Hello, writers!
As we read Solito, The Secret Life of Bees, and The House on Mango Street, we went on a journey with Javier, Lily, and Esperanza and asked the following questions:
- Why read someone else’s story?
- Who or what is my community?
- How does my community impact my story?
This year we hope you learn how reading stories helps us and supports us as humans. The world can be chaotic and filled with twists and turns, so losing yourself in a story and learning from protagonist’s journeys is a skill we hope you grow while at Ursuline. We also hope you can:
Recognize your identity and your origin story and how they have shaped you and your worldview. Through empathizing with the lived experiences of characters, you can use your writing process to engage in contemporary conversations thoughtfully and respectfully about your identity group and others.
In order to build your empathy for our characters, we will embark on a research adventure to gather information about their setting and context that helps us understand their conflicts and decision-making. Researching and navigating credible sources is also a skill you will use your entire life.
Your task:
- You will select one of the texts we have read so far this year and choose a research focus.
- You will learn about the research process from our library team.
- You will select THREE sources if you are in on level English and FOUR sources if you are in Honors that relate to your question.
- You will write the following for each source:
- Full MLA citation
- Paragraph 1: A summary of the source, including one quotation from the source
- Paragraph 2: A short reflection of how this source builds your understanding of Javier, Lily, or Esperanza’s story, including one quote from the memoir / novel