Dear eighth grade scholars, bloggers, actors, and artists,
Over the past three weeks you have engaged in meaningful analysis of ASP through our class blog, discussion, and activities. Now it is time to demonstrate your understanding of this text in a more creative way (don’t worry—they’ll be some analysis too)! Please read the final project choices below. Choose one and write a short proposal (3-5 sentences) about why you would like to do this project and how you envision your final product.
Option #1 Illustrated Journal
Choose three powerful quotations from the novel. Create an image (you may take photographs, draw, paint, collage, or use pictures from the Internet) and write a poem (15 lines minimum) that corresponds to your image and includes all or part of the quotation. Your illustrated journal must have a cover/title page and include at least 3 images and 3 poems. Each poem must conclude with a ½ page artist’s statement that explains your creative choices and how your poem and image connect to the text.
Option #2 Page to the Stage
You and your partner will dramatize and perform Gene and Finny’s final conversation (189-191) or Leper and Gene’s conversation (144-145) In order to be successful during this performance, you must offer an overview of your scene, express your character’s emotions to the audience, demonstrate intentional movement and planned blocking, and use costume and/or props. This project also requires you to explore the power of guilt, denial, and forgiveness in a well-developed 2 page response. This response must include at least three relevant quotations. You must also include a ½-1 page reflection on your work after you perform your dialogue for your peers.
Option #3 Memorial
The Devon School is creating an athletic scholarship in honor of Finny, and Gene is asked to make a speech announcing this scholarship. Your assignment is to write two 1-2 page speeches. The first is Gene’s personal eulogy* for Finny—this could be written in the form of a letter or journal entry. The second is the speech he shares with his school community. Include a 1-page reflection on the differences between both speeches. You must include at least three quotations in either your eulogy or reflection.
*A eulogy is a tribute or a speech in praise of someone who has died.
