Independant Novel Project

I'm very excited about this project, because it involves a lot more student choice than anything I've been involved with yet.

One of the English teachers has her students select a novel to read for class. Each student picks his own novel. Then, instead of having them do book reports, she wants to have them do projects to show that they have read and understand the main points of the book.

We worked together to bring some of her projects into the 21st centurty. By the end, we had a list of about ten options. This seemed a bit much--too many choices will overwhelm some students, and it certainly would have made grading far more difficult and time consuming. So, the teacher too my suggestions into consideration, and narrowed the list down to five projects that the students can do. This way, students have a chance to play to their strengths and be creative, while being as out there or as conservative with the assignment as they want.

As part of making this assignment more 21st Century, the teacher wanted to let students use web 2.0 and other technology tools. I showed her some options. Some of these tools are things she is very unfamiliar with. Others she is more comfortable with. I suggested that students who know these tools, or feel comfortable learning them on their own, have the option to choose them. She is a little more conservative, and does not want students to be left to their own devices of learning these tools as they go. However, it would have been unreasonable to have me take as much class time as I would have needed to show all of these tools, when kids will be using only one or two at most. As a compromise, I am providing typed overviews with images that will help students learn the basics (I used word and screen captures to create these). My hope is that students who are ambitious or creative will be able to take the basic instructions I provide and then discover some of the more advanced functions of the programs.


The current five projects are:

*Storyboard: You will choose three different, important scenes
throughout the novel that represent your story. You can either take
still-life pictures or create still-life photos in an online program
called bitstrips (like a comic-strip) to show the progress of the
action. You will then write two paragraphs why you chose those scenes
and their significance. The other paragraph will be a reflection on the
process.


*Day-in-the-Life: You will pretend you are the protagonist in the book
in the situations that he/she encounters by creating a "My-Space" type
website. One section will be posted journal entries in the perspective
of that character. You will also include necessary "wall updates" to
show the protagonist's experiences.
The written component will be a two-paragraph "extra ending" or "where
are they now" to your novel.


*Event Location Map: You will use the Inspiration program to represent
the different, essential locations and events in the novel. You should
have ten-twelve selections. You will choose images and labels with a 3-4
sentence description about the location/event.



*Brown Bag: You will choose eight to ten "items" to place in the bag to
represent significant events, situations or characters from the book.
You can use either PhotoStory in which you can take pictures or use
stock images or Jog the Web in which you would select web-sites/images
online. You will provide a 3-4 sentence description of the objects.



*Interview: You will write and record an interview with the protagonist
in your story. It must have ten-twelve in depth questions/answers to
demonstrate all of his/her major situations and experiences. You can
complete this with audio or video.