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

Write a bio-poem about the protagonist or another character in the book.  Be sure to include the most important traits in your poem.  Then record it as spoken word poetry using verbal presentation techniques appropriately (tone, pitch, inflection, etc.)

Reader's Theatre.  Write a short script between the protagonist and another character that reveals 2 essential traits of the protagonist.  Act/read out the scene with a friend and submit the recording.

You’re a profiler.  Interview  an interesting character from the book emphasizing  personality traits and mode of operating/behavior to develop a behavioral profile.  Submit the script or you can record the interview.

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 in a presentation.  Keep a log of the sources you use.  Minimum 5 slides.

Tour Guide. Map a key place in the novel with verbal explanation.  Take your audience on a tour.  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. 

Soliloquy/Monologue.   Write and perform a short soliloquy or monologue that discusses the setting of your novel.  The time and place in which people find themselves and when events happen shape those people and events in important ways.  Find a way to convincingly prove that the setting and plot do that in your novel. 

THEME

Find out about famous speeches in history by people whose experiences and lives reflect the essential themes of this novel.  Show what you have learned by providing 2 of the speeches you found.  Accompany each speech with an explanation of how it reflects the essential theme(s) of the novel.

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.

Find several songs you think reflect an important message from the book.  Prepare an audio collage or soundtrack.  Write an exhibit card that helps your listeners understand how you think these songs express the book’s meaning.

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.