In 2008, some of these projects were new ideas, others were assigned previously, but multimedia was added as a vehicle to communicate or extend the theme or message of the project. Here are a few examples of projects:
1.Sonnets/Analysis w/ Multi-media: Intro to Midsummer Night's Dream. 2.Final Project/Original Song: Song with accompanying story/analysis Multimedia element, feature on blog.(new) 3.Blog: Portfolio of work, showcasing all of the mentioned projects. (new,embed) 4. Comic Life: Shadowing Holden Stories (new) 5. Miscellaneous technology: creative introduction to JD Salinger.
I use this assignment to start the plunge into Shakespeare's, Midsummer Nights Dream. This activity of writing a sonnet with an analysis, helps the student understand Shakespeare's rhythms, sentence structure and use of rhymes in his work. Writing sonnets and using multimedia to communicate the essence or message of the sonnet, made it a more engaging project and a successful project for most of my students. Success was calculated by evaluating the quality of the sonnets, the depth of the accompanying analysis and the creativity of the multimedia as an extension of this assignment.
Acacia Appeal
An acacia stands above the vast plains A barren craton filled with golden grass Leaves flourish as water flows through their veins Minute in the Savanna biomass
The umbrella is fortified by spines Encircled by dry leaves, burnt by the sun Hiding the oasis shrouded by vines A giraffe wanders, and the search has begun
Stumbling upon this tedious test He avoids the thorns and consumes dried leaves A second giraffe draws near, seeking the best Dazed by the barrier that keeps out thieves
Hunger drives this tetrapod through blockades And finds what is coveted in the shades
Calder/Kelcie * We open up our sonnet with an acacia tree. . . .. Paper continues under Comments
This Final Song Project was a challenge for the students and for myself. The students worked hard learning all the multimedia involved in creating and embedding it into their blog. We used Garage Band, imovie, Jing, Scribd, Power Point and more to create our projects and Teacher Tube, You Tube, Scribd, Jing and Podomatic to save our files, capture the embedded code and finally put it up on our blogs.
* In each of these examples, each student expressed a topic or theme that was very close to each of them. Tim is tired of being harassed for his whiteness,Sara longs for her dead grandma, Duke wants to take the right path and say no to drugs and Analia, still shell shocked after her father's death, shows signs of wanting to be in a better place.And,finally Kai just simply wants to surf.
Our English blogs represent a portfolio of writings, projects and multimedia created by the student. The blog becomes for the student a proud collage of their efforts that is accessible to all. A Variety of Blogs:
This assignment gave the students a chance to revisit a Holden-like experience and reveal the plot through Comic Life. This was a fun ice-breaker activity which helped us get to know each other, and create a story around the focus of Catcher in the Rye. This story, "Jeannie" was a clever look at a babysitter and how she disliked her 'fakeness'. by Jade
"My life was full of lousy people. The worst was Jeanie, my babysitter."
The second assignment gave the student options to; create a new episode that would slide in the book, retell a story in more detail using Holden language, tell the story from another character's point of view or spin off of any part of the story that would parallel Catcher in the Rye.
By Christian
The Music At The Lavender Room
What motivates Holden to stay longer? What type of music do they play? Can I make a connection to the ducks? How long does he stay at the Lavender? What does he do after he leaves the bar?
After the goddam bartender refused to give me the coke and gin that I had ordered,. . . .**Continued under Comments
