7^th Grade English Name:_______________________

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor

Project Choices

Notes:

• These projects are done individually, not in pairs or groups.
• Each project relates to a theme in Roll of Thunder, but should be made personal to you.
• Select ONE project to complete, and do your best work.

1. Family Tree

One thing important to Cassie—and to Mildred D. Taylor—is her family. It’s the source of her pride, of many important lessons in life, of humor, of love, of strength. Do you feel this way about your family?

• For this project, make a poster-sized family tree, including as many people, and as many generations, as you can.
• For the oral component, you must stand and tell the class about one special person in your family tree—someone who has taught you a lot, someone you have a special relationship with, someone you’ve shared interesting times with, or someone you admire. You’ll speak in an organized and clear way, sharing one or more detailed thoughts/memories, for about 5 minutes.

2. A Family Story

Roll of Thunder, like its companion novels, comes from family stories Mildred D. Taylor heard while she was growing up: “She grew up enjoying her father’s interesting stories about the Taylor family’s life in the Mississippi countryside. Wilbert Lee Taylor, Mildred’s father, sat by the fireplace in their home. There, he shared the family’s past with Mildred, her older sister, Wilma, and their mother, Deletha. From these stories, Mildred Taylor learned that her family had courage, dignity, and self-respect. Her father’s magical storytelling ability made her want to share his talent. ‘I began to imagine myself as a storyteller, making people laugh at their own foibles [small faults] or nod their heads with pride about some stunning feat of heroism,’ she remembers.”*

• For this project, you’ll find a family story to tell. If you don’t know one, ask your parents or grandparents for a good family story—something with drama, or humor, or suspense, or a love story.
• Write the story, as Mildred Taylor has done—with a strong beginning, clearly telling the tale using dialogue, description, and sensory details, and a good closing. This should take about 1,000 words.
• For the oral component, you’ll read your story aloud to the class—loudly, clearly, and dramatically. No boring readings allowed! Practice!

3. “Me” Scrapbook

Cassie learns about herself in the novel, by learning about her family and life. Papa tells her that the family is like the fig tree growing in the back yard, because “it has roots that run deep,” knowing it will never be as big as the other trees, but giving fruit year after year. “It don’t give up. It give up, it’ll die.” What are you like? And why?

• In a scrapbook format, you’ll present different sides of yourself through words and pictures. Each page should be filled with information, creatively and attractively presented. The pictures can be ones you’ve drawn, or cut from magazines, digital pictures you’ve printed out, etc. The words should be all yours. Each page should tell something about you: A page “I’m like…” (with things you’re like, as the Logan family is like the fig tree); pages representing your main character traits (sense of humor, favorites, things important to you, etc.); be creative in presenting important sides of you.
• For the oral component, you’ll present your scrapbook to the class. Show us/tell us about what’s on the pages, and say what the things represent. You’ve only got about 5 minutes, so be organized.

Projects due in class, and oral components presented, on Monday, November 12^th.

*Rozakis, Laurie. A Reading Guide to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Scholastic, Inc. 2003