The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time

English Student
Native American Literature Personal Identity Project

Now that we’ve looked at a variety of writings from Native American artists, we’re going to
ask you to take some of those concepts and apply them to your own lives. You will complete a
series of reflective and creative writings that demonstrate your understanding and skills with
the literary devices and themes we studied during this unit.

4 - Advanced 3 - PROFICIENT 2 - Almost There 1 - Needs Work

1. Self-Portrait Creative drawing +
more than 8 labels
Neat drawing + at least
6 labels reveal unique
Drawing present but
labels may be
Drawing and limited
labels reveal minimal
reveal unique and witty insights into yourself redundant or lack effort
insights into yourself creativity

2. Story to Teach a Story is interesting and

told in engaging manner
Story is interesting and
detailed with a clear
Story is straightforward
and has a lesson
Story may be too brief
or illogical; lesson may
Lesson and with detail; lesson lesson; shared on OR Story meets 3 or 4 be hard to identify
is obvious; shared on FlipGrid requirements but is not
FlipGrid completed on FlipGrid

3. Poem Poem communicates a

universal experience
Poem communicates
human emotion through
Poem is merely about
nature (rather than also
Poem is about nature;
figurative language not
through nature, using nature with some depicting a human attempted
figurative language and figurative language and experience) and
natural symbolism natural symbolism attempts at least one
form of figurative
language

4. School Day of a Rich description,

creative figurative
Sufficient description,
figurative language and
Description, details and
some figurative
Minimal description and
details leave the reader
Holt Kid language and sensory sensory details language describe a wanting more
details communicate a communicate a school school day information
significant school experience
experience

Polished Product Final product is

proofread and neatly
Final product is
proofread and neatly
Final product may have
some errors but not
Errors are frequently
distracting or interfere
organized, with organized enough to distract the with understanding
effective font choices reader
and consistent visual
appeal
 “I draw because words are too unpredictable. I draw because words
are too limited. If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or
Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of
human beings will get your meaning. But when you draw a picture,
everybody can understand it.”

1. Self-Portrait
As we saw in one of the excerpts from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior
draws as a way to understand the world. He draws the things he sees, and he draws portraits
of the people he loves, as well as himself. He draws to show emotion, conflict, dreams,
disappointments, hope, despair. For this portion of the project, you will draw an image of
yourself (for examples and inspiration, check out pages 27, 29, 57). You can choose how you
want to portray yourself: true to life as you are
now, what you hope for your future, as a
caricature, or to demonstrate ways in which
you feel split in your life. Your picture does not
have to be in color (though that would be
nice), but it does have to be labeled with
specifics that demonstrate who you are. We
expect at LEAST 6 labels (Again, look at the
book as an example to guide you. But be sure
you notice that Junior’s labels are witty and
humorous and reveal more information than
what is depicted in the drawing -- your labels
shouldn’t be redundant of the drawing itself.)

On the page after your self-portrait, please

write a paragraph that acts as a narrative of
why you included the different aspects of
yourself you chose. What is important about
those details and descriptions? How do they
relate to how you see yourself?
2. A story that teaches a lesson
We studied the fact that a major characteristic of Native American oral tradition is a story that
will teach a lesson. You saw this when Thomas told the story of the fry bread in Smoke
Signals. Think of a story that you hear told over and over in your family as a means of
teaching a lesson.

Retell that story by using FlipGrid. You may choose to write it out ahead of time or you can
tell it from memory.
https://flipgrid.com/fdb36446 The FlipGrid join code is: fdb36446

When you are done with your FlipGrid, you have the option to “Share Your Video” -- do that
and download a copy of the FlipGrid so that you can paste the link to it into your project.
3. A Poem
Nilch’itsoh Song of Failure
(Navajo) (Teton Sioux)
A big wind, A wolf
The wind of November, I considered myself,
A wolf that shreds leaves from trees, But the owls are hooting
A howl that keeps us close to the fire. And the night
I fear.
We looked at some short poems that illustrate the themes and devices common to Native
American literature. Often they are very short, unrhymed and precise, like a haiku; and they
focus on a natural phenomenon with similes and metaphors.

Your poem should describe a natural phenomenon (leaves falling, the first dandelion, melting
snow, etc.) and connect it to the human experience, using descriptive language and similes,
metaphors, and personification.

Please write a short paragraph that provides a narrative to accompany your poem. It should
clarify the main idea of your poem and why it is important to you.

4. A School Day
We read pieces from Zitkala-Sa’s work The School Days of an Indian Girl. Think back to one of
your earliest school memories OR use this as a chance to capture your experience with online
learning. Using rich description, figurative language, and sensory details, write about that
school experience. This should be around a page, double-spaced. Your experience does not
have to be a negative one, but it should be meaningful to you and who you are today.