Artistic Manifestations of Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
My students need a rich, multi-modal experience, encompassing art, music, culture, film and poetry as they read Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students are wonderful and diverse. They are hard-working and ambitious. Most of them are products of working class families. For many, education represents opportunity. They dream of being accepted to colleges and universities across America.
As first generation college students, they are not only representing themselves, but the dreams of their families who didn't have the opportunities to pursue higher education.
Students in American Literature and Honors African Literature classes constitute a range of ethnically diverse students with a common interest: an appreciation and curiosity for compelling stories.
My Project
Gone are the days when teachers assigned novels, passed out multiple choice tests, and demanded book reports. In the 21st century, students must be given the opportunity for creative expression and critical thought.
Our reading of Their Eyes Were Watching God will come alive through analysis of various forms such as film, art, music, and companion texts.
The multi-modal unit will include a comparative study of The Color Purple, novel and film, and works that speak to the resiliency of folk culture and female empowerment namely The Beast of the Southern Wild. Students will further examine how natural disasters, such as hurricanes, so detrimental in Hurston's novel to those who were poor and black juxtaposed against the 21st century equivalent, Hurricane Katrina. When the Levees Broke will offer an analysis of this contemporary tragedy on American soil for which so many have yet to recover.
After we complete Their Eyes Were Watching God, the novel will resonate as we examine the history of African Americans in America, not just the struggles, but the triumphs. And what artist was more confident and in love with the beauty of her people than Zora Neale Hurston?
Zora Neale Hurston : Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings : Mules and Men, Tell My Horse, Dust Tracks on a Road, Selected Articles (The Library of America, 75)
• Amazon Business
$32.66
1
$32.66
NOVA - Hurricane Katrina: The Storm That Drowned a City
• Amazon Business
$31.95
1
$31.95
Trouble the Water
• Amazon Business
$29.95
1
$29.95
Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance
• Amazon Business
$22.90
1
$22.90
If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise
• Amazon Business
$19.99
1
$19.99
Down the River unto the Sea
• Amazon Business
$18.36
1
$18.36
When the Levees Broke
• Amazon Business
$17.85
1
$17.85
Total Jazz
• Amazon Business
$16.49
1
$16.49
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
• Amazon Business
$15.39
1
$15.39
Beasts of the Southern Wild by Fox Searchlight by Benh Zeitlin
• Amazon Business
$14.99
1
$14.99
Why Art?
• Amazon Business
$14.99
1
$14.99
Fire!!: The Zora Neale Hurston Story
• Amazon Business
$14.92
1
$14.92
Go Gator and Muddy the Water: Writings From the Federal Writers' Project
• Amazon Business
$14.84
1
$14.84
Billie Holiday
• Amazon Business
$13.56
1
$13.56
Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica
• Amazon Business
$12.04
1
$12.04
Mules and Men (P.S.)
• Amazon Business
$11.28
1
$11.28
Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-tales from the Gulf States
• Amazon Business
$10.32
1
$10.32
Lady Sings The Blues
• Amazon Business
$9.98
1
$9.98
The Women of Brewster Place (Uncut Edition)
• Amazon Business
$8.27
1
$8.27
Eve's Bayou
• Amazon Business
$7.99
1
$7.99
Andaz Press Library Wall Art, It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be, Oscar Wilde, 8.5x11-inch Books Reading Home Classroom Print, 1-Pack, UNFRAMED
• Amazon Business
$6.99
1
$6.99
Lackawanna Blues
• Amazon Business
$5.98
1
$5.98
Materials cost
$400.93
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$36.69
3rd party payment processing fee
$6.01
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$473.63
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$83.58
Total project goal
$557.21
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$557.21
1 Donor
-$557.21
Donations toward project cost
-$473.63
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Taylor and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.