ Comment on the length of the lines (highlight any lines which are particularly long or short).

□ Highlight any line breaks which are significant.

□ Identify any examples of enjambment or any caesuras.

Step Five: The Language

□ Underline and comment on any figurative language techniques (metaphors, similes, alliteration, assonance, hyperbole, oxymorons, anaphora, onomatopoeia etc.).

□ Comment on the diction: elements of formal or informal language, colloquialisms, dialect etc.

□ Circle any notable uses of punctuation and comment on them.

□ Identify any repetition (of single words, phrases or whole lines).

Step Six: Identifying Tone

□ Circle any words which contribute to the tone of the poem.

□ At the end of each stanza, write adjectives which describe the tone / mood at that point.

□ Identify any changes in tone.

Once you have annotated and analyzed the poem as much as you can, you will be more able to interpret it and find links between the structural elements identified and the meaning

Week 2

Annotating a LITERARY(2) Text: Poem

Annotating involves interacting with the text and making meaning of what you are reading rather

than simply reading for theme. Every so often, stop and record OBSERVATIONS about different

elements that you see in your poem such as tone,  speaker, language,  imagery, symbolism, or other characteristics. Don’t simply note the existence of these elements; write a few sentences to elaborate on your observations and connect those observations to the points that the author is making about humanity and life, including points about psychological, historical, political, and/or social issues. You will be reading beyond the plot for the layers of meaning created by the literary devices used by the author.

In this assignment, you’ll be asked to read and annotate any one poem from this week’s readings. Please remember to copy and paste the poem you wish to annotate below. Before proceeding, turn on Track Changes under the Review tab in Word . Be sure your Track Changes shows All Markup not just a Simple Markup.

Alternately, you can annotate with pen on printed paper. Take a picture or scan the paper once you are done and upload it to this link.

Step-by-Step Guide to Annotating a Poem

First, read the poem a few times, then take out a pen and begin to annotate if you wish to do it on paper. You may want to take out a few different pens, and use a different color for each step. If you want to annotate on Word, you will have the option to change the color of the ink.

Step One: The Title

□ Comment on the title. Is it significant? How does it relate to the poem?

□ What do we learn through the title, before we even read the poem?

Reflect on the connotations of words in the title; underline significant ones.

Step Two: Understanding the Meaning

□ After each stanza, briefly summarize the meaning (try to do this in a few words only).

□ Try to paraphrase the whole poem in one line.

□ Identify the speaker; highlight words which relate to the speaker.

Step THREE: Stanza Structure and Rhyme Scheme

□ Indicate how the poem is divided (or not) into sections. Is it regular or irregular?

□ Note the rhyme scheme (use corresponding letters for end rhymes: e.g. ABAB CDCD etc.)

Step Four: Line Structure

□ Identify the syllable stress, foot and meter.

□ Comment on the length of the lines (highlight any lines which are particularly long or short).

□ Highlight any line breaks which are significant.

□ Identify any examples of enjambment or any caesuras.

Step Five: The Language

□ Underline and comment on any figurative language techniques (metaphors, similes, alliteration, assonance, hyperbole, oxymorons, anaphora, onomatopoeia etc.).

□ Comment on the diction: elements of formal or informal language, colloquialisms, dialect etc.

□ Circle any notable uses of punctuation and comment on them.

□ Identify any repetition (of single words, phrases or whole lines).

Step Six: Identifying Tone

□ Circle any words which contribute to the tone of the poem.

□ At the end of each stanza, write adjectives which describe the tone / mood at that point.

□ Identify any changes in tone.

Once you have annotated and analyzed the poem as much as you can, you will be more able to interpret it and find links between the structural elements identified and the meaning

Interview a Fictional Character

Completing this assignment will fulfil the requirements for the Dallas College Critical Thinking Core Competency Assignment. The Critical Thinking Core Objective allows students to develop a wide variety of skills:

· Analyze issues

· Complex/creative problem solving: anticipate problems, solutions and consequences

· Knowledge application: apply knowledge to make decisions

· Pattern detection: detect patterns/themes/underlying principles

· Research: gather proper resources and information to conduct research

· Analysis and interpretation: analyzing and interpreting data to synthesize information

Upon successful demonstration of a skill, you may be eligible to apply for a Digital Badge. 

Interview a Fictional Character

Choose any one character from the readings you have completed in this class. This character could be someone you found interesting or intriguing. You will first read the literary text and gain some understanding of the character and the character’s motivations.

Have a conversation with an AI-crafted fictional character to explore the underlying intricacies of a literary text.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

· Engage in critical dialogue with a fictional persona to develop conversational skills Practice active listening in order to probe lines of inquisition previously unexplored for a certain fictional character

· Critically reflect on the accuracy of AI to capture the nuances of characters from well-interpreted literary texts

INSTRUCTIONS

Generate Interview Questions

1. Students generate interview questions for a fictional or historical character that are broad, open-ended, and show an understanding of historical or literary context. Students may use an AI tool of their choosing, such as  Character.AI, (in the past, some students have said that this tool is hard to navigate) ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. Students may work with a tool that has enhanced voice mode features, such as GPT-4o (I found this tool to be the best) or Google Assistant, to create a sense of flowing conversation. You can send me your questions to review before you conduct the interview.

· This step is guided by a rubric, peer feedback, and teacher feedback to ensure questions will generate meaningful conversation. 

· Students should “put themselves in their character’s shoes” and imagine what types of questions will “get them talking.”

· Students should consider noting down particular themes that they may want to focus on (e.g., political views, personal values, relationships, etc.).

2. Sample open-ended questions:

· Can you describe a significant friendship or rivalry and its effect on your life?

· What has been the most challenging obstacle you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it?

· If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be and why?

· Were you involved in any significant political events and, if so, how did it shape or alter your beliefs?

· What are your thoughts on the societal norms and expectations of your era?

· How do you perceive your own role in the narrative? Do you agree with how the author has portrayed you?

Conducting the Interview

1. Students practice interviewing a character of their choosing and share the experience in class.

· If possible, students are encouraged to use the voice chat feature that some AI models offer to support a conversational experience.

· Students interview the historical or fictional character in question using a rubric for active listening as a guide. Active listening entails maintaining attentiveness, understanding and empathizing with responses, reflecting on answers, demonstrating non-judgmental engagement, and responding appropriately with opinions.

Evaluation

1. Students will then copy and paste and share the chat transcripts with the teacher for evaluation and assessment of critical thinking, active listening, problem-solving, and any other objectives the teacher chooses. 

· This can further the goal of developing empathy in students, conversational skills, or problem-solving, analysis, and critical thinking.

Analysis

1. Students then analyze the chatbot. Did it further their understanding of the character in question? Did it mimic the character from the book or from history, or did it fail to capture characteristic nuances? 

2. Students will write a paper using quoted evidence from the chat transcript itself– in comparison with the book or textbook– to show that the bot either mimicked/missed mimicking the character in question or furthered/did not further their understanding of the character in question.