The Virginia Hamilton Final Project

 For your final project in the Virginia Hamilton author study, you will write a two-page paper. In this paper, you will tell a student who will be in 7th grade next year about the things you learned about Virginia Hamilton's life, writing, and use of language.

To get two pages, you will need only SIX good-sized paragraphs. Each paragraph needs details from the things we have read and learned about Virginia Hamilton. Here is one way to organize your paper.

The Introduction Paragraph

Paragraph 1: The Introduction (Write 3-4 sentences in which you tell the student what you are going to write about and why he/she should listen to what you have to say about Virginia Hamilton.)

The Body of the Paper

Paragraph 2: Virginia Hamilton's Life

Write 5-6 sentences that tell what you know about her life. Go to her website http://www.virginiahamilton.com to get more information about her.)

For Paragraphs 3 and 4, choose two of the four topics below to write about.

 Virginia Hamilton's Slave Stories

Write 6 sentences that tell about the stories and books that Hamilton wrote about slaves and slavery. Some of the books and stories that had to do with slavery were:

Anthony Burns (escaped to Boston, got caught, and went on trial)

A Slave (Tice Davids, 1st person to escape slavery on Underground Railroad)

A Slave from Missouri (Dred Scott, sued the court to win his freedom)

Some Conductors of the Underground Railroad

The Most Useful Slave (Uncle John, won money for his master)

How Nehemiah Got His Freedom (Nehemiah tricks a slaveowner)

Virginia Hamilton's Scary Stories

Write  5-6 sentences about her scary stories and why she wrote them. A couple of the scary stories we read were "Better Wait Till Martin Comes" and "The Peculiar Such Thing."

Virginia Hamilton's Moral Tales

Write 5-6 sentences about the moral tales Hamilton wrote. In these stories, the characters had to learn a lesson. We read  "Little Eight John," "A Wolf and Little Daughter" and "Bruh Lizard and Bruh Rabbit."

Virginia Hamilton's Stories and Books about Children and Teens

Write 6 sentences about the books and stories that Hamilton wrote in which children are the main characters. Here is a list of things we read about children.

"A Kidnapped Child" (Olaudah Equiana)

Plain City (Buhlaire, girl trying to find out about father)

Zeely (two kids trying to find out if Zeely is an African princess)

M.C. Higgins the Great (boy growing up in poor town)

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (girl falls in love with ghost)

"Little Eight John" (bad boy who gets punished)

"A Wolf and Little Daughter" (little girl leaves her backyard without permission and runs into a wolf)

Paragraph 5: Virginia Hamilton Patterns and Her Use of Language

Virginia Hamilton has a unique style of writing. She uses slave dialect in many stories such as "Bruh Alligator and Bruh Rabbit" and "How Nehemiah Got Free." She likes to write about slaves who became free like "The People Could Fly" and "Eliza." She write about children and race and history and culture and slavery, like in Arilla Sun Down and The House of Dies Drear.

Conclusion

Paragraph 6: Conclusion

Write 2-4 sentences that summarize what you wrote about Virginia Hamilton. Tell whether you liked her writing or not. Wish the student good luck studying Virginia Hmilton.

ELA Exit Project for 707, 708, 724

All literacy classes in Renaissance Middle School will have an exit project for ELA.  Please read below to find out what pieces of writing go into your project and what format to use. 707 and 708 have to do all of the writing, but 724 does NOT have to do the two book reports! If you need extra help, my e-mail address is dmsmith1447@yahoo.com.

Format:

• The ELA Exit Project must be in a three-ring binder.
• The project should be typed and be in 12 point font. This blog entry is typed in 12 point font. If you can't type the report, neatly handwrite it on looseleaf paper.
• All writing (but not poetry) should be double spaced.
• The project should have a table of contents.
• The ELA Exit Project is due May 18.

ELA Exit Project:

1. Autobiography or Memoir (1): An autobiography is the story of your own life. It focuses on your life from the time you were born until today. A memoir is a piece of writing that discusses one experience or time in your life. It focuses on what you felt and what you learned from the experience. This should be at least two pages long.
2. Narrative, Non-fiction Report (1): A narrative, nonfiction report is the true story about a real person, place, or event. An example would be the story of the life of poet Shel Silverstein. It should be about two pages long.
3. Reader's NB (5 entries):  Write 5 journal entries from your Reader's NB. Each entry should be about one paragraph long.
4. Writer's NB (5 entries): Write 5 journal entries from your  Writer's NB. Each entry should be about one paragraph long.
5. Poetry (5 poems): Write 5 original poems. Choose from ode, lyric, ballad, limerick, haiku, tanka, epitaph, free verse, invented poetry, and a poem of any style with end rhyme and assonance, consonance, or alliteration.
6. Expository Writing (1): Expository writing is writing that educates. Examples of expository writing is a report about how chocolate bars are made or how to buy a video game system. It should be about two pages long.
7. Persuasive Writing (1): A persuasive essay is an essay that tries to convince a reader to believe something. An example of a persuasive essay would be a paper in which you try to persuade your school to have a Friday night dance.
8. Short Story (1): Write a short story which has a beginning, middle, and an end. It should be about three pages long.  It will use the elements of a short story...characters, a plot, a setting, a theme, a point of view, a problem, and a solution.
9. Narrative Procedure (1): A narrative procedure is a piece of writing that teaches the reader how to do something step by step. An example would be a recipe or instructions on how to play a game.
10. Author Study (2): An author study piece of writing is an assignment that relates to one of the two authors that we read this year. One piece should be based on Gary Soto's writing, such as your response to the play Novio Boy. The other piece should be based on Virginia Hamilton's writing, such as the letter you wrote about the patterns you noticed in her writing.
11. Response to Literature (2): You must turn in two pieces of writing that were generated after you read a piece of literature. Some examples are the conversation you wrote between yourself and something that normally can't talk. It was based on the read aloud from Wake Up, I'm Fat by Camryn Manheim or the writing you did about a time when someone ruined a meal at your house based on the read aloud from Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  Ideally, one piece of writing could be a four-square essay and the other could be a literary letter.
12. Book Reports (2): You must turn in two book reports...one based on a fiction book such as Holes or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and one based on a non-fiction book such as A Day in the Life of a Doctor, a book about Kobe Bryant, or a book about how to apply to college.

 

Virginia Hamilton

On Friday, classes 707 and 708 will have a test on Virginia Hamilton.

You are responsible for reading the first three chapters of the book you're reading: M.C. Higgins the Great; Zeely; Anthony Burns; Arilla Sun Down; Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush; The House of Dies Drear; or Plain City.

You are responsible for the stories we read aloud: He Lion, Bruh Bear, and Bruh Rabbit; Bruh Lizard and Bruh Rabbit; How Nehemiah Got Free; A Wolf and Little Daughter.

 You are responsible for knowing how to play each reader role:

1. Reverberator: reverberators focus on echoes and patterns, finding similarities between what they are now reading and what they have already read, seen, or done.

2. Reporter: reporters report the news, highlighting theimportant events an giving enough background so their audience can undersand the people, background and importance of the day's events.

3. Linecatcher: linecatchers celebrate the images, sounds, and pondering caused by words on pages. They read and ponder and read things aloud to watch other people's reactions.

4. Philosopher: philosophers ask big questions and do not necessarily accept things at face value. They think about the implication, assumptions, and possibilities of what people do and say. 

Class 724 will have a test on grammar...they are responsible for knowing how to identify adjectives, proper adjectives, and articles. They are also responsible for knowing how to use comparative adjectives.