Independent Novel Study

ASSIGNMENT 5: Final Project

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways
  • Apply appropriate strategies to comprehend written, oral, visual, and multimodal texts
  • Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences

Task:

NOVEL TIC-TAC-TOE

Select and complete TWO activities from two different horizontal rows (character, setting, theme) to help you and others think about your novel.  Remember to make your work thoughtful, original, accurate, and detailed. Use quotations from your novel to support your analysis.  As well, use visuals to enhance your final presentation.  You might consider using graphic organizers from the folder at the top of the course as part of your visual presentation.  You only need to do TWO of the activities in total.

CHARACTER

Create a fake Facebook profile for a major character in your novel.  Be sure to include the most important traits in your profile.  Include a profile picture, and then the usual aspects of a Facebook profile:  name, nicknames, user name, age range, language, relationship status, gender, hometown, current city, education, networks (school and workplace), family, interests.  Be creative!  Include names of videos your character would post, pokes made, apps clicked on, friend requests, and friends.

Write a "tweet" that accurately sums up the most important and revealing traits of the protagonist.  280 characters only!  Now do the same for the antagonist and one supporting character from your novel.

Create an online image of the protagonist and one interesting character from the book.  The image should use one of the many online image creating tools that are available.  If you have photoshop or paint, you could use those.

SETTING

Research a town/place you feel is equivalent to the one in which the novel is set.  Use maps, sketches, population and other demographic data to help you make comparisons and contrasts.  Keep a log of the sources you use.  Present your findings in presentation software.

Tour Guide - Record a tour of the setting of your novel.  Find a way to help viewers understand both what the place is like, and why it is important to the plot and in the characters’ lives.  Identify 5 points of interest and discuss their significance.

The time and place in which people find themselves and when events happen shape those people and events in important ways.  Create a timeline of the events of your novel using a Wixie template or another online timeline creator.

THEME

Find out about famous people in history or current events whose experiences and lives reflect the essential themes of this novel.  Show what you have learned in a multi-modal presentation:  a picture book, storyboard, webpage, etc.

Create a multi-media presentation that fully explores a key theme from the novel.  Use at least 3 media (e.g. painting, music, poetry, drama, sculpture, etc.) in your exploration.

Party Planner - plan a celebration based on the setting, characters, and plot of your novel so that they all reflect the theme of your novel (and your party!)  Submit the invitation or e-vite and planning guide.

Suggestions for Software

Below are some tools you could use for your Final Project. Consider using one of the online options because these options make it easier for you to upload your Project to your teacher.

  • Prezi - Prezi is an online presentation tool that helps you organize and share your ideas.
  • Google Presentation - Part of the Google Docs family of web applications, this presentation tool allows you to import PowerPoint  or OpenOffice presentations as well as creating new ones from scratch. It also allows you to export your presentations as PowerPoint or .pdf file
  • Zoho Show - Zoho Show is an online presentation tool that helps you to create and deliver presentations. You can now take your presentations wherever you go, apply new ideas instantly, review, edit, share and deliver presentations on the go.
  • Open Office Impress - Impress is part of the FREE Open Office suite of productivity tools (similar to Microsoft Office but FREE!) and is a truly outstanding tool for creating effective multimedia presentations. 

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective.  Student demonstrates exemplary active reading skills to comprehend and respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways.  Text references and ideas generated are thoughtful and unique. Project displays an exemplary understanding of plot, characters, and setting.

Content and Organization:  (Exemplary 6/6):  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections.  Exceptional organizational structure.  Project demonstrates a clear understanding of the novel's development of plot, characters, setting.  There is a thoroughly developed sequence of events or time order that engages the reader and moves to a powerful conclusion.

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. 

Overall Presentation:  Exemplary (6/6):  The creative presentation adds to the content and shows evidence of outstanding effort and imagination.  Products show exemplary original thought and insight.  Ideas are clearly presented and visually effective.

Submission:

Use the "5.5 FINAL PROJECT:  Novel Study" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.