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ENG3U INDEPDENENT STUDY UNIT Culminating Activity

Your Independent Study Unit (ISU) for ENG3U will combine the skills you’ve acquired in our class. The ISU requires you to draw connections and find similarities/commonalities between different mediums. There are four different mediums listed below (Poetry, Art, Music, and Film) and each text deals with similar themes.

Think of the following questions as you brainstorm for this project:

1) In the midst of the trials and tribulations that accompany a journey, what is the role of love?

2) What is the nature of sacrifice when undergoing a journey?

3) To what extent is fate or destiny influential in a person’s quest to achieve personal goals?

For this ISU, you must complete the following steps:

Step 1: You must choose ONE from TWO different categories that you will compare with The Alchemist. You will be comparing a total of three different items.

Step 2: Watch, read, listen and view your three different items. Try to find common elements (theme, symbol, image, and/or idea) that unit all three texts.

Step 3: Create a thesis statement that combines the common elements you have discovered in all three items. This statement will be the basis for your presentation and comparative essay.

PART A (7.5%): Create a visual presentation to help express your ideas using PREZI (www.prezi.com).

PART B (7.5%): Write a compare/contrast essay that explores the similarities/differences between the texts and that relates all of your findings back to your thesis.

Your assignments will be evaluated based on the attached rubrics.

Your presentation is due on JANUARY 17th, 2013. Your essay is due on January 18th, 2013.

     

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Supplementary Texts

POETRY (found on page 7-9 of this document)

“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley (1876)

“The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost (1916)

“Journey’s End” by J. R. R. Tolkien (1955- Excerpt from The Return of the King)

ART (found on pg 4-6 of this document)

“The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali

“Sail” by Rick Ruckus

“Sun and Solitude” by Stuart Kirby

MUSIC (find online)

“Get Here” by Oleta Adams

“Driftwood” by Travis

“God Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flats

FILM (rent or download)

Slum Dog Millionaire (2008): A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

One Week (2008): This film chronicles the motorcycle trip of Ben Tyler as he rides from Toronto to Tofino, British Columbia. Ben stops at landmarks that are both iconic and idiosyncratic on his quest to find meaning in his life.

Into the Wild (2007): After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

     

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PART A) ORAL/VISUAL PRESENTATION (7.5%)

Prepare a Visual Presentation on PREZI (www.prezi.com) to represents and visually express your ideas.

Your presentation must address the following questions:

- What is your thesis? What is the point/ position/ argument that you hope to prove by the end of your presentation?

- What texts have you selected to compare/contrast with The Alchemist and why? - What is the primary theme that units the text? How do you know?

o What do the texts have in common? Be specific and show examples. o What literary devices are present in each of the texts? Be specific and give

examples. - What makes the texts unique and different from each other? - What can the audience learn by studying these three texts together?

Your presentation will be 10 minutes in length and will include an oral component. As you present your Prezi, you must explain each slide and develop your point. You MAY NOT simply read your essay to the class (although many of the same points may be touched upon). You may have notes for your presentation, but I would like you to take most of your speaking cues from the presentation itself.

PART B) COMPARE/CONTRAST ESSAY (7.5%) Choose one of the below questions to base your essay on:

1) In the midst of the trials and tribulations that accompany a journey, what is the role of love according to the texts?

2) What do the texts suggest about the nature of sacrifice when undergoing a journey?

3) According to the texts, to what extent is fate and/or destiny influential in a person’s quest to achieve personal goals?

Your essay will examine all three of the texts that you have selected (including The Alchemist) and will attempt to answer many of the same questions as your presentation.

The body of your essay will include 4 paragraphs (if the novel is “A,” a poem is “B,” and a film is “C,” a suggested format is to compare A and B in your first body paragraph, B and C in your second, C and A in your third, and then use your fourth body paragraph to unite all three texts and explore their overall similarities and differences).

Your essay will be 1200-1500 words in length (4-5 pages double spaced) and must also include a Works Cited sheet at the end.

     

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ART

Option 1) The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali (1931)

http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79018

     

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Option 2) “Sail” by Rick Ruckus

http://unbelievablepainting.blogspot.ca/2012/06/famous-paintings.html

     

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Option 3) “Sun and Solitude” by Stuart Kirby

http://stuartkirby.blogspot.ca/2012/04/sun-and-solitude-paintingto-be.html

     

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POETRY

Journey's End

by J. R. R. Tolkien

In western lands beneath the Sun

The flowers may rise in Spring,

The trees may bud, the waters run,

The merry finches sing.

Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night,

And swaying branches bear

The Elven-stars as jewels white

Amid their branching hair.

Though here at journey's end I lie

In darkness buried deep,

Beyond all towers strong and high,

Beyond all mountains steep,

Above all shadows rides the Sun

And Stars for ever dwell:

I will not say the Day is done,

Nor bid the Stars farewell.

     

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“Invictus” By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

     

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“The Road Not Taken” By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

     

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Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation Guide

MLA requires in-text citation (author’s last name, line # OR author’s last name, pg # OR author’s last name only, depending on the type of text).

MLA also requires a WORKS CITED sheet (bibliography).

Your WORKS CITED sheet will have the title of WORKS CITED (capitalized, centered) and will be found on a separate sheet at the end of your essay.

Citations are listed in alphabetical order and should be double spaced.

The first line of a citation is NOT indented, but any line to follow must be indented (put your curser at the start of the line, hit SHIFT and ENTER at the same time. Now hit SPACEBAR seven times to bump the line over).

Your works cited will include 1 citation for each text that you discuss (three, including The Alchemist) and will also include citations for ANY outside sources that you used for research (NOTE: Your ISU is NOT a research project, so no research is required).

Failure to cite primary and secondary sources properly is plagiarism and will result in a grade of 0% on BOTH assignments.

Format Guide

Basic Book (e.g. The Alchemist)

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book in italics. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication (print if you found it in a book, or web if you found it online).

Example:

See, Lisa. Shanghai Girls. New York: Random House, 2009. Print.

     

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Part of a Website (e.g. poems)

“Title of Article.” Website. Website Title, Date published. Web. Date Accessed. URL.

Example:

“How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow. Demand Media, 13 May 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. www.ehow.com/vegetarianchili

Online Image or Painting

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Artwork. Year created. Physical location displayed, City. Title of Website. Web. Date accessed. URL.

Example:

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo National del Prado. Web. 22 May 2006. www.museodelprado.es/en/exhibitions/goya

Song

Group or Artist’s Name. “Song Title.” Title of Album in italics, Producer. Year Released. Web. Date Accessed. URL.

Example:

Counting Crows. "Mr. Jones." August and Everything After. DGC,1993. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oqAU5VxFWs

Film

Film Title in Italics. Dir. Director’s name. Perf. Main Actors. Company, Year. Film.

Example:

The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and Benecio del Toro. Polygram,1995. Film.

ON THE NEXT PAGE YOU CAN VIEW A SAMPLE “WORKS CITED” LIST

     

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Works Cited

Counting Crows. "Mr. Jones." August and Everything After. DGC,1993. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oqAU5VxFWs

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo

National del Prado. Web. 22 May 2006. www.museodelprado.es/en/exhibitions/goya

“How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow. Demand Media, 13 May 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

www.ehow.com/vegetarianchili

See, Lisa. Shanghai Girls. New York: Random House, 2009. Print.