Individual British Novel Project

The first thing you need to do is choose a British novel. You can get ideas from lists here, here, and here here,
It is very important that you make a wise decision since this project will count as two grades and it will take you several weeks. Making a good choice of a novel will make this easier for you. Do not choose a book just because you think it is short; this often makes things more difficult. Do not try to get away without reading the book. This is a novel project -- you need to READ a novel.

Step One: Choose a novel from the list, and then talk to me about your choice before you begin. You may want to have several choices since I won't approve everything.

Step Two: Read your novel. You will be able to add this reading to your independent reading record. Once again, trying to complete this project without reading your novel is foolish. I expect you to post three separate responses to your novel as you read. These responses need to be at least four complete paragraphs. You should not wait until the end to do this (keep in mind that Blogger puts a date on all your work). You may want to look over your book and plan where you will write your responses before you begin. The completion of these three responses accounts for 25% of your total grade.

Step Three: When you finish your novel, you should do some research on the author. Go beyond the regular information like where they were born, where they died, etc. Get interesting information about their life experiences, and try to make a connection between the author's life and the novel they created. Maybe you can find the author's purpose for writing the novel the way he or she did. When you are finished with your research, post a 4-5 paragraph biography with your findings. Please remember that you agreed to submit only original work and to include plenty of textual evidence to support your claims. The completion of this biography will be graded according to the rubric for weblog posts, and will account for 25% of your grade.

Step Four: What is the historical significance of the novel you chose? What makes it worthy of study in a literature class? You should search the Internet for some critical essays about your novel for some of this information. Use the information you find to prove how the novel you chose is an important piece of literature. This should be the most intense part of this project, and your final product should be an essay that proves the importance of your novel that includes evidence from the critical essays you have read, as well as evidence from the novel itself. This essay should be written in the same format as your other essays. You will receive an additional three writing grades for this part of your project (rough draft, editing, final draft).

The final draft of this essay will be graded according to the writing rubric, and will account for 50% of your grade on this project.

Siegmund's English Weblog User Agreement

Using a weblog for our classwork will require some parameters for your safety and the quality of everyone's work. First, you should recognize that your work, as well as mine will be published for the entire on-line world to see. This will ultimately make us all responsible for better and more original output than ever before. By visiting other students' weblogs, you will be able to view all their work, and it will also make it easy for me to see who is not making an effort to submit work that is original.

Once you create your own weblog for this class, I will add it to the class blog roll so everyone's work can be accessed from this page. I encourage you to look at your peer's work for ideas or inspiration, but what you submit must be your own. Language Arts lends itself well to this format since you will be asked to respond to the literature and history we study with your own ideas and opinions. There are no right or wrong answers in a Language Arts class, so looking at other students' ideas can help you. It can also create problems if you choose to be lazy.

I will reserve the right to a conference about each of your posts if I find it necessary. During this conference, we may discuss how you can improve your work, or if your work is not original, I may ask you to start over.

Since this weblog will be part of your education at Classic City High School, any activity on your weblog should be considered school activity, even if it is done outside of school. You should feel free to create posts that are not school related, but you should also be sure to refrain from anything that could be considered inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to: references to alcohol or drugs, violence, or gang activity, foul language, nudity, threats, etc.

THE USER AGREEMENT:

1. I agree to submit original work to my weblog. I realize I will have the opportunity to view my peer's work, and I will use this opportunity constructively. I understand that if my work does not appear to be original, I will be asked to adjust or re-do the assignment in question.

2. I agree to keep my weblog appropriate for Classic City High School. I understand that if innapropriate material were to appear on my weblog, be it from myself or an outside comment, I will be asked to remove it. Failure to do so will result in my weblog being removed from the class roll. I also understand that references to illegal or dangerous activities will be reported since it is the legal responsibility of my teacher.

To agree, post a comment to this message like this: I agree to Siegmund's Weblog User Agreement. I will not add your weblog to the class roll until I receive your message.