Unit 2, Part 1

TITAN TARGETS Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says. RL7.1 Determine a theme or central idea and analyze how it develops over the course of the print and non-print text. RL7.2 Analyze how ideas influence individuals or events or how individuals influence ideas or events in the context of biography. RI7.3

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS  In the face of adversity, what causes some individuals to prevail while others fail?  What makes an experience extraordinary?  What happens when the extraordinary touches our ordinary lives? In your learner notebook, record the following essential questions at the top of LEFT and onto the RIGHT side if needed. This page will be dedicated to record your thoughts, opinions, ideas, and specific examples from featured texts from this unit.

CULMINATING TASK: YOUR SEMESTER FINAL  This unit culminates with a PERSONAL NARRATIVE, unlike any narrative you may have written in the past…  Instead of a traditional personal narrative/memoir, you will be writing about YOUR lives in short alphabetically organized entries taking the form of a personalized ENCYCLOPEDIA!

CULMINATING TASK: YOUR SEMESTER FINAL  You will be assigned 5 letters of the alphabet per week. During our daily “warm-up”, you will be given a few minutes to begin writing your entries/reflections in your ILNs. Spot checks could occur at any time-so don’t get behind!  You will also EDIT, REVISE, PUBLISH, and PRESENT your work for the FINAL! More about the presentation later…

YES! MOVIES!!! ILN  Watch the following trailers. In your ILN, record what you think are CHARACTERISTICS exemplified by the EXTRAORDINARY people in the clips!  Freedom Writers “You Are Heroes”“You Are Heroes”  Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story “It’s A Miracle”“It’s A Miracle”  Charlotte’s Web “Some Pig”“Some Pig”  The Lorax “Let It Grow”“Let It Grow”  Pair Share and hypothesize common themes/central ideas…

QUOTE IT!!! “When you do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” --George Washington Carver ( ) Free-Write in ILN

LET’S LOOK AT BIOGRAPHIES When reading biographies, we get an in-depth narrative in to a person’s life. We utilize and analyze various skills while doing so:  INFERRING  THEME / CENTRAL IDEA  SUMMARIZING  MEANINGS and IMPACT of WORDS  TEXT STRUCTURE  POINT OF VIEW  PURPOSE

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER

 You will get in to SMALL GROUPS  Each group is responsible for a portion of George Washington Carver’s Biography  Once your group has grappled with the text, you will look at and gather research from other texts about GWC, as well as primary sources, to help you create a SIX-WORD MEMOIR to present to the class!

WHAT IS A SIX-WORD MEMOIR?  A Six-Word Memoir® is the story of your life—some part of it or all of it—told in exactly six words.  Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”  What can you INFER from these six-word memoirs?? “Exaggeration is the spice of life.” –Eve G. “Aspiration: colonize Mars. You’re not invited. –Jordan H. “Dreams too big for this town…” -Megan M. “I’m just a simple human. Being.” -Nic H. “I never got my Hogwarts letter.” -Deanna H.

OTHER SOURCES  In your groups, analyze the Primary Sources  Primary Sources for GWC Primary Sources for GWC  Read the following text for homework and identify RELEVANT information to complete the Biography Graphic Organizer:  “The Brilliance of George Washington Carver” “The Brilliance of George Washington Carver” *With this information, you will then create your SIX-WORD MEMOIR with your group!

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE What can you predict about this artist?

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE  O’Keeffe’s artwork has been called “wild energy?”  How can art contain “wild energy?” Some of O’Keeffe’s subjects:  lush, overpowering flowers  sun-drenched landscapes  open skies  bleached bones of animals long gone extraordinary in the ordinary Let’s LOOK at some of O’Keeffe’s paintings and see if you can identify the extraordinary in the ordinary!

“LUSH, OVERPOWERING FLOWERS” “By enlarging the petals to over-life sized proportions, O'Keeffe forces the viewer to confront what might otherwise be overlooked and, in turn, elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary.“ ( “Black Iris” (1926)

“SUN-DRENCHED LANDSCAPES” “The Red Hills, Grey Sky” (Near Lake George, NY) “The images were drawn from her life experience and related either generally or specifically to places where she lived.”

“OPEN SKIES” “Sky above Clouds IV” (1965) “Traveling around the world, was exhilarated by the views seen from an airplane window. She described the changing patterns and colors as "breathtaking" and was moved to interpret these sights and feelings in paint.”

“BLEACHED BONES OF ANIMALS LONG GONE” “From the Faraway, Nearby” (1938) “Rather than signifying death, O'Keeffe said that the bones symbolized the eternal beauty of the desert.”

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE’S FAVORITE PLACE TO PAINT Located in the Bisti Badlands in Navajo country, about 150 miles northwest of her home in Ghost Ranch, it was a stretch of desolate gray and black hills that the artist said looked from a distance like "a mile of elephants." “The Black Place II” (1944)

WHY DID O’KEEFFE CHOOSE SIMPLE SUBJECTS FOR HER ART? CLICK FOR VIDEO BIO:

A QUICK SWITCH TO HAIKU! Background question: What is haiku? Answer in your ILNs Prediction: How may haiku and Georgia O’Keeffe connect? Answer in your ILNs

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HAIKU Haiku originated in 17 th Century Japan and was a popular pastime in the Japanese culture. Buddhist monks made haiku a “mindset, a way of living.” Basho, the monk, ( ) was famous for his haiku.

HAIKU HISTORY AND FORM How does the very form of Haiku relate to Buddhism?  “Simple directness”  “Instantaneous perception” How does this haiku show these qualities? TURN AND TALK!!!! Answer in your ILNs Deep in a windless wood, not one leaf dares to move... Something is afraid. --by Buson

“SIMPLE DIRECTNESS” “INSTANTANEOUS PERCEPTION” WRITE THIS POEM IN YOUR ILN!! Then, read the poem below to find examples of these qualities: After the moon sets, Slow through the forest, shadows Drift and disappear. by Buson

HAIKU...  “have been described as the poem of a single breath.”  “a creative offering straight from the heart.”  “universal and lasting, and its scope and depth is representative of the human experience.”  Interpret this in your own words… in your ILNs  “show what it means to be human.”  How does this relate to the last quote?

FORM OF HAIKU Like the subjects of haiku, its form is equally simple. 1. It has only three lines. 2. Lines 1 and 3 have only five syllables. 3. Line 2 has seven syllables. Western winds whip out dead, dry leaves that hide by fence Now it’s time to rake ANYTHING IN NATURE CAN INSPIRE YOU!

HAIKU - BRINGING NATURE TO THE CLASSROOM  Everyone will get an index card…  First, select a painting from Georgia O’Keeffe and create a haiku based on its representation of nature and the extraordinary in the ordinary. Write it and title it on one side of your index card. EXTRAORDINARY in the ORDINARY  Then, create a haiku of your own that you feel truly represents a place in nature where you feel there is EXTRAORDINARY in the ORDINARY! So many options…decorate this side and include an image that represents your theme/central idea…(It will be displayed in our classroom!)