Parent Permission Slips

Your parent permission slips to watch Good Morning Vietnam are due on  October 31st. Get them in!

TTTC

The Things They Carried Final Projects 

Part 1- 

We have been discussing the “weight” various characters carry during and after their experiences in the Vietnam War.  Although soldiers do carry tangible weight, it is often the intangible weights that are much harder to cope with.  For example, Lt. Cross struggled with his love for Martha, Tim’s guilt for Kiowa’s death, and all of the soldiers deal with painful memories of the war.  As human beings, we all carry around emotional weight—“things” that cause us stress and/or emotional pain.

Directions:  You will be responsible for writing a letter to someone “back home.”  Select someone with whom you can share this emotional weight with and would be compassionate and understanding. Be sure to tell the whole story, just like the stories we have read.  Imagine you are Tim O’Brien writing The Things They Carried.  If you need to embellish the story or make up names, or small details, feel free to. 

Requirements:  

• Letters may be handwritten—should be 1-2 pages.
• You need a brainstorm/rough draft and a final draft; there should be noticeable differences between the rough and final drafts.
• You will have time in class in do peer- editing in class, along with one computer lab day
• The letter should fully tell the story 
• Use appropriate grammar and mechanics.  Paragraph when necessary.
• Don’t forget to write this in proper letter format with a greeting, the date, and a salutation.

The letter will be due on Monday October 27th in class

Part 2 - Visual text 25 points

You will create a visual that portrays: 

• the character’s personality and experiences - 10 points
• five of the things the character carried, physical, emotional, or symbolic -5 points
• three quotes about the character from two or more stories in the novel - 5 points
• (overall look of the visual- 5 points)

Your visual can be: 

• collage 
• artwork / illustration 
• poster 
• a wanted poster 
• a movie poster for a movie starring that character 
• a book jacket for a book about that character
• a CD jacket for a CD by/about the character 
• something you choose- please ask Mrs. Cass first

**These visual projects will be hanging up during parent teacher conferences, so please be neat and creative.

The visual project will be due October 31st in class and will be the last grade counted in the first quarter

Part 3 -  Essay response 25 points

Please pick 5 of the questions below and write a 1/3 - 1/2 page (8-12 sentences) typed response to each question. Each question will be 5 points each. 

• What was a defining moment for the character?
• What does the character hide from others? 
• Do the character’s actions match his/her inner thoughts? 
• Does the character change through the stories? 
• Is the character heroic? Tragic? 
• Judge the character’s decisions – did he/she do the right thing? 
• Does this character remind you of someone you know, or a character from another text, or someone in the real world? 
• What do the things physically and mentally that they carry show about them? 
• Why do you think the author wrote the book the way he did?
• Which character made the largest impression on you and why?
• How did Tim the author write or story tell different than the character Tim?
• What is the role of woman in Tim’s stories, why does he need them in the story?
• How did the character loose their innocence during the war?
• What is the function of memory in this novel?
• How did war change one of the characters in the book through the story?

The essay responses are due on Thursday November 6th by the end of school (2:30 p.m.)

Please submit them through Google Docs to Danielle Wotchko by sharing them.

You will be given 1 day in the computer lab and one day in class to work.

If you have any questions you need to email Danielle Wotchko before it is too late.

TTTC-Letter Writing Assignment

 We have been discussing the “weight” various characters carry during and after their

experiences in the Vietnam War. Although soldiers do carry tangible weight, it is often the

intangible weights that are much harder to cope with. For example, Lt. Cross struggled with his

love for Martha, Tim’s guilt for Kiowa’s death, and all of the soldiers deal with painful memories

of the war. As human beings, we all carry around emotional weight—“things” that cause us

stress and/or emotional pain.

Directions: You will be responsible for writing a letter to someone “back home.” Select

someone with whom you can share this emotional weight. Try to think of someone who either

is the cause of this pain or who is somehow involved in it. If that seems impossible, just

address your letter to someone you trust. Be sure to tell the whole story. Imagine you are Tim

O’Brien writing The Things They Carried. If you need to embellish the story or change names,

or small details, feel free to. It is up to you whether or not you actually send this letter—some

people may decide to as actually sending these letters might be quite cathartic.

Requirements:

• Letters may be handwritten—should be 1-2 pages.

• You need a brainstorm/rough draft and a final draft; there should be noticeable

diferences between the rough and final drafts.

• The letter should fully tell the story (in many ways this is a narrative essay)—remember,

even though this is a personal letter, I will need to read it in order to give you a grade.

• Use appropriate grammar and mechanics. Paragraph when necessary.

• Don’t forget to write this in proper letter format with a greeting, the date, and a

salutation.

The letter will be due on Thursday October 30th in class