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The Soloist By Steve Lopez - The Peay Read
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Creative Response Guide

The Peay Read is intended to help you open your mind to new ideas and to think critically about issues that face our society.  The Other Wes Moore was selected for the Fall 2012 Peay Read because of the richness of themes it presents:

Community
Rites of Passage
Role of the Family
Storytelling
Power of Role Models		Ethics and Philosophy
Choices and Consequences
Mirrors and Duality
Learning from Failure
Life’s Chilling Truths
Social, Economic, and Political Aspects
Influence of Women
Poverty
Nature vs. Nurture		Research
Power of Inspiration
Influence of the Written Word
Life of the Mind

We would like you to keep these themes in mind as you are reading the book and to then explore them further by developing one of them into a creative response to the book. Your response can take the form of a poem, essay, screenplay, sculpture, video, choreography, musical composition, painting, drawing, or anything else you come up with!  All responses should relate strongly to the book.

Guidelines:

  1. You must complete the Plagiarism Tutorial prior to submitting your project. It is imperative that you cite sources properly.
  2. Your creative response should be in a format that is compatible with Microsoft (.doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx). If you complete a piece of art or a visual project please upload a digital image of the work in an easily viewable format (.jpg, .ppt). Videos should be uploaded to YouTube and the link should be submitted.
  3. ALL projects must be accompanied by a brief written description (no more than 100 words) explaining what the project is, why you created it, and which theme(s) it relates to, and the specific connection to passages from the book.
  4. The project should be no more than 2 pages (1" margins, double-spaced, 12 point Times font) or 3 minutes in length, and if the response is an essay, it must be submitted in a format (i.e. MLA or APA) specified by your APSU 1000 instructor.

 

Grading Criteria:

All projects will be reviewed by your APSU 1000 Instructor based on the following criteria. Top projects will be forwarded to a campus-wide panel of APSU 1000 judges to select award finalists.

  • Shows original thought and rigorous approach to interpreting the book
  • Has a clear relationship to the themes listed above
  • Connections to the book are clear
  • Evidence of critical and/or creative analysis
  • Evidence of proper citation of sources

Adapted from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Life of the Mind Consortium.

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