Victorian Era - Final Project You, individually, or with 2-3 partners will prepare a creative representation of either the mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or of Oscar Wilde’s the Importance of Being Earnest. The goal of the representation is to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the important events of the text(s) and one of the re-occurring ideas/values of the era (e.g., The Role of Social Status, Respect/Praise of Rationality, the Value of Propriety and Good Behavior). Group Project Ideas A. Design an advertising campaign to promote the sale of the text. Include ALL of the following in your campaign:
a poster a script for a radio or TV commercial, a magazine or newspaper ad, a bumper sticker and/or a button.
Keep in mind the advertising campaign must focus on one of the major motifs as well as demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of the motifs/themes. You’re NOT SELLING THE TEXT(s)!! You are trying to talk people into reading the book because of your theme B. Make a 4-5 minute long trailer for your adaptation of the text(s).
Video will be 4-5 minutes in length. Be sure to edit your video so that the final project is “perfect.” Written script will be turned in along with videotape. **TRAILER** Not a mini-adventure, this is an advertisement that both teases the plot and emphasizes the re-occurring idea/value of the era!
You may choose to update/modernize the style/setting if you want to, but you could also try to make your video look like it was set in the 19th century
D. Students put together a copy of a mock-newspaper. This should look as much like a real newspaper as possible. The articles will be based on major events and characters from the text. Use proper newspaper stories, complete with at least four of these features: News of the day, Gossip column, Letters to the editor, Obituaries, Human interest stories, Classifieds, Fashion/Style Columns, etc. Keep in mind, you can use drawings or photocopy art for illustrations. Again, your articles should highlight a theme, not just be random, related articles; the elements you include should highlight your chosen motif.
Individual Project Ideas:
A. Write a script for talk show featuring an important character (or characters) from the mysteries as the guest(s).
What questions would the host ask and how would the character(s) respond?
What would the audience’s reaction be? What kind of questions would the audience ask? Maybe an “expert” would come in to analyze the situation.
Written script will be turned in; remember to have their conversation focus/demonstrate one of the motifs.
B. Complete a series of five drawings that show five major events from both authors which explore one of the key themes of the book. Write detailed captions (8-10 sentences) for each drawing so someone who did not read the texts can understand the illustrations. 5 total, f THIS WILL BE GRADINED FOR ARTISTIC SKILL/ABLITY.
C. Using an 11x15 page of paper, students will create a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter page for two different characters, one from Holmes, one from Earnest. The photos, posts, friends, links and so on all need to reflect characters/events from the stories and should connect to the central motif/theme
D. Create two 4 page comic books depicting moments C. Create a board game based on events and characters from the text(s). Have a specific goal which would enable someone to win (catching Moriarty, solving an impossible murder, getting married to ‘Ernest’, etc.). Your game must include the following:
a game board, a rule sheet and detailed directions, events and characters from the story on cards or a game board
Keep in mind the game must focus on one of the major themes as well as demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of the mysteries.
from Holmes and Earnest. Should take on a comiclike appearance, in which narrative asides are placed in bubbles or boxes separate from spoken lines.
E. Make a soundtrack for Victorian Society. Create a playlist of at least 7 songs, about the theme that connect to both author’s texts. The CD’s booklet should contain written descriptions for why the song was chosen and when it should be heard in which text. Part of the project should include creative album art.
F. Or you may choose any of the group projects listed above, or may suggest new ones I haven’t thought of. It’s a good idea to run these new ideas by Maher first though.
Rubric:
The project is worth up to 50 points
Project Due: _Fri. June 2nd__
Creativity: Student has gone beyond the reading and taken it a step further combining their own ideas/imagination with ideas from the book to produce a compelling final project.
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Accuracy: Is the student consistent with the stories? Does the project show that the student has gone back to the texts to confirm events and descriptions given by the author? Thoughtful Consideration of a Key Theme: Has the student brought up issues that were discussed in class and made meaningful connections with the novel?
Effort--Time Put In: Does the project seem to be well thought out or does it seem like it was thrown together?
Written Support: Is project supported by writing that has been typed and proof read?
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Notes from Past Years:
A. THE THEME IS THE THING! – So, so, so, so often, kids just do random works or only kind of, sort of make a reference back to the theme (key idea) they’ve chosen. Keep an eye on the prize; it is the most language artsy part of the project, it’s clearly something I’m going to grade heavily. B. TRAILER, NOT MOVIE – Yes, making videos is fun, but the whole point is to create a trailer for the project, not to shoot a short mystery or random video of you playing basketball. It needs to be edited, it needs to hint at the plot without giving everything away and needs to focus on a theme. C. NOBODY LIKES BORING BOARD GAMES – a lot of times, kids focus more on the look of the board game than how it is actually played or what the goal of the game is. It needs to reinforce the theme and it should be more interesting than just rolling a dice or spinning a wheel. D. CD, SCHME-DEE – I know CD burners are kind of retro and passé. The thing I care about the least is actually playing the music. I am far more interested in the art, and the booklet that goes along with the CD. That being said, I do expect it to be in a finalized, real looking form. A lot of kids just turn in a printed list of songs with little paragraphs…that usually gets them about half credit. I can loan you a case if you need one. E. GOOGLE W ILL BETRAY YOU – A lot of your peers are going to put “Sherlock Holmes” and “the Importance of Being Earnest” into Google image search and end up with the exact same results you did. Choosing the first picture to pop up just means you project will look like everyone else’s and accidentally show how little time/effort you put in. F. YES, GRAMMAR MATTERS – Students are always surprised that the Language Arts teacher deducts points for grammatical and spelling mistakes…I don’t know why that shocks so many. Proofread.
