2016 Summer Reading Assignment

2016 Summer Reading Assignment The Other Wes Moore

The author, Wes Moore will be visiting Ohio State on Tuesday, October 4th, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. Metro will have tickets to the event so if interested mark your calendars early!

Each student will need to complete the discussion questions and complete a project for their summer reading assignment. This assignment is the first grade in Advisory.

Discussion Questions: Please answer in writing the following questions. 1. How well does Moore describe the culture of the streets, where young boys grow up believing that violence transforms them into men? Talk about the street culture —its violence, drug dealing, disdain for education. What creates that ethos and why do so many young men find it attractive? 2. Both Wes Moores talk a lot about expectations. To what extent do the expectations of others control our outcomes? To what extent should we hold ourselves accountable for our own actions?

3. Women play a large role in both of the Weses’ lives. How do their attitudes towards women differ, and how are they similar? What do you think the book says about the importance of women in a family? What does it say about the way that women should be treated?

4. Wes Moore the author says that “I was taught to remember but never question. Wes was taught to forget, and never ask why.” Are these things different and if so how are they different? How do they point to differences in each of the Wes’s upbringings? How might they connect to the differences in their outcomes?

5. Watch the following video: Raising Wes Moore How did each mother approach/react to single motherhood? To Poverty? 6. Can we only blame ourselves for our mistakes, or do our parents have any responsibility for our choices?

Project: Each student will select and complete one of the project options.

Option 1: Your project is to identify someone (ie. A character in history, a famous individual) that has had experiences in life similar to your own. The person should be someone other than a family member.

Create a presentation that shows the parallel structures between the two lives. You must identify events in each life that were significant and have utilized the Metro Habits: Effective Communicator, Active and Responsible Decision Maker, Effective Collaborator, Engaged Learner, Critical Thinker and Inquiring Learner.

How to choose an individual:  A character from a book  An individual who has a name similar to your own  An individual who has similar life experiences to your own  An individual who has had a similar background as your own

Option 2: Choose a character from the book The Other Wes Moore who responded to situations similar to how you would respond to those situations.

What’s needed for both Options:  Find meaningful similarities  Connect a Metro Habits to each situations  Presentation types:  Scrapbook (minimum of 10 pages; maximum of 15) with captions for each picture selected  Prexi (10-15 slides)  Powerpoint (10-15 slides)  Podcast  Animation  -You choose!!

Option 3: Choose from one of the following themes within the book: Poverty Drugs Crime Prison Absent Fathers Single Mothers Mentoring/Role Models Fate vs. Free Will Education

Write a 3 page Speech (double spaced) about your selected topic and the role this topic played on the life of the selected the character (s). Be sure to include quotes from the text to support your direction of the speech.

Your discussion questions and project should be ready to turn in on the first day of school- August 22nd, 2016.