Part A
Module/Unit Seven Integrative Assignment
Instructions – Choose one of the following assignments to show your knowledge of Echo Brown’s Black Girl Unlimited
and the material on Post-Writing strategies.
Please read Black Girl Unlimited
closely and pay attention to the first person point of view, what happens significantly in Echo’s life, how she resolves her many challenges, how she blends her spiritual world with her actual world, how the time flows, and the story line moves forward.
Use the resources of this module/unit, journal assignment, PowerPoint presentation, reading comprehension information, and perhaps do a bit of research to help you achieve success on this assignment – Due May 7
1 – Create a presentation of events that occur in Brown’s magical realism memoir, including what and how real events inform Echo’s spiritual journey and how the way Echo’s journey is presented in terms of what she experiences, is challenged by or what she learns, and what informs the basis of her lessons, how she titles her chapters. Include any criticism of society you find (a part of the magical realism genre) and include what elements or happenings of the chapter might be considered magical or fantasy (the other part of the magical realism genre). Include a paragraph at the end of the assignment that discusses what you’ve learned about the hybrid genre called magical realism memoir. If you write a paper, the length would be 4 – 6 pages. If you create a power point, the length would likely be 8 – 12 slides or more. Please include a title, and use MLA or APA for primary and secondary sources.
2 – Using the ideas of the Post-Writing Strategies material and doing some research of your own write about the different strategies you would include if you were teaching Echo Brown’s Black Girl Unlimited
to mature students (ages 16 and above) , so a minimum of six detailed post-writing activities, including the specific writing assignment you would correspond to the post-writing activity. The paired or individual assignments would create should students write well and learn how to proof their work. Length 6 – 8 pages. Please include a title and be sure to reference all resources accurately including primary (The Primary) and secondary (critical or pedagogical) resources. This assignment can be written in prose form or a powerpoint presentation.
3 – Write a Magical Realism Story that shows merges both a magical/fantasy/spiritual sense with an actual sense. Your story can be fiction or non-fiction but it must include fantasy, spiritual, and magical elements. The story must also attempt to criticize a failing in society either directly or indirectly. Try to do what Brown does so well in how she uses dialogue, more than one kind of discourse (the way people talk, their words which also indicate their community’s values) and how she melds the fantasy/magical/spiritual with the actual occurrences. Try to think about the point of everything that happens, that it would be important for the criticisms or lessons or morales conveyed including of course what is said about the journey of the main character. In her work, Brown also mentions many literary, cinematic (movie), and tv references, including key figures like Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, and movies and television shows from her childhood to create a definite postmodern flair (a hodgepodge of influences – we live in post-modernity right now as well) . Create a supportive cast that can reoccur in several moments of the story or just one or two, similar to Brown. Remember Brown is less a moralist than a writer who shows that individuals have many choices and her characters are less predicable as a result of the reality that people decide their fate. Some of her characters change or grow while others do not. The story or narrative should be a minimum of twelve pages long, include dialogue, and first person subjective point of view (not yours but your protagonist’s) and definitely be about a character who has experienced hard life lessons but learns to not only cope but thrive because of them. Length 12 – 18 double spaced pages. Please include a title.
4 – Watch a movie that has similar themes to Echo Brown’s Black Girl Unlimited
and compare and contrast the alike (categorical) features found in Brown’s magical realism memoir to it. Writing a comparative paper would mean writing in depth about the plots, themes, moments, characters in ways that bring the highlights of both mediums out fully. Length 3 – 5 pages. Include a references or works cited entry in APA or MLA citation style. Please include a title, and be sure to reference all resources accurately including primary (The Primary) and secondary (critical or pedagogical) resources.
5 – Write a persuasive essay on Echo Brown’s Black Girl Unlimited,
discussing something you believe is very important that Brown is trying to express about community, race, friendship, family, education (primary, secondary, and college), addiction/recovery, cultural conflict, symbolism or another theme you believe is a prominent organizing feature, or how the magical realism works with the biographical accounts of her life to accentuate her memoir’s meaning. The paper should be 4 to 6 pages in length, double-spaced, titled, one inch margins, times new roman 12pt font. When using critical sources, (works cited or references required) they must be cited accurately, and integrated in your writing with parenthetical citations according to MLA or APA style.
Part B
After reading Echo Brown’s
Black Girl Unlimited and going over the Post Writing Strategies material (on the Powerpoint), Module Seven Powerpoint, the Reading Quiz, and
after completing this ‘s integrative assignment, please answer the following questions for us, classmates and instructor. Due May 8
How do you like the hybrid genre known as Magical Realism Memoir based on your work in this final unit? Have you read magical realism before? Have you read a memoir before? Mention a specific offering of one of the three types and how Brown’s book compares to it.
What integrative assignment did you pursue, complete? Copy a section of your favorite part of your project that you wrote (not the assignment sheet)
If you wrote fiction, share your creative process with us (how, what, when, where, why kinds of things)? If you wrote nonfiction (everything else) share your creative process with us and let us know how you chose the details you chose and what general ideas you hoped to relate.
Share with the class what skill or skills you think you improved as a result of this project? Explain please.
If you were to recommend this magical realism memoir novel to someone to read, what is the most compelling reason for this nod? Please discuss.
This assignment is worth 30 points if you complete your integrative project and answer completely answer these questions and respond to two of your classmates responses in both a positive and insightful way.
Please complete this DBA when you have finished the entire module! This will be the final assignment for this module.
If you do not complete the corresponding Integrative Assignment, this assignment will be read and commented upon of course, but not graded.
