Persepolis Interactive Oral Assignment #1, 100 points - March 6, 2015
The Interactive Oral is designed to afford students the chance to lead discussions. Research and prepare a
discussion related to your topic. You may research your topic on the internet and derive information from
documents in the text as well as your own textual observations. You may use your research and notes to
convey the information, but you cannot simply read an article or a print out. The research supports a
student-centered and organic conversation centered on the Interactive Oral topics. The discussions
should address the following cultural and contextual considerations:
n relation to social and cultural context and
issues?
For each Interactive Oral (there will be a total of six – two for each text) there will be a group of 3-4
students assigned to present. Each student within the group will cover different topics and be familiar
with one another’s topics. The given time to speak will be 4 minutes per student and the entire
Interactive Oral discussion will be a total of 30-40 minutes (this includes your speaking time). The
assigned students will be researching the following topics regarding Persepolis:
1.
The Shah of Iran. Tell how he came to power, his role in government, reasons for his overthrow. Include
pictures of him, his family, his life.
2.
Islam. Tell major beliefs in the religion and why some religious groups felt the Iranian Islamic Revolution
was necessary. Include pictures of actual Iranian Islamic men and women from the time period of the
novel. What aspects of Islam do you see in Persepolis?
3.
People referenced by Satrapi. For what was each person known? Karl Marx; Che Guevara; Fidel Castro;
Zarathustra; Leon Trotsky; Rene Descartes; Mohandas Ghandi; Mustafa Ataturk; the first Shah’s prime
minister, Satrapi’s grandfather; Ali Ashraf Darvishian; Show side by side photos of them with the images
of them in the novel. Explain why Satrapi has these figures speak or act as they do in the novel. (Please
don’t make the mistake of assuming that she treats every figure seriously; there is a lot of irony in these
depictions.)
You may use the Elmo or show a Powerpoint or Prezi. Remember NOT to overwhelm us with a lot of
written information – distill it down to key ideas in bullet points
--of no more than 15 words,
--with no more than 4 bullets on a slide/piece of paper.
You should TELL us other things we need to know rather than present a lot of text on the
slide/paper. Plus, every topic must be accompanied by pictures!
Once your time is up, you have to transition to the next person in your group or stop. You will only have
the 4-minute time provided for giving your information, as the discussion is also important.
You will need to conduct a conversation with the class afterwards, and it MUST BE TIED to events in the
book, so plan for that!
Reminder About Research...remember to cite all sources that you use, even pictures. Prepare an MLA
works cited to go along with your presentation (due on the date that you present).
Your Interactive Oral can take one of the following forms (I am open to
additional proposed forms) , but your group must decide on one method no
later than March 5th, 2nd period :

Students could introduce the discussion, adopting the teacher’s role for lessons on the
work, and lead the class discussion.
Students, either individually or working in groups, could choose a clip of a film or other
visual medium and lead a discussion on how it may deepen understanding of culture or
context.
A fishbowl of experts discussing a contextual aspect of a work, then field questions from
the class at large.
A panel discussion in which students perform in character to explore the plot, setting, and
motives of the characters, with the rest of the class brainstorming questions for the panel
members.
The student can select a related reading that teaches or informs the class's reading of the
text studied on some aspect of the work and then lead a class discussion through that
related reading.
The student could create a multimedia project (YouTube video, prezi, museum box) as a
springboard into the expert discussion and then engage the rest of the class in a critique or
feedback.
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Note: Immediately following the IO, we will write your reflective statement. The reflective statement is a
short writing exercise and should be completed as soon as possible following the interactive oral. Each
student is asked to provide a reflection on each of the interactive orals. The reflective statement on the
same work as the student’s final assignment is submitted for assessment. The reflective statement must
be based on the following question: How was your understanding of cultural and
contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
Formal requirements
 Length 300–400 words. If the limit is exceeded, assessment will be based on the first 400
 words.
 Submission The reflective statement about the work used in the student’s final assignment
 (essay) is submitted together with the assignment.
 Assessment The reflective statement is awarded a mark out of 3 using assessment criterion A.
Criterion A: Knowledge and understanding of the work(s)
• To what extent does the student show how his or her understanding of cultural and contextual
elements was developed through the interactive oral? Note: The word limit for the reflective statement is
300–400 words. If the word limit is exceeded, 1 mark will be deducted.
Marks
0
1
2
3
Level descriptor
The work does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.
Reflection on the interactive oral shows superficial development of the student’s
understanding of cultural and contextual elements.
Reflection on the interactive oral shows some development of the student’s
understanding of cultural and contextual elements.
Reflection on the interactive oral shows development of the student’s
understanding of cultural and contextual elements.