Unit 3 Portfolio - Encounter Portfolio
For this portfolio project, you will explore different perspectives on Columbus’s encounter between the Europeans and the Taino. You will share this encounter in either journal entries or as a poem for two voices.
Your final product will describe the initial meeting between Columbus’s crew and the Taino natives from both perspectives. It should give historically accurate facts, but some historically plausible creative license can be taken to fill in the gaps in the details. Your description should also include sensory details about the encounter, such as the brightness of the sun or the smell of the air.
If you would like a recorded video walking you through these following steps click this link:
Your portfolio has 2 steps:
Research:
List basic facts about the voyage-include who, what, when, why, where
Describe the Taino lifestyle before Columbus's voyage
List some differences between European and Taino ways of life
Describe the European view of Columbus's voyage and his encounter with the Taino
Describe the Taino view of Columbus's voyage and their encounter with the Europeans.
Choice 1-Journal Entries
or
Choice 2-Poem for Two Voices
For this project, you will write two journal entries.
One will be from a member of Columbus’s crew, and one will be from a member of the Taino community that met Columbus and his men.
Each of your entries should include the following: • a personal narrative of the day the two cultures met • accurate historical facts about Columbus and his crew’s voyage, their meeting with the Taino, and Taino life and culture • creative details that can be inferred from the historical facts • sensory imagery that appeals to the five senses Remember that these two cultures are meeting for the very first time, and almost everything about the other culture will be completely new and unknown.
Try to imagine what it would have been like for each group to encounter the other, and let those feelings show through in your writing.
A Poem for Two Voices instructions: This is meant to be read aloud by two people. Often, these poems offer two sides of the same experience. Usually, the poems are written in two columns, one read by each person. Words that are spoken at the same time are written on the same line.
For this project, one column should be from the perspective of a member of Columbus’s crew.
The other column should be from the perspective of a member of one of the Taino communities that Columbus visited.
Your poem should include the following: • a balance of the perspectives of the Europeans and the Taino • accurate historical facts about Columbus and his crew’s voyage and their meeting with the Taino • creative details that can be inferred from the historical facts • sensory imagery that appeals to the five senses Follow the format of a poem for two voices, using the guidelines below. • Each column is a different voice or person • If both people speak at the same time, the words are written on the same line in both columns.