December 2010 Archives

Optional: Submit a 3x5 index card of notes. (I will hand it back to you along with the exam. No other notes are permitted for the exam.)

A presentation, using any medium or strategy, that demonstrates your ability to support an insightful, complex literary interpretation.

In the past, students have written their own fiction or poetry, that responds to the literary works we have studied. They have written and performed songs (in person and via YouTube).  For example, Katie Lantz wrote a song and posted it to YouTube, synthesizing and commenting on the whole semester.




I'm completely open to whatever you want to try.

Recently, two students performed interpretive dances, wordlessly acting out key scenes from literary works. Rather than simply summarizing, they performed the same scenes in different ways, highlighting the different emotional possibilities within the text.

A shy student brought in a yellow piece of poster board, stood behind it, and delivered a monologue in the persona of the wall from The Yellow Wallpaper.

Be ambitious. Be interesting. Be surprising. Be interactive.

Evaluation Criteria

1. Length: Seven minutes. (I will cut you off at eight minutes. If you join with a classmate, you will share 15 minutes.)
2. Goal Statement: One page, typed. What intellectual task are you trying to accomplish for your classmates, and how are your creative choices helping them to achieve that goal? (Hand it to me before you begin.)
3. Ambition: where does your presentation show an element of calculated risk-taking.
   
4. Interaction: how did you engage your peers, giving them the chance to participate in the experience?