The Things they Carried, Rucksack Project

My character is Mitchell Sanders. You will only have to write a letter home and draw a pic or choose a pic of that scene. directions/rubric will be included.

The Things They Carried

Character Rucksack Project

Through our reading of The Things They Carried, we have been introduced to a host of unique and original characters. Each of them is faced with the challenge of surviving in a difficult and challenging environment. Often the only belongings they carried were those that they were able to carry on their bodies or in their rucksacks. Choose one character from the book and construct a rucksack for them, including the following personal items:

Character: Mitchell Sanders

Item 1: Letter Home “ 30 points

Vietnam soldiers often relied on letters as their only communication home. They would wait anxiously for mail to come and would often pass free time writing letters home. Imagine your character has written a letter home but has not yet had a chance to mail it. Your letter should comprise one page, double-spaced and typed, and should include at least five specific details from the book relating to your character.

Item 3: Photograph “ 30 points

Vietnam was the first war to be widely videotaped and photographed. On a 3 x 5 note card, create a photograph of a scene from the book involving your character. You may freehand draw the photograph or create a collage of magazine images. On the back, write a paragraph (6-8 sentences) that describes the scene. Use at least one quote from the book to support your photo.

Rubric for The Things They Carried Rucksack Project

10 8 6 4

Exemplary Discerning Thoughtful Minimal

LETTER

Writing Style Effective and superior Clear, Concise Varied, complete Simplistic or

sentence structure, sentences; mature, sentences, incoherent

effective word choice effective word choice appropriate wording

Grammar, Virtually no errors Infrequent Errors Some errors in Several major

Punctuation, complex construction errors

Development Shows unusual Reflective, competent Some depth of Undeveloped,

Concrete Details connections, five or more analysis of information; insight, three details Two or fewer

And Commentary details from the book. four or more details. from the book. details

PHOTOGRAPH Effective and superior Clear, Concise Varied, complete Simplistic or

sentence structure, sentences; mature, sentences, incoherent

Writing Style effective word choice effective word choice appropriate wording

Creativity and Virtually no errors, Infrequent Errors Some errors in Several major

Punctuation photograph shows time complex construction, construction, photo errors, no

and thought photo shows thought shows little thought thought

Development Shows unusual Reflective, competent Some depth of Undeveloped,

Concrete Details connections, 6-8 analysis of information, insight, 3-4 little or no

And Commentary sentence paragraph 5 sentence paragraph sentence paragraph understanding

Only doing item 1 and 3.

“ Letter home MUST contain 5 details of Mitchell Sanders from the book.

“ You can draw or find a photograph that relates to Mitchell sander, a scene in the book.