Their+Eyes+Were+Watching+God

By Zora Neale Hurston
 * **Unit** **Connection College** **and Career Ready Descriptions:**
 * Students will demonstrate independence.
 * Students will value evidence.
 * Students will build strong content knowledge.
 * Students will respond to the varying demands of audience, task, and discipline.
 * Students will critique as well as comprehend.
 * Students will use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
 * Students will develop an understanding of other perspectives and cultures. ||

2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and buildon one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text 6.Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, orunderstatement). 10.By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity bandindependently and proficiently. 5. Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his orher exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear,convincing, and engaging. 7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in differentmedia or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. || **Writing****W11-12****Text Types and Writing**1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts,using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. a. Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the text c. Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as variedsyntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion,and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons,between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s)and counterclaims.d. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tonethe norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information. || **Speaking and Listening****SL11-12****Comprehension and Collaboration**1.Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative iscussions (oneon- one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on texts, and issues,persuasively.a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material understudy; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from textsand other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, wellreasonedexchange of ideas.b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decisionmaking, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as needed.c. Propel conversations by posing and respondingto questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue;clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.**Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas**4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listenerscan follow the line of reasoning,alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization,development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and arange or formal and informal tasks.5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings,reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. |||| **Language****L11-12****Knowledge of Language**3. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. a. Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty ordescribing a state contrary to fact). 6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabularyknowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. ||
 * **Unit Standards:** ||
 * **Reading****Literature**
 * RL11-12**
 * Key Ideas and Details**
 * Craft and Structure**
 * Range of Reading and Level**
 * of Text Complexity**
 * Informational Text**
 * RI11-12**

‍**Enduring Concept:**
==‍**The impact of the Harlem Renaissance on literature. The concept of personal journey, style of language/diction, and the impact of setting in literature.**==

‍**Big Idea:**
==‍**The journey of an African American female during a period of historical and personal transition.**== ==‍**Notes: This unit integrates and synthesize the concept of the quest as introduced in early literature such as //The Odyssey//, //The Illiad//, //Beowulf//, etc., in addition to various genres. Differentiation of product and process is offered through the activity chart. This process allows students positive social constructs and embraces multiple intelligences.**==


 * Timeline and Assessments:**
 * ==‍**Journal assignment due 4/16 (Formative Assessment)**==

‍**Activities assigned (See chart below)**

 * ==‍**Seminar (Formative Assessment)**==
 * ==‍**Essay (Summative Assessment)**==
 * ==‍**Discussion questions in class (see below)**==
 * ==‍**Activities due (Performance/Summative)**==

‍//**Seminar Discussion Questions:**//
=‍**1**. What kind of God are the eyes of Hurston's characters watching? What is the nature of that God and of their watching? Do any of them question God?=

==‍**2**. What is the importance of the concept of horizon? How do Janie and each of her men widen her horizons? What is the significance of the novel's final sentences in this regard?==

==‍**3**. How does Janie's journey--from West Florida, to Eatonville, to the Everglades--represent her, and the novel's increasing immersion in black culture and traditions? What elements of individual action and communal life characterize that immersion?==

==‍**4**. To what extent does Janie acquire her own voice and the ability to shape her own life? How are the two related? Does Janie's telling her story to Pheoby in flashback undermine her ability to tell her story directly in her own voice?==

==‍**5**. What are the differences between the language of the men and that of Janie and the other women? How do the differences in language reflect the two groups' approaches to life, power, relationships, and self-realization? How do the novel's first two paragraphs point to these differences?==

==‍**6**. In what ways does Janie conform to or diverge from the assumptions that underlie the men's attitudes toward women? How would you explain Hurston's depiction of violence toward women? Does the novel substantiate Janie's statement that "Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks too and talks His inside business"?==

==‍**7**. What is the importance in the novel of the "signifyin'" and "playin' de dozens" on the front porch of Joe's store and elsewhere? What purpose do these stories, traded insults, exaggerations, and boasts have in the lives of these people? How does Janie counter them with her conjuring?==

==‍**8**. Why is adherence to received tradition so important to nearly all the people in Janie's world? How does the community deal with those who are "different"?==

==‍**9**. After Joe Starks's funeral, Janie realizes that "She had been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people; it was important to all the world that she should find them and they find her." Why is this important "to all the world"? In what ways does Janie's self-awareness depend on her increased awareness of others?==

==‍**10**. How important is Hurston's use of vernacular dialect to our understanding of Janie and the other characters and their way of life? What do speech patterns reveal about the quality of these lives and the nature of these communities? In what ways are "their tongues cocked and loaded, the only real weapon" of these people?==