Reading Language Arts Individual Graduation Project Choices

English I

• Students must choose one of the two projects, submit it for evaluation, and receive set holistic scores certifying the completed project’s quality.

All projects are 100% aligned to the ELAR TEKS SES.

Project One:

Choose one of the novels listed (available in your school library) and read it carefully:

o Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia Available online

o The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

o I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez Available online

Write an analytical essay addressing the following question: Who and/or what shapes or influences a person’s identity? Choose a character from one of the novels listed above and write an essay answering this question, citing evidence from the text to support your answer.

An analytical essay earning a holistic score of 3 (“Satisfactory Writing Performance”) on the state’s Analytic Writing Rubric demonstrates mastery of the assessed ELAR TEKS SES and constitutes a passing score on this project.

• Associated ELAR TEKS SES: 9.2B, 9.4E, 9.4F, 9.4G, 9.5C, 9.5D, 9.5G, 9.6A, 9.6B, 9.9A, 9.9Bi, 9.9Bii, 9.9D

Project Two:

Part One

Read and think carefully about two texts:

o “My Mother’s Blue Bowl” by Alice Walker(Memoir)

o “My Mother Pieced Quilts” by Teresa Palomo Acosta (Poem)

• Write a response to the following question: What do the narrator in the memoir and the speaker in the poem learn from their mothers? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer.
• A written response earning a holistic score of 2 (“Sufficient”) on the state’s Reading Short Answer Rubric Connecting Selections demonstrates mastery of the assessed ELAR TEKS SES and constitutes a passing score on this project.

Although this comparative writing task is presented as a short-answer question, students are free to write as much as they feel is necessary in order to answer the question thoroughly.

• Associated ELAR TEKS SES: 9.2B, 9.4H, 9.5B, 9.5C, 9.5D, 9.5G, 9.7B, 9.9A, 9.9Bi, 9.9Bii, 9.9D

Part Two

Read the quote below.

“Your job is not just to do what your parents say, what your teachers say, or what society says, but to figure out what your heart and mind say and to be led by that.”

– Oprah Winfrey

We learn important things or lessons in life from our parents, our families, our friends, our teachers, and from many other role models. Think carefully about this statement.

• Write an expository composition addressing the following prompt: Write an essay explaining the most important thing or lesson you have ever learned.
• An expository essay earning a holistic score of 3 (“Satisfactory Writing Performance”) on the state’s Expository Writing Rubric demonstrates mastery of the assessed ELAR TEKS SES and constitutes a passing score on this project. •Associated ELAR TEKS SES: 9.9A, 9.9Bi, 9.9Bii, 9.9C, 9.9D